The Pope's name appears first and at the top, normally written in capital letters, e.g.: "PIUS PP III", and instead of the formal salutation in the third person used in papal bulls, the brief at once adopts a direct form of address, e.g., "Dilecte fili—Carissime in Christo fili", the phrase being adapted to the dignity and character of the addressee.
At the end the date is expressed by the day of the month and year with a mention of the seal, for example in this form: "Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum, sub annulo Piscatoris die V Marii, MDLXXXXI, pont.
Still, for many purposes, bulls continued to be employed, for example in canonizations, in which case special forms are observed, the pope by exception signing his own name, under which is added a stamp imitating the rota as well as the signatures of several cardinals, as also in the nominations of bishops, promotions to certain benefices, some marriage dispensations, et cetera.
[1] Since the sixteenth century, briefs have been written in a very legible Roman hand upon a sheet of vellum of convenient size, while even the wax with its guard of silk and the impression of the fisherman's ring was replaced in 1842 by a stamp which affixed the same devices in red ink.
This state of things was ended by a motu proprio of Pope Leo XIII shortly after his election: bulls were written in the same, legible Roman script that was used for briefs, and in view of the difficulties arising from transmission by post, the old leaden seal was replaced in many cases by a simple stamp bearing the same device in red ink.