BULLS
57
BULLS
- n red wax with the ring of the fisherman. The
pope's name stands first, at the top, normally written in capital letters thus: Pins PP IIII; and, instead of the formal salutation in the third person used in hulls, the brief at once adopts a direct form of address, e. g. DilecU- fUi—Carissime in Christo fli, the phrase used being adapted to the rank and character of the addressee. The letter generally begins by way of preamble with a statement of the case and cause of writing and this is followed by certain instructions without minatory clauses or other formulae. At the end the date is expressed by the day of the month and year with a mention of the seal — for example in this form: "Datum Romse apud Sanctum Petrum, sub annulo Pis- catoris die V Martii, MDLXXXXI, pont. nostri anno primo. " The year here specified, which is
Bulla of Paul II
used in dating briefs, is probably to be understood in any particular case as the year of the Nativity, beginning 25 December. Still this is not an absolute rule, and the sweeping statements sometimes made in this matter are not to be trusted, for it is certain that in some instances the years meant are ordinary years, beginning with the first of January. (See "(dry. "Manuel tie diplomatique", pp. 12l>. 09(1. TDD.) A similar want of uniformity is observable in the dating of bulls though, speaking generally, from the middle of the eleventh century to the end of the eighteenth, bulls are dated by the years of the Incarnation counted from 25 March. After the institution of briefs by Pope Eugenius IV, the use even of lesser bulls, especially in the form of rnnn- damenta, became notably less frequent. Still, for many purposes bulls continued to be employed — for example in canonizations (in which case special forms are observed, the pope by exception signing his own name, under which is added a stamp imi- tating the rota as well as the signatures of several cardinals), as also in the nomination of bishops, promotion to certain benefices, some particular marriage dispensations, etc. Put the choice of the precise form of instrument was often quite arbi- trary. For example, in granting the dispensation which enabled Henry VIII to marry his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, two forms of dispensa- tion were issued by Julius II, one a brii i. eemingly expedited in L r " it haste, and the other a bull which was sent nn afterwards. Similarly we may notice that, while the English Catholic hierarchy was restored in 1850 by ;i brief, Leo XIII in the first year of his reign used a bull to establish the Catholic episcopate in Scotland. So also tin- Society of Jesus, suppressed by brief in 177:i. was restored by a bull in IMS. A very interesting account of the formali- ties which had to be observed in procuring bulls in Home at the end of the fifteenth cent in y is eon t a i tied
in the "Practica" recently published by Schmitz- Kalemberg. VI, Sixth Period: since 1878. Ever since the ,th century the briefs have always been written in a clear Roman hand upon a sheet, of vellum of convenient size, while even the wax seal with its
guard of silk and the impression of the fisherman's
ring was replaced in 1S42 by a stamp which affixed
the same device in red ink. The bulls, on the other
hand, down to the death of Pope Pius IX retai I
m. my medieval features apart from their great size, leaden seal, and Roman fashion of dating. In par- ticular, although from about 1050 to the Reformation the writing employed in the papal chancery did not notably differ from the ordinary book-hand familiar throughout Christendom, the engrossers of papal bulls, even after the end of the sixteenth century, went on using an archaic and very artificial type of Gothic writing known as serittwa bollatica, with manifold contractions and an absence of all punctuation, which was practically undecipherable by ordinary readers. It was in fact the custom in issuing a bull to accompany it with a transsumptum, or copy, in ordinary handwriting. This condition of things was put an end to by a motu proprio issued by Pope Leo XIII shortly after his election. Bulls are now written in the same clear Roman script which is used for briefs, and, in view of the diffi- culties arising from transmission by post, the old leaden seal is replaced in many cases by a simple stamp bearing the same device in red ink. In spite, however, of these simplifications, and although the pontifical chancery is now as an establishment much reduced in numbers, the conditions under which bulls are prepared are still very intricate. There are still four different "roads" which a bull may follow in its making. The via di cayicelleria, in which the document is prepared by the abbreviatori of the chancery, is the ordinary way, but it is, and especially was, so beset with formalities and conse- quent delays (see Schmitz-Kalemberg, Practica) that Paul III instituted the via di camera (sec Apostolic Camera) to evade them, in hope of making the procedure more expeditious. But if the process was more summary, it was not less costly, so St. Pius V, in 1570, arranged for the gratuitous issue
Bulla of Sixtus IV
of certain bulls by the via segreta; and to these was added, in 173.5, the via di curia, intended to meet exceptional cases of less formal and more personal interest. In the three former processes the Cardinal Vice-* 'hancellor. who is at the same time "Snmmista", is the functionary now theoretically responsible. In the last case it is the Cardinal "Pro-Datario", and he is assisted in this charge by the "Cardinal Secretary of Briefs". As the mention of this last
oliiee suggests, the win nttlld i employed in the
preparation of briefs form a separate department
under the presidency of a Cardinal Secretary and a
prelate his substitute. Spurious Bulls. -There can be no doubt that
during a greal part of the Middle Ages papal and
other documents were fabricated in a very un- scrupulous fashion. A considerable proportion of the early entries in chartularies of almost every class are not only open to grave suspicion, but art often plainly spurious. It is probable, however. thai the motive for these forgeries in most cases • t criminal. They were prompted by the de-
