Assistant at the Pontifical Throne

Assistant at the Pontifical Throne was an ecclesiastical title in the Roman Catholic Church. It designated a prelate belonging to the papal chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions.

All patriarchs and some bishops selected by the Pope, were made Assistants to the Pontifical Throne.

Unless specified otherwise, all Assistants to the Pontifical Throne immediately entered the Papal nobility as Counts of Rome.

Tobia Aoun named Assistant to the Pontifical Throne in 1862

On 22 May 1862, during the canonization ceremony of the twenty-six Catholic martyrs of Japan, Pope Pius IX elevated all the bishops present to the rank of Assistant to the Pontifical Throne.

On 17 June 1867, during the 1800th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Pius IX elevated all the bishops present to the rank of Assistant to the Pontifical Throne.

Assistants to the Pontifical Throne ranked immediately below the College of Cardinals and were also Counts of the Apostolic Palace.

The title has not been in use since the Second Vatican Council, following Pope Paul VI's reform of the pontifical household in 1968 that eliminated all previous nobiliary titles.

On 8 January 1866, Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei was named Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Pius IX and Dean of the Assistants to the Pontifical Throne.

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