Pallium
: pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church,[n 1] originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitans and primates as a symbol of their conferred jurisdictional authorities,[1][2] and still remains a papal emblem.
[3] In its present (western) form, the pallium is a long and "three fingers broad" (narrow) white band adornment, woven from the wool of lambs raised by Trappist monks.
It is donned by looping its middle around one's neck, resting upon the chasuble and two dependent lappets over one's shoulders with tail-ends (doubled) on the left with the front end crossing over the rear.
Some trace it to an investiture by Constantine I (or one of his successors); others consider it an imitation of the Hebrew ephod, the humeral garment of the High Priest.
[n 2] There is no solid evidence tracing the pallium to an investiture of the emperor, the ephod of the Jewish High Priest, or a fabled mantle of St. Peter.
It may well be that it was introduced as a liturgical badge of the pope, or that it was adopted in imitation of its counterpart, the pontifical omophor, already in vogue in the Eastern Church.
The oath of allegiance which the recipient of the pallium takes today apparently originated in the eleventh century, during the reign of Paschal II (1099–1118), and replaced the profession of faith.
Pope Francis modified the ritual of conferring the pallium in January 2015: The pallia will be blessed on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in Saint Peter's Basilica; the metropolitan archbishops, however will receive those pallia in a separate ceremony within their home dioceses from the hands of the Apostolic Nuncio (who is the personal representative of the pope in their respective countries).
[13] Although the pallium is now reserved, by law and liturgical norms, to metropolitans, a single standing exception has seemed to become customary: Pope John Paul II conferred a pallium on then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when Ratzinger became dean of the College of Cardinals and therefore also cardinal bishop of Ostia, a purely honorary title and one without an archbishopric or metropolitanate attached.
When Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, he continued that exception without comment by conferring the pallium on Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the new dean.
[6] For his formal inauguration, Pope Benedict XVI adopted an earlier form of the pallium, from a period when it and the omophor were virtually identical.
The pallium of the sixth century was a long, moderately wide, white band of wool, ornamented at its extremity with a black or red cross, and finished off with tassels; it was draped around the neck, shoulders, and breast in such a manner that it formed a V in front, and the ends hung down from the left shoulder, one in front and one behind.
[6] As early as the 6th century, the pallium was considered a liturgical vestment to be used only during Mass unless a special privilege determined otherwise, as evidenced by the correspondence between Pope Gregory I and John of Ravenna.
Its indiscriminate use, permitted to Hincmar of Reims by Leo IV (851) and to Bruno of Cologne by Agapetus II (954) was contrary to the general custom.
The symbolic character now attached to the pallium dates back to the 8th century, when it was made an obligation for all metropolitans to petition the Holy See for permission to use it.
[9] The evolution of this character was complete about the end of the eleventh century; thenceforth the pallium is always designated in the papal bulls as the symbol of plenitudo pontificalis officii ("plenitude of pontifical office").
On the other hand, when used by metropolitans, the pallium originally signified simply union with the Apostolic See, and was an ornament symbolizing the virtue and rank of its wearer.
