OF DISCOVERY”
By Reverend Dr Nancy Ash, DD, PhD
A Papal Bull was (and is) delivered “open” with
a seal attached to the bottom of a single sheet
of parchment (written on only one side). In
terms of context vs. content, let’s say that a Papal
Bull is the presentation, format or context for
delivering the content or formal decree from
any pope. They’ve been in use since the fourth
century CE, though not formally legitimized
until the twelfth century when designated as a
“valid” letter from the pope carrying a distinctive
bulla—a round metal seal usually made of lead,
though on rare and solemn occasions (Byzantine
imperial deeds) it was made of gold. Papal Bulls
were usually written in antiquated characters
known as curialis script and then traditionally
sealed with the bulla, known as a Great Seal of
the Papacy. Looking like an ancient coin, the
round bulla depicted heads of the founders of
the Church of Rome, apostles Peter and Paul,
with their images separated by a cross on one
side, with the issuing pope’s signature on the
reverse side.
Lead bulla (obverse and reverse), Pope Urban V, 1362
Image Source
By the thirteenth century, Papal Bull referred to all
important documents issued by the Pontiff; and it
morphed to a tersely principal papal record in the
fifteenth century when an office of the papal chancery was named, “registrar of the bulls” (registrum
bullarum). Old seals still exist from the eleventh
century (none in their entirety before 819 CE),
with original leaden bulls remaining from the sixth
century CE. There are some preserved apart from
the document to which they were once attached.
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