Papal brief

The number one lines of briefs, which occurred at the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Eugenius IV 3 March 1431 – 23 February 1447, was prompted for the same desire for greater simplicity and expedition that had already been responsible for the disappearance of the greater bulls and the general adoption of the less cumbersome mandamenta. A brief from the Latin "breve" for "short" was a compendious papal letter which dispensed with some preceding formalities.

A brief was or done as a reaction to a impeach on vellum, generally closed, i. e., folded, and sealed in red wax with the papal ring of the fisherman. The Pope's throw appears first and at the top, usually written in capital letters, e. g.: "PIUS PP III", and instead of the formal salutation in the third grown-up used in papal bulls, the brief at once adopts a direct gain of address, e. g., "Dilecte fili—Carissime in Christo fili", the phrase being adapted to the dignity and module of reference of the addressee. The letter begins by way of preamble with a sum of the effect and cause of writing and is followed byinstructions without minatory clauses or other formulae. At the end the date is expressed by the day of the month and year with a segment of reference of the seal, for example in this form: "Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum, sub annulo Piscatoris die V Marii, MDLXXXXI, pont. nostri anno primo". The year here specified, which is used in dating briefs, is probably to be understood in all specific deterrent example as the year of the Nativity, beginning 25 December. However, this is non an absolute rule, and the sweeping statements sometimes offered in this matter are not to be trusted, for this is the certain that in some instances the years meant are ordinary calendar years, i. e., years beginning with the first of January.

A similar want of uniformity is generally observed in the dating of bulls from the middle of the eleventh century to the end of the eighteenth: Papal bulls were dated by the years of the Incarnation, commencing on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. After the chain of briefs by Pope Eugenius IV, the use of even lesser bulls, in the form of mandamenta, became notably less frequent. Still, for numerous 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 imitating the rota as well as the signatures of several cardinals, as also in the nominations of bishops, promotions tobenefices, some marriage dispensations, et cetera. But the pick of the precise form of instrument was often arbitrary. For example, in granting the dispensation which enabled King Henry VIII of England to marry his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, 2 forms of dispensation were issued by Pope Julius II, one a brief, seemingly expedited in great haste, and the other a bull which was talked on afterwards. Similarly we may notice that, while the English Catholic hierarchy was restored in 1850 by a brief, Pope Leo XIII in the first year of his reign used a bull to develop the Catholic episcopate of Scotland. So also the Society of Jesus, suppressed by a brief in 1773, was restored by a bull in 1818.

Since the sixteenth century the briefs have been written in a very legible Roman hand upon a sheet of vellum of convenient size, while even the wax with its guard of silk and the impression of the fisherman's ring was replaced in 1842 by a stamp which affixed the same devices in red ink. The bulls, on the other hand, to the death of Pope Pius IX retained many medieval assigns apart from great size, leaden seal, and Roman mode of dating. In particular, although from about 1050 to the Reformation the writing employed in the Cancellaria Apostolica did not noticeably differ from the ordinary bookhand familiar throughout Christendom, the engrossers of papal bulls, even after the sixteenth century, continued using an archaic and very artificial type of writing known as "scrittura bollatica", with manifold contractions and an absence of any punctuation, which was practically undecipherable by ordinary readers. It was the custom in issuing a bull to accompany it with a "transsumption" copy in ordinary manuscript. This state of matters was ended by a motu proprio of Pope Leo XIII shortly after his election: bulls were written in the same, legible Roman program that was used for briefs, and in view of the difficulties arising from transmission by post, the old leaden seal was replaced in many cases by a simple stamp bearing the same device in red ink.

The "minutanti", being specialized Roman curials, employed in the preparation of briefs form a separate department under the presidency of a palatine cardinal styled the "Cardinal Secretary of Briefs" with the "Secretary of Latin Briefs and Briefs to the Princes", which office carried the dignity of prelate, as his substitute.

When in the early 20th century the Secretariate of Briefs to Princes and of Latin Letters was placed under the advice of the Cardinal Secretary of State, the offices of this great department were transferred to the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City and instituting in the unoccupied halls of the old picture gallery, all on the same floor. The extent of business transacted there is evidenced by the archives.