From: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Arts
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 16:22:24 +0000
Subject: 'Your Holiness', etc.
Priority: normal
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Query: How old are the various (Latin) papal titles of address? Evidence of
their earliest documentary attestation? Is 'Your Sanctity' papal?
I thought I had the information from a book by Yves Congar, but my notes
(or memory) deceived me. There must be a properly historical study of the
subject; what I don't want is a courtesy guide to ecclesiastical titles!
Gary Dickson
University of Edinburgh
I suppose the place to start is any textbook on diplomatic, plus the Liber
Diurnus, though that will tell you what the popes themselves wrote rather than
what other people wrote to them. Popes were certainly addressed by other people
as Your Holiness by the 12th c. and I bet the usage is much much older.
Julia Barrow
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