1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/In Coena Domini

IN COENA DOMINI, a papal bull, so called from its opening words, formerly issued annually on Holy Thursday (in Holy Week), or later on Easter Monday. Its first publication was in 1363. It was a statement of ecclesiastical censure against heresies, schisms, sacrilege, infringement of papal and ecclesiastical privileges, attacks on person and property, piracy, forgery and other crimes. For two or three hundred years it was varied from time to time, receiving its final form from Pope Urban VIII. in 1627. Owing to the opposition of the sovereigns of Europe both Protestant and Catholic, who regarded the bull as an infringement of their rights, its publication was discontinued by Pope Clement XIV. in 1770.