Indult is a Papal "Letter of Grace"

A small amount of history while Christendom awaits for the general indult for the Latin Mass sometime between this Sunday and Easter.

From The Papal Chancery by Reginald Poole, (sometime Keeper of the Archives of the University of Oxford), Cambridge 1915

Letters were in the first place the instruments of the record of the Pope's administrative and judicial acts: they contained his orders and in a large proportion of cases may be described as Mandates. But an order to redress a grievance, a commission to enquire into alleged irregularities, and the like deal with an affair of the moment, and when the command has been executed the purpose of the document is accomplished. In the twelfth century the scope of the Letter was extended and it began to deal with matters which had previously formed the subject of Privileges; that is to say, it came to confer permanent rights. There thus arose two varieties of Letters, which while preserving a common type were distinguished not only in their purport but also in their mode of writing and in the attachment of the leaden bulla (Cathcon hence a “Papal Bull”). These two classes are Tituli or Litterae de Gratia, and Mandamenta or Litterae de lustitia. According to their contents the one may be called Licences or Indults, the other Mandates or Commissions. In the former the seal was attached by a silk cord, in the latter by a string of hemp; and so they were called litterae cum filo serico and litterae cum filo canapis. In earlier times Letters, like Privileges, had silk ties more commonly than string: now, grace is uniformly associated with the softer material, justice with the rougher (This distinction was first pointed out by Delisle, Memoire, pp. 19 f. It may be said to have been regularly observed, for the few exceptions which have been noticed can be accounted for by special circumstances). Another reason for the choice of string for Mandates was very likely that these were not intended to be preserved after their order had been carried out, so that it was unnecessary to go to the expense of silk. These distinctions were developed by degrees. The special use of silk and hemp was first adopted by Innocent II (1130-1143), but the distinction was not perhaps inflexibly observed until the middle of the thirteenth century. The employment of an elaborate and ornamental calligraphy for Tituli appears under Lucius II (1144-1145).

I shall now say something of these two classes of Letters separately. Letters of Grace or Tituli are documents by which the Pope grants or confirms rights, confers benefices, promulgates statutes or decrees, or decides causes. Their characteristic sentences open with Auctoritate prae-sentium indulgemus or inhibemus, Auctoritate apos-tolica confirmamus, Auctoritate sedis apostolicae confirmamus, or the like. They are grants, confirmations, licences, indults, decrees, of many sorts. Frequently they fulfil the same purpose which had in earlier times been effected by the Privilege, and from the Privilege they adopt three elements, though these are not necessarily present: the Preamble or Arenga, and the Final Clauses Nulli ergo and Si quis autem. These are taken over without alteration into the Letter of Grace. The Text is more formal than that of the Mandate, and the writing is more decorative, because the document was intended to be preserved. And thus, after a period of fluctuating forms, it came to be laid down that the Pope's name must be written in elongated letters like the first line of a Privilege, the initial letter being raised higher with open spaces within it and sometimes floriations. The Address must begin with a large Majuscule initial. Marks of abbreviation are made with an ornamental sign (8 or 7), and what is most conspicuous ct and st are written with a space between them and a horizontal ligature resembling the 6t still used in certain types. These features are borrowed from the Privilege.

As distinguished from Tituli, Letters of Justice or Mandates convey the Pope's administrative orders, by injunction or prohibition or by the appointment of commissioners to carry out some definite work; they include also the mass of his official correspondence on matters of all sorts, both political (Litterae secretae) and administrative (Litterae de Curia) as they came in time to be distinguished. They were produced in great numbers, and practical considerations demanded that they should be as flexible and as little encumbered by formulae as they could be. They may read like the ordinary letters of other churchmen, but when they declare the Pope's command they usually contain such words as Per apostolica scripta or Praecipiendo mandamus. The Address often omits the name of the dignitary to whom the mandate was sent and gives instead two full points. This was done not from ignorance of the name but in order to secure that the order should be carried out in the case of another dignitary having been appointed after the document was issued. As for the writing, when the type was fully settled, only the initial letter of the Pope's name was written in Majuscule. In like manner the first word in the Address began with a plain Majuscule initial. Signs of abbreviation are simple and without ornamentation (For these rules see below, Appendix v (Cathcon rules like the parchment must be without hole or obvious mend and other anti-forgery measures). There are good facsimiles, on a reduced scale, of Mandates of Innocent 11(1138), Eugenius III (1145), and Innocent IV (1254), in F. Steffens' Lateinische Palaographie (1903-1906), plates lxvii, lxxv. The last may be compared with a Letter of Grace of Boniface VIII (1299) on the same plate.)

The immense increase in the Pope's business in the twelfth century made it impossible that lie should personally read and examine every document for the issue of which he made himself responsible. If it was a Letter of a normal pattern, a Licence, Dispensation, or the like, it was sufficient that he should satisfy himself that it carried out his intention: it was called a Letter in forma communi or sub forma communi, and its terms were left to the Chancery officials. But if it contained new or disputable matter, a definition of law or a statement of policy, it was kept back for the Pope to hear it read through and approve it. Such documents were called Litterae legendae. By the end of the thirteenth century these two categories were distinguished by the form of capital initial which followed the greeting.

See also Motu Proprio