Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Pope's Wardrobe

PHOTO: Pope Benedict XVI, left, and Pope Paul VI are shown in their pontifical robes.The pope's clothes are infused with history and symbolism. 

Though many of the vestments have been worn by popes through the ages, each new bishop of Rome puts his own spin on the classics. 

In the decades since the Second Vatican Council ended in 1962, the popes have significantly dressed down, eschewing much of the gold and finery their predecessors routinely wore.

The last pope, Benedict XVI, however, put his own mark on the clothes he wore both day-to-day and for special occasions, restoring long-lost hats and capes and adding a bold touch of color.

MITRE
 
PHOTO: Pope Benedict XVI waves as he leaves after the mass for Ash Wednesday, opening Lent, the forty-day period of abstinence and deprivation for the Christians, before the Holy Week and Easter, on February 13, 2013 at St Peter's basilica at the Vatican. The tall folded hat worn by popes and other bishops is called a mitre, and is an ancient symbol of priestly authority.

Mitre's come in several styles: simplex or simple, made of white linen or silk; pretiosa or precious, adorned in precious stones; and auriphrygiata or gold (seen here) made of gold cloth or white cloth with a gold fringe, typically worn during celebrations. 

Benedict was known for wearing mitres that were taller and often more colorful taller than his predecessor John Paul II.

PALLIUM
 
PHOTO: In this April 24, 2005 file photo, Archbishop Piero Marini drapes Pope Benedict XVI with the pallium during his installment Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.The pallium is a thin woolen shawl worn during mass and on special occasions. It covers the pope's shoulders and extends down the length of his body. 

In the West, the pallium has typically been symmetrical, running down the center of the popes body. 

Benedict, however, occasionally wore an asymmetrical Eastern-style pallium, which some interpreted as a symbol of his efforts to mend relations with Eastern Orthodox churches.

CAMAURO
 
PHOTO: In this Dec. 21, 2005 file photo, Pope Benedict XVI, sporting a fur-trimmed hat called a camauro, waves to pilgrims upon his arrival in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for his weekly general audience. Another once-forgotten vestment Benedict dug up from the back of the papal closet is a red-velvet cap with white ermine fringe called a camauro.

Reminiscent of Santa's hat, the camauro is worn only by the pope and only in the winter, in place of the typical zucchetto skull cap worn by bishops and cardinals. 

Like the mortarboard caps worn by graduates, hats similar to the camauro were once also worn by medieval academics.

MOZZETTA
 
PHOTO: Pope Benedict XVI arrives in procession at the Basilica of St Sabina to celebrate Ash Wednesday on February 17, 2010 in Rome, Italy.
Most senior clergy wear a short elbow length cape called a mozzetta, but the pope has five distinct styles that only he can wear. 

Like most vestments, only the pope can wear white mozzettas, and only his come trimmed with ermine fur in the winter.

RED SHOES
 
PHOTO: Pope Benedict XVI's red shoes are seen as the pope attends a mass in Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral during World Youth Day celebrations on July 19, 2008. The pope historically wore red shoes festooned with a large gold cross or gold buckle when walking outside, all the better for kissing.

Following Vatican II, Pope Paul XVI kept the red shoes but ditched the buckles in the 1960s and ultimately nixed foot kissing altogether. 

All successive popes wore red shoes but one, John Paul II, who wore brown shoes. 

Benedict XVI reinstated the red shoes, getting his loafers made by a Peruvian-born shoemaker in Rome named Antonio Arellano.

TIARA
 
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSnnBKJgPowDuxWJxla1BGsLBULDR3P3kIN0_id84wWP9yoTNpIIw From the eighth century to the middle of the 20th, popes were coronated wearing an ornate three-tiered crown called a tiara. 

Like many of the finer vestments, tiaras went out of style following Vatican II and a decree by Paul VI. 

Paul actually renounced a special tiara made especially for him by the city of Milan, which he wore only once briefly at his coronation. 

The last tiara was auctioned, and purchased by American Catholics and is on display at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

No popes have worn a tiara since 1963, but the new pope could restore the tradition.