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Papal regalia and insignia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Papal regalia and insignia are the official items of attire and decoration proper to the Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State.
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The most famous regalia of the papacy is almost certainly the triregnum (a crown with three levels), also called the "tiara" or "triple crown"; recent popes (Pope John Paul I and his successors) have refrained from wearing the tiara. The tiara was not worn during liturgies. Instead the pope wears the episcopal mitre (an erect cloth hat).
Another famous part of the Papal regalia is the Fisherman's Ring, a gold ring decorated with a depiction of St. Peter in a boat casting his net, with the name of the reigning Pope around it. The Fisherman's Ring was first mentioned in a letter of Pope Clement IV to his nephew in 1265 wherein he mentions that Popes were accustomed to sealing public documents with leaden "bulls" attached, and private letters with "the seal of the Fisherman" (by the fifteenth century, the Fisherman's Ring was used to seal Papal briefs). The Fisherman's Ring is placed on the newly-elected Pope's finger by the Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church; on the Pope's death, the Cardinal Chamberlain smashes the Fisherman's Ring with a hammer, symbolising the end of the late Pope's authority.
Modern popes do not bear a crozier (a bent pastoral staff styled after a shepherd's crook), but rather bear a staff topped by an erect crucifix, a custom established before the thirteenth century, though some popes since then, notably Pope Leo XIII, have used a crozier-like staff.
The Pope also uses the pallium (a circular band of fabric about two inches wide, worn over the chasuble about the neck, breast and shoulders and having two twelve-inch-long pendants hanging down in front and behind, ornamented with six small, black or red crosses distributed about the breast, back, shoulders, and pendants) at all ecclesiastical functions but not subject to the restrictions imposed upon archbishops upon whom the Pope has conferred the right to use the pallium.
A vestment restricted to the pope is the fanon, a double mozzetta, one of silk and gold, the first going under the stole and the second over the chasuble. The fanon has gone out of common use in recent times but its use has not been abolished as Pope John Paul II made use of the fanon on a few occasions. Traditionally, the Pope uses special satin slippers indoors, and papal shoes outdoors. Since the 13th Century many papal portraits have shown the pontiff wearing the camauro, a red velvet cap trimmed with ermine. The camauro fell out of fashion with the death of Pope John XXIII, but has recently been revived by Pope Benedict XVI.
One of the most striking (and now discontinued) trappings of the Papacy was the sedia gestatoria, a mobile throne or armchair carried by twelve footmen (palafrenieri) in red uniforms, and accompanied by two attendants bearing large (and largely ceremonial) fans made of white ostrich-feathers (flabella). The sedia gestatoria was used for the Pope's entrance into a church or hall and for his departure on the occasion of liturgical celebrations such as Mass and for papal audiences. The use of the sedia gestatoria was discontinued by Pope John Paul II, that of the flabella by Pope Paul VI.
Equally famous as the triregnum and perhaps more important a symbol of the Papacy is the image of two crossed keys, one gold and one silver, bound with a red cord. This represents the "keys to the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew xvi: 19; cf. Isaiah xxii: 22) and is in many ways the quintessential symbol of the Papacy as an institution and of its central role within the Catholic Church. Jesus's definition of Petrine authority ("whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven") established two jurisdictions, Heaven and Earth; the silver and gold keys are said to represent these two jurisdictions. The silver key symbolises the power to bind and loose on Earth, and the gold key the power to bind and loose in Heaven.
The primary emblem of the Papacy is these two keys underneath a triregnum. This symbol is used in several instances. The Pope's personal arms are surmounted by the aforementioned two keys in saltire behind the escutcheon (one key silver and one key gold, tied with a red cord), and above them the silver triregnum with three gold crowns and red infulae, or the red strips of fabric hanging from the back over the shoulders when worn. The yellow and white flag of Vatican City also makes use of this emblem on the right hand side in the white half of the flag. The yellow and white colours were first adopted in 1808 as the flag of the personal guard of Pius VII, when the other forces of what had been the Papal States were brought under Napoleon's control. The previous flag was red and gold, the traditional colours of the city of Rome. The 1808 flag was of course not that of Vatican City, which came into existence only in 1929.
The coat of arms of the Holy See and Vatican City also uses this Papal emblem. It is blazoned "two keys in saltire or and argent, interlacing in the rings or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned or," which means that it places the emblem on a red shield and uses a gold cord instead of a red one to avoid violating the rule of tincture.
The umbraculum (better known in the Italian form ombrellino) is a canopy or umbrella (consisting of alternating red and gold stripes, the traditional colours of the city of Rome and so, until 1808, of the papacy) whose original function was quite simply to provide shade. As it was traditionally a royal prerogative to walk beneath a canopy, Pope Alexander VI began using the umbraculum to symbolise the temporal powers of the Papacy; it was formerly carried by a man standing behind the Pope, and features in the heraldic arms of the Cardinal Chamberlain (who administers the property of the Holy See sede vacante) and the former arms of the Papal States. The practice of walking with the umbraculum has been discontinued, although it continues to feature in heraldry and remains the insigne of a basilica, usually displayed to the right of the main altar.
| Papal rituals, symbols & ceremonial | |
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| Apostolic Palace • Camauro • Coat of Arms • Conclave • Coronation • Fanon • Holy See • Inauguration • Mitre • Mozzetta • Pallium • Popemobile • Regalia & Insignia • Ring of the Fisherman • St. John Lateran • St. Peter's Basilica • St. Peter's Square • Sedia gestatoria • Sistine Chapel • Tiara • Vatican City |