1688 PAPAL BULL FROM POPE INNOCENT XI WITH METAL SEAL (BULLA)

Giving permission to marry a Protestant

From Rome written with ink on a very thick 11”x 7” ( 27cm x 18cm) vellum parchement. Approx. 330 years old.

The front side of the document is written in Latin with the fancy and  illegible Vatican Script with the signatures of the Vatican Roman Curia under the folded vellum.

The reverse side has the endorsements written in French and the signatures of the recipients in Paris, France. See transcript of their text in French and its translation.

ATTACHED to the document is the metal papal seal of Pope Innocent XI.  (It looks more like bronze than lead). It is 1.5” (3,5cm) in diameter. It is tied to the document by a neutral colored rope that is looped thru’ slits in the vellum.

The front side of the seal shows the Pope’s name in Latin: Innocentius Papa XI.

The reverse side of the seal depicts the heads of the founders of the Church in Rome, the Apostles Peter and Paul.

It is very difficult today to find an authentic metal papal seal. It is also very rare to find a papal bull still intact that has the seal still attached to the document.

POPE INNONCENT XI was pope for 13 years, from September 21, 1676 to his death on August 12, 1689.  He had a lasting struggle with the King of France, Louis XIV (1643-1715).  History records that in March 1682, 6 years after this document was written, Louis XIV convoked an assembly of the French Clergy which adopted the “Four Articles” known as the “Gallican Liberties”.  These articles gave the French King and the French Clergy the right to resist the authority of the Pope.  But the very next month, in April of that same year, Pope Innocent XI annulled the “Four Articles”and banned all the French Clergy who had taken part in the assembly which adopted the Articles.

THIS PAPAL BULL received by the Counselor of the King Louis XIV, LePelletier, must have helped to further irritate the King due to the fact that with this bull the Pope gives permission to a Catholic French nobleman to mary a Protestant French woman in 1688.  Three year learlier, in October 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes that took away the freedom of religion and declared Protestantism illegal in France. (See picture)

FRENCH ENDORSEMENT AND TRANSLATION on the verso of the bull.

Nous soussignés du Roi en parlement et expéditionnaires de la Cour de Rome demeurant à Paris, certifions à tous ceux a qui elle appartiendra, que cette bulle est originale et a été bien et duement expédiée en Cour de Rome.  L'usage et le style sont accoutumés. Fait à Paris le 9 octobre 1688

We the undersigned of the King in parliament and the expeditionary of the Court of Rome residing in Paris, certify to all those to whom it will belong, that this bulle is original and has been well and duly sent by the Court of Rome. Its usage and style are accustomed. Done at Paris on 9 October 1688.

ALSO INCLUDED WITH THIS BULL is an index card (3¼” x 5¼”) dated 13 August 1688 explaining in French the intent of this papal decree: “Bulle du Pape Innocent XI – Mandement du pape à l’official de l’évêché d’Amiens, relatif à une dispense de mariage demamdée par Simon Antoine Maressal, de Calais, et Madeleine Blancard, de Saint Valery sur Somme.”  Transated: “Papal Bull of Innocent XI – Order of the Pope to the Bishop of Amiens, relating to a permission of Marriage requested by Simon Antoine Maressal, of Calais, and Madeleine Blancard, of Saint Valery sur Somme.”

These 2 noble persons, the man being the Count de Marsilly, were married after the freedom of religious liberty was no longer in effect when Louis XIV made Catholicism the National Religion. (See supportive picture in their family tree with their respective Coats of Arms)

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