Dappled Photos

A photograph of bishops at the Second Vatican Council. Most

2008-01-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

A photograph of bishops at the Second Vatican Council. Most are wearing purple mantelletta over the rochet and purple choir cassock. On their heads are the zucchetto and purple biretta. Most seem to be wearing the pectoral cross on the chain, rather than the green and gold cord that would be more proper for choir dress. In the background, one can make out the scarlet of a Cardinal, whose biretta is tuftless and who wears the scarlet mozzetta over his mantelletta. You can also make out two bishops in blue, rather than purple. These are religious order bishops -- Franciscans, I think. Also in the background, two prelates in the wide-brimmed saturno.

The Pope, vested in mitre and cope, is greeted by a newly

2008-01-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Pope, vested in mitre and cope, is greeted by a newly created Cardinal, vested in the scarlet mozzetta over scarlet choir cassock and rochet.

Pope Benedict XVI, assisted by two deacons. The Pope wears a

2008-01-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Pope Benedict XVI, assisted by two deacons. The Pope wears a cope of Blessed John XXIII (notice the coat of arms on the orphrey) and a precious mitre that belonged to John Paul I. The deacons, vested in dalmatics, hold the cope open in the traditional fashion, which makes it easier for the Pope to walk. Beneath the cope you can easily see the pectoral cross, stole, alb, and cincture.

Precious mitre depicting Christ the Good Shepherd.

2008-01-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

Precious mitre depicting Christ the Good Shepherd.

The Pope is assisted with the removal of his chasuble for

2008-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Pope is assisted with the removal of his chasuble for the anointing of the altar of a new church. This gives a good view of the pontifical dalmatic he is wearing beneath the chasuble. Under the dalmatic, he wears the pectoral cross (not visible), stole (not visible), and alb.

Canons

2006-11-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

Canons are ecclesiastical dignitaries attached to "chapters," which exist in certain cathedrals and other greater churches. Originally, chapters gave the clerics a common life and provided for the singing of the canonical hours (and the performing of other sacred duties) in the churches that had them. With time, other responsibilities were given to canons, and in some dioceses the cathedral chapter wielded considerable power, including the naming of the bishop. In those places that have canons nowadays, their role is often merely honorary (as is the case with monsignori), although some are still obliged to certain sacred responsibilities within the chapter, and some still have special authority.

We mention the canons here because, within their chapter, canons usually enjoy special vestural privileges. These privileges vary from chapter to chapter: in some places, the canons wear mozzettas or mantellettas of this or that color, in others the biretta is modified, in some a cappa is allowed, or fur, or vesture that is almost indistinguishable from that of a bishop. As this photopost grows, we'll accept submissions of pictures depicting and describing the vesture of specific chapters. European readers: we're counting on your help!

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Warsaw, Poland are wearing the violet manteletta over rochet and black cassock, with purple trim and fascia. On chains, over the manteletta, each canon wears a chapter cross.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Salzburg, Austria, wear cherry red birettas and mozzettas, with a chapter cross on a cherry red ribbon.

The canons of the Capitular Chapter of the Collegiate Basilica of St. Helen Empress Augusta in Malta enjoy vestural privileges granted by Pope Urban VIII in the Papal Bull Sacri apostolici ministerio on the 5th December 1630, through which he erected the said chapter on the petition of Don Filippo Borgia. The following is their choir vesture: a rochet over the cassock, a cappa magna fastened at the back, (the reversed diaconal stole is part of the cappa) and a black biretta. Pope Leo XIII granted the use of a pectoral cross and a ring in 1862. The Capitular Mace was granted in 1914. Pius XII elevated the Collegiate Church to a Minor Basilica in 1950, granting the privilege of using the papal umbrellone and the tintinnabulum.

The collegiate chapter of the Basilica of Sts Peter and Paul in Gozo, Malta, seem to have the same privileges as the above Basilica of St Helen: folded purple cappa, with the odd reversed diaconal stole, over rochet and black cassock, with rings and unjeweled pectoral crosses. The two canons in the lead, wearing red tufted birettas and full purple and purple-piped cassocks respectively, presumable enjoy some special dignity. Notice, too, the tintinnabulum (processional bells) and umbrellone of the basilica, as well as the chapter mace carried by a verger.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Malta have two types of choir dress, I am told. The first image shows a cathedral canon in normal choir dress: purple mozetta, unjewelled gold pectoral cross on a golden cord, a black biretta with red pom-pom, rochet, over a black cassock with purple trim. On feast days, this filettata cassock is replaced by a full purple (paonazza) one. The cathedral canons of Malta have the privilege of being all protonotaries apostolic ad instar. In the third photo, you see Metropolitan Archbishop Joseph Mercieca wearing the cappa magna (held by Seminarian Stephen Attard, who provided us with the photo) and attended by cathedral canons.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Cracow, Poland, seem to wear a black biretta with purple pom-pom, a ring, a capitular cross on a chain, and a violet cappa over rochet and black cassock.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Swidnica, Poland, wear purple-tufted black birettas, a purple mozzetta with rochet, over a black cassock trimmed in purple. They use a ring and a capitular cross on a chain.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Kalisz, Poland, seem to have the same privileges as the Swidnica canons.

The Co-Cathedral Chapter of Ostrowiec Wielkopolski, Poland, in the same Diocse of Kalisz, seem to have the same vesture as their colleagues in Kalisz Cathedral, except that they wear a purple manteletta instead of a mozzetta.

The Cathedral Chapter of the Polish Army's Field Cathedral in Warsaw are seen here wearing capitular crosses on a chain, over the purple manteletta, with rochet and purple-trimmed black cassocks. I can't see whether they have rings. None of them is wearing a fascia (the cassock sash), which one would expect to be purple, and without seeing their birettas one would presume that they are completely black.

The Collegiate Chapter in Biecz, Poland, (Diocese of Rzeszow) wears the black biretta with purple pom-pom, purple manteletta, a capitular cross on a very interesting chain, rochet, and a purple-trimmed black cassock. In some of the pictures, I'm noticing canons with black mantelettas and a different sort of cross: presumably, they belong to a different chapter.

The Cathedral Chapter of Glasgow, Scotland, used to wear this striking choir dress of a fur-trimmed purple mozzetta (with hood!) over rochet and purple cassock. I'm told that the Archbishop has retired the old canons and changed the choir dress to a purple-trimmed black cassock with a grey mozzetta. Sic transit, I suppose.

The Canons of Avignon, France, enjoy vestural privileges that apparently date back to the days of the Popes' residence there. The monsignor seen here is dean of the chapter. Judging from the photo, the Avignon canons wear a scarlet cappa without a train, and a pectoral cross. Any more information?

The Cathedral Chapter of Southwark, England, wear a purple mozzetta with amaranth buttons and ermine trim. The two priests shown here are the provost and provost emeritus.

The canons of the Collegiate Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico, have two styles of choir dress, which I assume depend on the rank of the canon. Here we see one canon with purple mozzetta and chapter cross on a chain, over rochet (actually, it looks as if he's incorrectly in a surplice) and purple cassock; the other is wearing a purple-piped black mozzetta over a black cassock (perhaps also piped in purple?).

These canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Merida, Spain, are wearing the black cappa trimmed in purple over rochets and black cassocks trimmed in purple.

These canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Segovia, Spain, wear black cappas with a violet uppper piece over rochet and (apparently) solid black cassocks.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Augsburg, Germany, wear a purple mozzetta with a chapter cross on a ribbon, over rochet and full purple cassock.

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, wear what seems to be an oddly folded purple cappa magna, with an ermine-trimmed upper piece, over rochet and purple cassock. The canons are seen here in a Palm Sunday procession, complete with a bishop on a donkey!

The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Quito, Ecuador, are seen here in an unusual custom called arrastre de las caudas ("dragging of the trains"). They're wearing black cappa magna, with the train extended and (because they are involved in a penitential ceremony) with the hoods pulled over their heads. The rest of their vesture seems to be rochet and black cassock. In the first photo, you can see the diocesan bishop in his purple cappa, trimmed in ermine (technically no longer allowed for bishops), and his hood pulled over his head (and apparently biretta). I'll let my correspondent describe this ceremony:

It involves canons wearing the cappa with the
hood covering their head and caudatarii carrying the
trains. The canons then lie face down in choir and the
local bishop (also in cappa) presents a dark flag that
no one is supposed to touch. The whole thing takes
place during Wednesday of Holy Week and I do not
really know the symbolism behind it. The first photo shows the archbishop
of Quito, Ecuador, and the canons lying on the floor
during last year's "arrastre". The second photo is a
historic shot of the event.

Unidentified Belgian canons, during the funeral of the Bishop of Bridge. They seem to be wearing black cappas with a striped-fur upper piece. Any more information?

More unidentified canons, these from Spain. They are wearing black cappas trimmed in burgundy velvet, over rochets and black cassocks. The priests in the middle don't seem to be dignitaries: the green pom-pom on their Spanish-style birettas is probably indicative of an academic degree (and thus ought not to be worn for purely liturgical ceremonies). Can anyone help identify the chapter in question?

This photo is of the Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception, in Paterno, Italy. As regular canons, rather than capitular canons, these fellows are technically outside the scope of this particular post, but the photograph is too good to pass up. My correspondent explains what you are seeing:

These canons did not only
wear the violet cappa magna, the actually made a
procession through the town with the trains of the
cappa trailing behind them on the ground, as seen on
the photo. This was done every year on "Venerdi
Santo". To boot, these canons also wore socks and
zucchetto of matching color and buckled shoes. Of
course, this beautiful custom eventually came to and
end, too (Supposedly the provost one day saw the
archbishop amongst the spectators during the
procession. The provost felt sort of guilty that he
was dressed ten times as well as the archbishop and
instantly got rid of the cappae).

Mighty Mitres

2005-10-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

This photo post will be dedicated to impressive photographs of the mitre, the principal liturgical headgear of bishops. Derived from the camelaucum, a non-liturgical hat once worn by the Popes, the mitre is a close relative of the papal tiara, which also comes from the camelaucum. You can read more about the history, use, and meaning of the mitre at the Catholic Encyclopedia article.

We, O Lord, place on the head of this Thy bishop and champion, the helmet of protection and salvation, so that his face being adorned and his head armed with the horns of both Testaments, he may seem terrible to the opponents of truth, and through the indulgence of Thy grace may be their sturdy adversary, Thou Who didst mark with the brightest rays of Thy splendor and truth the countenance of Moses Thy Servant, ornamented from his fellowship with Thy word: and didst order the tiara to be placed on the head of Aaron thy high priest. Through Christ Our Lord. R. Amen

In the first photo, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in Mass vestments, wearing an interesting precious mitre of floral design. Mitres are traditionally always variations on white or gold. This floral design would be considered a variation on white. One can nowadays find mitres in red, green, and the other liturgical colors, but this is a very recent and very tacky innovation. The second photo is also Cardinal Ratzinger, at a different Mass with a different mitre.

I love this photograph of Pope John Paul II at the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Rome. The precious mitre is fairly simple, but it works very well with the splendid Mass vestments. The Pope is wearing the pallium and fanon on his shoulders, over a Roman chasuble and the pontifical dalmatic. Notice also the magnificent work on the alb.

In the first photo, Good Pope John XXIII wearing mitre and cope at his throne in the Lateran Cathedral. In the second, Pope John officiates at the consecration of a new bishop. The co-consecrator on the left is American Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. The Pope, as principal consecrator is wearing the golden mitre and Mass vestments. The two co-consecrators are in cope and simple mitre, although Bishop Sheen's simple mitre seems to be quite tall. Third photo, Pope John kneeling and wearing a golden mitre.

Pope Paul VI upon his throne, wearing mitre and cope. The kind of mitre he is using is called the mitra auriphrygiata, the golden mitre, for the obvious reason. The other two kinds of mitre are the mitra pretiosa, or precious mitre, (the kind we've seen above) which is more richly decorated and often bejewelled, and the mitra simplex, or simple mitre, which is plain white. There were rather elaborate rules in the old ceremonial for when each kind of mitre was to be worn. These rules were, of course, mightily simplified in the 1970s.

Jorge Cardinal Medina, at an ordination, dressed in pontifical Mass vestments and wearing the golden mitre.

Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, is shown here after celebrating a Mass for the Dead. As befits such an austere ceremony, the Cardinal is wearing the simple mitre of plain white damask. This would also be the kind of mitre he would wear if in the presence of the Pope.

The coronation of Pope Pius XII. On either side of the Pope is a cardinal, wearing the (very tall) simple damask mitre with the dalmatic that marks him as a Cardinal-Deacon. It really pays to click this photo and see the full sized image.

Pope Benedict XVI, at the Christmas 2005 Urbi et Orbi address, wearing a cope and his favorite precious mitre. Notice, too, the Cardinal Deacons in their dalmatics and simple mitres, flanking the Pope.

Another photo it pays to click on. For Palm Sunday, Pope John XXIII is carried upon the sedia gestatoria in procession. He is wearing a precious mitre, and two cardinal deacons precede his throne, wearing their dalmatics and white damask mitres. They're all carrying elaborately folded palm branches.

Two shots of Our Most Holy Lord, Pope Pius XII in the sedia gestatoria, wearing precious mitre and cope. In the third photo, his predecessor Pius XI.

Images of John Paul I in mitre and Mass vestments. In the first, he is seated upon his throne and is receiving Cardinal Wojtyla, soon to be his successor. Papa Luciani is wearing a bejewelled precious mitre. In the second photograph, he is seated upon the sedia gestatoria and wearing a precious mitre decorated with roses. The third photo is very worthy, too.

Some fine images of Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, of the Roman Curia.

Monsignor Fernando Rifan, our favorite Brazilian bishop, wearing a precious mitre during the celebration of Pontifical High Mass according to the traditional Rite.

Raymond Burke, the Archbishop of St Louis, administering Confirmation while wearing cope and precious mitre.

Pietro Cardinal Palazzini wears a precious mitre while ordaining a deacon to the priesthood.

Monsignor Alois Kothgasser, the Archbishop of Salzburg, wearing a precious mitre.

Old Cardinal Siri of Genoa, in the precious mitre.

A vintage photo of Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston, in precious mitre and cope, blessing what seems to be a cornerstone.

Francesco Messina's magnificent monument to Pope Pius XII in St Peter's Basilica. The Pontiff is vested in mitre and cope.

Angelo Cardinal Scola, the Patriarch of Venice, in mitre and cope.

Here's a wonderful old vintage photograph from the coronation of Blessed Kaiser Karl as Apostolic King of Hungary. Attending the new King are a number of bishops in precious mitres and elaborate copes.

Cardinal Antonelli, the Archbishop of Florence, (judging from the arms, before he was created cardinal) in mitre and cope, and carrying the crozier.

An Austrian bishop at the Benedictine Abbey of Admont, wearing a precious mitre.

Photo Projects

2005-07-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Here are the links to the photo projects hosted on this blog:

Vestural privileges of Chapters of Canons
Episcopal Gloves
Biretta Sightings: Contemporary sightings of the common headgear of Roman Catholic clergy
Fiddleback Sightings: Contemporary sightings of the Roman-style chasuble
Dalmatics (and Tunicles): As worn by deacons (and subdeacons), bishops, and cardinal-deacons
DC Altars: Photos of notable Catholic and Anglican altars in the Washington, DC, area
The Papal Fanon: An old shoulder garment once worn by the Pope under the pallium
The Papal Tiara: The old papal triple-crown
The Cappa Magna: Photos old and new of prelates wearing the largest of vestments, the cappa magna
Mighty Mitres: The liturgical headgear of bishops
Ring Kissing
Wide-Brimmed Hats: Clerical headgear for the street
The Rationale

The Miraculous Mass of St Gregory the Great: A collection of art depicting this famous Mass
The Mozzetta
The Mantelletta
The Papal Camauro: Furry, non-liturgical cap of the Popes
The Cope: Liturgical cape
The Ferraiuolo: Non-liturgical clerical cape, worn on formal occasions

Corpus Christi 2005

2005-05-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

The procession makes its way around the parish grounds. Probably 600 people or so participated in the 2 pm Corpus Christi procession this year.

The people kneel down on the asphalt to pray before the Blessed Sacrament at the first way altar.

The procession turns onto Mary's Way. The kids in white following the Sacrament are the children who made their First Communion last week.

Heading up Mary's Way, with Jefferson Davis Highway in the background, the faithful give public testimony to their faith in the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood.

The people kneel to pray at the second way altar as the Sacrament is incensed and prayers are offered.

Corpus Christi Thursday

2005-05-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Corpus Christi Thursday