The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

178
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The college of penitentiaries who, by commission of the Grand
Penitentiary, were at the service of penitents in the three great
basilicas of Rome, were also subjected to new regulations.
According to the provisions of Pius IV., twelve of these so-
called " minor penitentiaries," drawn from various religious
orders and nationalities, were to work at S. Maria Maggiore ;
Pius V. halved the number and ordered that they should all
of them be drawn from the Roman province of the Dominican
Order, assigning to them a suitable house near S. Pudenziana,
and a sufficient revenue.^ Eight Franciscan Observants
were to act as penitentiaries at the Lateran,^ and twelve Jesuits
at St. Peter's, who also lived close by in a house of their own.^
The community life which he insisted upon for the peniten-
tiaries was the reason for assigning this office to religious,
and it was also obviously suitable that those who thus lived
together should belong to the same Order ;
at the same time,
the Pope left the selection of capable men to the Provincials
of the various Orders.*
The other Papal tribunals and courts did not escape the
zeal of the Pope, who was anxious to effect improvement
everywhere. On February 15th, 1566, the reform of the
Segnatura was effected,^ and since the officials of the Apostolic
Camera had exercised their office with excessive strictness,
^ Bulls of September i and 6, 1568. Bull. Rom., VII., 703 seqq.,
706 seqq.
^ Sacchini, p. III., I, 6, n. 2. S. Franciscus Borgia, V., 371.
' Sacchini, n. 1-8. Circular of Francis Borgia to the pro-
vincials of the Jesuits, April 24, 1570, S. Franciscus Borgia, V.,
356 ; to the provincials of Spain, April 28, 1570, ibid. 371. Cf.
Cardinal Alciati to Fr. Borgia, July 8, 1569, ibid. 121 ; GOller,
II., I, 48 seq.
* Sacchini, loc. ctt. n. 2. In GOller, II., 2, 139 seq. a list,
dated March 16, 1568, of the sins withdrawn from the absolving
power of the penitentiaries.
' There only remained the four Cardinals, Reumano, Cicada,
Simoncelli, and Vitelli with 34 referendaries ;
only 12 of the latter
had a consultative vote. *Cusano, February 16, 1566, State
Archives, Vienna.