\ 
Introduction 5 
since 1317. The authority is vested in a cardinal secretary, but the greater 
portion of the work is performed by a substitute and a staff of subordinates. 
The chief executive officer of the papacy is the secretary of state. 18 This 
office is entirely modern, its prototype dating only to 1484, its importance 
beginning under Leo X., and its present status only from the time when Saint 
Carlo Borromeo held it. Its functions resemble those of a first minister in a 
temporal state, holding in addition the special charge of foreign affairs. Under 
the Pope, the secretary has been, since 1560, the chief director of the policy of 
the Holy See. The secretary is assisted by a substitute, a secretary of letters 
to princes, a secretary of Latin letters, and a large number of subordinates. 
The chief financial organ of the papacy is the Camera. 11 This office is di¬ 
rectly responsible to the Pope. It has never had so complete a control of 
finance as is usual in the case of government exchequers. The Curia, the 
congregations, and other bodies, have each their own financial officers, 15 and 
their accounts seem never to have been correlated by the apostolic chamber. 
Aside from the revenues of the papal estates which have always been im¬ 
portant, and the political revenues of the Papal States, the income of the 
papacy has been chiefly derived from the annates, being the whole or a speci¬ 
fied portion of the first year’s fruits of benefices in the gift of the Holy See; 
the quindeni, or similar payments made every fifteen years in the case of 
benefices held in mortmain; the censum, or a tax paid in return for temporal 
protection; the spolia, or receipts from the estates of holders of papal bene¬ 
fices ; the revenue, during vacancies, of sees in the gift of the Pope; visita- 
tiones, or taxes on bishops in acquittal of visits to Rome on occasions when 
they were required to come there; procurationes, or taxes on the right of 
hospitality enjoyed during diocesan visitations; fees for services performed 
by the papal court, such as, servitiae communes of a new bishop, and the pre¬ 
paring of bulls; the fees for favors granted by the Dataria and the congre¬ 
gations ; Peter’s pence and other free-will offerings. 18 The collection of most 
of the required payments was a duty of the Camera, and its collectors at 
one time travelled throughout Europe. With the improvement of means of 
communication, these special agents ceased to be necessary, and business 
became more concentrated at Rome. During the modern period the chief 
occupation of the Camera was with the Papal States, and when these were 
incorporated into the kingdom of Italy, its importance declined. At the 
present time another of its leading duties, the administration of the papal 
properties, is performed by a special commission apparently independent of 
it. 17 The Camera is administered by the Cardinal Camerlingo and a staff of 
subordinates. 
The administration of the papal family is, of course, a matter of great im¬ 
portance. The head of this department is the master of ceremonies, whose 
duties are those naturally suggested by his title. After him is the master of 
the chamber, whose special charge is the making of introductions to the 
Pope. Under them serves a numerous corps of subordinates. 18 
18 Ibid., pp. 13-23. See also pp. 52-53. 
11 See pp. 31-34. 
15 See Gerarchia. 
10 See references in note 38, p. 32; and Grimaldi, passim. In particular, Berliere, Obli- 
gationes et Solutiones, p. iv; Bourgin, Archives Pontificates, pp. 50-51. Also the archives 
themselves. 
17 Gerarchia. 
18 Grimaldi, pp. 41-54. 
