The Jewish scribes and Talmudic scholars also had frequent recourse to abbreviations. Between the seventh and ninth centuries the ancient Roman system of abbreviations gave way to a more difficult one that gradually grew up in the monastic houses and in the chanceries of the new Teutonic kingdoms.
Merovingian, Lombard, and Anglo-Saxon scripts offer each their own abbreviations, not to speak of the unique scotica manus or libri scottice scripti (Irish hand, or books written in the medieval Irish hand). Eventually such productive centres of technical manuscripts as the Papal Chancery, the theological schools of Paris and Oxford, and the civil-law school of Bologna set the standards of abbreviations for all Europe.
Manuscripts
Medieval manuscripts abound in abbreviations, owing in part to the abandonment of the uncial, or quasi-uncial, and the almost universal use of the cursive, hand. The medieval writer inherited a few from Christian antiquity; others he invented or adapted, in order to save time and parchment.
They are found especially in manuscripts of scholastic theology and canon law, annals and chronicles, the Roman law, and in administrative documents, civil and privileges, bulls, rescripts. They multiplied with time, and were never so numerous as on the eve of the discovery of printing; many of the early printed books offer this peculiarity, together with other characteristics of the manuscript page.
Printing
The development of printing brought about the abandonment of many abbreviations, while it suggested and introduced new ones a process also favoured by the growth of ecclesiastical legislation, the creation of new offices, etc. There was less medieval abbreviation in the text of books much used on public occasions, e.g. missals, antiphonaries, Bibles; in one way or another the needs of students seem to have been the chief cause of the majority of medieval abbreviations.
The means of abbreviation were usually full points or dots (mostly in Roman antiquity), the semicolon (eventually conventionalized), lines (horizontal, perpendicular, oblong, wavy curves, and commas). Vowel-sounds were frequently written not after, but over, the consonants. Certain letters, like p and q, that occur with extreme. frequency, e.g. in prepositions and terminations, became the source of many peculiar abbreviations; similarly, frequently recurring words like et (and), est (is). Habit and convenience are today the principal motives for using abbreviations.
The first class of abbreviations includes those used in the composition of Pontifical documents. They were once very numerous, and lists of them may be seen in the works quoted below (e.g. Quantin, Prou). It may be well to state at once that since 29 December 1878, by order of Leo XIII, the great papal documents (Litterae Apostolicae) are no longer written in the old Gothic hand known as bollatico; all abbreviations, with the exception of a few obvious ones, like S.R.E., were abolished by the same authority (Acta Sanctae Sedis, XI, 465–467). In the transaction of ordinary business the Roman Congregations are wont to use certain brief and pithy formulas (e.g. Negative = "No"; Negative et amplius = "No with emphasis"). They are not, correctly speaking, abbreviations. For a list of these see Canon law. This class includes also the abbreviations for the names of most sees.
Under this general heading may be included all abbreviated forms of addresses in ordinary intercourse, whether of individuals or of members of religious orders, congregations, institutes, to which may be added the forms of addresses usual for members of Catholic lay societies and the Papal orders of merit. (See Catholic societies, orders of merit.) The abbreviations of the titles of Roman Congregations, and of the individual canonical ecclesiastical authorities, belong also to this class.
Liturgical
A second class of abbreviations includes those used in the description of liturgical acts or the directions for their performance, e.g. the Holy Mass, the Divine Office (Breviary), the ecclesiastical devotions, etc. Here may also be classed the abbreviated forms for the name of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost; also for the names of the Blessed Virgin, the saints, etc.; likewise abbreviations used in the administration of the Sacraments, mortuary epitaphs, etc. (to which class belong the numerous Catacomb inscriptions); finally some miscellaneous abbreviations like those used in the publication of documents concerning beatification and canonization.
Scholastic
In the third class belong scholastic abbreviations, used to designate honorific titles acquired in the schools, to avoid the repetition of lengthy titles of books and reviews, or to facilitate reference to ecclesiastical and civil legislation.
Chronological
In the fourth class of abbreviations belong all such as are used to describe the elements of the year, civil or ecclesiastical.
Fel. Rec. – Felicis Recordationis ("Of Happy Memory")
Fer. – Feria ("Weekday")
Fr., F. – Frater, Frere ("Brother")
Fund. – Fundatio ("Foundation")
Gen. – Generalis ("General")
Gl. – Gloria ("Glory to God", etc.)
Gr. – Gratia ("Grace")
Grad. – Gradus ("Grade")
Grat. – Gratias ("Thanks"); or Gratis ("Without expense")
hebd. – Hebdomada ("Week")
Hom. – Homilia ("Homily" – Breviary)
hor. – hora ("hour")
IC – Jesus (first and third letters of His name in Greek)
Id. – Idus ("Ides")
Igr. – Igitur ("Therefore")
IHS – Jesus (a faulty Latin transliteration of the first three letters of *JESUS in Greek (ΙΗΣ); sometimes misinterpreted as Iesus Hominum Salvator "Jesus Saviour of Men"
Ind. – Indictio ("Indiction")
Ind. – Index
Inq. – Inquisitio ("Inquisition")
i.p.i. – in partibus infidelium ("among the infidels")
Is. – Idus ("Ides")
J.C. – Jesus Christus ("Jesus Christ")
J.C.D. – Juris Canonici Doctor, Juris Civilis Doctor ("Doctor of Canon Law", "Doctor of Civil Law")
J.D. – Juris Doctor ("Doctor of Law")
J.M.J. – Jesus, Maria, Joseph ("Jesus, Mary, Joseph")
V.F., Vic. For. – Vicarius Foraneus ("Vicar-Forane")
V.G. – Vicarius Generalis ("Vicar-General")
Vic. – Vicar
Vid. – Vidua ("Widow" – Breviary)
Vid., Videl. – Videlicet ("Namely")
Vig. – Vigilia ("Vigil" of a feast—Breviary)
Viol. – Violaceus ("Violet" – Breviary)
Virg. – Virgo ("Virgin" – Breviary)
Virid. – Viridis ("Green" – Breviary)
V.M. – Vir Magnificus ("Great Man")
V. Rev. – Very Reverend
V.T. – Vetus Testamentum
XC., XCS. – Christus ("Christ" – first, middle, and last letters of the Greek name)
Abbreviations in catacomb inscriptions
A.D. – Ante Diem (e.g. in the phrase, "Ante Diem VI [or Sextum] Kal. Apriles", is equivalent to the sixth day before the Calends of April, counting both the Calends and the day intended to be indicated); or Anima Dulcis ("Sweet Soul")
A.Q.I.C. – Anima Quiescat In Christo ("May his [or her] Soul Repose in Christ")
B., BMT. – Bene Merenti ("To the Well-Deserving")
B.M. – Bonae Memoriae ("Of Happy Memory")
B.F. – Bonae Feminae ("To the Good Woman")
B.I.C. – Bibas [for Vivas] In Christo ("May you Live In Christ")
B.M.F. – Bene Merenti Fecit ("He erected this to the Well-Deserving")
B.Q. – Bene Quiescat ("May he [or she] Rest Well")
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is predominantly used in the Catholic Church, followed by high-church Anglicans, and some Western Rite Orthodox. In the Latin Church, the liturgical Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated the third Friday after Pentecost. The 12 promises of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are also extremely popular.
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary abbreviated SS.CC., is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men priests and brothers. The congregation is also known as the Picpus because their first house was on the Rue de Picpus in Paris, France.
John Henry Maunder was an English composer and organist best known for his cantata "Olivet to Calvary".
The Litany of the Saints is a formal prayer of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Old Catholic Church, Anglo-Catholic communities, and Western Rite Orthodox communities. It is a prayer to the Triune God, which also includes invocations for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and all the martyrs and saints upon whom Christianity was founded, and those recognised as saints through the subsequent history of the church. Following the invocation of the saints, the Litany concludes with a series of supplications to God to hear the prayers of the worshippers. It is most prominently sung during the Easter Vigil, All Saints' Day, and in the liturgy for conferring Holy Orders, the Consecration of a Virgin and reception of the perpetual vows of a religious or a diocesane hermit.
The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ. A known symbol of the congregation is the labeled emblem of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, surmounted by a cross and is often sewn into the attire of its congregants.
The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy, is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regarding priests and deacons not belonging to religious orders. The Congregation for the Clergy handles requests for dispensation from active priestly ministry, as well as the legislation governing presbyteral councils and other organisations of priests around the world. The Congregation does not deal with clerical sexual abuse cases, as those are handled exclusively by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Congregation for Catholic Education (Institutes of Study) (Latin: Congregatio de Institutione Catholica (Studiorum Institutis)) was the pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or non-ecclesiastical dependent on ecclesial persons; and schools and educational institutes depending on ecclesiastical authorities.
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first bishop of New France, who founded a confraternity.
A society of apostolic life is a group of men or women within the Catholic Church who have come together for a specific purpose and live fraternally. It is regarded as a form of consecrated life.
The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These celebrations are a fixed annual date, or occur on a particular day of the week. Examples are the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in January and the Feast of Christ the King in November.
The Congregation of Jesus and Mary, abbreviated CIM or (CJM) also known as the Eudists, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men in the Catholic Church. It was established in March 25, 1643 by Saint Fr. John Eudes, C.I.M.
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
The Stigmatines officially named the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. The Stigmatine Congregation was founded on November 4, 1816 by Gaspar Bertoni, in Verona, Italy. Its members use the post-nominals C.S.S..
This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as approved on 25 July 1960 by Pope John XXIII's motu proprioRubricarum instructum and promulgated by the Sacred Congregation of Rites the following day, 26 July 1960, by the decree Novum rubricarum. This 1960 calendar was incorporated into the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, continued use of which Pope Benedict XVI authorized in the circumstances indicated in his 7 July 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum for use as an Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
The Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ is a feast, which was in the General Roman Calendar from 1849 to 1969. It is focused on the Blood of Christ and its salvific nature.
The Commemoration of the Passion of Christ was a feast of the Roman Catholic Church, listed in the Roman Missal up to 1962 as observed in some places, and kept on the Tuesday after Sexagesima. Its object is the devout remembrance and honour of Christ's sufferings for the redemption of mankind.
The Feast of Christ the Priest is a Roman Catholic moveable liturgical feast celebrated annually on the first Thursday after Pentecost. Approval for this feast was first granted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 1987. In 2012 the Congregation sent a letter to all conferences of bishops, offering the feast to be inscribed in their respective liturgical calendars if they ask for it.
The "Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary" is a phrase coined by Pope John Paul II during his Angelus Address of September 15, 1985 when he mentioned that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, "...though distinct, they are interrelated by reason of the enduring relation of love that exists between the Son and his Mother." Subsequently, several symposia were held to examine its roots and implications. Since there had been much research in Devotion to the Sacred Heart, the conferences tended to focus on the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the perspective of Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ecclesiastical Abbreviations". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
