A notarius is a public secretary who is appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents (compare English "
notary
A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems.
A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...
"). In the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
there have been apostolic notaries and even episcopal notaries. Documents drawn up by ''notarii'' are issued chiefly from the official administrative offices, the chanceries; secondly, from tribunals; lastly, others are drawn up at the request of individuals to authenticate their contracts or other acts.
The title and office existed in the bureaucracy of the
Christianised Roman Empire at the Imperial Court, where the college of imperial notaries were governed by a ''
primicerius''. From the usage in the Emperor's representative in the West, the
Exarch of Ravenna
The Exarchate of Ravenna ( la, Exarchatus Ravennatis; el, Εξαρχάτο της Ραβέννας) or of Italy was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the ...
, the post and title was applied in the increasingly complicated bureaucracy of the
Papal curia in Rome. There were ''notarii'' attached to all the
episcopal see, whence they passed into use in the royal chanceries. All these ''notarii'' were in
minor orders
Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...
.
As the ''ex officio'' head of the papal chancery, the ''primicerius'' of the notaries was an important personage. During a vacancy of the papal chair, he formed part of the interim government, and a letter in 640 is signed (the pope being elected but not yet consecrated) by one "Johannes, ''primicerius'' and serving in the place of the holy apostolic see".
There were formerly apostolic notaries and even
apostolic prothonotaries commissioned by papal letters, whose duty it was to receive documents in connection with
benefices, foundations, and donations in favor of churches, the wills of clerics and other affairs to which the ecclesiastical hierarchy was an interested party. The title no longer exists; the only ecclesiastical notaries at present are the officials of the Roman and episcopal
curia
Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...
e.
Prothonotaries
''
Liber Pontificalis'' attributes the seven regional notaries of the Church in Rome, one for each ecclesiastical district of the Holy City, to an institution of
Pope Clement I (traditionally 88–98), to record the acts of the martyrs;
[''Liber Pontificalis'', ''s.v.'' "Vita Clementis", ed. Duchesne, I, 123, noted in ''Catholic Encyclopedia''.] though this is unattested in any early document, the notice of
Pope Julius I (337-352) in the ''Liber Pontificalis'' relates that this pope ordered an account of the property of the Church, intended as an authentic document, to be drawn up before the ''primicerius'' of the notaries. These important officials became the ''
prothonotaries''.
Notes
{{Authority control
Catholic ecclesiastical titles
Officials of the Roman Curia
Government of the Byzantine Empire
Notary