Apostolic Chancery

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Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church
)

The Apostolic Chancery

Napoleon I of France obviated the need for Papal armies. In the early 20th century the office collected money for missionary work. Pope Paul VI abolished the Apostolic Chancellary on 27 February 1973, transferring its functions to the Secretariat of State
.

History

Before 1908

The role of bibliotecarius first appears in 781, and was responsible for the pope's books as well as redacting documents. The role of cancellarius first appears under Silvester II. The cancellarius produced documents for the pope, while the bibliotecarius would date them. Subsequently, both roles tended to be filled by the same person. The use of the term bibliotecarius ended under Celestine II (1143–1144). From Honorius III (1216–1227) onwards the head of the chancery was called the vicecancellarius.[3]

The Cancellaria Apostolica was of ancient origin in its essence, but it derived its name from that of civil "

primacy of the Roman pontiff required that he have in his service officials to write and transmit his answers to the numerous petitions for favours and consultations addressed to him.[4]
Throughout its duration the office was reformed numerous times.

The Apostolic constitution Etsi ad Singula of Pope Clement VII of 5 July 1532 provided the cardinalatial title of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso to the chancellor.

After Pope Martin V had instituted a large number of offices in the Cancellaria, Pope Sixtus V placed many of them in the class of "vacabili", i. e. venal offices (a practice also of secular courts, e. g. those of France, even under the absolutist King Louis XIV). The reclassification of many of the offices of the Cancellaria as vacabili was motivated by the need of the pope for money. The pope was often compelled to defend the Church by waging war, equipping martial expeditions, or at least financially assisting the princes who waged such wars at his exhortation, but the Papal treasury was often insufficient to defray even the expenses of the Papal States. Accordingly, the popes resorted to the expedient of selling several lucrative offices of the Roman Curia to the highest bidder;[4] however, these sales were not of the offices per se, but of the receipts of the offices, e. g., the taxes paid for the favours that were granted through the pertinent office.

Some of the offices that

scudi, a large fortune at the time. The disadvantage of these uncertainties might not be confined to the purchaser because he was free to condition the purchased office on the life of another designated person, named the "intestatary". The purchaser was also permitted to substitute a different intestatary if this substitution was expressed 40 days before the death of the immediately preceding intestatary.[4]

Other offices that

Pietro Ottoboni
.

The authority of the vice chancellor increased when in 1690 Pope Alexander VIII added to his office that of Compiler (Sommista) in perpetuity.

The government of Emperor

Apostolic Datary for their proprietors.[4]

1908–1973

The

Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso
, as it had been since 5 July 1532. However, the chancellor retained little of his former authority. He acted as notary of the cardinalatial consistories and directed the office of the Cancellaria Apostolica.

Finally, the motu proprio Quo Aptius of Pope Paul VI of 27 February 1973 completely suppressed the Cancellaria Apostolica.

Office of chancellor

Title of the office

Prior to the

Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano
.

Residence and titular basilica

The most splendid occupant of the office of Chancellor was the future

Campo di Fiori was due to the confiscation of the property of Cardinal Raffaele Riario for his share, with Cardinals Petrucci, Sacchi, Soderini, and Castellesi, in a conspiracy against the life of Pope Leo X.[4]

Contiguous to the Cancellaria qua edifice, in fact forming part of it, is the

titular churches that had the fixed grade of "titular" (a church over which a cardinal of the order of priests was placed) or "deaconry" (a church over which was placed a cardinal-deacon).[4] The Basilica, on the contrary, became a titular for a Chancellor of the order of priests and a deaconry for one of the order of deacons; when the Chancellor was a suburbicarian bishop, he retained the Basilica in commendam
.

Office of regent

The office of regent, the next office in the order of precedence of the Cancellaria Apostolica after that of the chancellor, was instituted in 1377, when Pope Gregory XI returned from Avignon, France to his see. Cardinal Pierre de Monteruc, the chancellor at that time, refused to follow the pope from Avignon to Rome; as it was necessary that someone should direct the office of the Cancellaria, the pope, leaving the title of vice chancellor to Montéruc, appointed the archbishop of Ban, Bartolommeo Prignano, as regent. At the death of Pope Gregory XI in 1378, Prignano was elected pope, and he appointed a successor to himself in the office of regent, which was thereafter maintained, even when the vice chancellor re-established his residence in Rome.[4]

Modes of issuance of papal bulls

There were four modes of issuing

Sacra Rota, and relatives of cardinals, and were signed by the vice chancellor, also exempt from taxation; finally, the bulls of which the expedition was said to be by way of the Apostolic Camera were those that concerned it. Because the style and the rules of the Cancellaria could not be adapted to these bulls, they were issued by the Sommista, whose office Pope Alexander VI instituted and later united by Pope Alexander VIII with that of the vice chancellor.[4]

After

Congregation of the Consistory was charged with the preparation of new ones.[4]

This commission having reformed the bulls for Consistorial benefices, Pius X by a motu proprio of 8 December 1910 approved the new formulae and ordered them to be used exclusively after 1 January 1911. The College of the Abbreviators of the greater presidency having been suppressed and the abbreviators of the lesser presidency having become extinct in fact, the apostolic prothonotaries in actual office were appointed to sign the bulls.[4]

The mode of dating papal bulls was also changed. Formerly they were dated according to the year of the

Conception of Jesus. This mediaeval mode of dating remained peculiar to papal bulls, and over time caused much confusion. Pius X ordered that in the future these documents had to be dated according to the secular calendar year that begins on 1 January.[4]

Governing Rules

The rules of the Cancellaria were instituted in various

Apostolic constitutions that the popes customarily promulgated at the beginning of their pontificates regarding judicial causes and benefices. In many cases the pope merely confirmed the provisions of his predecessor, but in others added or suppressed provisions. The result was an ancient collection of rules in force, and this mode of governing the Cancellaria continued even after Pope Pius X reformed the Roman Curia. These rules were usually divided into 3 classes: rules of direction or expedition that regarded the expedition of papal bulls; beneficial or reservatory rules that regarded benefices and reservations; and judicial rules that regarded specific prescriptions for judicial matters, especially appeals. The rules of the Cancellaria had the force of law unless exception was made by a concordat. In ancient times, these rules lost their force on the death of the pope, and revived only upon the express confirmation of his successor, but Pope Urban VIII declared that without an express confirmation the rules of the Cancellaria were restored to validity on the day after the election of the succeeding pope. The commission of cardinals responsible for the reformation of the formulae of papal bulls was responsible also for revising the rules of the Cancellaria.[4]

Chancellors of Holy Roman Church (1088–1187)

Note: some chancellors before 1144 used the ancient title "Bibliothecarius" instead of "Cancellarius". This office should not be confused with that of the

Apostolic See
.

Vice Chancellors of the Holy Roman Church (1187–1908)

Chancellors of the Holy Roman Church (1908–1973)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Canon 260, Code of Canon Law of 1917, translated by Edward N. Peters, Ignatius Press, 2001.
  2. ^ Regimini Ecclesiæ Universæ Archived July 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine §114, §116; www.vatican.va; accessed 3 August 2015.
  3. .
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainOjetti, Benedetto (1912). "Roman Curia". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  5. ^ He was sent as Papal legate to England in 1312. During his absence, Cardinal Jacques d'Euse, the future Pope John XXII, acted as his substitute.
  6. Jean de Brogny
    (1391–1408).
  7. ^ Bartolomeo Francesco de la Capra, Papal Notary, acted in the capacity of Vice Chancellor. S. Miranda indicates that Cardinal Marino Bulcani was named Vice Chancellor in February 1394 and occupied the post until his death on 8 August 1394, but Bresslau, Klewitz, Handbuch..., p. 262 make no reference to him and indicate that Bartolomeo Francesco de la Capra became Director of the Chancery no later than 2 May 1394.
  8. ^ Gerard Faidit (1426–31) and Blasius Molino (1431–1436) acted as Regents of the Chancery.
  9. Council of Basel
    .
  10. ^ Berardo Eroli (1453–1457) and Juan de Mella (1455–1457) acted as Regents of the Chancery.
  11. Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romani el mayor
    was acting Vice Chancellor 1500–3 during the absence of Cardinal Sforza.
  12. ^ Pope Clement VII excommunicated him in November 1526 and reinstated him a few months later. During this time Francesco Armellini Pantalassi de' Medici was acting Vice Chancellor.
  13. ^ Cardinal Cesare Facchinetti was acting Vice Chancellor 1679–1683, but without the title.

Sources