Pontifical

Pontifical, one of the service-books of the Church of Rome, in which are contained the several services, whether in the administration of sacraments or the performance of public worship, in which the bishop or a priest delegated by the bishop officiates. There were many such collections for the various national churches; but that which is now in universal use throughout the Western Church is the Pontificale Romanum, or Roman Pontifical, first printed in 1483, revised under Clement VIII. in 1596, and repeatedly republished since that time. The Pontifical contains the services for ordinations, for religious professions and receptions of monks and nuns, consecrations, benedictions, as well as of the solemn administration by a bishop of those sacraments which are ordinarily administered by priests. Besides the prayers to be recited, the Pontifical also lays down the ceremonial to be observed.