DATARIA APOSTOLICA. – It is one of the offices of the Roman Curia. The name derives from datare (datum apud S. Petrum), since its special function was to affix the date to pontifical documents.
The origin of this office is not well known, since precise historical information concerning it is lacking. It is certain, however, that at first it formed part of the Apostolic Chancery, which for a long time was the sole body used by the supreme pontiff for the preparation and dispatch of the acts of the Holy See. Until the thirteenth century, among the officials of the Chancery there was one charged with affixing the date to the various grants of favors and to the documents of the Holy Father: later (fourteenth century) this office became more important and developed in such a way as to give rise to a special section, headed by a prelate charged with receiving and examining petitions, submitting them for the pope’s approval, and finally affixing to them the date of the day on which the favor was granted; later still, this section developed further and acquired very great authority, so much so that in the fifteenth century it was already a dicastery in its own right, with varied and extensive competence.
This office is mentioned under the pontificate of Martin V (1417–31). Under Sixtus IV (1471–84), its already well-defined competence related especially to the granting of certain favors and dispensations, and to the conferral of non-consistorial benefices reserved to the Holy See (v. BENEFICIO ECCLESIASTICO).
Under Sixtus V (1585–90), the D. A. attained its greatest importance. Indeed, on 5 April 1588, by the brief Decet Romanum Pontificem, he defined the competence of the D., which from then on, for a century and a half, was as follows:
1. Conferral of vacant non-consistorial benefices reserved to the Holy See, and of the same benefices not yet vacant, with the right of expectation.
2. Settlement concerning ecclesiastical property usurped by the secular power, and reduction of the related burdens.
3. Granting of pensions and imposition of burdens upon benefices and ecclesiastical property; sanation, commutation, and reduction of burdens relating to pious institutions.
4. Dispensations in the external forum from matrimonial impediments and irregularities, without prejudice to the powers belonging to the Holy Penitentiary in the case of the poor.
5. Grants of spiritual favors and privileges.
Since, both in the conferral of benefices and in the granting of favors, a fee was imposed, varying according to the importance of the benefice or favor obtained and according to the petitioner’s various financial circumstances, the revenues of the D. were very considerable, and in the hands of the supreme pontiff served various purposes of benevolence and charity. It was the D. that supplied funds for the Vatican and Lateran Penitentiaries; that assisted many colleges and pious institutions; that provided contributions to tribunals, Sacred Congregations, etc.; that supplied the funds for the numerous annual alms distributed to the poor; that undertook to assist ecclesiastics, parish priests, and bishops who were needy and deserving of the Church. Moreover, in times of public
calamity, it was the D. that generously assisted the affected populations; and it was always the D. that provided the means for the ordinary needs of the supreme pontiff.
Benedict XIV, who issued new regulations for the Sacred Congregations, by the constitution Gravissimum, dated 26 November 1745, considerably reduced the powers of this dicastery and established the limits of its competence in relation to the Secretariat of Briefs. From then on, the Secretariat of Briefs was assigned in particular matters relating to the settlement of ecclesiastical property not reserved to the Holy See and of pious burdens; permission to grant ecclesiastical property in emphyteusis ad tempus, provided that the annual rent did not exceed the sum of ten gold ducats; the erection of montes, colleges and provinces for religious, archconfraternities, etc.; the power to grant the portable altar, dispensation from abstinence, commutation of the recitation of the breviary for other prayers, absolution in reserved cases, etc. Among the powers held in common by the two dicasteries, mention should be made of dispensation from irregularities ex delicto vel ex defectu corporis; the indult to practice medicine and surgery; confirmations of statutes, privileges, etc.; the granting of perpetual indulgences to confraternities; permission to pass to an order of stricter observance. For the rest, the constitution left the competence of the D. unchanged.
In 1872, by a rescript of 3 March, Pius IX granted the D. the power to interpret nomine ipsius Pontificis the rules relating to the conferral of benefices; its power was thereby enlarged in a certain sense.
But in the years 1878–93 Leo XIII, by three different acts, suppressed many benefices reserved to the Holy See and established precise regulations concerning the conferral of the remaining benefices. Consequently, the competence of the D. was greatly reduced, since the most important part of what had until then constituted the object of its activity was no longer present.
The same Supreme Pontiff, on 11 June 1901, ordered and divided the office into three different sections: one for the collation of benefices; another for matrimonial dispensations; and a third for administrative matters.
With the reform of Pius X (constitution Sapienti Consilio of 29 June 1908), the D. was deprived of every power concerning dispensations from matrimonial impediments and irregularities, and of every grant of favors and privileges. It was, however, charged with sending the bulls directly (in matters within its competence), whereas previously they had been dispatched by the Apostolic Chancery.
The competence of this dicastery was thus defined in the important pontifical document: «It is the task of the D. to examine the suitability of those who aspire to non-consistorial benefices reserved to the Holy See; to draw up and dispatch the apostolic letters for the conferral of the same; to dispense, in conferring benefices, from the conditions required by law; to attend to the pensions and burdens that the supreme pontiff may have imposed in conferring benefices».
The CIC confirmed these regulations, repeating in can. 261 almost ad litteram the words of the Sapienti Consilio.
At the head of the D. is a cardinal, who is accordingly called the cardinal datary. It is uncertain whether this office arose with the establishment of the D., or whether it predated II. It seems established that at first the datary was an official of the Apostolic Chancery, charged with affixing the date to pontifical documents; subsequently he was the official placed over a special section of the Chancery; and finally this name was given to the prelate, head of the D., independent of the Chancery and with a clearly defined sphere of activity of its own.
The name datary derives from the distinction, introduced from the time of the Western Schism, between the
signature (signatura) of apostolic letters and the affixing of the date, entrusted to a particular person.
In ancient times, for the most part, this office was prelatic and entrusted to one of the auditors of the Rota. If a cardinal was appointed head of the D., or if the datary was raised to the cardinalate, he then took the name pro-datary. From the time of Innocent X, a cardinal was consistently found at the head of the D., almost provisionaliter seu iure eiusdem commendationis. At present, following the reform carried out by Pius X, and according to the CIC (can. 261), the datary is always a cardinal.
The major officials, who were directly subordinate to the datary and pro-datary, were formerly: the sub-datary, who acted as a substitute, with the power to replace the datary even at papal audiences; a prefect per obitum, for benefices vacant following the natural or civil death of the beneficiary; and a prefect per concessum, for graces and favors. There were also various other minor officials, some of whom were charged with examining petitions for matrimonial dispensations; others with writing the bulls, safeguarding the money, and so forth.
The datary, the sub-datary, and the prelate per obitum constituted the congress, which met every morning. In it, all pending matters were examined, and the datary, having obtained the consultative vote of the other two, issued the decree. If the matter presented a certain difficulty, it was sent pro-voto either to the Congregation of the Council, or of Bishops and Regulars, or of Rites, and sometimes also to the S. Rota. In the more important matters, the opinion of certain prelates was also requested; together with the sub-datary and the prefect per obitum, they had a consultative vote.
It was established practice in the D. that the conferral of a benefice could be challenged. If an aspirant wished to halt the progress of a grace already granted, he appeared before the D. and, with the permission of the sub-datary and the per obitum, affixed the nihil transeat to the petition of the first applicant. The latter, seeing the dispatch of the grace held up, summoned the other party before the datary, so that the nihil transeat might be removed. After hearing the procurators of the two contenders in adversarial proceedings, the datary issued his definitive decision. No appeal or recourse to another tribunal or Congregation was admitted against the datary’s decrees.
As regards the jurisdiction of the datary, although it was an axiom that «Papa, non datarius concedit gratias», it is certain that he possessed a specific power both to grant those graces customarily granted to everyone and to settle contentious cases falling within the competence of his dicastery. Moreover, it was the datary who, by virtue of the constitution of Urban VIII In supremo, attested to and drafted in appropriate form the graces granted by the Pope, and could intervene either to annul the granting of graces or to attach clauses to them.
Under Leo XIII, the D. was reorganized, so that the officials no longer included the prefects per obitum and per concessum; instead, immediately after the sub-datary, we find the prefect of the section for benefice collations, the prefect of matrimonial dispensations, and the administrator, in addition to other minor officials.
The present organizational structure of the D. A. comprises, besides the cardinal datary, followed by the regent, various study assistants and minor employees; in addition, several consulting theologians for the review of competitions.
Among his other innovations, Pius X established that, if the cardinal datary were impeded, the bulls should be signed by the cardinal Secretary of State; he also wished the cardinal datary, or another acting on his behalf, to inspect the conditions of the deposits at least once every three months.
The cardinal datary, as such, is the first of the palatine cardinals.
During the time in which the Apostolic See is vacant, the powers of the cardinal datary and of the D. cease entirely.