BROACH

In strictne any spire, but generally used to signify a spire, the junction of which with the tower is not marked by a parapet. Lancet and Geometrical spires are generally thus treated; Decorated, frequently; Perpendicular, rarely. BULL in Cœna Domini . This is the name given to a bull in the Church of Rome, which is publicly read on the day of the Lord’s supper, viz. Holy Thursday, by a cardinal deacon in the pope’s presence, accompanied with the other cardinals and the bishops. The same contains an excommunication of all that are called, by that apostate Church, heretics, stubborn and disobedient to the holy see. And after the reading of this bull, the pope throws a burning torch into the public place, to denote the thunder of this anathema. It is declared expre ly, in the beginning of the bull of Pope Paul III., of the year 1536, that it is the ancient custom of the sovereign pontiffs to publish this excommunication on Holy Thursday, to preserve the purity of the Christian religion, and to keep the union of the faithful; but the original of this ceremony is not inserted in it. The principal heads of this bull concern heretics and their upholders, pirates, imposers of new customs, those who falsify the bulls and other apostolic letters; those who abuse the prelates of the Church; those that trouble or would restrain ecclesiastical jurisdiction, even under pretence of preventing some violence, though they might be counsellors or advocates, generals to secular princes, whether emperors, kings, or dukes; those who usurp the goods of the Church, . All these cases are reserved to the pope, and no priest can give absolution in such a case, if it be not at the point of death. The Council of Tours, in 1510, declared the bull in Cœna Domini void in respect of France, which has often protested against it, in what relates to the king’s prerogative, and the liberties of the Gallican Church; and there are now but few other Popish princes or states that have much regard to it. So much has the authority of the papal chair declined since the Reformation, even over those who still remain in the communion of what they call the Roman Catholic Church. BULLS (see Briefs ) are pontifical letters, in the Romish Church, written in old Gothic characters upon stout and coarse skins, and i ued from the apostolic chancery, under a seal ( bulla ) of lead; which seal gives validity to the document, and is attached, if it be a “ Bull of Grace ,” by a cord of silk; and if it be a “ Bull of Justice ,” by a cord of hemp. The seal of the fisherman’s ring corresponds, in some degree, with the privy seal; and the bulla , or seal of lead, with the great seal of England. The bulla is, properly, a seal of empire. The imperial bulla is of gold; and it was under a seal of this description that King John resigned the crown of England to the Pope. Briefs and Bulls differ from each other. 1. Briefs are i ued from the Roman court by the apostolic secretary, sealed with red wax by the fisherman’s ring. Bulls are i ued by the apostolic chancellor, under a seal of lead, having on one side impre ed the likene of St. Peter and St. Paul; and, on the other, the name of the reigning pope. 2. Briefs are written upon fine and white skins. Bulls , upon those which are thick, coarse, and rude. 3. Briefs are written in Roman characters, in a legible, fair, and elegant manner. Bulls , though in Latin, are written in old Gothic characters, without line or stop, or that regard to spelling which is observed in briefs. 4. Briefs are dated “a die nativitatis;” Bulls dated “a die incarnation is.” 5. Briefs have the date abbreviated; Bulls have it given in length. 6. Briefs begin in a different form, with the name of the pope: thus “Clem. Papa XII. .” Bulls begin with the words “[Clemens] Episcopus servus servorum Dei;” by way of distinct heading. 7. Briefs are i ued before the pope’s coronation, but Bulls are not i ued till afterwards. (See on this subject, Corrad. in Praxi Dispens. lib. ii. c. 7, n. 29; Rosam de Executione Liter. Apostol. c. 2, n. 67; Cardinal de Luca. in relat. Romanæ Curiæ , discurs, 7, and other canonists.) Notwithstanding the above-mentioned differences between Briefs and Bulls , and that greater weight is usually attached to a bull than to a brief, on account of its more formal character, still Briefs have the same authority as Bulls on all the matters to which they relate; both being equally acts of the pope, though i ued from different departments of his Holine ’s government.