BRIEF. – A term given in the Middle Ages to various types of documents, still used today to denote a special form of papal document.
In the centuries before the 13th, the most common meaning was as equivalent to *Notitia* (q.v.), a document of proof generally drawn up at the request of the recipient and lacking the author’s signature; it was also used for “letter” and, especially in Tuscany in the 12th–13th centuries, for “oath-taking charter,” whence it also came to denote “statute” inasmuch as it was the object of an oath. From *b.* derive the notarial terms *imbreviare* and *imbreviatura* (q.v.).
The *b.* is distinguished from the bull (q.v.) by a combination of external and internal features that give it far less solemnity. It is distinguished first of all by the quality and color of the parchment, which is very fine and white; by the type of script, which follows the evolution of current hands—Gothic cursive in the 14th century and the first decades of the 15th, humanistic cursive in the 15th and 16th centuries, with modern derived forms in more recent times; and by the seal, which is of red wax bearing the imprint of the Fisherman’s ring (q.v.) or, from 1842 onward, of red ink with a similar representation. As for the text, *brevia* carry at the top the name of the Pope followed by his title and ordinal number (e.g., *Martinus pp. V*); at the end of the text the date is given in the modern manner, with the year reckoned according to the Circumcision style. The most characteristic element is the corroboration formula *sub anulo piscatoris*, added in the date after the place (in the 14th century and the first half of the 15th also *sub anulo fluctuantis naviculae* or *capitum Principum Apostolorum* or *nostro secreto*). *Brevia* of some importance bear the signature of the Cardinal Secretary of State, whereas in other cases the signature of the Chancellor of the *brevia* is affixed.
The earliest papal *breve* known to date is that of Boniface IX (17 Oct. 1390), preserved in the State Archive of Mantua; down to the mid-15th century they are rare.
*Brevia* arose as *litterae secretae*, i.e., written by apostolic secretaries for matters of political or administrative interest, but they were later widely used for every kind of grant. At first they were dispatched only in sealed form, the closure being guaranteed by a wax seal appropriately placed on the outside of the folded edges; from the 17th century onward *brevia* were also sent open in a more solemn form (with the formula at the beginning of the text *ad futuram rei memoriam*), and then the seal was placed on the back merely as a mark of validation.
The apostolic secretaries, as their responsibilities expanded, also dispatched documents in the form of a bull, called *brevia sub plumbo*. At present *brevia* are drawn up and dispatched by the Chancery of Apostolic *Brevia*, which constitutes the third section of the Secretariat of State (q.v.), even when the measure in question emanates from another dicastery.
Benedict XIV, in the bull *Gravissimum* of 26 Nov. 1745, provided a long list of cases in which the *breve* was to be used. Today, apart from the most important matters handled by bull, the use of the *breve* is very frequent: e.g., the creation and modification of apostolic vicariates and prefectures up to 1933 (after that date such creations are effected by bulls and boundary modifications by decrees of Propaganda); the sending of cardinal legates to congresses; the granting of indults or privileges to private individuals or juridical persons; the appointment of prelates and the conferral of honors; greetings and felicitations to sovereigns or heads of state. In the past, matters of broader scope were also regulated by *brevia*, such as the suppression of the Society of Jesus decreed by Clement XIV in 1773 and the restoration of the Hierarchy in England, effected by Pius IX on 1 Sept. 1850.