“When St. Dominic was at Rome, he was wont to interpret the Holy Scriptures in the presence of the papal Court, and from that time one of his brethren has always continued to hold this office. A Dominican historian of the 18th century, Echard,[107] tells us that the duty placed upon this Dominican consisted _in Scholae Romanae et Pontificiae regimine et in publica Sacrae Scripturae expositione_, i. e., ‘in the government of the Roman and pontifical school and in the public interpretation of the Scripture.’ This would mean, in the 13th and 14th centuries, the headmastership of all theological teaching and preaching in the papal Curia (_Sacrum Palatium_). The theological sciences were not then differentiated after their present manner. Doctrinal theology was largely Bible-commentary. Thus, the Roman ecclesiastical official who had formal charge of Bible-study and public teaching in the papal Curia, would naturally be expected to control the public utterances of his own disciples and of others, to exercise a revision of theological and Scriptural manuscripts, and to detect and denounce current heresies, where these might be propagated orally or made known in writing. As a matter of fact, such duties belong yet to the office of the ‘Master of the Sacred Palace.’ It is he who selects the preachers for solemn pontifical occasions, and revises their sermons, and he is the official censor of all books printed at Rome. This office is the principal historical source of the Dominican influence in the Index. It meant from the 13th century an official duty and right of revision of all public ecclesiastical teaching, and the immediate practical decisions as to the conformity of such teaching with the teachings of the Scripture and of the Holy See.