Sunday, November 25, 2007

A Liturgical Curiosity

I attended the Mass of the Rings this morning. Of interest was the fact that amongst the concelebrating Cardinals was Emmanuel III Delly who wasn't wearing a chasuble. Instead, he was wearing what looked like a cope. This is because liturgical law states that when concelebrating in a liturgical rite which is not his own, a priest should retain the vestments proper to his rite. Thus, he wore Chaldean vestment and that garment which looks like a cope is, I think, called a Ma'apra.
Now, exceptions can legitimately be made in situations where (for example) Eastern rite priests don't have access to their regular vestments, but it's wonderful to see the splash of colour and variety that properly vested Eastern rite priests add to some of the larger concelebrated Masses in Rome.

Two more things:
My previous consistory post contains an error about Mons Marini. He was MC in Genoa, not Bologna, prior to his move to the Vatican.
Also, Rocco has a nice picture of the rings given to the new Cardinals. The Holy Father explained the design thus:
Questo, cari Fratelli neo-Cardinali, sarà sempre per voi un invito a ricordare di quale Re siete servitori, su quale trono Egli è stato innalzato e come è stato fedele fino alla fine per vincere il peccato e la morte con la forza della divina misericordia.
This [the crucifxion], dear brother Cardinals, will always be an initation for you to remember which King you are servants of, and what throne He was raised up on and how he was faithful to the end in order to conquer sin and death with the power of divine mercy.


Edited to add: For those who are interested, this photo shows the Holy Father's vesture for the Mass. Note especially the gold lace on his alb and the pontifical dalmatic.

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