Ecclesiastical heraldry
The most prominent of these insignia is the low crowned, wide brimmed ecclesiastical hat, commonly the Roman galero.
Heraldry developed in medieval Europe from the late 11th century, originally as a system of personal badges of the warrior classes, which served, among other purposes, as identification on the battlefield.
[6] The full system of emblems around the shield was regulated in the Roman Catholic Church by the letter of Pope Pius X Inter multiplices curas of 21 February 1905, while the Heraldry Commission of the Roman Curia regulated composition of the shield itself until Pope John XXIII abolished the body in 1960.
[7] The Annuario Pontificio ceased to publish the arms of cardinals and previous popes after 1969. International custom and national law govern some aspects of ecclesiastical heraldry, but composition of shields is now mostly guided by expert advice.
In the eyes of the Church it is sufficient to determine who has a right to bear an ecclesiastical coat of arms and under what conditions the different insignia are acquired or lost... .
Eastern clergy often display coats of arms according to this style, replacing the crown with a hat drawn from liturgical use.
A Roman Catholic bishop's coat of arms was formerly painted on miniature wine barrels and presented during the ordination ceremony.
[14] Since then, with the majority of high ranking clergy coming from non-noble backgrounds, devising a personal shield has become the norm.
Today the clergy of Catholic Church may use their family arms[7] subject to limitations on "warlike or inappropriate symbolism".
[15] Personal shields of bishops are nowadays decorated with charges with religious significance, such as saints, books representing scripture, biblical imagery, and more.
"[16] The heraldic metals are gold and silver, usually represented as yellow and white, while red, green, blue, purple and black normally comprise the colors.
Heraldic bearings are intended for recognition at a distance (in battle), and a contrast of light metal against dark color is desirable.
Guy Selvester, an American ecclesiastical heraldist, says if arms are not designed with care, marshalling can lead to "busy", crowded shields.
It was granted in red to cardinals by Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyon in the 13th century, and was adopted by heraldry almost immediately.
The galero is ornamented with tassels (also called houppes or fiocchi) indicating the cleric's current place in the hierarchy; the number became significant beginning in the 16th century, and the meaning was fixed, for Catholic clergy, in 1832.
Bishops in Switzerland formerly used ten tassels like an archbishop because they were under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See and not part of an archiepiscopal province.
Sometimes the brim is shown much narrower; with a domed top it can look like a cappello romano with tassels, but in heraldry it is still called a galero.
However, John Tong Hon, the bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, broke this exception before he was created a cardinal and reverted his coats of arms to bear a green galero.
[31] Clergy of the Church of England who were not bishops historically bore arms identical to a layman, with a shield, helm and crest, and no ecclesiastical hat.
[37] The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland now uses a differenced version of the General Assembly's arms, with a hat having a blue cord and ten tassels on each side, and may also show the moderator's staff, a gold Celtic crosier, behind the shield as can be seen in vol 41, p 152 of the Scots Public Register.
[43] The pallium is a distinctive vestment of metropolitan archbishops, and may be found in their bearings as well as the corporate arms of archdioceses, displayed either above or below the shield.
Frequently the crosier of an abbot or abbess is turned inward, either toward the mitre or to the left, but this distinction is disputed and is not an absolute rule.
[53][54] Pope Alexander VII decreed in 1659 that the crosiers of abbots include a sudarium or veil, but this is not customary in English heraldry.
A bourdon or knobbed staff is shown behind the arms of some priors and prioresses as a symbol of office analogous to the crosier.
[65] Mantling was originally a piece of material attached to a helmet and covering the shoulders, possibly to protect from the sun.
Gustavo Testa, created cardinal in December 1959, quickly selected as his arms a shield with the words sola gratia tua and the motto et patria et cor in order to meet a publishing deadline.
In heraldry, the white tiara is depicted with a bulbous shape and with two attached red strips called lappets or infulae.
Despite said proposal being appreciated by the emeritus pope, he declined the adoption of said insignia to reflect is status within the Catholic Church[81].
The red and gold striped umbraculum or pavilion was originally a processional canopy or sunshade and can be found so depicted as early as the 12th century.
[84] This combined badge represents the temporal power of Vatican City between papal reigns, when the acting head of state is the cardinal Camerlengo.
