Ecclesiastical Abbreviatores
In course of time the Apostolic Chancery adopted this mode of writing as the "curial" style, still further abridging by omitting the diphthongs ae and oe, and likewise all lines and marks of punctuation. The ecclesiastical Abbreviators were officials of the Holy See, among the principal officials of the Apostolic Chancery, which is one of the oldest and most important offices in the Roman Curia.
The scope of its labour, as well as the number of its officials, has varied with the times. Up to the twelfth or thirteenth century, the duty of the Apostolic - or Roman Chancery was to prepare and expedite the pontifical letters and writs for collation of church dignities and other matters of grave importance which were discussed and decided in Consistory. About the thirteenth or fourteenth century, the popes, then residing at Avignon in France, began to reserve the collation of a great many benefices, so that all the benefices, especially the greater ones, were to be conferred through the Roman Curia (Lega, Praelectiones Jur. Can., I, ii, 287). As a consequence, the labour was immensely augmented, and the number of Abbreviators necessarily increased. To regulate the proper expedition of these reserved benefices, Pope John XXII instituted the rules of chancery to determine the competency and mode of procedure of the Chancery. Afterwards the establishment of the Dataria and the Secretariate of Briefs lightened the work of the Chancery and led to a reduction in the number of Abbreviators.
According to Ciampini (Lib. de Abbreviatorum de parco majore etc., cap. i) the institution of curial abbreviators was very ancient, succeeding after the persecutions to the notaries who recorded the acts of the martyrs. Other authors reject this early institution and ascribe it to Pope John XXII (1316). It is certain that he uses the name Abbreviators, but speaks as if they had existed before his time, and had, by overtaxation for their labour, caused much complaint and protest. He (Extravag. Joan. tit. xiii, "Cum ad Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae") prescribes their work, determines how much they may charge for their labour, fixes a certain tax for an abstract or abridgment of twenty-five words, or their equivalent, 150 letters, forbids them to charge more, even though the abstract goes over twenty-five words but less than fifty words, enacts that the basis of the tax is the labour employed in writing, expediting, etc., the Bulls, and by no means the emoluments accruing to the recipient of the favour or benefice conferred by the Bull, and declares that whoever shall charge more than the tax fixed by him shall be suspended for six months from office, and upon a second violation of the law, shall be deprived of it altogether, and if the delinquent be an abbreviator, he shall be excommunicated. Should a large letter have to be rewritten, owing to the inexact copy of the abbreviator, the abbreviator and not the receiver of the Bull must pay the extra charge for the extra labour to the apostolic writer.
Whatever may be the date of the institution of the office of abbreviator, it is certain that it became of greater importance and more highly privileged upon its erection into a college of prelates. Pope Martin V (Constit. 3 "In Apostolicae", ii and v) fixed the manner for their examination and approbation and also the tax they should demand for their labour and the punishment for overcharge. He also assigned to them certain emoluments. The Abbreviators of the lower, or lesser, were to be promoted to the higher, or greater, bar or presidency. Their offices were compatible with other offices, i.e. they can hold two benefices or offices at one and the same time, some conferred by the Cardinal Vice-Chancellor, others by the Holy Father.
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