Papal bull: Encyclopedia II - Papal bull - Format

Papal bull - Format

The bull's format began with one-line in tall elongated letters containing three elements: the pope's name, the pope's title (episcopus servus servorum Dei), and a phrase indicative of the bull's purpose for record keeping purposes (the incipit), from which the bull would also take its name. The body of the text had no special formatting and was often very simple in layout. The closing section consisted of a short datum, mentioning the place it was issued, the day of the month and the year of the pope's pontification, signatures, and finally the seal.

The Pope, for the most solemn bulls, would sign 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 signature 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.

The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the metal seal. This seal was usually made of lead, but on very solemn occasions was made of gold. It depicted the founders of the church of Rome, the apostles Peter and Paul, identified by the letters Sanctus PAulus and Sanctus PEtrus. The name of the issuing pope is on the reverse side. This was then attached to the document by either cords of hemp or red and yellow silk that was looped through slits in the document. The term bulla actually is the name of this seal, which to ancient observers looked like a bubble floating on water. Bullire in Latin means "to boil". Since the late 18th century, the lead bulla has been replaced with a red ink stamp of Sts. Peter and Paul with the reigning pope's name encircling the picture, though very formal letters, e.g. the bull of John XXIII convoking the Second Vatican Council, still receive the lead 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 leaden seals, however, still survive from as early as the 6th century.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Format", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki