Excerpt from The Roman Court: Or a Treatise on the Cardinals, Roman Congregations and Tribunals, Legates, Apostolic Vicars, Protonotaries, and Other Prelates of the Holy Roman ChurchIF a reason must be given for writing a book on the Roman Court and presenting it to English speaking people, it can be found in the fact that there is no other book printed in English on this most important subject. The points which may be gathered from encyclopedias are often vague and not unfrequently misleading. To place before the public a book, which, it is believed, is quite accurate and contemporary, has not been a light task. On a number of points special inquiry had to be made in Rome. It will be noticed that the practice in America on some of these points, particularly in regard to titles, diverges not a little from that accepted in Rome.The chapters on the Conclave or the College of Cardinals during a vacancy in the Apostolic See, on the Congregations of the Inquisition, the Index and the Propaganda, as well as those on Prelates and Legates may be of special interest to Americans. Regarding the American legation some information is given which heretofore may not have reached the general public. If, however, it is not new, the repe tition of it will do no harm.Throughout this treatise the word Protonotary is spelled without the h which is usually inserted.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.