Galero - Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

When creating a cardinal, the Pope used to place a scarlet galero on the new cardinal's head in consistory, the practice giving rise to the phrase "receiving the red hat." In 1969, a papal decree following the Second Vatican Council ended the use of the galero. It was deemed that by removing such elaborate regalia, the people could better identify with their pastoral leaders. Today, only the scarlet zucchetto and biretta are placed over the heads of cardinals in consistory. A few cardinals from eastern rites wear distinctive oriental headgear. However, some cardinals continue to obtain galeri privately so that the old ceremony of its suspension over their tombs may be observed.

When a cardinal dies, it is traditional that his galero be suspended over his tomb, where it remains until it is reduced to dust, symbolizing how all earthly glory is passing. In the United States, where only a few cathedrals have crypts, the galeri of past archbishops who were cardinals are suspended from the ceiling. Some of the Cathedral churches in the United States of America that hang the galeri of past Cardinals from their ceilings are:

• Basilica of the Assumption, co-cathedral of Baltimore, Maryland
• Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
• Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore, Maryland
• Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, California
• Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington, D.C.
• Holy Cross Cathedral, Boston, Massachusetts
• Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois
• St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City
• Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, Michigan

Even though the custom had been abolished, relatives of the late Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster (UK) had a galero made and installed above his tomb in St George's Chapel of Westminster Cathedral, as other previous cardinals had, after he died in 1999.

On February 19, 2011, Raymond Cardinal Burke became the first cardinal in recent times to wear the galero