Some have doubted the authenticity of the papal coat of arms that was released by the diocese of Munich and Freising earlier this week, wondering why, if it was the true coat of arms, the Vatican hadn't released it instead. Well, earlier today, L'Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Vatican City, published an article "Lo Stemma di Papa Benedetto XVI" with a graphic of the same coat of arms released by Ratzinger's former Bavarian diocese:
È tradizione, da almeno otto secoli, che i Papi abbiano un proprio stemma personale. Anche il Cardinale Joseph Ratzinger, eletto Papa ed assumendo il nome di Benedetto XVI, ha scelto uno stemma ricco di simbolismi e di significati, per affidare alla storia la sua personalità ed il suo Pontificato.
I would post a link to that article here, but unfortunately since I found it, the newspaper has updated its site with the April 29 edition and it appears that they do not make available old stories in an accessible archive. A higher quality color image of Pope Benedict XVI's coat of arms is available from the Wikipedia here.
18 comments:
I find it very disturbing that the new Pope eliminated the symbol of the tiara from his his coat of arms. Not only this is a clear departure from all his prodecessor, but it is a clear attempt to portray a spiritual defeat of the Roman Catholic Church. Very upseting.
(1) The Triregno (Tiara) still appears on the official arms of the Vatican City.
(2) There are a number of places in the Vatican where Pope John Paul II's arms are depicted with
a mitre.
(3) L'Osservatore Romano is only 'semi-official'.
(4) The official Vatican website has posted a brief biography of Pope Benedict XVI with his arms as a Cardinal, so there are clearly, as yet, no 'official' arms.
(5) Any heraldic artist can render a coat of arms in their own artistic style, provided the rules of heraldry are followed.
(6) It is the technical heraldic description of the arms (the blazon) that is official, not any particular rendering.
I actually find the removal of the triregno s laudable renunciation of the Pope of the temporal appurtenances of the Papacy that caused so much schism in the middle ages.
Benedict's replacement of the tiara with a bishops mitre is not a departure from tradition. It is consistent with the renunciation of both John Pauls (Papa Luciani and Papa Wojtyla) of the crown symbolizing the Earthly and temporary power of the Vatican in favor of the pastoral and spiritual mandate of the Pope as the Servant of the Servant's of God. The renunciation of the tiara is a renunciation of an icon that brought schism after schism on the church throughout history. This is all consistent with the Pope's continuous message of christian unity.
Christian unity is after all not under the tiara but in the Mystical Body of Christ.
http://www.ewtn.com/pope/life/arms.asp
Evidently, the coat of arms image is valid, and a good explaination of its symbolism provided through the above link. Christ's Peace.
Actually, I would find it rather disturbing as well, if the official coat of arms of the Holy Father did away with the tiara because it is a spiritual symbol as well as temporal, there are three because he is the supreme priest, prophet and king of the Church on Earth.
I'm confused with two items on the Coat of Arms that seem to change in various renderings.
1) The crosses on the pallium: are they red or black?
2) The symbol with the bear: I've seen a rendering with blue background and a gold bear.
Wikipedia shows the same coat of arms, but with different colors. Not only golden and red, but also blue.
The arms as drawn by Archbishop Montezemolo and shown in L'Osservatore Romano are nothing short of an heraldic abortion. Absent the triregno (tiara), there is nothing to distinguish these supposed arms from that of Protestant Anglican bishops, who use a mitre and crossed keys in their armorial bearings. The universal symbol of the papacy in heraldry has always been the tiara and crossed keys, nothing else. Clearly, B16 is getting terrible advice from amateurs who know, or care, very little about the conventions of heraldry. Archbishop Heim must be spinning in his grave at the grotesque abomination foisted upon the Holy Father here.
I agree with Anonymous above. Benedict's new coat of arms are an artistic disaster. Heraldry has been set back 50 years. The designer of this mess needs to find honest work.
In response to this comment above: "The universal symbol of the papacy in heraldry has always been the tiara and crossed keys, nothing else."
While the tiara with crossed keys is, and very well may forever remain, the coat of arms of the Vatican City, this certainly has not always been the universal symbol of previous popes on their individual coats of arms.
In fact, displaying the tiara with crossed keys on the pope's personal coat of arms is a relatively new trend, begun in 1922 by Pius XI. Prior to that, this "universal symbol" was absent from the designs of popes' coats of arms. This Wikipedia page shows the coat of arms of each of the popes going back to Pius X (1903-1914). Unfortunately, I cannot find a list that goes back further than this.
But take a look at some of the stained glass windows in your church next time, also. If any of them depict a pope from long ago, you may also see his coat of arms. This is the case at my local church where on a particular window a previous pope is depicted (alas, I don't know which one) with his coat of arms (which clearly do not bear the tiara and crossed keys).
With all due respect, Jimbo, you are dead wrong. I travel to Rome quite frequently and have business that takes me in the Vatican, hence anonymity here for professional reasons.
All you have to do is look around the city and you will see papal coats of arms from the 15th century and before plastered all over churches, buildings, monuments, etc. The shields contain the Popes' personal arms but the full achievement all have the tiara and crossed keys, virtually without exception. You get to recognise certain recurring family arms, like the Barberini bees, the Medici roundels, etc. Don't go by what you find in some American parish church.
Next time you're in Rome, just stroll through St. Peter's Basilica. The heraldic evidence is all over for you to see.
Don't take my word for it, it's all set out graphically and in excruciating detail in these two out-of-print books, if you can find them:
Heraldry in the Vatican, by the late Jacques Cardinal Martin, former prefect of the Pontifical Household, published by Van Duren in 1987
Heraldry in the Catholic Church: Its Origins, Customs and Laws, by the late Archbishop Bruno Bernard Heim, published by Van Duren in 1978
The Holy See Web site still carries Benedict's previous cardnilatial arms, so hopefully the atrocious version we've all seen is being tweaked or revamped.
Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment. If what you say is true, you definitely know your stuff, in regards to this particular subject. And then I suppose I definitely would be "dead wrong." For now, I'll have to take your word for it. But I'm going to start looking for those books. Thanks for the tip! :)
Jimbo,
Try abebooks.com, I have a lot of luck with that site scrounging up used books.
I think what has me peeved is that Benedict XVI is such a traditionalist, has a fantastic grasp of ecclesiastical history, stresses links to the past, yet he's getting literally crap advice here (and maybe doesn't even know it).
I wrote a letter addressed to Archbishop Harvey, prefect of the Pontifical Household, and e-mailed it as a Word document to a friend in Rome. He's supposed to print out a hard copy tomorrow, sign it for me and hand deliver it to the prefect's assistant. I'm hoping Archbishop Harvey, being an American, will read it.
They're in such a world of their own over there and details of the Holy Father's coat of arms is, I'm sure, not at the top of their "to-do" list.
Time will tell. Good luck finding the books!
I hope your letter gets through. That would be great if your thoughts can reach in the Vatican, i.e. someone more important than just the readers of this blog ;).
Regarding the books, I found that the Los Angeles Public Library actually has Martin's Heraldry in the Vatican in the reference department. With any luck, I'll find a moment to get over there sometime this week and take a look at it.
Jimbo,
My letter was hand delivered to Archbishop Harvey's office Friday morning Rome time. Whether anyone will actually read it or whether it will be used to line a birdcage, I don't know. At least I did what I could. While most Vatican dicasteries have an e-mail address, the Pontifical Household Prefecture does not, otherwise we could have started zapping them with e-mails. I'm sure Archbishop Harvey has a private e-mail address, but I couldn't find it published anyway.
The Holy See Press Office Web site still has JP2's coat of arms displayed and in Benedict's short bio page, his cardnilatial arms are still displayed.
Good look with seeing Cardinal Martin's book at the LA library.
The Pope's new coat of arms with the stylised mitre has now appeared on the Holy See website's biography page for Benedict XVI, so I guess you can say it's "official." However, the new flag for the Swiss Guard has Benedict's shield ensigned with the tiara and crossed keys and no pallium. This is all a recipe for confusion!
This coat of arms is ugly. Who designed it?
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