PREPOSITI. — These were the officials entrusted with the administration of the cemetery basilicas of S. Pietro, S. Paolo, S. Lorenzo, and S. P. Marcazio, as well as their lighting, as evidenced by the Christian inscriptions found there (G. B. De Rossi, *Inscr. chr.*, I, Rome 1857–81, nos. 975, 980, 1004 ff., 1085).
They were members of the clergy but always of a rank inferior to the titular presbyters, as shown by the inscription from the years 521–23 of the couple Augusto and Gaudiosa in S. Pancrazio; there the *p.* is mentioned after the four presbyters of the title of S. Crisogono, who had jurisdiction over the basilica and cemetery of S. Pancrazio (A. Silvagni, *Inscriptions christs.*, *nova series*, II, Rome 1935, no. 4279). An inscription at Geneva records a *prepositus* and *presbiter* (E. Le Blant, *Inscr. chrét. de la Gaule*, II, Paris 1861, p. 2). In modern terminology, *p.* denotes either a high dignity or the superior general of a religious Order.