List of ecclesiastical abbreviations

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In the Roman Catholic Church, the ecclesiastical words most commonly abbreviated at all times are proper names, titles (official or customary), of persons or corporations, and words of frequent occurrence.

Contents

History

Between the seventh and ninth centuries, the ancient Roman system of abbreviations used in the Catholic Church 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 each offer their own abbreviations, as well as the unique scotica manus or libri scottice scripti ('Irish hand', or books written in the medieval Irish hand). Eventually, the main productive centres of technical manuscripts, such 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 make frequent use of abbreviations, owing in part to the abandonment of uncial and quasi-uncial script, and the almost universal use of cursive writing.

Medieval authors inherited a few abbreviations from Christian antiquity; others were invented or adapted, in order to save time and parchment.

Abbreviations 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. The number of abbreviations multiplied with time, and were especially numerous during the beginning of the use of the printing press in Europe. Many early printed books display liberal use of abbreviations carried over from handwritten manuscripts, together with other characteristics[ which? ] of the manuscript page.

Printing

The development of printing brought about the abandonment of many abbreviations, whilst also suggesting and introducing new ones. New abbreviations were also introduced following church developments such as the growth of ecclesiastical legislation and the creation of new offices.

Fewer medieval abbreviations were found in the text of books used on public occasions, such as missals, antiphonaries and Bibles, as the needs of theological 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), and lines (horizontal, perpendicular, oblong, wavy curves, and commas). Vowel sounds were frequently written not after, but over, consonants. Certain letters, such as p and q, which occurred with extreme frequency in prepositions and terminations, became the source of many peculiar abbreviations, as did the frequency of words such as et ('and') and est ('is'). Habit and convenience are today the principal motives for using these abbreviations.

Most of those in actual use fall under one or other of the following heads: administrative, liturgical, scholastic, and chronological.

Administrative

The first class of abbreviations, administrative ones, includes those used in the composition of Pontifical documents. They were once very numerous, and lists of them may be seen in the works of Quantin and Prou, amongst others.

Since 29 December 1878, by order of Pope 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, such as S.R.E., were abolished by the same authority ( Acta Sanctae Sedis , XI, 465–467). However, in everyday business, the Roman Congregations still frequently use certain brief formulas, such as negative ('no') and negative et amplius ('no with emphasis'). These are not technically abbreviations. [a] This class[ which? ] includes also the abbreviations for the names of most sees. [b]

Under the general heading of administrative abbreviations can be included abbreviated forms of address in ordinary conversation, whether referring to individuals or members of religious orders, congregations, and institutes. The forms of address used for members of Catholic lay societies and the Papal orders of merit also fall under this heading. 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. The abbreviated forms for the name of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the names of the Blessed Virgin and the saints can also be classed as liturgical abbreviations, as can abbreviations used in the administration of the Sacraments, mortuary epitaphs (including catacomb inscriptions), and so on. Finally, some miscellaneous abbreviations, such as those used in the publication of documents concerning beatification and canonization, are also classed as liturgical.

Scholastic

Scholastic abbreviations include those 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

Chronological abbreviations are used to describe elements of the year in a civil or ecclesiastical sense.

Abbreviations used in apostolic rescripts

Abbreviations in general use, chiefly ecclesiastical

Abbreviations in catacomb inscriptions

Abbreviations of titles of the principal religious orders and congregations of priests

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ For a list of these see Canon law.
  2. ↑ The full Latin titles of all existing (Latin) dioceses may be seen in the Roman annual, Gerarchia Cattolica . A complete list of the Latin names of all known dioceses (extant or extinct) is found in the large folio work of the Comte de Mas Latrie, Trésor de chronologie, d'histoire et de géographie (Paris, 1884). The episcopal catalogues of the Benedictine Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series Episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae (Ratisbon, 1873–86), and the Franciscan Conrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Ævi (Münster, 1898–1902), can also be consulted.

Sources

Wikisource-logo.svg 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.

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