Someday, My Book Will Come...

...And today's the day.

Our eminent friend -- well, one of them -- has sent your humble journalist a copy of the instant classic Liturgia e Bellezza: Nobilis Pulchritudo, by God's gift to papal liturgy, il Grandissimo Maestro, Archbishop Piero Marini.

The just-published work (which can be purchashed here -- sorry, Anglophones, only in Italian) is a marvel of art and research of centuries of the unique elements which have marked the ritual life of the Cappella Papale, the Papal Chapel in which the pope celebrates public liturgy. It's proof of who the Vatican's real liturgy guru is.

*GASP*

It's not Arinze.

Of particular note -- especially considering the vast number of cappa-philes in our midst -- are the sections which touch on the role of the tiara and its place in history. (Note the word: HISTORY.)

I know you'll love this. Of course, all translations are my own and are done as literally as possible:

For centuries, the mitre and tiara were the head-coverings used by the Roman Pontiff in liturigcal celebrations. Of particular historical interest is the mitre of Blessed Pius IX (1846-78) used in 1854 on the occasion of the solemn proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The use of the mitre is certainly more ancient than the use of the tiara. The first testament to the use of the mitre comes from the 11th century in the pontificate of St. Leo IX (1049-1054). Before then the bishops had no liturgical headdress. Already, however, in the second half of the 12th century the mitre was in the general use of all the bishops....

The tiara entered into liturgical use only at the start of the 17th century with Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644). The tiara was conferred in a particular way at the solemn rite of the coronation of the new Pope and expressed itself above all in the symbol of the "triregno" the formula used in its imposition: "Father of Princes and Kings, Rector of the world, on earth Vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ." In the three crowns of the tiara some have seen represented the power of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, the love of the Holy Spirit; also, the three theological virtues.

Pope Paul VI (1963-78) was the last Pontiff to be crowned with the tiara. In fact, the Pope renounced this sign of power to present greater evidence of the service to which the Successor of Peter is called in imitiating the example of the Lord Jesus who came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many (Matthew 20:28). In 1964, in accord with the Pontiff's wishes, the tiara was sold and its profits given to the poor. It is now kept in the treasury of the basilica of the Immaculate Conception at Washington. [Rock's Note: Paul VI's tiara was not the traditional tiara of his predecessors, but a gift of the people of Milan to their former archbishop. The others are in the collection of the Vatican Museums.]

With Pope John Paul I (1978) came another modification of the rite of the Papal coronation, more opportunely called "The Initiation of the ministry of the Supreme Pastor." From then onward, the Bishop of Rome uses solely the mitre, the typical and traditional headdress common to all the Bishops, to underscore the relationship of communion and of unity which links the Successor of Peter with the Episcopal College.

The tiaras remain, in truth, an expression of a sensibility bound to a particular historical period to a culture now surpassed, but it is also a testimony that the Church in the course of centuries has welcomed in itself the signs and proper expressions of diverse cultures to communicate among men a message of faith. The objects of the past, like the tiaras, must be considered with respect as expressions of diverse cultural moments, but also as a stimulus for the purification of the signs used in the Christian cult, in the best adapted way to communicate a message of faith to modern man.

Oh my God. If Marini is to be believed, the tiara isn't traditional at all! In a church that moves in centuries, the thing was a damn innovation!

And will somebody tell me how the hell 12ft of silk "communicates a message of faith to modern man"? HOW?! Tell me. Because it seems to be not a traditional element at all, but a passing vestige of "a culture now surpassed."

See? Like the tiara, the church respects the cappa, but we just see its blessed memory as a stimulus for purification.

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