Papal bull

A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter

issued by a pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It is named after the
leaden seal (bulla) that was traditionally appended to the end in order
to authenticate it.

Contents
History
Format
Seal
Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a
Content lead bulla
See also
Notes
References
Further reading

History
Papal bulls have been in use at least since the 6th century, but the
phrase was not used until around the end of the 13th century, and
then only internally for unofficial administrative purposes. However,
it had become official by the 15th century, when one of the offices of
the Apostolic Chancery was named the "register of bulls" ("registrum The Apostolic constitutionMagni aestimamus
bullarum").[1] issued as a papal bull byPope Benedict XVI in
2011 which instituted theMilitary Ordinariate of
By the accession of Pope Leo IX in 1048, a clear distinction Bosnia and Herzegovina
developed between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity.
The majority of the "great bulls" now in existence are in the nature of
confirmations of property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries and religious institutions. In an epoch when there was
much fabrication of such documents, those who procured bulls from Rome wished to ensure that the authenticity of their bull was
above suspicion. A papal confirmation, under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient evidence of title in
[1]
cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed.

Since the 12th century, papal bulls have carried a leaden seal with the heads of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul on one side
and the pope’s name on the other. Papal bulls were originally issued by the pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature,
but by the 13th century, papal bulls were only used for the most formal or solemn of occasions.[2] Papyrus seems to have been used
almost uniformly as the material for these documents until the early years of the eleventh century, after which it was rapidly
superseded by a rough kind ofparchment.[1]

Modern scholars have retroactively used the word "bull" to describe any elaborate papal document issued in the form of a decree or
privilege, solemn or simple, and to some less elaborate ones issued in the form of a letter. Popularly, the name is used for any papal
document that contains a metal seal.
Today, the bull is the only written communication in which the pope will refer to
himself as "Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei" ("Bishop, Servant of the Servants of
God").[3] For example, when Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree in bull form, he
began the document with "Benedictus, Episcopus, Servus Servorum Dei".

While papal bulls always used to bear a metal seal, they now do so only on the most
solemn occasions. A papal bull is today the most formal type of public decree or
letters patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the pope.

Format
A bull's format formerly began with one line in tall, elongated letters containing
three elements: the pope's name, the papal title "Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei"
("Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God"), and its incipit, i. e., the first few Latin
words from which the bull took its title for record keeping purposes, but which
might not be directly indicative of the bull's purpose. Printed text of Pope Leo X's Bull
against the errors of Martin Luther,
The body of the text had no specific conventions for its formatting; it was often very
also known as Exsurge Domine,
simple in layout. The closing section consisted of a short datum"
" that mentioned the issued in June 1520
place of issuance, day of the month and year of the pope's pontificate on which
issued, and signatures, near which was attached the seal.

For the most solemn bulls, the pope signed the document himself, in which case he used the formula "Ego N. Catholicae Ecclesiae
Episcopus" ("I, N., Bishop of the Catholic Church"). Following the signature in this case would be an elaborate monogram, the
signatures of any witnesses, and then the seal. Nowadays, a member of the Roman Curia signs the document on behalf of the pope,
usually the Cardinal Secretary of State, and thus the monogram is omitted.

Seal
The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the metal seal (bulla), which was
usually made of lead, but on very solemn occasions was made of gold, as those on
Byzantine imperial instruments often were (see Golden Bull). On the obverse it
depicted, originally somewhat crudely, the early Fathers of the Church of Rome, the
Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, identified by the letters Sanctus PAulus and
Sanctus PEtrus (thus, SPA •SPE or SPASPE). St. Paul, on the left, was shown with
flowing hair and a long pointed beard composed of curved lines, while St. Peter, on Lead bulla (obverse and reverse) of
the right, was shown with curly hair and a shorter beard made of dome-shaped Gregory IX, pope 1227 to 1241
globetti (beads in relief). Each head was surrounded by a circle of globetti, and the
rim of the seal was surrounded by an additional ring of such beads, while the heads
[4] On the reverse was the name of the issuing pope in the nominative Latin form,
themselves were separated by a depiction of a cross.
with the letters "PP", forPastor Pastorum ("Shepherd of Shepherds"). This disc was then attached to the document either by cords of
hemp, in the case of letters of justice and executory letters, or by red and yellow silk, in the case of letters of grace, that was looped
through slits in the vellum of the document. The term "bulla" derives from the Latin "bullire" (""to boil""), and alludes to the fact
that, whether of wax, lead, or gold, the material making the seal had to be melted to soften it for impression.

In 1535, the Florentine engraver Benvenuto Cellini was paid 50 scudi to recreate the metal matrix which would be used to impress
the lead bullae of Pope Paul III. Cellini retained definitive iconographic items like the faces of the two Apostles, but he carved them
with a much greater attention to detail and artistic sensibility than had previously been in evidence. On the reverse of the seal he
added several fleurs-de-lis, a heraldic device of the Farnese family, from which Pope Paul III descended.
Since the late 18th century, the lead bulla has been replaced with a red ink stamp of Saints Peter and Paul with the reigning pope's
name encircling the picture, though very formal letters, e. g. the bull of Pope John XXIII convoking the Second Vatican Council, still
receive the leaden seal.

Original papal bulls exist in quantity only after the 11th century onward, when the transition from fragile papyrus to the more durable
parchment was made. None survives in entirety from before 819. Some original lead bullae, however, still survive from as early as
the 6th century.

Content
In terms of content, the bull is simply the format in which a decree of the pope appears. Any subject may be treated in a bull, and
many were and are, including statutory decrees, episcopal appointments, dispensations, excommunications, Apostolic constitutions,
canonizations, and convocations.

The bull was the exclusive letter format from the Vatican until the 14th century, when the papal brief appeared. The brief is the less
formal form of papal communication and was authenticated with a wax impression, now a red ink impression, of the Ring of the
Fisherman. There has never been an exact distinction of usage between a bull and a brief, but nowadays most letters, including
encyclicals, are issued as briefs.

See also
Abbreviator
Bull of the Crusade
Canonical Coronation
Edict
Fatwa
Golden Bull
Great Seal of the Realm
Letters Patent
Proclamation
Rota (papal signature)
Ukase

Notes
1. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Thurston,
Herbert (1908). "Bulls and Briefs" (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03052b.htm). In Herbermann, Charles.Catholic
Encyclopedia. 3. New York: Robert Appleton.
2. "Papal bull" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84314/bull-papal). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved
7 July 2012.
3. Mann, Stephanie A., "What Is a Papal Bull?",Our Sunday Visitor, September 1, 2016 (https://www.osv.com/Magazin
es/TheCatholicAnswer/Article/TabId/652/ArtMID/13618/ArticleID/20552/What-Is-a-Papal-Bull.aspx)
4. Botsford, George Willis; Botsford, Jay Barrett (1922).A Brief History of the World: With Especial Reference to Social
and Economic Conditions(https://books.google.com/books?id=_ao-AAAA YAAJ&dq=%22papal%20bull%22%20pete
r%20paul%20sanctus%20petrus&pg=P A293). Macmillan. p. 293.

References
Chambers, Ephraim. Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
, 1728
"Papal bull". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
Further reading
Albert, C.S. “Bull.” Lutheran Cyclopedia. New York: Scribner, 1899. p. 67
Papal Encyclicals Online
List of Conciliar documents at the Theology Library
Cherubini Laertius: Magnum Bullarium Romanum

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