Before 1908 The role of
bibliotecarius first appears in 781, and was responsible for the
pope's books as well as redacting documents. The role of
cancellarius first appears under Silvester II. The
cancellarius produced documents for the pope, while the
bibliotecarius would date them. Subsequently, both roles tended to be filled by the same person. The use of the term
bibliotecarius ended under
Celestine II (1143–1144). From Honorius III (1216–1227) onwards the head of the chancery was called the
vicecancellarius. The
Cancellaria Apostolica was of ancient origin in its essence, but it derived its name from that of civil "
chanceries", including that of the Imperial Chancery. The
primacy of the Roman pontiff required that he have in his service officials to write and transmit his answers to the numerous petitions for favours and consultations addressed to him. Throughout its duration the office was reformed numerous times. The
Apostolic constitution Etsi ad Singula of
Pope Clement VII of 5 July 1532 provided the cardinalatial title of the
Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso to the chancellor. After
Pope Martin V had instituted a large number of offices in the
Cancellaria,
Pope Sixtus V placed many of them in the class of "
vacabili", i. e. venal offices (a practice also of secular courts, e. g. those of
France, even under the absolutist King
Louis XIV). The reclassification of many of the offices of the
Cancellaria as
vacabili was motivated by the need of the pope for money. The
pope was often compelled to defend the Church by waging war, equipping martial expeditions, or at least financially assisting the princes who waged such wars at his exhortation, but the Papal treasury was often insufficient to defray even the expenses of the
Papal States. Accordingly, the popes resorted to the expedient of selling several lucrative offices of the
Roman Curia to the highest bidder; however, these sales were not of the offices
per se, but of the receipts of the offices, e. g., the taxes paid for the favours that were granted through the pertinent office. Some of the offices that
Pope Sixtus V classified as
vacabili were of minor importance and therefore did not require special competence were sold with a grant of the right of succession to the heirs of the purchaser. Offices that entailed grave obligations and for which only pious and learned men were eligible were sold without this right and therefore reverted to the
Roman Curia on the death of the purchaser. An
aleatory contract, therefore, was formed, its uncertainties being the amount of the income of the office and the length of the life of the purchaser. The prices of the offices, especially of the more desirable ones, were considerable:
Lorenzo Corsini, afterwards
Pope Clement XII, bought the office of regent of the
Cancellaria for 30,000 Roman
scudi, a large fortune at the time. The disadvantage of these uncertainties might not be confined to the purchaser because he was free to condition the purchased office on the life of another designated person, named the "intestatary". The purchaser was also permitted to substitute a different intestatary if this substitution was expressed 40 days before the death of the immediately preceding intestatary. Other offices that
Pope Sixtus V classified as
vacabili were of greater importance, including that of Regent and those of the 25 solicitors, 12 notaries, and auditors of the Causes of the Holy Palace.
Pope Sixtus V assigned the liberal proceeds of these sales as part of the remuneration of the cardinal vice chancellor of the
Cancellaria (see below), but later
Pope Innocent XI rescinded them and assigned the revenue to the
Apostolic Camera.
Pope Alexander VIII restored the revenue to the vice chancellor, who at that time was his nephew
Pietro Ottoboni. The authority of the vice chancellor increased when in 1690
Pope Alexander VIII added to his office that of Compiler (
Sommista) in perpetuity. The government of Emperor
Napoleon I of France redeemed many of the
vacabili, which resulted in few remaining.
Pope Pius VII, after his return to
Rome, reformed the
Cancellaria and decreased its offices. But as he granted to the
vacabili the privilege that, by a legal fiction, time of their tenures was regarded as not having transpired ("
quod tempus et tempera non currant"), and many proprietors of
vacabili having had obtained grants of
sopravivevza, by which deceased intestataries were regarded to be alive, some offices remained
vacabili nominally, but not factually. Finally, in 1901
Pope Leo XIII suppressed all the
vacabili offices and ordered his
pro-datary to redeem them, when necessary substituting the office of the
Apostolic Datary for their proprietors.
1908–1973 The
Apostolic constitution Sapienti Consilio of
Pope Pius X of 29 June 1908 reduced the
Cancellaria Apostolica to a forwarding office (
Ufficio di Spedizione) consisting only of the cardinal chancellor, regent, apostolic prothonotaries, a
notary, a secretary and archivist, a protocolist, and four
amanuenses. The majority of the minor offices of the
Cancellaria were suppressed and its faculties were reduced only to the expedition of
Papal bulls for Consistorial
benefices, erection of new
dioceses and chapters, and other more important ecclesiastical affairs that required various forms of
apostolic letters. Thus Pius X restored the title of "Chancellor of Holy Roman Church" from the previous "Vice Chancellor" (see section below). The cardinalatial title of the chancellor remained the
Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso, as it had been since 5 July 1532. However, the chancellor retained little of his former authority. He acted as notary of the cardinalatial consistories and directed the office of the
Cancellaria Apostolica. Finally, the
motu proprio Quo Aptius of
Pope Paul VI of 27 February 1973 completely suppressed the
Cancellaria Apostolica. ==Office of chancellor==