ROMAN
151
ROMAN
against the life of Leo X. Contiguous to the Can-
celleria, in fact forming a part of it, is the Church
of San Lorenzo in Damaso. When Clement VII as-
signed this palace as the perpetual residence of the
vice-chancellor, he provided that the vice-chancellor
should always have the title of that church; and, as it
happens that the chancellors are not always of the
same order in the Sacred College, being sometimes
cardinal-deacons, sometimes cardinal-priests, and
sometimes cardinal-bishops, this church does not fol-
low the rule of the other cardinalitial churches, which
have a fixed grade, being titular — that is churches
over which cardinals of the order of priests are
placed — or deaconries — churches over which are
placed cardinal-deacons. San Lorenzo, on the con-
trary, is a titular when the chancellor is of the order
of priests, and a deaconry when he is a cardinal-
deacon. When, on the other hand, he is a sub-
urbicarian bishop, the chancellor retains this church
in comryiendam.
The Regency, which is the next office in the order of precedence in the Chancery after the chancellor- ship, was created in 1377, when Gregory XI returned from France to his see. Cardinal Pierre de Mon- t^ruc, who was the chancellor at that time, refused to follow the pope from Avignon to Rome; and, as it was necessary that someone should direct the office of the Chancery, the pope, leaving the title of vice-chancel- lor to Monteruc, appointed the Archbishop of Bari, Bartolommeo Prignano, regent of this important office. At the death of (hegory XI, in 137S, Pri- gnano was elected pope, and he appointed a successor to himself in the office of regent of the Chancery, which was thereafter maintained, even when the vice- chancellor re-establislied his residence at Rome.
There is not space here to refer in detail to the other offices of the Chancery, and the subject is the less im- portant, since the greater number of those offices have now disappeared for good.
At present the Chancer^' is charged only with the ex- pedition of Bulls for consistorial benefices, the estab- lishment of new dioceses and new chapters, and other more important affairs of the Church. (For the vari- ous forms of Apostolic Letters, see Bull-s and Briefs.) One fact concerning the ex-pedition of Bulls should be mentioned. Formerly, there were four different ways of issuing these documents, namely, by way of the Curia {per viam curice), by way of the Chancery {per cancellarium) , secretly {per viam secretam), and by way of the Apostolic Camera {per viam camerce). The reason for this is that, while some Bulls were taxed, there was no taxation on others, and it was necessary to determine upon what Bulls the proprietors of the vacabili offices had a right to receive taxes. Bulls, therefore, which concerned the government of the Catholic world, being exempt from all taxation, were said to be issued by way of the Curia. Those Bulls of which the ex-pedition was by way of the Chancery were the common Bulls, which, after being reviewed by the abbreviators of the greater presidency (see Abbrevi.'VTOrs), were signed by them and by the pro- prietors of the vacabili, the latter of whom received the estabhshed taxes. The Bulls said to be issued secretly were those in favour of some privileged persons — as the palatine prelates, the auditors of the Rota, and the relatives of cardinals. They were signed by the vice- chancellor, and they, too, were exempt from taxation. Finally, the Bulls of which the expedition was said to be by way of the Camera were those that concerned the Apostolic Camera. Since the style and the rules of the Chancery could not be adapted to these Bulls, they were issued by the sommista, whose office was created by Alexander VI and later, as was said above, united by Alexander VIII with that of the vice- chancellor.
At the present time, all the vacabili having been abolished, these various forms of expedition have been
suppressed, the new Constitution providing that all
Bulls be issued by way of the Chancery, on order of
the Congregation of the Consistory for all matters of
the competency of that body, and by order of the
pope for all others. This is in keeping with the new
organization of the Chancery as a merely issuing
office. The Constitution "Sapienti consilio" pro-
vided that the ancient formulse of Bulls should be
changed, and the duty of preparing new ones was
given to a commission of cardinals composed of the
chancellor, the datary, and the secretary of the Con-
sistorial Congregation. This commission has already
reformed the Bulls for the Consistorial benefices, and
Pius X, by his Motu Proprio of 8 December, 1910, ap-
proved 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 presi-
dency having become extinct in fact, the Apostolic
prothonotaries in actual office have been appointed to
sign the Bulls. A very reasonable change has also
been made in regard to the dating of Bulls. For-
merly Bulls were dated according to the year of the
Incarnation, which begins on 25 March. This me-
dieval style of dating remained pecuhar to papal
Bulls, and in time gave rise to much confusion. Pius
X ordered these documents to be dated in future ac-
cording to common custom, by the year which begins
on 1 Januaiy.
Mention should here be made of what are known as the Rules of the Chancery. This name was given to certain Apostolic Constitutions which the popes were in the habit of promulgating at the beginning of their pontificate, in regard to judicial causes and those con- cerning benefices. In many cases the pope merely confirmed the provisions of his predecessor; in others he made additions or suppressions. The result has been an ancient collection of standing rules which re- mained unmodified even in the recent reorganization of the Curia. These Rules are usually divided into three classes: rules of direction or expedition, which concern the expedition of Bulls; beneficial or re- servatory rules, relating to benefices and reserv^ations; lastly, judicial rules, concerning certain prescriptions to be observed in judicial matters, especially with re- lation to appeals. The Rules of the Chancer^' have the force of law, and are binding wherever exceptions have not been made to them by a concordat. In ancient times, these rules ceased to be in force at the death of the sovereign pontiff, and were revived only upon the express confirmation of the succeeding pope. Urban VIII, however, declared that, without an express con- firmation, the Rules of the Chancery should be in force on the day after the creation of the new pope. It would be outside of the scope of this article to enter into a minute examination of these rules, all the more because the commission of cardinals charged with the reformation of the formulae of Bulls has also charge of revising the Rules of the Chancery.
Cassiodorus, Super XIV reg. Cancellerice (Paris, 1.545); Barchin, Pratica Gancellarice apostolicce cum stylo et formu in curia romana usitatis (Lyons, 1549) ; Mandosius, Comm. in regulas CancellariiB lulii III (Venice, 1554); Mill^eus, Annota- tiones in regulas Gomesii Cancellerice apostolicw (Lyons, 1557); M.VNDOSIU8, In regulas C'ancellerice apostolicce commentar. (Rome, 1558); Molina, Comm. in regulas Cancellerice apostolicce (Lyons, 1560) ; Gomes, In Cancellerice apost. regulas iudiciales (Venice, 1575); Rebuffus, Addit. in reg. Cancellerice (Paris, 1579); But-Dius, Constitut. Pii IV, V et Gregor. XIII cum regulis Cancellerice (1583); Gonzalez, Ad regulam VIII Cancell. de reservatione mensium (Geneva, 1605); Buthilleri, Tract, ad regul. Cancellarice de infirmis resignationibus (Paris, 1612); Peleus, In regulas Cancellarice (Paris, 1615) ; a Chockier, Comm. in reg. Cancellarice apostolicce sive in glossemata Alphonsi Soto nuncupati Glossatoris (Cologne, 1619) ; De Quesada, ReguUe CancellariiB apostolicce Gregorii XV cum notis et indicibus (Rome, 1621); Louetics, Notce ad comm. Caroli Molinai in regulas Can- cellarice apostolicce (Paris, 1656) ; Sperenqerus, Roma nova cum regulis Cancellarice apostolicce et de privilegiis clericorum (Frank- fort. 1667) ; Ciampini, De abbreviatoribus de parco maiori sive assistent. S. R. E. Vicecancellario in litterarum apostolicarum ex- peditionibus . . . dissertatio historica (Rome, 1669); Le
