BOLLARIO. - This name designates any collection of papal bulls or constitutions.
The first attempt to collect or print such documents separately dates back to 1550, when a collection of 60 bulls was published in Rome under the title: Bullae dicersorum Pontificum a Ioanne XXII ad Iulium III ex bibliotheca Ludovici Gomes. In 1579 there followed, again in Rome, the printing of a collection of 163 bulls, under the title: Bullae dicersorum Romanorum Pontificum a Bonifacio VIII ad Paulum IV. Again in Rome, in 1579, Cesare Mazzutelli's collection of 723 bulls was printed; it was followed by the collection of Lorenzo Cherubini (years 1586-1617), and that of A. M. Cherubini, brother of the former (year 1638). To A. M. Cherubini's edition, in 4 vols., Angelo da Lantusca and Giovanni Paolo da Roma added 2 vols. in 1672. These were the forerunners of the Magnum Bullarium Romanum: a collection in 32 vols. made up of the 8 vols. published by Gerolamo Mainardo as a complement to the B. of A. M. Cherubini, of the 20 vols. published by C. Cocquelines, and of the 4 vols. of the B. of Benedict XIV. The great B. Romanum comprises the papal letters from Leo I to the end of the pontificate of Benedict XIV. There are two continuations of it: one in 19 vols. published in Rome from 1835 to 1857, and the other in 10 vols. published in Prato from 1843 to 1867. The B. known as Taurinense, published under the editorship of Card. F. Gaude and A. Tomasetti, comprises the papal bulls up to Benedict XIV, and consists of 25 vols.: 20 printed in Turin from 1857 to 1872, and 5 printed in Naples from 1867 to 1885. These B. do not constitute authentic collections and none of them is complete.
There are also particular B., comprising documents of a single Pope, or documents concerning a religious Order.
Bibliography
Dino Staffa