the bishopric; his subordinates are the Vice-Camerlengo, or Governor, for the criminal jurisdiction; for the civil jurisdiction, the "Auditor Cameræ;" for finance, the Treasurer.

The ancient office of arch presbyter appears to have been merged in that of the Pope's Vicar-General in diocesan matters, now called the Cardinal-Vicar; who became the representative of the Pope in matters relating to his own diocese, and, in fact, the acting Bishop of Rome, except that he does not collate to benefices nor exercise. the "Power of the Keys." He is assisted by the vicegerent, who is always a bishop, and by several other officials.

In the exercise of the power of "binding and loosing," the Pope, like other bishops, is assisted by a Penitentiary, who in Rome is a cardinal, and who holds the same position in reference to the affairs of the Primacy that he does in reference to the diocese of Rome.

The archdiocese of Rome includes the six "suburbicarian " sees: 1. Ostia and Velletri; 2. Porto, S. Rufina, Civita Vecchia; 3. Palestrina; 4. Frascati; 5. Sabina; 6. Albano. As, however, the bishops of these places are cardinals, and the sees are practically administered from Rome, while the Pope has a concurrent jurisdiction, the Cardinal-Vicar has most of the business of the province in his hands, and the archbishopric has no independent administrative machinery.

The States of the Church were in the first instance a domain or estate; and the temporal government of the Pope consisted simply of the stewardship and financial administration of the "Patrimony," saving the rights of the nobles,—and the government of the city of Rome, when its ancient freedom and independence were infringed upon. This state of things was not changed by the acquisition of the "Legations; "for these provinces retained, by express stipulation, considerable independence, and the Pope contented himself with sending a clerical representative, "a Legate," to take the highest place in the government and transmit the revenues of the subject territory to Rome, while the old powers of the nobles, the several cities, and the monasteries, remained unchanged. In consequence of this domain aspect of the States of the Church, the CardinalCamerlengo exercised the principal power in relation to them, as Minister for Home Affairs and for Finance. The dignity of his position was increased by the respect paid him as representative of the College of Cardinals in its governing capacity; he was, indeed, regarded rather as minister of the autocratic college, than of the Pope. But as the Pope came to be more and more a sovereign prince, a rival power was created, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, who was emphatically the minister of the Pope himself. This official, at first generally a member of the Papal family, was originally called the

Cardinal-Nephew, or, if not a blood-relation, the Cardinal-Patron; afterwards the Cardinal-Secretary. He was, in the first instance, a kind of cabinet-minister, or personal adviser of the Pope. He attended to the administration of all those powers over the States of the Church which the Pope still possessed personally, independently of the Cardinal-Camerlengo. The bounds that separated the jurisdiction of the secretary from that of the camerlengo were vague and ill-defined, and the former, supported by the Pope, constantly encroached on the province of the latter. The secretary had the immediate control of the legates and the Papal troops, and was the medium by which the nobles and the several independent corporations in the States approached their sovereign. He was from the first the sole Minister for Foreign Affairs, and that in ecclesiastical as well as purely political transactions; from which circumstance, and from his constant personal intercourse with the Pope, he exercised a highly important influence on the conduct of the Primacy. The business passing through the hands of the Cardinal-Secretary increased so considerably after 1815 that in 1833 it was found necessary to divide the office; the Cardinal-Secretary became the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and a Secretary of State for Home Affairs was appointed, who is, however, in all respects, subordinate to the representative of the old Cardinal-Secretary. The Foreign-Secretary is naturally the best known in foreign countries of all the Roman officials, and many, who would recognise no other name in the Roman Government, are familiar with that of Antonelli.

The "Rota Romana," the highest court of justice in Rome, was constituted by John XXII. in the year 1326, and more exactly regulated by Sixtus IV. and Benedict XIV. It is doubtful whence its name was derived; whether from the round form of the calendar which regulated its sittings, or from the judges sitting in a circle. In the early days of its existence the Rota claimed to be a Court of Appeal from all Christendom.

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To draw up the immense mass of official documents necessary for government of this kind the Papal Chancery (Cancellaria Apostolica) was formed out of the former College of Notaries; and as the great number of reserved benefices created a new kind of official business, a branch of the Chancery-the Datary-was. entrusted with the registration of these matters; it became, however, in practice, a consulting board on matters relating to benefices, and independent of the Chancery.

For the assistance of the Pope in matters with which he dealt personally, a board was formed, called the "Signatura," from the fact that the rescripts which received the signature of the Pope himself passed under its supervision; this was again divided into two branches,

the "signatura gratiæ," which dealt with spiritual matters; and the "signatura justitiæ," which dealt with the administration of justice. Neglecting the more political offices, at the time of the Council of Trent the principal branches of the Curia were:-1. The College of Cardinals assembled in Consistory; 2. The two Signatures; 3. The Penitentiary; 4. The Rota; 5. The Datary. For the despatch of the documentary business connected with the Consistory and the Signatures, the Chancery served; for less formal documents, the Secretariat of the Breves, originally intended to conduct the private correspondence of the Pope. The documents of the Penitentiary, Rota, and Datary were drawn up by their own officials. The provinces of the several boards and offices were distributed as follows:-All business involving dogmatic and liturgical considerations, and all business respecting the States of the Church and the relations between Church and State, came before the Consistory; as did also the nomination of bishops and the bestowal of certain benefices (beneficia consistorialia). The power of "binding and loosing," indulgences, dispensations in matrimonial cases, &c., came before the Penitentiary. The "Signatura Gratia" attended to all those indulgences or dispensations which the Pope chose to confer in person, and to the bestowal of benefices which were not claimed by the Consistory or the Datary. The province of the Secretariat of Breves was not precisely defined. The Rota claimed an appellate jurisdiction from the whole of Christendom; and the Signatura Justitiæ" was the ecclesiastical court of the Primate of Christendom, whose jurisdiction, however, was limited by the special agreements made in many cases with particular countries, in virtue of which he was bound to name judices in partibus, instead of bringing cases before this tribunal.

Of these boards the "Signatura Gratiæ " has ceased to exist, and its business has devolved, partly on the Datary, partly on the Secretariat of Breves, partly on the Cardinal-Secretary. The Rota and the "Signatura Justitia" have become mere offices of the Roman State, though, in the case of the Rota, the Curia declines to acknowledge the fact, and continues to assert its universal jurisdiction, regarding the actual state of things as the effect of temporary pressure. The present constitution of the Rota rests mainly on a "motu proprio" of Gregory XVI. of November 10, 1838. It is divided into two colleges or senates, of which the one, the court of "Second Instance," receives appeals in civil suits from the tribunals of Rome and its dependencies; the other, the court of "Third Instance," has a still higher appellate jurisdiction, receiving appeals even from the other branch of the Rota itself, as well as from the subordinate tribunals in matters which involve spiritual as well as civil considerations. The Rota consists of twelve members (Auditores

Rotæ), prelates, each of whom is assisted by a professional jurist. The senior in office is the dean, and presides at sittings of the full court. Each of the senates must consist of at least five judges. As the decisions of the Rota form a large portion of the Roman common law, they are reported and published annually.

The Penitentiary, the Datary, the Secretariat of Breves, and the Chancery still subsist. The head of each of these offices is a cardinal, who has a deputy and a considerable official staff under him. The office of Cardinal-Secretary of the Breves has in the present century generally been joined with that of the Cardinal-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The office of the latter includes, among other officials, three prelates, who are respectively secretaries of the cypher, of Latin letters, and "ad principes: " the business of the first is the cyphering and decyphering of despatches; of the second, the correspondence with bishops and chapters; of the third, the correspondence with princes.

These various boards and offices belonging to the mixed temporal and spiritual office of the Pope form, however, but a small portion of the Curia; a large portion of the business of the Papal Court is transacted by various perpetual commissions or "congregations," composed for the most part of cardinals. Many of these were first constituted by the organizing ability of Sixtus V. (1585-1590); but one of the most important, the Inquisition, is older than his time, and the Propaganda is later. The principal of these congregations require further notice.

The whole body of cardinals, sitting together, forms, as already mentioned, the Consistory. This is the Pope's council in all cases of the highest moment ("causæ majores, consistoriales "), especially in cases relating to the rights and proceedings of bishops ("causæ episcopales"). Such matters as organic changes in the arrangements of bishoprics, confirmation of the statutes of chapters, the exercise of the Papal prerogatives in respect of the appointment and resignation of bishops, administrators, and coadjutors, and the like, come before the Consistory.

The business of the Committee of Cardinals, called the "Consistorial Congregation," the prefect of which is the Pope himself, is theoretically simply to prepare the business to be transacted in the full sitting of the College of Cardinals; but it has in practice so extended its power that the only business of the Consistory is to ratify and solemnly promulgate the conclusions already arrived at by the Consistorial Congregation.

The "Congregatio Concilii" was originated by Pius IV. in 1564 as an authorized interpreter of the decrees of the Council of Trent, and received a further development from Sixtus V. As the doctrine

and discipline of the modern Roman Church rest to a great extent on the decrees of Trent, the province of this congregation is very extensive. As, for instance, the Council dealt with cases of matrimony and divorce, the declaration of what constitutes nullity and validity of marriage belongs to this board; as also, for the same reason, the declaration of the necessary conditions for the validity of holy orders.

Another very extensive class of questions comes before the "Congregation on Matters connected with Bishops and Regulars" (dei Vescovi e Regolari), which deals with various matters relating to bishops and religious orders. There is besides a "Congregation of the Examination of Bishops" (dell' Esame), which has jurisdiction over the Italian bishops, and is divided into two branches-that of theology and that of canon law. A kindred congregation-that of Rites-undertakes the preparatory investigation for the solemn beatification and canonization of saints, and has an independent jurisdiction in matters relating to divine worship. Besides these, the Congregation for "Extraordinary Affairs Ecclesiastical," presided over by the Pope himself or the Cardinal-Secretary of State, is summoned whenever ecclesiastical cases come up for decision by the Holy See which for some reason it is not thought proper to entrust to any of the forenamed boards.

The general constitution of these various congregations is of the same kind. They include a president, the cardinal-prefect, named by the Pope, unless the Pope is himself prefect; a secretary, who is a prelate; and certain "consultors." Cases of small importance are despatched by the prefect and secretary alone; on more important matters a statement is made by a reporter (ponente) appointed for the purpose, upon which each member of the congregation, who is already informed of the matter in dispute by a printed schedule of "facts and reasons," and allowed to inspect the documents in the case, may oppose. The conclusion in many cases requires the approval of the Pope before promulgation.

But the congregations which, of all branches of Roman organization, are best known, by name at least, to the world at large, are still to be mentioned-these are the congregations of the Inquisition, the Index, and "De Propaganda Fide."

The "Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition," or "of the Holy Office," was established by Paul III. in the year 1542, and developed by Pius IV., Pius V., and still more by Sixtus V. in 1588. It consists of twelve cardinals, a secretary, and twenty-four "consultors," professed theologians, who have place and vote at the board. The prefect is the Pope himself. There is a standing "Committee of Instruction" to prepare the business for the congregation,