Sartorial Splendor- Pleasant Pallia

Well, this post is a reconstruction of my *lost* post on the pallium. Alas, alas! I shall do my best to recreate it. At any rate, this is the last *informational* post in the Sartorial Splendor series. Later today will be the capstone of the series, the slightly ridiculous Ecclesiastical What Not to Wear. I've covered, thusfar, the major (and some less-than-major) vestments and I think this is a good place to wrap up. Following WNtW, I will be doing a post on the Eucharist and transubstantiation.

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Pleasant Pallia
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love Roman scarves

Today we treat the subject of the pallium, a piece of vesture that symbolizes authority. The pallium is not, however, simply the same as the mitre of the crozier- no, instead it is symbolic of authority which is derived from the pope.

But first: its origins!

Some sources will contend that the pallium originated as a vestment peculiar to the pope. Such a notion is in keeping with the very clear evidence we have that from at least the 7th century on the pallium was conferred by the pope on clerics as a sign of his favor and as a recognition of some sort of authority. The Archbishops of Canterbury, for example, received their pallia from the popes from the 7th century until the 16th, when England broke from Rome. Indeed, it appears that said Archbishops were not recognized as the true Primates of England unless they actually had received a pallium from the Holy Father.

As to the origin of the actual pallium itself, there are a number of theories as to this as well, although the most prevalent is that it is derived from the scarf-like piece of clothing that Roman senators wore as a sign of their rank in the 4th and 5th centuries.

The belief that the pallium was peculiar to the pope, however, is a subject of contention amongst those who contend these things. In fact, the precise origin of the pallium as liturgical vesture is not known and is the subject of heavy debate. The theory that the pallium is a papal-only vestment ignores a number of extant sources that seem to indicate the pallium was a sign of general episcopal authority in Gaul, Spain and North Africa. Indeed, an early fifth-century depiction of the Patriarch of Alexandria has him weaing what *might* be a pallium.

Wherever it started, the pallium has not undergone significant alteration over time, unlike similar vestments. It did not, strangely, receive the heavy embellishment in the middle ages so characteristic of most other vestments in that period. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was used in such a limited manner and was of a very specific design. In the picture below, you can see (AI's favorite) Pope Innocent III wearing a pallium. Compare this to the picture at the top of this post and you can see the very clear continuity.

Innocent III was a fun-loving pope who, aside from being the most powerful man in the world and the most powerful pope ever, is now fondly remembered in an action figure.

As I said above, the pallium is symbolic of authority derived from the pope. This is because the pallium may only be worn by the pope and by those to whom he gives it. Metropolitans and archbishops are essentially the main receivers of the pallium nowadays, although the pope may still confer it on someone to whom he wishes to give a special honor- for example, in June of MMV (2005), the Dean of the College of Cardinals was granted the right to use the pallium.

According to wikipedia (I like to see what popular sources have to say about these things and not just the musty tomes I have here), the popes of the middle ages charged money for the conferral of the pallium. This, apparently, generated "millions of gold florins" for the papacy but was eventually stopped as a shameful practice. While it may, may, be possible that this practice actually occurred (I've never heard of such a thing before), there is absolutely no way it generated "millions of gold florins" for the papacy (that's a huuuuuuuuuge amount of money). Given that wikipedia's source for that information is a book called "The Dark Side of the Papacy," I have a feeling the information might be a *teensy bit* biased.

Anyway, that's about all for now. I hope you all have enjoyed this AI series and found it informative. If not, well, hopefully you've at least enjoyed the pictures.

Also, today is the feast of Saint Scholastica. She gets the short end of the stick most of the time, because she was the sister of Saint Benedict, so nobody ever talks about her. The best story about her is this: Benedict would visit Scholastica once a year and one year, not too long before Scholastica's death, she wanted him to stay longer than just a night. But Benedict was like, "No, I want to go back to my cell, despite the fact that you are my sister and I only see you once a year." (I'm paraphrasing.) So Scholastica prayed for a minute, a prayer which I (engaging in ruthless speculation) think went something like this, "Hey God, can you keep Benedict here for a bit?" Shortly thereafter, a torrential thunderstorm started. Benedict was thoroughly miffed and said that Scholastica had angered God by doing this (he plainly didn't realize that Scholastica, aside from being the Dark Ages' version of the X-Men character Storm, had God on HER side), but he stayed overnight and they had a lovely chat.

Anywho, I always use St. Scholastica if the weather outside is bad. It generally goes something like this, "Hey, Scholastica, a little help here?"

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Saint Scholastica, pray for us!

Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us!