26 
Vatican Archives 
bulls issued to every newly appointed bishop. In fact the registration of such 
bulls seems to be complete in this whole series, from the beginning, except 
of course where the volumes have been lost. There are many indulgences 
for confraternities. The greatest number have to do, however, with dispensa¬ 
tions to take orders in spite of illegitimacy or defect in birth. One dispensa¬ 
tion permits an inhabitant of the diocese of Mexico to take orders in spite 
of being a mulatto. 22 There are also dispensations for irregularities, but none 
for a defect in age. Indici 411-415 index the matrimonial bulls for the same 
pontificate. It is at once evident that while the control of the clergy was kept 
in the hands of Rome, the administration of the rules with regard to matri¬ 
mony was, in the New World, given to the bishops, by means of special 
faculties. In all these volumes there were noted only two matrimonial bulls 
applying to either of the Indies. One of these, anno I., volume X., folio 182, 
was issued to a man of the diocese of Bordeaux, and a woman formerly of 
that diocese, but at the time of Quebec. Evidently the bull was issued be¬ 
cause of the European residence of the prospective bridegroom, and the same 
may be true of the other case, anno XII., volume VII., folio 55, diocese of 
Manila; but as the volume was lacking, this could not be proved. 23 
REGESTA SUPPLICATIONUM. 24 
When petitions were received by the office of the Dataria, they were reg¬ 
istered, the originals being sent on to the several departments which were to 
handle them, 25 and coming finally, in most cases, to the chancery or the office 
of the secretary of briefs. This series of registers was formerly kept at the 
Lateran, and was in 1892 transferred to the Vatican archives. 26 It is in¬ 
ventoried in indice 195 , “ Inventarium Supplicationum Datariae Apostolicae 
a Clemente VI.” (1342-1352) “ad Pium VII.” (1800-1823). 27 This gives 
7011 numbers, corresponding to 8630 of an older numeration. It gives also 
a concordance with still another system of reference, according to which the 
volumes for each year of a pontificate were numbered as a separate series. 
Many volumes are lacking. 
These registers are of paper, large folio size. They are made up of quin- 
terna of 10 folios. At the head of each quinternum is the name of the scriptor, 
22 Anno X., vol. X., f. 181. 
23 Cardinal J. Hergenrother, Leoms X. Pontidcis Maximi Regesta (Freiburg i. B., 
1884), (Mar. 13, 1513-Oct. 16, 1515), gives two references to this register touching 
America. One, no. 4656 from vol. 3, of the Lat. Reg. of Leo X., f. 154, Sept. 24, 1513, is 
a bull to John, bishop elect of “ S. M. de Lantiqua in India ”, permitting him to take 
several Franciscan friars “ in ea Indiae parte quam Castellam ameam [auream, i. e., 
' Castilla del Oro’] appellant”. The other, no. 10044, vol. 38, of the Lat. Reg. of Leo 
X., f. 283, June 30, 1514, grants certain privileges for a hospital at Teneriffe, and “pro 
navigantibus in Indias quam pro commorantibus in ead’ insula ”. 
24 Dom U. Berliere, Suppliques de Clement VI. (1342-1352) (Rome, 1906), the first 
volume of the Analecta Vaticano-Belgica of the Belgian Historical Institute, introduc¬ 
tion ; H. Denifle, Desolation des Pglises de France pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans 
(Paris, 1897, 1899) ; M. Miltenberger, in Historisches Jahrbuch, XL. 252; P. Kehr, 
“ Bemerkungen zu den Papstlichen Supplikenregistern des 14. Jahrhunderts,” in Mittheil. 
des Inst, fur Ost. Geschichtsforschung, VIII, 84-102; G. Brom, Archivalia in Italie, pp. 
467-472. 
25 In the earlier volumes, the original supplication; or the abstract made for use in 
considering the case and signed; or the roll on which numbers of such abstracts were 
written so that one signature could serve for the whole, appears to have been placed in 
the register, but for the later period, the volumes are as described. 
26 Hinojosa, Los Despachos, p. xxxi. 
27 Hinojosa, ibid., gives the extreme years as 1417 and 1846. 
