Persons appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents which are issued from chanceries or tribunals. As soon as a bureau for ecclesiastical documents was established, we find evidence of notaries, and in the time of Pope Julius I (4th century) the notaries formed a kind of college presided over by a "primicerius" or chief. At present the only ecclesiastical notaries are the officials of the episcopal and Roman curiae, who also act as secretaries, and those who are appointed to the ordinary tribunals of the Holy See, the Rota, and the Signatura. They are similar to registrars and clerks of the court in civiltrials, and are usually clerics.
This dictionary contains not only definitions and explanations of every subject in Religion, Scripture, tradition, doctrine, morals, sacraments, rites, customs, devotions and symbolism, but also accounts of the Church in every continent, country, diocese; missions, notable Catholic centers, cities, and places with religious names; religious orders, church societies, sects and false religions. It has brief articles also on historical events and personages, on the Old Testament and New, and on popes, prelates, priests, men and women of distinction, showing what the Church has done for civilization and correcting many errors which have hitherto passed for history.Wikipedia
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