APOSTOLIC ALMONRY. — This is the palatine office that regulates the distribution of papal subsidies and rescripts of Apostolic Blessings. Its establishment as a proper office seems to date back to Gregory X (1271–76); Alexander V, with a bull of 1409, Innocent XII, with an instruction of 1698, and Gregory XVI, with the instructions and directives of 10 May 1842, fully defined the charitable activity of the A. A.
The A. A., which obtained the funds for its alms from specific allocations paid by the Apostolic Datary, the general Lottery Administration, the Apostolic Camera, and the Administration of vacant benefices, distributed—as it still does—regular and extraordinary alms to the poor, the aged, the sick, widows, orphans, etc. It provided bread and provisions, assigned dowries, assisted those persecuted on account of the Christian religion, and extended its charitable activity to public and private pious institutions.
The A. A. also had special provisions for the city of Rome and the Roman Campagna. For this purpose Rome was divided into eleven sections, with ecclesiastical visitors, physicians, surgeons, and materials for providing medical assistance to the poor. For the poor sick of the Roman Campagna, the A. A. also paid the cost of transport to the city hospitals.
In 1826 Leo XII established a subsidy commission (which began its activity on 1 January 1827) that, on the basis of information, including information obtained at the applicants’ homes, gathered by specially appointed persons, granted the requested subsidy. Pius VIII again had petitions for subsidies submitted to the A. A. In 1831 Gregory XVI prescribed, by a letter from his cardinal vicar, that parish priests provide the aforementioned petitions with a certificate concerning the applicant, so that the A. A. might grant the subsidy to persons truly deserving of II. This is still the usual practice.
The A. A. is also the office in which Apostolic Blessings are granted in the form of a rescript bearing the signature of the Monsignor Secret Almoner of His Holiness, who is the head of the office and has under him an ecclesiastical secretary, an accountant, and other secretarial staff.