Abbreviators

ABBREVIATORS: Officials of the papal chancery whose duty it is to prepare apostolic letters expedited through that office. The name is derived from the fact that part of their work consists in taking minutes of the petitions addressed to the Holy See and of the answers to be returned. Formerly they were divided into two classes, di parco maggiore and di parco minore, but the latter class has long been abolished. In the College of Abbreviators at the present time there are twelve clerics and seventeen laymen. Legislation of Feb. 13, 1904, defines their duties anew. The office dates from the early part of the fourteenth century, and has been filled by many distinguished prelates. In 1466 Paul II. abolished it because it had been corrupted, but it was restored by Sixtus IV. in 1471. There is also an abbreviatore di curia attached to the datary, who prepares minutes of papal letters addressed motu proprio to the entire Church.

JOHN T. CREAGH.