LEAD-SEALER OF THE APOSTOLIC CHANCERY. - Among the Chancery personnel assigned to the drafting and dispatch of papal bulls or to the collection of the related fees, the plumbator is properly the person who affixes the lead seal (v. BOLLA) and arranges for the dispatch of the document. The first mention dates from 1198, during the pontificate of Innocenzo III, under the title bullator, referring to a single person.
Thereafter there were numerous variations, both in number (2 under Bonifacio VIII, first 3, then 2 during the pontificates of Benedetto XII and Clemente VI, 4 under Martino V, again 2 under Eugenio IV), and in the designation of the p. of the A. C.: bullatores (v.), throughout the thirteenth century; fratres de bulla in 1367 under Urbano V; bullatores seu sigillatores in 1412 under Gregorio XII; custodes bullae under Martino V; plumbatores under Paolo II, Sisto IV, Innocenzo VIII; and this title prevailed over the others and was retained even when, between the end of the fifteenth century and the pontificate of Leone X, there appeared
(by courtesy of Mons. A. P. Frates)
PIOMBATORE DELLA CANCELLERIA APOSTOLICA - Bramante’s “perpetual screw” for bulls - Vatican Museums.
PIOMBATORE DELLA CANCELLERIA APOSTOLICA - PIONIO
