If we all just dressed
normal, there'd be no chance of
misunderstanding!
Posted on 04/27/2005 6:55:32 PM PDT by Pyro7480
Pope Drops Papal Crown From Coat of Arms, Adds Miter, Pallium
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The papal crown has been given the boot once again, this time no longer appearing as part of the new pope's coat of arms.
Pope Benedict XVI has dispensed with the image of the three-tiered tiara that traditionally appeared at the top of each pope's coat of arms and replaced it with the pointed miter.
The pope also has added the pallium, the woolen stole symbolizing a bishop's authority, to the elements surrounding the shield.
The details of the new papal blazon were published in the April 28 edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. A copy was released April 27 to journalists.
"Benedict XVI has chosen a coat of arms that is rich in symbolism and meaning, so as to put his personality and his papacy in the hands of history," said Italian Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, an expert on heraldry and creator of Benedict XVI's new insignia.
"For at least the past eight centuries, popes have had their own personal coats of arms in addition to the symbols of the Apostolic See," the archbishop said in the Vatican newspaper.
While each papal shield is unique, the elements surrounding it had more or less remained the same for centuries -- until now.
Gone is the beehive-shaped crown whose actual use in important ceremonies was abandoned during the papacy of Paul VI. For Pope Benedict's ensign, the more modest and recognizable miter has taken its place.
But the silver miter has three gold stripes to mirror the symbolism of the papal tiara's three tiers: "order, jurisdiction and magisterum," said Archbishop Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, who had served as an apostolic nuncio for more than 20 years.
A vertical gold band connects the three stripes in the middle "to indicate their unity in the same person," he said.
Another novelty is the addition of the white pallium with black crosses draped below the shield.
"It indicates the (bishop's) role of being pastor of the flock entrusted to him by Christ," wrote Archbishop Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.
What has not changed and has been part of papal emblems for centuries is the Holy See's insignia of two crossed keys, which symbolize the powers Christ gave to the Apostle Peter and his successors. The gold key on the right represents the power in heaven and the silver key on the left indicates the spiritual authority of the papacy on earth. The cord that unites the two keys alludes to the bond between the two powers.
Nestled on top of the keys lies the unique shield of Pope Benedict, which is based on his coat of arms as archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany, and is particularly rich in personal and spiritual symbolism, wrote Archbishop Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.
The shield is divided into three sections -- each of which has its own symbol.
The central element on a red background is a large gold shell that has theological and spiritual significance for the pope, the archbishop said. The shell recalls a legend in which St. Augustine came across a boy on the seashore who was scooping water from the sea and pouring it into a small hole he had dug in the sand.
When the saint pondered this seemingly futile activity, it struck him as analogous to limited human minds trying to understand the infinite mystery of the divine.
"The shell reminds me of my great master Augustine, of my theological work, and of the vastness of the mystery which surpasses all our learning," wrote then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his 1997 autobiography "Milestones, Memoirs: 1927-1977."
Also, Archbishop Cordero di Montezemolo wrote that the shell has long symbolized the pilgrim, "a symbolism Benedict XVI wants to keep alive" after Pope John Paul II, "the great pilgrim."
The shell is also present in the coat of arms of the Schotten monastery in Regensburg, Germany, to which the pope "feels very spiritually close," the archbishop said.
The upper left-hand section of the shield depicts a brown-faced Moor with red lips, crown and collar; it is a symbol of the former Diocese of Freising dating back to the eighth century.
Though it is not known why the Moor came to represent Freising, the pope said for him "it is an expression of the universality of the church which knows no distinctions of race or class since all are one in Christ," he said in his book, "Milestones."
Finally, a brown bear loaded with a pack on his back lumbers up the upper right-hand section of the shield.
The bear is tied to an old Bavarian legend about the first bishop and patron saint of the Diocese of Freising, St. Corbinian. According to the legend, when the saint was on his way to Rome, a bear attacked and killed his horse. St. Corbinian punished the bear by making him carry the saint's belongings the rest of the way to Rome.
Archbishop Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo said the bear symbolizes the beast "tamed by the grace of God," and the pack he is carrying symbolizes "the weight of the episcopate."
The pope said in his 1997 autobiography: "Meanwhile, I have carried my pack to Rome and wander for some time now through the streets of the Eternal City. When release will come I cannot know. What I do know is that I am God's pack animal, and, as such, close to him."
Actually, I always did like that joke.
If we all just dressed
normal, there'd be no chance of
misunderstanding!
You make a very eloquent defense. I must agree.
What is that? A Freemason? Don't they wear aprons?
I prefer cape, chapeau and sword, m'self:
No, that's not me.
What uniform it that? Is it Knights of Columbus? I know they were a sword. I still do not know what the first picture is? I really do not know. I was raised with a bias about any organization that has secret rites.
The picture I posted is a Knight of Columbus, a member of a thoroughly Catholic organisation.
Seems as good a man as we could have hoped for. Lets see how he follows upon his previous activity and inclinations in the traditionalist realm.
He could do a lot by simply doing follow-up work on JP II's encyclicals. He could validly make the claim of not imposing anything "new" or worse, "old" on the Church.
One of my cousins was an Archbishop in the Vatican diplomatic corps, beginning as a junior attache in the reign of Pius XII and retiring as an Archbishop under John Paul II.
He told us a funny story about the Sedia Gestatoria and John XXIII. "I don't like it at all," he said to my cousin. "It reminds me of a very bad boat ride - I'm always feeling seasick when I'm in it."
And - one of the first acts of his pontificate - again, this is according to my cousin, was to double the pay of the Papal Gentlemen who had to carry it. "It's only fair," he told my cousin, "I weigh at least twice as much as Pius XII !!!!"
I am most interested to see what he does regarding the celebration of the Mass, the encouragement of Latin, and relations with the SSPX and the Orthodox.
"cooperatores" -- Is anybody here competent in Latin and can clarify?
Yes...
"Operator" is Latin for "worker". Co-Operator is therefore a co-worker. Cooperatores is plural, hence, co-workers.
Cooperatores veritatis = Co-Workers of/for the truth!
I like it!
We've disagreed in the past, but of course as a monarchist I'm with you here 100%.
It would do a lot of good for Catholics, and the world in general, to be reminded that the Church is a monarchy, not a democracy.
It would be hard not to see the post-Vatican II popes' renunciation of the tiara and coronation as a reversal of the Church's traditional support of monarchy, which Pope Pius VI had called "the best of all governments." Of all the deplorable changes of the past forty years, after the abandonment of the Latin mass and the sacred music associated with it, this is the one I regret the most.
I too like this phrase, and I'm liking this new Pope more and more as the days go on!
My thoughts exactly.
8-) Thanks for that story.
A Monarchy is a state of government with a single absolute power - Mono (one) archos (power).
If the Church is a Monarchy, it is because Jesus Christ Himself is the King.
In actual practice, however, the government of the Church is not really like a Monarchy as most think of it -an absolute Monarch of the Louis XIV mold ("L'Etat, c'est moi") - but more of a Meritorcratic Aristocracy, with a leading Aristocrat acting as the Royal Regent.
On a secular level, a closer model of how it actually worked would be France or Germany of the period between AD 900-1200. The King held absolute power in his fiefdom, and a lesser collective power over the other nobility in their fiefs in certain matters, but only a power to the extent they are willing to cooperate with the King. To the Church, the Pope has absolute power as a Bishop over the archdiocese of Rome. He has supervisory power over all the other dioceses. But if a Bishop refuses his commands or rebells, like the Orthodox have for example, they are still Bishops of a Church, but now in disobedience against the established order.
The Pope is not a Monarch, but the Prince of Princes in the Church. He is set over the other Bishops for supervision, coordination, and correction, but he does not have more epsicopal power than them - he is still just a Bishop like them. That is why we say he is the "Vicar of Christ". He is acting as a Regent in place of the temporally absent Monarch, the Lord Jesus Christ our King. He himself is not the Monarch.
This should not be confused with the secular monarchical role the Pope played from 754 to 1870 as head of the Papal States, especially in the post feudal age from 1300 onwards. The current Vatican City-State is a hypertechnical "state" that is lacking in real citizens.
Didn't Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger) sign the May 5th 1988 document with Archbishop Lefebvre?
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