Papal Regalia and Insignia - Regalia

Regalia

The triregnum (a crown with three levels) is among the regalia of the papacy. It is also called the triple tiara or triple crown. "Tiara" is the name of the headdress, even in the forms it had before a third crown was added to it. Paul VI used it on 30 June 1963, at the coronation that was then part of the Papal Inauguration. For several centuries, Popes have worn it during processions, as when entering or leaving Saint Peter's Basilica, but during liturgies they used an episcopal mitre instead. Pope Benedict XVI has replaced the tiara with a mitre on his personal coat of arms, but not on the coat of arms of the Holy See or of the Vatican City State.

Another famous part of the Papal regalia is the Ring of the Fisherman, a gold ring decorated with a depiction of St. Peter in a boat casting his net, with the name of the reigning Pope around it. The Fisherman's Ring was first mentioned in a letter of Pope Clement IV to his nephew in 1265 wherein he mentions that Popes were accustomed to sealing public documents with a leaden "bulla" attached, and private letters with "the seal of the Fisherman" (by the fifteenth century, the Fisherman's Ring was used to seal Papal briefs). The Fisherman's Ring is placed on the newly-elected Pope's finger by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church; on the Pope's death, the Cardinal Chamberlain used to formally deface and smash the Fisherman's Ring with a hammer, symbolising the end of the late Pope's authority.

Modern popes do not bear a crozier (a bent pastoral staff styled after a shepherd's crook), but rather bear the Papal Cross, a staff topped by a crucifix. The use of the papal cross is an ancient custom, established before the thirteenth century, though some popes since then, notably Pope Leo XIII, have used a crozier-like staff.

One (now discontinued) Papal regalia was the Sedia gestatoria, a portable throne or armchair carried by twelve footmen (palafrenieri) in red uniforms. The sedia gestatoria is accompanied by two attendants bearing the Flabella, large ceremonial fans made of white ostrich-feathers, which also had a practical intent in cooling the pope, given the heat of Rome in summer months, the length of papal ceremonies, the heavy papal vestments and the fact that most popes were elderly. The sedia gestatoria was used for the Pope's solemn entrance into a church or hall and for his departure on the occasion of liturgical celebrations such as a papal Mass and for papal audiences. The use of the sedia gestatoria was discontinued by Pope John Paul II, that of the flabella by Pope Paul VI. Neither has been abolished however.