www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Pope Benedict's Inauguration

Dear Nicholas,

You are right!

The crowns of Eastern bishops (and mitred archpriests) are more monarchical than anything the West now has.

(For me, that's a good thing!)

The crowns used at Eastern Orthodox and Catholic weddings are likewise very royal-looking . . .

And how appropriate, especially if a man's future wife is a real princess . . .



But there is one thing I don't get - if the Papal Crown still figures in the Vatican coat of arms and in the Pope's personal arms, what isn't the Tiara used any longer?

Isn't it a thing of dignified beauty?

Alex

One quick questions - next to the Spanish Monarchs, I noticed - what I am guessing - is another Royal pair. The woman was also dressed in a white mantilla but I always though that those could only be worm by a Catholic Queen...both were quite young. I know that Grand Duchesses and Serene Royal Highnesses don't get the priviledges...

Any idea if Queen Ionna of Bulgaria (formerly of Italy) had the priviledge of dressing in white...she was raised a Catholic and I think she still maintained her religion after her marrigage to Boris III...

Anton

That was the King and Queen of the Belgians, very Catholic monarchs.

Oh cheers...they look quite young though! Guess that Flemish-Belgium air is good for you!

Anton

This may sound dumb!

Why do they call it an inauguration instead of an enthronment?

I mean is it like they put into office a person voted on by a democrasy or something, come on!

Dear Friends:

I was disappointed that the new Pope did not use the tiara.

The whole ceremony was very fine and beautifully organized but the inauguration (installation, whatever) part was very weak.

Interesting how they gave such emphasis to items which were not really of great papal significance in times past.

If I remember our late beloved Pope John Paul II gave his fisherman's ring to the priest of a dirt-poor parish in a Brazilian slum.

I did find it interesting that they came up with a new type of pallium, omophor (oops) after careful research.

I am just waiting for some Catholic pundit to say that they invented it just for the new pope.

The significance of the Pallium one really can't deny, but there is nothing in it's history to make it particular in any way to the Papacy.

There were only about 400 others at the service of exactly the same validly as the one the Pope received.

The tiara on the other hand is something that is very specific to the Pope's role as Patriarch of the West.

All Latin Patriarchs are given the right to use the tiara on their coats of arms.

I don't really know if in earlier times if they actually used them in their pontifical services.

I heard one commentator say that all symbols of dominance have been removed from the service.

Interesting statement.

Could they not have made use of the traditional investiture attributes, staff, mitre, throne, vestment instead of inventing things?

It could have been done better.

But non-the-less I am very pleased with the new Pope.

Catholics and especially non-Catholics who know me well have been congratulating me all week.

May God Grant Health, Long Life, and Prosperity in all things of this world, and Salvation in the Next to his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

Axios.


defreitas

Dear Defreitas,

Well said!

I too would have loved to see the Tiara come back - it is STILL the symbol of the Papacy.

On the other hand, most European monarchs today do not have coronation ceremonies, but often only swear to uphold the constitution etc.

"All symbols of dominance removed ?"

The Pope is truly a pastor, a man who blesses . . . but also a man who affirms, admonishes and forbids when necessary.

And he is also an absolute monarch - Europe's only absolute monarch.

Alex

In avoiding the coronation of the Pope with the papal tiara, the Master of Ceremonies deflected all the criticisms hurled in the past (and present?) by Catholics (especially by Eastern Catholics ) and non-Catholics alike about the Pope being an "absolute monarch!"

He still is, only his job description as the Supreme Pontiff, with direct ordinary jurisdiction on all Churches in the Catholic communion, "ruler of the Universe," Vicar of Christ, etc., whose decision is appealable to no one, has been etched in stone and hidden in the Codes of Canons (of East and West)! :p

Amado

Dear Amado,

The day an earthly monarch prefers not to wear his crown as a sign of humility, only to call himself the "Vicar of Christ" . . .

Bl. Pope John XXIII once met the Mother Superior of the Order of the Holy Spirit.

She introduced herself as the "Superior of the Holy Spirit!"

The Pope smiled and replied, "How lucky you are . . . I'm only the Vicar of Christ."

And that term, "Vicar of Christ" was first used by Byzantine Emperors (which topic is EC territory after all ).

Alex

Well, I suppose the thing to do is convince Pope Benedict to serve Pontifical Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. The most recent precedent - that of Blessed John XXIII - to have the Pope vested in Byzantine hierarchal vestments but with the Papal Tiara for a mitre. Presumably none has been made for Pope Benedict, but the Vatican must have plenty of them in various sizes.

A suitable occasion for this would be the umpteenth centenary of Saint John Chrysostom, which is coming up either in 2006 or 2007.

Incognitus

Dear Incognitus:

Pope John Paul II served the Divine Liturgy at Saint Peter's at least once.

I have a couple of pictures here somewhere.

If you want I can send them to you.


defreitas

Thus posted Alex, aka, Orthodox Catholic:

> The crowns of Eastern bishops (and mitred
> archpriests) are more monarchical than
> anything the West now has.

That's because they are! In the later centuries of the Byzantine Empire, the Patriarch of Constantinople was given the right to wear the crown, sakkos, and special purple sandals of the Emperor. The last of these have long been archaic, but the first two eventually were extended to all bishops, displacing the older bishop's cap (seen in some icons and still used by Old Ritualists) and the phelonion (which Saint John Maximovich of Shanghai oft insisted on wearing instead of a sakkos, considering the sakkos an innovation); they made it into Russia with the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

> The crowns used at Eastern Orthodox and
> Catholic weddings are likewise very royal-looking . . .

Those are purely Slavic. Elsewhere, crowns of bay leaves (laurel) are used, such as were given to the winners of the Olympic games. I'm told that since laurel doesn't grow far north, that the Slavic people there used permanent crowns which grew more fancy over time; I don't know if that explanation is correct or not.

Photius

I would love to see those pictures that were mentioned of the Divine Liturgy being celebrated in Saint Peter's! :-) Anyone who were to send them to sgrim006@odu.edu would be greatly thanked ;-)

Christos Voskres!

They are not 3-tiered Tiaras accompanied by a Prayer of Crowning which calls the Pope as above all Kings and Princes. That was mercifully dropped.

http://www.homestead.com/Easterncatholichymns/Popemass.html

http://www.homestead.com/Easterncatholichymns/Popemass2.html