Monday, May 11, 2009

Papal Cappa

For those of you who - like myself - always wondered what the famed but apparently more than rare red velvet cappa magna of the Popes looked like, I found a small picture of a hand colored engraving from the 1830s on ebay today.



Sommo Pontefice In Cappa Magna Nella Notte Del S. Natale

As far as I know, the Popes indeed only wore the cappa on the Notte Del S. Natale. Hmm... This thing either had no train or the Pope is sitting on it...

9 comments:

Fr. Selvester said...

It was also worn for Tenebrae.

leo said...

Alright!

SanPietro said...

I took the liberty to post this photo at this thread of Cattolici Romani. I hope you don't mind! :-)

http://www.cattoliciromani.com/forum/showpost.php?p=618975&postcount=305

leo said...

No, that's cool.

As I understand it, "cattolici romani" and "the far sight" have a silent mutual agreement that it is okay to swipe photos off each others pages.

DJ said...

Welcome Back Leo!

I wonder if there is a living shot or video of any of our past popes, taken wearing their Cappa...

Is there any chance you could shed some light on the Vespers the Holy Father celebrated at the Cathedral of St George? He used an Eastern Right staff there and it would be great to know more about it and any traditions surrounding its usage by the Holy Father.

Father said...

Awesome! I've always wondered about this myself.

leo said...

DJ: I've only seen one fairly small photo of the Vespers so far. The staff looks like one of the Melkite Patriarch. My only explanation is, that the staff was probably handed to the Pope at the doors of the cathedral by the Patriarch as a sign of respect and welcome.

Anonymous said...

It was also worn for funeral services. There were two types of papal cappa magna. A red velvet one used on Christmas night and a red serge one used at Tenebrae and funeral services.

jasjohns16 said...

not at the doors leo but inside the church and was used by his holiness as he walked out one mistake which he made was gripping on to the veil on the staff according to the latin rite practice but it is wrong according to the orthodox practice as they hold the crozier from inside the veil and let the veil cover their hand