Trésors inconnus du Vatican. Liturgie et cérémonial par Bernard Berthod et Pierre Blanchard, L'Amateur, Paris 2001, 352 p.
October 15, 2012
October 1, 2012
Archdale A. King - Insignia of the Pope
TIARA
The Papal tiara, like the mitre,
seems to have been derived from the camelaucum
or regnum, and to have retained the
from of a tall pointed cap for many centuries. As a head-covering for the Pope,
it is first called a tiara in the life of Paschal II (1099-1118) [1]. An 11th-century
fresco of Nicholas I (858-67) in the lower church of S. Clemente (Rome) depicts
the tiara as a high and pointed coneshaped hat, ornamented with a gold band.
This gold circlet or ‘crown’ on the ‘imperial phrygium’ is referred to by
Suger, abbot of St. Denis (Paris), in 1130. Ordo
Romanus XI (12th
century) makes a definite distinction between the mitre and the tiara. By the
13th century, the gold circlet was already fashioned in the form of
a tooth-edged crown (regnum), to
which a second was added under Boniface VIII (1294-1303) and a third under
Clement V (13-5-14), from which is derived the triregnum. The form of the headgear, however, remained until the 14th
century a tall cap, resembling a sugar-loaf, from which two black lappets (caudae) were suspended [2].
The inventory of papal treasures
made in 1295 still shows a single royal circlet round the tiara. The second
crown may have been added as an expression of pomp, but it is more probably
explained as an indication of the twofold authority of the Pope – spiritual et
temporal. The first notice of the three crowns is found in an inventory made in
1315 or 1316, and the tomb of Benedict XI, who died at Perugia in 1304, shows
the early type of tiara. The effigy of Clement V (ob. 1314) at Uzès was unfortunately so mutilated by the
Hunguenots that it is impossible to ascertain the form of the ‘hat’, but there
are still only two crowns on the tomb of John XXII (ob. 1334) at Avignon. The first monument to represent the Pope with
the triple crown is that of the Cistercian Benedict XII (ob. 1342), which is also to be seen at Avignon.
From the end of the middle ages, the
upper part of the tiara had a growing tendency to ‘break loose’, until it became
larger than the base, allowing for a rich ornamentation of chasing and precious
stones. The small cross on the top of the tiara was introduced in the 16th
century. The tiara is not strictly a liturgical ornament, and at solemn
functions the Pope wears a mitre, while the tiara is carried before him. It is,
however, worn for the ceremony of coronation, the return to the sacristy after
a solemn Mass, and in the procession to and from the Mass commemorative of the
anniversary of the coronation.
FLABELLUM
The ostrich-feather fans or flabella, which are carried on either
side of the papal sedia gestatoria
and flank the throne on solemn occasions, may possibly be derived form the fan
once used by the deacon during the canon of the Mass [3]. Two of these fans are
found today in the museum of the University of Pennsylvania, having been
exchanged for another pair by an American in 1902.
FALDA
The falda is a vestment peculiar to
the Pope, consisting of a long and large skirt of white silk with a train
falling over the feet. The Pope girds it round his loins, and when walking has
it raised in front by two protonotaries apostolic.
FANON
The fanon, as we have seen, is
referred to, under the name of anabolagium,
in Ordo Romanus I for use at the
stational Mass of the Pope, but it was not until it became customary for all
priests to wear an amice with the alb that the fanon became an exclusively
papal vestment. By the time of Innocent III (1198-1216), the fanon was worn
exclusively by the Pope, but it was known as an orale, and the term fanon was not employed until later [4]. The
remote derivation of the fanon thus seems to have been the same as that of the
amice, but it has been considered by some writers to be either an imitation of
the veil worn by Greek bishops or an attenuated successor of the Byzantine
phelonion. Its form and material in early times is uncertain, but we see from
an inventory of the papal treasury (1295) that it was made of white silk in the
later middle ages. A favourite ornamentation was one of narrow stripes of gold
or of some colour, especially red, woven into the silk. The fanon was square in
shape until the 15th century, and its present cape-like form seems
to have appeared about the 16th century or even later.
Its present form and usage have been
described by Braun in the Catholic
Encyclopedia: ‘It is a shoulder cape worn by the Pope alone, consisting of
two pieces of white silk ornamented with narrow woven stripes (virgatum) of red and gold but somewhat
unequal size, while the smaller iis laid on and fastened to the larger one. To
allow the head to pass through there is made in the middle a round opening with
a vertical slit running down farther. The front part of the fanon is ornamented
with a small cross embroidered in gold….
After the cardinal deacon has vested
the Pope for a solemn Mass with the usual amice [5], alb, girdle, subcinctorium
and pectoral cross, he draws on, by means of the opening, the fanon and the
turns the half of the upper piece towards the back of the Pope’s head. Then,
when he has given the stole, tunicle, dalmatic and chasuble, he turns down that
part of the fanon which had been placed over the head of the Pope, draws the
front half of the upper piece aboce the tunicle, dalmatic, and chasuble, and
finally arranges the whole upper piece of the fanon so that it covers the
shoulders of the Pope like a collar.’ [6]. St. Pius X had a fanon in two
separate pieces, as he found vesting with it in a single piece was awkward.
SUBCINCTORIUM
The suncinctorium, which is attached
to the cincture, is similar both in form and character to the maniple. It is
woven in gold, with large flattened ends, one of which is embroidered with a
small Agnus Dei, and the other with a
cross. A sacramentary of the end of the 10th century, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris [7], refers to it
under the name of balteus, and in the
‘Mass of Illyricus’ it is called praecinctorium
[8]. Other names for the vestment include subcingulum,
perizoma [9] and subcinctorium. It was probably used first in France, and was
introduced into Italy about the end of the first millennium. Medieval documents
refer to the subcinctorium as a band attached to the cincture of the bishop,
but it was worn sometimes by simple priests.
The original form of the vestment is
doubtful, but Honorius of Autun (ob.
1145 or c. 1152) says: Subcingulum, quod perizoma vel subcinctorium
dicitur, circa pudenda duplex suspenditur [10]. And again elsewhere, in
speaking of the ‘arms’ of the priest: cingulo
pro arcu se cingit, subcingulum pro pharetra sibi [11]. John de Guerciis, a
Milanese writer of the 13th century, tells us: et est subcingulum quoddam in stola quod ligature cum cingulo. Its
original purpose according to Durandus (ob.
1296) was to secure the stole to the cincture [12], but it may have been a
relic of the alms-bag which was attached to the girdle and carried on journeys,
in order to scatter largesse as the papal or Episcopal cortege went on its way.
It would seem to have been a band some centimeters wide that was doubled an attached
to the girdle about the waist.
The subcinctorium gradually ceased
to be worn by priests and bishops, and about the close of thr 13th
century it had become no more than an ornamental vestment, which by the 16th
century was reserved exclusively to the Pope and to the bishops who followed
the Ambrosian rite.
[1] Lib.
Pontif., edit. Duchesne, II, 296.
[2] The lappets were black in colour
until the 15th century.
[3] Cf. Carmelite and Oriental rites.
Cf. O.R. XIV, 53; Pat. Lat., t. LXXVIII, col. 1165.
[4] Late Latin fano, from πῆνος, cloth, woven fabric.
[5] The fanon was worn originally
without an amice.
[6] Braun, Fanon, Cath. Encyclop.,
vol. V, p. 785.
[7] Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. F. lat. 12052.
[8] The Mass provides a prayer Ad praecinctorium: Praecinge me, Domine, virtute, et pone in immaculatam viam meam.
Bona, op. cit., append., p. 474.
[9] Gk., περιζώννύμι, to gird round oneself,
put on as a belt.
[10] Honor., Gemma animae, lib. I, cap. CCVI; Hittrop, op. cit., col. 1232.
[11] Ibid., lib. I, cap. LXXXII; ibid., col. 1203.
[12] Subcingulum, quod dependet a cingulo quo
stola Pontificis cum ipso cingulo colligatur. Durand., Rat., lib. III, cap. I, n. 3.
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