Posted on 07/15/2014 7:53:22 AM PDT by Salvation
Featured Term (selected at random:
DECRETALS
A letter carrying authoritative decisions on matters of discipline, or the Pope's reply when he has been appealed to on a matter of discipline. The term is also applied to a collection of certain decretals such as Liber Sextus Decretalium, compiled by Pope Boniface VIII (1235-1303). (Etym. Latin decretale, a decree.)
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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DECRETALS: In a wider sense, the Latin term decretalis (in full epistola decretalis) signifies a pontifical letter containing a decretum, or pontifical decision.
In a narrower sense, it denotes a decision on a matter of discipline.
In the strictest sense of the word, it means a papal rescript (rescriptum), an answer of the pope when he has been appealed to or his advice has been sought on a matter of discipline.
I don't often come across a word that I have NEVER heard of before.
William F. Buckley used to say words I never heard of but...alas, he is gone now.
As for "decretal," well everyone has a lacuna in his life.
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