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Bull in Coena Domini, (2)

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Bull in Coena Domini

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the name given to a bull in the Church of Rome which is publicly read on the day of the Lord's Supper, viz., Thursday, by a cardinal deacon in the pope's presence, accompanied with the other cardinals and the bishops. It excommunicates all that are called, by that apostate Church, heretics, stubborn and disobedient to the holy see. 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 expressly, 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 origin of this ceremony is not stated 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 pretense 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, etc. The contents of the bull have been inserted by degrees. Luther's name was inserted 1521. For a fuller statement, (See IN CENA DOMINI).