VATICAN ARCHIVES: ARCHIVIO SEGRETO. 
The distinction between the Archivio Vaticano and the Archivio Segreto 
seems to rest upon the fact that De Pretis gave the latter title to his inventory 
of 78 armadii containing the regular office series, except for the department 
of state, as they existed in his time. As the term is without logical signifi¬ 
cance, it would perhaps have been better to keep it for that single collection, 
but in fact it is used in many senses. Here it is used, quite arbitrarily, for 
the regular office series as they exist to-day, except that of the department 
of state whose longer treatment makes separation convenient. The several 
collections annexed to the archives made a third division. The inventory of 
De Pretis, indice 133 , corrected to 1908, still serves in large measure as the 
regular finding list for the older archives, but many series have been extended, 
and many new ones added. The arrangement of De Pretis is followed as 
closely as possible, but material not listed by him is inserted where it seems 
naturally to belong. The chronological register of the Archivio Segreto, by 
Garampi, found in indici 168 - 184 , actually contains few references to this 
material, dealing chiefly with the collections of the secretary of state. 
THE PAPAL REGISTERS. 
Apostolic letters are of two kinds, bulls and briefs. 1 2 The first are more 
formal. They are characterized by being written on a special parchment, 
before 1878 in the scripta bollatica; by an elaborate phraseology based on 
traditions inherited from the chancery of the Roman Empire; by the method 
of dating from the year of the incarnation; 8 and by a seal with the heads and 
initials of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which was formerly, and in the most 
formal cases is now, stamped in lead. Bulls are classified according to lines 
of division which, while subject to change, are on the whole constant. These 
classes are: bulls de curia, issued on the motu proprio of the Pope, and paying 
no taxes; secretae, issued on petition, but not subject to tax; communes or 
di cancelleria , 3 * * * * issued on petition and subject to the regular taxes; in forma 
commissoria and in forma dignum, issued to bishops conferring the right to 
appoint an individual named, to an office; in forma rationi congruit, issued 
on petition made to the predecessor of the reigning Pope; and half bulls, 
1 A good brief account of the technical characteristics of these is found in Grimaldi, 
Les Congregations Romaines, pp. 431-440. More elaborate accounts are: E. von 
Ottenthal, Regulae Cancellariae Apostolicae; Die pdpstlichen Kanzleiregeln (Innsbruck, 
1888, pp. 315) ; Regulae Ordinationes et Constitutiones Cancellariae Apostolicae Sanc- 
tissimi D. N. D. Leonis D. P. P. XII. (Rome, 1823, pp. 83) ; and Riganti, Commentaria 
in Regulas Cancellariae Apostolicae (Rome, 1751, four vols.). An instructive but not 
entirely accurate discussion, is that by the Count de Mas Latrie, “ Les Elements de la 
Diplomatique Pontificate ”, in Revue des Questions Historiques, XXXIX. 415-451, 
XLI. 382-435. See also A. Giry, Manuel de Diplomatique (Paris, 1894), pp. 693-704. 
The rules of chancery had a broader significance than might at first appear, as they 
applied to other departments charged with the drawing up of documents, as well as to 
the Cancellaria. Archives Historiques de la Gascogne, an XII. (1896), pp. i-lxxx, an 
introduction by Abbe Louis Guerard. 
2 From Nov. 1, 1908, all letters are dated by years beginning Jan. 1. 
3 It might be sufficient to distinguish these three classes, grouping under the third all 
the others except the last, which represents, really, a different line of division. See L. 
Duchesne, “ Rapport sur la Publication des Registres Pontificaux ”, in Melanges d’Arch. 
et d’Hist., XXV. 443-450. From Nov. 1, 1908, all bulls are issued per viam cancellariae. 
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