Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI

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Usual rendering of the coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI

The coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI was designed by then Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (who later was created a Cardinal) soon after the papal election. The coat of arms consists of a shield and external ornaments.

1 Shield
- 1.1 Blazon
- 1.2 Charges
2 External ornaments
- 2.1 Mitre
- 2.2 Pallium
3 Heraldic discussion
- 3.1 Controversy
- 3.2 Compromise?
4 References

[edit] Shield

The shape of the shield varies from artist to artist. In the initial rendering of the coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI the shape chosen was that of a chalice. In heraldry, the herald and the person granted arms have considerable leeway in the contents of the shield. By long-standing tradition this is the only place within the papal coat of arms that changes from pope to pope.

[edit] Blazon

The blazon is a written description of the contents of a coat of arms. It uses terminology peculiar to heraldry and the order follows certain conventions. Yet there is no single way to describe a given set of arms with a blazon. Here is one description of the shield:

Per chevron ployé throughout Or and Gules, dexter a Moor's head proper, crowned and collared Gules, and sinister a bear passant in bend proper carrying a pack Gules belted Sable, in base an escallop Or.

In plain English this would translate to:

A shield divided by curved lines draping from the upper center of the shield to either side. The upper sections are gold (yellow) and the base is red. In the shield's upper right (as observed by the person carrying the shield) is a Moor's head in natural color wearing a crown and collar (the head is also called a "Moor of Freising" or "caput ethiopicum"). In the upper left is a walking brown bear in natural color wearing a red pack fastened with a black belts (the bear is also known as "Corbinian's bear"). In the base is a gold scallop shell.

Notes:

The Vatican website referred to the division of the shield as chape or mantled, however mantles do not normally contain charges (an heraldic term for objects). Per chevron throughout ployé describes a nearly identical division that contains charges in the upper corners. The mantle is a religious symbol, and indicates ideals inspired in the monastic spirituality, and is also a reference to the Order of Saint Benedict.
The Vatican website specifies black (sable) belts, but the placing of black on red violates the heraldic rule of tincture. Other artists have therefore substituted white belts.

The coat of arms of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

[edit] Charges

The charges of the arms - the Moor's head, Corbinian's bear, and scallop - appeared on the Pope's previous coat of arms, used when he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising. However, they not only relate to his origins, but also to his trust in God, which Christians are called to so as to endure the world's travails and hardships, as well his calling to spread this faith to others.

[edit] Scallop shell

The symbolism of the scallop shell is multiple. Saint Augustine was once walking along the seashore, meditating on the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity. A boy was using a shell to pour seawater into a little hole. When Augustine asked him what he was doing, he replied, "I am emptying the sea into this hole." Thus did Augustine understand that man would never penetrate to the depths of the mystery of God. While a doctoral candidate in 1953, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger wrote his dissertation on The People of God and the House of God in Augustine's Teaching is always about the Church, and therefore has a personal connection with the thought of this great Doctor of the Church.

The foundational meaning behind the scallop shell is its allusion to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. In the Roman Catholic Church, a sea shell is often used to pour water over the head of the child being baptized. Thus, a sea shell is used to evoke the imagery of this rite which makes one a part of the Body of Christ and is foundational to the Christian life.

The shell also stands for pilgrimage. When topped with a scallop shell a pilgrim's staff, or "Jacob's staff," is the sign of a pilgrim. In Church art it is a symbol of the apostle Saint James the Great, and his sanctuary at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, perhaps the principal place of pilgrimage during the middle ages. This symbol alludes, as well, to "the pilgrim people of God," a title for the Church which Joseph Ratzinger championed at the Second Vatican Council as peritus (theological adviser) to Josef Cardinal Frings of Cologne and Julius Cardinal Döpfner of Munich-Freising (his episcopal predecessor). When he became Archbishop he took the shell in his coat of arms. It is also found in the insignia of the Schottenkloster in Regensburg, where the major seminary of that diocese is located, a place where Benedict taught as a professor of theology.

Finally, the pilgrimage symbolism of the shell may also refer both to the reconfigured role of the pope as not only ruler, but also pilgrim among the peoples and nations of the world. Pope Paul VI—who created Joseph Ratzinger as a cardinal in 1976—was often called the "Pilgrim Pope" for his ground-breaking travels to the Holy Land, India, the United States, Colombia, the Philippines, and elsewhere. This precedent was greatly elaborated upon by Pope John Paul II with his historic trips, numbering over a hundred. As a result, Benedict may be paying homage to these men and the new role for the papacy, which he himself must now continue and make his own.

[edit] Moor of Freising

The Moor's head is an heraldic charge associated with Freising, Germany. The origins of the Moor's head or caput ethiopicum in Freising is not entirely known. Typically facing left it appeared on the coat of arms of the old principality of Freising as early as 1316. Some theories of its reference include:

Balthasar, one of the Magi, by some legends a Moor
Saint Maurice, a Roman-Egyptian martyr
Saint Zeno, frequently shown as a Moor
Saint Sigismund, often confused historically with Saint Maurice
Saint Corbinian, founder of the Diocese of Freising, mistakenly thought to have been a Moor

[edit] Corbinian's bear

A legend states that while traveling to Rome, Saint Corbinian's pack horse was killed by a bear. He commanded the bear to carry the load. Once he arrived, he released it from his service, and it returned to Bavaria. The implication is that "Christianity tamed and domesticated the ferocity of paganism and thus laid the foundations for a great civilization in the Duchy of Bavaria." At the same time, Corbinian's bear, as God's beast of burden, symbolizes the weight of office that Benedict now carries.

[edit] External ornaments

The coat of arms of the Holy See.

According to established heraldic convention, a pope's coat of arms is externally adorned only by the three-tiered papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter. No other objects nor a motto is added. The tiara represents the roles of authority of the pope, while the keys represent the power to loose and bind on heaven and earth (Matt 16:19). Although the initial rendering of Benedict's arms do not follow this convention (they include a mitre and pallium), the tiara and keys remain the symbol of the papacy. They are still used on the flag of the Vatican City and the coat of arms of the Holy See.

[edit] Mitre

In the initial rendering of the Pope's arms, the tiara is replaced with a silver mitre with three gold stripes. These stripes are to mean: order, jurisdiction, and magisterium. This interpretation is slightly different from the traditional symbolism of the papal tiara: to teach (magisterium), to govern (jurisdiction), and to sanctify (order). This may be a slip of the curial tongue, or it may reflect a variation on the traditional role of the papacy in light of the former Cardinal Ratzinger's role in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The stripes are connected by a vertical gold band, "to indicate their unity in the same person."

The golden part can be read as a single Chinese character (wang) or Japanese kanji (ou etc.): 王. This character means king or ruler etc. and is used in combinations that mean vatican 法王庁, pope 法王 etc.

[edit] Pallium

The pallium with red crosses is also a new addition. It represents a bishop's role of being pastor of the flock entrusted to him by Christ. The form of the pallium illustrated is the smaller, more recent version of the pallium. It is greatly reduced in size from the earlier and more historically-grounded version of the pallium that was closer to the Eastern Christian omophorion. The omophorion was used in the West before A.D. 1000 and continues to be used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, especially in eastern Europe and Greece.

[edit] Heraldic discussion

[edit] Controversy

Alternative rendering with Tiara and Keys

Papal Coat of Arm displayed at the contemporary Jubilee Church in Rome

Many heralds have voiced objection to the use of the mitre and pallium. They consider that the current arms ignore heraldic convention, rather than changing them. A summary of typical arguments against the current rendering include:

Heraldry is governed by established custom. Artists have considerable latitude on how to render elements of arms, as long as heraldic customs are followed.
Heraldic customs are either based on established practice or rules set down by a competent authority properly decreed.
The use of the tiara as the symbol of the pope is an established practice, its use being very consistent since 14th century.
The use of mitres in the personal arms of lesser Catholic bishops was banned by papal decree in 1969.
Long-standing tradition prohibits the use of all external ornaments, save the tiara and keys, in papal arms. This would preclude the use of the pallium.

Rendering with mitre included on a tapestry hanging from Saint Peter's Basilica.

Although the Pope, as head of the Church and ruler of Vatican City, has the authority to alter ecclesiastically heraldic rules to permit the mitre and pallium, he has (as yet) not issued a proper decree to that effect.
Soon after the unveiling of the coat of arms, the Holy See announced that although the tiara is not represented in Benedict's "personal" arms, the tiara and keys remain the symbol of the papacy. (The Vatican flag and arms of the Holy See will not be changed.)
The practical use of an item in everyday life is irrelevant to the appropriateness of its use in heraldry. The fact that no pope has worn a tiara since 1963, does not affect its use in heraldry. Cardinals have been prohibited from wearing the galero since 1969, and other clergy have been prohibited from wearing it for hundreds of years prior, yet it is still used in heraldry for all Catholic clergy, except popes.

The coat of arms of Benedict XVI in the garden behind Saint Peter's Basilica.

Based on the above arguments some find the introduction of the mitre and pallium in the Pope's personal arms as inappropriate. According to those critics Benedict's arms can properly be rendered with the tiara and keys and without the pallium.

There have been a few instances where the Pope's new shield has been coupled with the traditional tiara and keys. The most public is in the garden behind St. Peter's Basilica, viewable from atop the dome. Shortly after the death of John Paul II, the contents of his shield were removed from the flowerbed, but the tiara was left in place. Rather than making the gardeners dig up the tiara and replace it with a mitre, it was left in place. The pallium was not added.

Alternative rendering with Camelaucum

[edit] Compromise?

If the abandonment of the tiara is to become a formal change in papal arms, one suggestion, hypothesized on the American Heraldry Society's on-line discussion forum, is to alter the form of the mitre. Both the mitre and the tiara may share a common origin: the camelaucum. Use of the camelaucum would hearken back to the original papal mitre while still retaining the unique appearance of the tiara. It could be rendered with three stripes with a vertical band.