APOSTOLIC
634
APOSTOLIC
lamled property of the Roman Church. In the
thirteenth century the Apostolic Camera entered on
a new phase of development. The collection of the
crusade taxes, regularly assessed after the time of
Innocent 111 (119S-1216). imposed new duties on
the papal treasurj', to which were committed both
the collection and distribution of these assessments.
Moreover, during the course of this century the sys-
tem of payment in Idnd was transformed into the
monetaiy system, a process considerably influenced
by the administration of the papal finances. The
servitia communia of bishops and abbots (see An-
N.\TEs) were regulated at fixed sums. The various
taxes are listed in their order in P. K. Eubel, " Hier-
archia Catholica " (Munster, 1898-1901); the in-
come regularly yielded by them to the Curia is by
no means small. To these we must add the annates,
taken in the narrower sense, especially the great
universal reservations made since the time of
Clement V and John XXII, the extraordinary sub-
sidies, moreover, levied since the end of the thir-
teenth centuiy, the census, and other assessments.
The duties of the Apostolic Camera were thus con-
stantly enlarged. For the collection of all these
moneys it employed henceforth a great number of
agents known as collectores. With time the im-
portance of this central department of finance be-
came more marked. The highest administrative
officers were always the chamberlain {camcrarius)
and the treasurer {ihesaurarius) — the former is reg-
ularly a bishop, the latter often of the same rank.
Ne.xt in order came the clerics of the Camera {clerici
camerw), originally three or four, afterwards as many
as ten. Next to these was the judge {auditor) of
the Camera. The two first-named formed with the
clerics of the Camera its highest atiministrative coun-
cil; they controlled and looked closely to both rev-
enues and expenses. In their service were a number
of inferior officials, notaries, scribes, and messengers.
The more absolute system of ruling the Church which
developed after the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
tury, as well as the gradual transformation in the
financial administration, modified in many ways the
duties of the .\postolic Camera. The Camerarius
(camerlengo, chamberlain) became one of the high-
est officers in the government of the Papal States,
and remained so until the beginning of the nineteenth
century, when new methods of administration called
for other officials. Finally, in 1870, on account of
the loss of the temporal power, the Apostolic Camera
ceased almost entirely to exercise any practical in-
fluence on the papal administration. The Apostolic
Camera must be distinguished from the treasury or
camera of the College of Cardinals, presided over by
the cardinal-camerlengo {Camcrarius Sacri Collegii
Cardinalium). It had charge of the common reve-
nues of the College of Cardinals, and appears among
the curial institutions after the close of the thir-
teenth century. It has long ceased to exist.
Bangen, Die romische Kurie, ifire gegenwUrtige Zusammenr- iieUung und ihr Geschiif Isgang (Munster, 1854), 345 sqq.; Philu-ps, KirchenreclU (Ratisbon, 1864), VI, 503 sqq.; HiNHcHlus, System dee kaUi. Kirchenrechts, Part I, 309 sqq.; KoNiG, Die pUpgdiche Kammer unter Klemena V und Johann XXII (Vienna, 1894); Gotti.ob, Aua der Camera apostotica dea IS. Jahrh. (Innsbruck, 1889); Samaran and Mollat, La fitcalite pontificale en France au XIV' siicle (Paris, 1905); Fabre, Elude sur le Liber censuum de I'ioliae romaine (Paris, 1892); Le liber centuum de Viglise romaine (Paris, 1889), laac. 1-V; GoLi.ER, Der liber laxarum der papsUichen Kammer (ilome. 1905) taken from Quellen und Forschungen aua itati- mischen Archiven, VIII; Kliiscii. Die Finamierwaltung dea KardmatkoUeaiuma im IS. und 14. Jahrh. (Munster. 1895); Baumoahtkn, Unleraurhungcn und Urkunden uber die Camera ColUpu Cardinalium jlir die Xeit von 121.5-1437 (Leipzig, 1898); Du kalholtache Kirche unarrer Zeit und ihre Dicner, 1: Rom. das Oberhaupl. die KinricMuni} und die Vcrwaltuna der Geaammt- kvche (2d oil., .Munich, 1905).
J. P. KmSCH.
Apostolic Church. See Apostolicity. ApostoUc Churches.— The epithet Apostolic (diroo--
toXikAs) occurs as far back as the beginning of the
second century; first, as far as known, in the super-
scription of Ignatius's Epistle to the Trallians (about
110), where the holy bishop greets the Trallian
Church iv diroirToXiAi(r xapoKT^pi : "in Apostolic char-
acter", viz., after the manner of the Apostles. The
word -Apostolic becomes frequent enough from the
end of this century on, in such expressions as an
".\postolie man", an "Apostolic writing", "Apostolic
Churches". All the individual orthodox churclies
could, in a sen.se, be called Apostolic Churches, be-
cause they were in some more or less mediate con-
nection with the Apostles. Indeed, that is the mean-
ing in which TertuUian sometimes uses the expression
Apostolic Churches (De Prjescriptionibus, c. xx; Ad-
versus Marcionem, IV, v). Usually, however, es-
pecially among the Western writers, from the second
to the fourth century, the term is meant to signify
the ancient particular Churches which were founded,
or at least governed, by an Apostle, and which, on
that account, enjoyed a special dignity and acquired
a great apologetic importance. To designate these
Churches, Irenaeus has often recourse to?, paraphrase
(Adv. Ha^r., Ill, iv, 1), or he calls them the "oldest
Churches". In the writings of Tertullian we find
the expressions "mother-Churches" (ecclesice matrices,
originates), frequently "Apostolic Churches" (De
Praescriptionibus, c. xxi). At the time of the Christo-
logical controversies in the fourth and fifth centuries
some of these Apostolic Churches rejected the ortho-
dox faith. Thus it happened that the title "Apos-
tolic Churches" was no longer used in apologetic
treatises, to denote the particular Churches founded
by the Apostles. For mstance, Vincent of L^rins,
in the first half of the fifth century, makes no spe-
cial mention in his " Commonitorium " of Apostolic
Churches. But, towards the same epoch, the expres-
sion "the Apostolic Church" came into use in the
singular, as an appellation for the whole Church,
and that frequently in connection with the older
diction "Catholic Church"; while the most famous
of the particular Apostolic Churches, the Roman
Church, took as a convenient designation the title
"Apostolic See" (Vincent of L^rins's Commoni-
torium, c. ix). This last title was also given, though
not quite so often, to the Antiochian and to the
Alexandrian Church.
I. Chicj Apostolic Churclies. — It is not possible, in a summary, to give an account of the missionary labours of the .\postles and of the foundation of Chris- tian Churches by them. We have, if not complete, at least sufficient, information about the preaching and the works of St. Peter in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome; of St. James the Elder in Jerusalem; of St. John in Jerusalem and Ephesus; of St. Paul at An- tioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Troas, Ephesus, Phil- ippi,Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, and Rome. In tliese towns — and not all entitled thereto are in- cluded in the nomenclature — there were Christian comnnmities foimded by the Apostles that could be called Apostolic Churches. However, when the writ- ers of the second and the third century speak of Apostolic Churches, they refer ordinarily to some only of these churches. Thus, e. g., Irena-us {.\dv. IlaT., Ill, iii, 2) mentions the Roman Church, "the greatest, most ancient and known to all, founded and estab- lished by two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul", the Church at Ephesus, and the Smyrniean Church, where ho was Polycarp's disciple. Tertul- lian enumerates others (Do Pra>scriptionibus, c. xxvi): "You who are rightly solicitous for your salvation, travel to the Apostolic churches. ... If Achaia is not distant, you have Corinth. If you are near Macedonia, you have Philippi, you have Thessa- lonica. If you can go to .\sia, you have Ephesus. If you are in the neighbourhood of Italy, you have Rome. " Then follows a splendid panegyric of the Uo-
