noun
- Plural of datary; officials in the Roman Catholic Church who handle the dating and issuing of papal documents and dispensations.
Usage: historical; ecclesiastical; formal
Examples
- The dataries in the papal curia were responsible for authenticating and dating official church documents.
- Medieval dataries worked in the chancery to process requests for papal bulls and indulgences.
- The office of the dataries was an important administrative position within the Vatican.
- Dataries maintained detailed records of all documents issued under papal authority.