PREPOSITI. - They were responsible for administration in the cemetery basilicas of S. Pietro, S. Paolo, S. Lorenzo, and S. Pancrazio, and for their lighting, as is shown by the Christian inscriptions found there (G. B. De Rossi, Inscr. chr., I, Roma 1857-81, nn. 975, 989, 1004 sg., 1085).
They were members of the clergy, but always of a rank lower than that of the titular presbyters, as is shown by the epitaph of the spouses Augusto and Gaudiosa, dating from the years 521-25, in S. Pancrazio; there the p. is named after the four presbyters of the title of S. Crisogono, which had jurisdiction over the basilica and cemetery of S. Pancrazio (A. Silvagni, Inscriptiones christ., nova series, II, Roma 1935, n. 4279). An inscription in Ginevra recalls a prepositus and a presbiter (E. Le Blant, Inscr. christ. de la Gaule, II, Parigi 1861, p. 2). In present-day terminology, p. denotes a capitular dignity or the superior general of a religious Order.