An Abbreviator (plural "Abbreviators" in English and "Abbreviatores" in Latin) or Breviator was a writer of the Papal Chancery who adumbrated and prepared in correct form Papal bulls, briefs, and consistorial decrees before these were written out in extenso by the scriptores. They are first mentioned in the Papal bull Extravagantes of Pope John XXII and in a Papal bull of Pope Benedict XII. After the protonotaries left the adumbration of the minutes to the Abbreviators, those de Parco majori of the dignity of prelate were the most important officers of the Papal Chancery. By the pontificate of Pope Martin V their signature was essential to the validity of the acts of the Chancery. Over time they obtained many important privileges. Roman lay origin Abbreviators make an abridgment or abstract of a long writing or discourse by contracting the parts, i. e., the words and sentences; an abbreviated form of writing common among the ancient Romans. Abbreviations were of two kinds: the use of a single letter for a single word and the use of a sign, note, or mark for a word or phrase. The Emperor Justinian forbade the use of abbreviations in the compilation of the Digest and afterward extended his prohibition to all other writings. This prohibition was not universally obeyed. The Abbreviators found it convenient to use the abbreviated form, and this was especially the case in Rome. The early Christians practised the abbreviated mode, no doubt as an easy and safe way of communicating with one another and safeguarding their secrets from enemies and false brethren. Ecclesiastical abbreviatores In course of time the Papal Chancery adopted this mode of writing as the "curial" style, still further abridging by omitting the diphthongs "ae" and "oe", and likewise all lines and marks of punctuation. The Abbreviatores were officials of the Roman Curia. The scope of its labour, as well as the number of its officials, varied over time. Up to the twelfth or thirteenth century, the duty of the Apostolic – or Roman – Chancery was to prepare and expedite the Papal letters and writs for collation of ecclesiastical dignitaries and other matters of grave importance which were discussed and decided in Papal consistory. About the thirteenth or fourteenth century, the Popes, then residing in Avignon, France, began to reserve the collation of a great many benefices, so that all the benefices, especially the greater ones, were