Friday, January 22, 2010

The Papal Cappa Magna


(below from Handbook to Christian and ecclesiastical Rome by Tuker and Malleson)


A cappa magna of red velvet and ermine used to be worn by the popes, and Eugenius IV. is represented in it at the Council of Florence. The cope was adopted as less precious and more appropriate during Holy Week and for the Matins of Christmas, and there is no example of a cappa magna being worn since the time of Pius V. But a scarlet or red cloak, called cappa del papa, of velvet silk or wool, and in winter lined with ermine, is worn on November 2 and on Good Friday, as less splendid than the manto. The hood is drawn over the head. The popes used to wear the hood called clementina on Christmas night and at other solemnities, as the Cardinal Vicar does now when he enters the church on Good Friday.


2 comments:

  1. This promises to be a fine weblog. It is just the sort of thing we need to help heal the lesions in our Roman liturgical tradition.

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