In the Roman Catholic Church, Theologian of the Pontifical Household () is a Roman Curial office which has always been entrusted to a Friar Preacher of the Dominican Order and may be described as the pope's theologian. The title was formerly known as the Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace () before the changes implemented in Pope Paul VI's 1968 apostolic letter Pontificalis Domus. History In 1218 St. Dominic was the first papal theologian to be given the title "Master of the Sacred Palace". Eighty-four Dominicans succeeded him until the early 20th century. Eighteen of them were later named Cardinals, twenty-four archbishops or bishops (including some of the cardinals), and six were elected Superior generals of the order. Several are famous for their works on theology, e.g. Durandus of Saint-Pourçain, Juan de Torquemada, Sylvester Mazzolini 'Prierias', Thomas Maria Mamachi and Giuseppe Agostino Ors. The majority were Italians, ten Spaniards, ten Frenchmen, one German, and one an Englishman (William de Boderisham, or Bonderish, 1263–1270?). The chronicles of the churches of San Domenico at Perugia and San Domenico at Orvieto attest that the studium at the convent of Santa Sabina, which is the forerunner of the [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas|Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum]], played the special role of frequently providing papal theologians from among its members. The post is now held by Fr. Wojciech Giertych, a Polish Dominican, a former student of and professor of theology at the Angelicum, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 to replace the Swiss Cardinal Georges Cottier. It has sometimes been asserted that St. Thomas Aquinas was a Master of the Sacred Palace. This is due to a misconception: he was Lector of the Sacred Palace, but these offices were not identical. (See Bullarium O. P., III, 18.) Though he and two other contemporary Dominicans, his teacher St. Albert the Great and his fellow pupil Bl. Ambrose Sansedonico (about both of whom the same assertion has been made) held successively the office of Lecturer on Scripture or Lecturer on Theology in the papal palace school, not one of them was Master of the Sacred Palace. Their names do not occur in the official lists. While all Masters of the Sacred Palace were Dominicans, several members of other orders were Lectors of the Sacred Palace (e.g. Peckham O.S.F., who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1279). St. Dominic's work as Master