The Crowns of the Papacy

Throughout the history of the Catholic Church the preeminent symbol of the papacy has been the papal tiara. It was not worn by the first popes nor has it been worn by the most recent but the vast majority of those in between have made use of them. To this day the papal tiara is featured on the Vatican City State flag and the official arms of the papacy. From the time that the tradition of a coat of arms was adopted up until the reign of Pope Benedict XVI the tiara has also been featured on the personal coat of arms of each individual pope. Although it has evolved over the years the basic design of the papal tiara has been that of a conical head-dress decorated with three crowns. These have been variously interpreted as representing the threefold mission of all Christians, that is; prophet, priest and king; to the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit to the three manifestations of the Church which are the Church Suffering, the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant.            The earliest popes, obviously, had no fancy crown or anything of the sort given that the Church then was rather small, impoverished and constantly persecuted. Some believe, with some evidence to support them, that the earliest papal headdress was the face-cloth of Jesus Christ which was saved by St Peter, the Prince of the Apostles and first Bishop of Rome, which was stained with the sacred Blood of Christ. The earliest papal head-dress of which there is illustrative evidence was a conical shaped white cloth which may have been inspired by the face-cloth of Christ which might also have been the inspiration for the mitre which is still worn by all bishops, including that of Rome, today.

The first form of papal headgear to be given major attention was the camelaucum which was a folded cap of white linen used by the Byzantine (East Roman Empire) court and has been depicted as rather short or conical shaped. It was first mentioned in connection to Pope Constantine in the 8th Century publication Liber Pontificalis. Contemporary images of Pope St Gregory the Great show something like this being worn as well. Eventually a headdress of a shorter variety with a crown at the base came to be worn as is evidenced by coins cast of Pope Sergius III and Pope Benedict VII. It was during the reign of Pope Paschal II that the Greek word "tiara" was first used in connection with the papal headgear. A diadem was also mentioned as being worn by the pope in the commonly dismissed document known as the Donation of Constantine referring to the alleged document showing the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great handing over the first temporal power to the Bishop of Rome. It is unknown when a crown came to be worn at the base of the papal headdress though the Catholic Encyclopedia estimates it to be sometime during the 10th Century to distinguish the Bishop of Rome, as Pope, from the other bishops.

The traditional headgear of bishops has always been the mitre but it seems to have been very early on in Church history that a unique style of headdress was required by the Pope to mark his distinct status among his fellow bishops as the Supreme Pontiff and successor of the Prince of the Apostles. This eventually came about with the adoption of a very conical shaped headpiece with a single crown at the bottom. Illustrations of several popes show this time of headgear being worn. At some point, it is not certain exactly when, this was expanded to include two crowns. It is supposed that Pope St Nicholas I was the first to have headgear designed that would symbolize the dual priestly and princely role of the Pope and it is usually held that the first pope to add a second crown to the papal headgear was the famously imperious Pope Boniface VIII, however, this is disputed. There is, for example, a contemporary image of Pope Innocent III wearing a headpiece with two crowns well before the time of Boniface VIII and this makes some sense as it was during the reign of Pope Innocent III that the Catholic Church reached its height of spiritual and temporal power. However, we know that such a tradition existed at least as far back as the reign of Boniface VIII in any event since there are statues of the pope with such headgear still in existance today, two of which are in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is generally believed that the addition of the second crown was an effort to show the supremacy of the pope over temporal kings.

The most familiar triple crowned tiara is known to date back as far as 1315 or 1316 as there is an effigy of Pope Benedict XII, in Avignon, France, showing him wearing a headdress with three crowns. The most commonly held date for the institution of the third crown is 1342 when Pope Benedict XII died. In any event, the three crowns became the norm and the tradition and for more than a thousand years popes were crowned with a papal tiara featuring three crowns. This led to the headdress being known, in Latin, as the Triregnum or triple tiara. It became such a well known symbol of the Pope and his status as the Vicar of Christ that it led to numerous efforts by others to out-do the pope in splendor or spoil his reputation. Probably the most humorous was when the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, commissioned from the jewelers of Venice a tiara with four crowns for himself to show that he was "superior" to the Supreme Pontiff in Rome who wore a tiara with three crowns. It also, in more modern times, gave rise to several conspiracy theories by radical Protestants groups about the supposedly evil papacy.

Probably the most familiar of these is the accusations of the Seventh Day Adventists (though picked up by others) which claims that the papal tiara features the words "Vicar of the Son of God" which, when the Roman numerals are added together as numbers, equals 666 -the number of the Antichrist given in St John's Revelation. The basic problems with this accusation is that, for one, there is no single papal tiara but rather a wide number of them, many of which have been destroyed over the centuries, and none of which ever had the title above written on them. In fact, only a very few tiaras have ever been inscribed with any writing at all. Furthermore, the only photographs ever presented as evidence show a mass (during which no tiara was ever worn) and show no writing on any headgear at all.

In all there are 23 papal tiars known to exist today. However, that number cannot be regarded as absolutely certain since most papal tiaras have been given as individual gifts and are not always made public. For example, the most recent known papal tiara was that given to Pope John Paul II in 1981 which was completely unknown until photographs of it leaked out and an explanation was issued by the Vatican explaining when and where it had come from. The most common tradition was for a new pope to have a tiara donated to him from the diocese he had previously served, though this was not always possible. Some popes also had a great many more tiaras than others. Blessed Pope Pius IX, for example, had a total of 6 known tiaras. These reflected the fact that he reigned longer than any other pope, with the possible exception of St Peter himself, and also the loss of the temporal power of the papacy. One gets the idea that some of his tiaras were given to him rather like a consolation prize. Each one of all the papal tiaras is a unique and beautiful work of art with its own history and fascinating story behind it.

The oldest papal tiara still included in the Vatican collection is that of Pope Gregory XIII who first instituted the Gregorian Calendar. Most of the tiaras of the same age as this one were destroyed in 1798 by French troops but this one (seen at right) of Pope Gregory XIII survived though it is not known if any popes since have actually worn it. However, it has been the only papal tiara to be in recent use as it has traditionally been given the honor of being used to crown the statue of St Peter in the Basilica of St Peter in Rome on the feast day of the patron saint of the papacy. This tradition was stopped during the first such occasion during the reign of Benedict XVI but quickly returned again the following year.           In the old days the coronation of the popes was a very elaborate and lavish ceremony which could last as long as six hours! This was changed over the years and was especially cut back following the loss of the Papal States when the Pope went into a sort of self-imposed exile within the Vatican. After that time the coronation of new popes was held in private, usually in St Peter's Basilica. Later, with the reign of Pope Pius XII (the first pope to be crowned after the 'Roman Question' was settled) this was moved to the balcony overlooking St Peter's square so that the public could feel to be more of a part of the ceremony. His successor, Blessed John XXIII, was crowned in similar fashion but after his passing things changed.           Pope Paul VI, who succeeded John XXIII, had a much more simplified tiara and a far less elaborate coronation. He also presided over an immense down-sizing of the papal court, getting rid of almost all of the hereditary offices for the Roman nobility and all but one units of the papal military corps. He also, at the end of the Second Vatican Council, gave up his papal tiara and it has, to date, never been used again. However, it is not set in stone that the tradition can never be revived nor has it ceased to be a symbold.

Pope Paul VI actually left explicit instructions that his successor should be crowned. However, since he had set the precedent of giving up his own tiara it was almost impossible for his successor to revive the tradition without appearing vain. As a result, Pope John Paul I was the first pontiff in more than a thousand years who did not have a coronation. He reigned for little more than a month when he was succeeded by Pope John Paul II who stated his regret that the papal tiara seemed to have been given a rather bad reputation after having been abandoned but stated that it was not the time to revive the ancient custom. He did, however, leave the option open to his successors as to whether they would be crowned or not.            His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, did not have a coronation though he did revive a more traditional form of the papal pallium and numerous other styles of dress. In fact, it has been rumored that he asked about the possibility of having a coronation but was told that it would be impossible to design a totally new ceremony in the short time available and so he did not have one. Whether this story is true or not cannot be known, but it is at least possible to believe given all of the subsequent actions of Pope Benedict XVI in reviving many previously discarded papal fashions and bringing about a general revival of "traditional" Catholicism such as the restoration of the Latin rite and the favor shown to the priest facing toward the east, away from the congregation during mass. In any event, it is enough for the lovers of papal pomp and ceremony to hope that one day we might see the return of all the color and glory of a papal coronation when the technology exists for all the Catholic world to see it themselves, live, in color on television.

A fabricated photo of Pope Benedict XVI showing with a papal tiara superimposed on his head. Not a few Catholics look for a return to this ancient tradition.

Continue on to a List of the Existing Papal Tiaras with their history and the Photo pages that follow