Note 107 — Chapter XII

The word cardinal (Latin, cardinalis, principal) was applied to the priests of the various parishes in Rome, to the several deacons connected with the Lateran,—which was the cathedral church of the Roman bishopric,—and, lastly, to six or seven suburban bishops who officiated in turn in the Lateran. The title became a very distinguished one and was sought by ambitious prelates and ecclesiastical statesmen, like Wolsey, Richelieu, and Mazarin. If their official titles were examined, it would be found that each was nominally a cardinal bishop, priest, or deacon of some Roman church. The number of cardinals varied until fixed, in 1586, at six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons.