OBOLUS OF SAINT PETER (DENIER OF ST. PETER). — In the Middle Ages, the term "denier of St. Peter" referred to the annual tribute paid to the Holy See by states and principalities that were subsequently placed under its special protection. This money was either brought directly to Rome or deposited in the hands of the papal legates.
The following recognized this particular form of subjection to the Holy See and thus paid the denier of St. Peter: England (7th century), where the payment was abolished in 1534, restored by Mary Tudor, and abolished again by Elizabeth; the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1059), Denmark (1063), the Spanish kingdoms (1073), Bohemia (1075), Croatia and Dalmatia (1076), Portugal (1144), and the Scandinavian kingdoms, where the denier of St. Peter was collected until the Reformation.
After the progressive spoliation of the territories of the former Papal States, the expression "denier of St. Peter" or, as it was later called, "Obolus of St. Peter" came to serve as a substitute for the revenues previously secured from the contributions of the Papal State.
In 1859, the Holy See was facing a deficit of 80,000 scudi in its budget; it sufficed to launch the idea (which seems to have been due to Montalembert) for the various peoples of the earth to vie with one another in contributing to the Holy Father: first and foremost, the clergy and the episcopate. It was then decided to organize the flow of money by creating a special institution, which took the name of the administration of the Obolus of St. Peter. In Rome, an archconfraternity under the title of St. Peter was founded (apostolic letter, 31 Oct. 1860), presided over by the cardinal vicar, with all its affiliated branches authorized by specific statutes approved by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. The purpose of the confraternity was to find those who would collect the offerings and send them to the Roman pontiff. The dioceses, in a noble competition, either created special organizations and regulations (in Paris, for example, the organization took the name of *Oeuvre du denier de St-Pierre*, modeled on the *Opera della Propagazione della Fede*) or established associations similar to that of Rome. The result confirmed the usefulness of this capillary organization and its related provisions. Special committees were set up in individual parishes, presided over by the curate (or parish priest), to whom the proceeds of collections were handed over, along with a list of donors, so that they could be forwarded to the bishop.
Thus, the papal finances were able to recover what was being taken from them by successive occupations.
With the encyclical *Saepe Venerabiles Fratres* (5 Aug. 1871), Pius IX gave official sanction to the institution.
After 20 Sept. 1870, the same organization was maintained: the Obolus of St. Peter, merged with the Treasury, came under the jurisdiction of Cardinal Antonelli, the Secretary of State. Upon his accession to the papacy, Leo XIII established a cardinalatial commission to assist the cardinal Secretary of State in the administration of the Obolus and the property of the Holy See. Its first task was to make the administration of the Apostolic Palaces and the Obolus of St. Peter more independent of the Secretariat of State and the Prefecture of the Apostolic Palaces, ordering nuncios and apostolic delegates to handle matters concerning the Obolus of St. Peter through separate correspondence. To this end, the Holy Father issued the two *motu proprio* of 11 Dec. 1880 and 23 May 1882. On 1 July 1882, the fund of the Apostolic Datary also passed into the patrimony of the administration of the Obolus of St. Peter and the property of the Holy See. On 1 Apr. 1887, the fund of the Obolus of St. Peter was also given an internal regulation of 27 articles; a new regulation was issued in 1891 and in 1894.
The apostolic constitution *Sapienti Consilio* of 29 June 1908, which reorganized the Roman Curia, did not bring any changes to the administration of the Obolus of St. Peter (*AAS*, I [1909], pp. 7-108), which remained unchanged even under Benedict XV and Pius XI until December 1926, when the Prefecture of the Apostolic Palaces was united with the General Administration of the Property of the Holy See (*motu proprio* of 16 Dec. 1926). From that time onward, no distinct administration of the Obolus of St. Peter was mentioned, but it too, along with its employees, became part of the General Administration of the Property of the Holy See.