INNOCENT XI

POPE.

For a permanent record of the matter.

original: "Ad futuram rei memoriam"; a traditional opening for papal documents intended to establish a lasting legal precedent.

The zeal for the Catholic Religion, and the affection of sincere faith and devotion which our beloved son Balthasar Moretus, son and heir of the late Balthasar Moretus, Printer of Antwerp Antwerp was a major center for printing; the Moretus family operated the famous Plantin Press, which held a near-monopoly on printing liturgical books for the Spanish Empire and the Catholic Church., is proven to bear toward Us and the Apostolic See The office and jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome., as well as the singular diligence and industry which his ancestors exhibited in printing—and which we hope the same Balthasar will likewise exhibit—lead Us to be generous in granting him favor.

Therefore, wishing to honor the same Balthasar with special favors and graces, and by the authority of these letters, we absolve him and consider him absolved from any sentences of excommunication, suspension, and interdict These are types of "censures" or spiritual penalties in Canon Law that would legally bar a person from receiving official papal favors or holding certain rights., and other Ecclesiastical sentences, censures, and penalties, whether imposed by law or by an individual for any occasion or cause, if he should be bound by any such things, solely for the purpose of ensuring the effects of these present letters.

Inclined by the petitions humbly offered to us in his name regarding this matter, We grant to the same Balthasar the right to print Missals Books containing the prayers and readings for the Mass., Breviaries The official liturgical book containing the daily prayers and readings of the Church., and Diurnals A book containing the daytime prayers of the Breviary, excluding the night prayers., as well as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary A shorter cycle of prayers in honor of Mary, very popular for private devotion., according to the rite and prescription of the holy Roman Church. This is in accordance with the content and tenor of the letters issued in a similar form of a Brief A papal brief is a formal document, usually less solemn than a "Bull," used for administrative matters like these printing privileges. by our predecessor Pope Urban VIII, of happy memory, on the twenty-fifth day of January, 1631; as well as the sacred Bi-