CHAPTER XI. Hats.
1. The Usual Clerical Hat.—2. Pontifical Hat—3. Semi-Pontifical Hat. — 4. Heraldic Hat.
1. The usual ecclesiastical hat is not worn in our country, because it requires the full ecclesiastical dress, of which it is the complement. (a) It is actually worn in Catholic countries: Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, etc. In Lower Canada, the clergy wear the clerical hat, except in a few dioceses, where the statutes direct priests to wear a high silk hat.
Roman etiquette prescribing the ecclesiastical hat, the Bishops of this country wear it in Rome, when making their visits ad limina.
The usual clerical hat is round, with low crown and broad brim. It is generally made of beaver hair; but, in summer, some lighter material may be adopted.
Formerly, Roman etiquette required the clerical hat to be three-cornered, like the hats generally used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; but now this etiquette is no longer observed, and the Roman hat has a flat brim. It is adorned with a silk cord, or band. To the cord are attached tassels, while the band is enlarged where the ends meet. The cord is now universally in use. It is red, entwined with gold for Cardinals; green, with gold, for Patriarchs; green (b) for Archbishops and Bishops; amaranth red, or rose-colored, for Protonotaries Apostolic di numero, supernumerary and ad instar; (c) purple for Prelates di mantelletta everywhere, (d) and for Prelates di mantellone outside of Rome; black for all other ecclesiastics.
The lining of the hat should be red for Cardinals; green,(e) for Prelates invested with the episcopal character; amaranth red, or rose-colored, for Protonotaries; purple, for other Prelates; and black, for the simple clergy.
The Pope, when taking a walk in his gardens, wears a red ecclesiastical hat, with gold cord and tassels, the brim being raised and held on both sides with small gold strings. (f)
Besides the black hat, the Cardinals have also one that is red, bordered with gold. They wear this when they go to church in the red or purple cassock. (g) This hat formerly was their everyday hat; it is distinct from the pontifical one.
2. The every-day hat must not be mistaken for the pontifical hat. The former is an ordinary head-covering, without any symbolical meaning; while the latter is a token of dignity or jurisdiction. (h) The former is used as an outdoor head-covering; the latter, in official ceremonies. The latter is now very seldom used.
Before the occupation of Borne by the King of Piedmont, this hat was used by Cardinals and Prelates for The cavalcades held on the occasion of the inauguration of the Pope and in other Papal pageants. It was also used for the inauguration of Cardinals, for the solemn entrance of a Bishop into his episcopal city, and when a Bishop went solemnly to his cathedral on feast days. (i)
Nowadays, the custom of wearing the pontifical hat has almost entirely ceased among Bishops outside of Italy.
The pontifical hat has such a very low crown, that it has to be attached with tasseled cords under the chin. The cord around the crown also has tassels.
The Pope's pontifical hat is made of red velvet. (j)
The hat of the Cardinals is also red, but made of cloth and lined with silk. It is this hat which is properly the sign of the cardinalitial dignity. Cardinals were conceded this red hat by Pope Innocent IV., at the first council of Lyons, A. D. 1245. (k) It is solemnly conferred by the Pope upon the newly-appointed Cardinals, at one of the consistories that follow their appointment. At the death of a Cardinal, his pontifical hat must be placed at the foot of the catafalque, and, afterwards, suspended from the ceiling above his tomb.
Cardinals have another hat of a peculiar form, very large and with a small crown, made of red silk and bordered with gold. It is called in Italian "capellone" (large hat). It is supposed to be used to protect the Cardinal from the sun when he walks bareheaded in processions, a valet holding it over the Cardinal's head. In fact, it is never used, except as a mark of dignity, on great occasions, as, for instance, the ceremonies of canonizations, when it is carried behind the Cardinal by the decano (dean) of his household, who holds it suspended from his left arm. (l)
The pontifical hat of Archbishops and Bishops is made of green silk, with strings and tassels of the same color. The strings of the hat of Patriarchs are green, entwined with gold. (m)
Strict etiquette seems to require that the upper part of the hat of Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops should be made of black cloth, (n) and the under part, of green silk; but this prescription has hardly ever been observed, so that the pontifical hat of Bishops is entirely green.
The Bishop's green hat is a sign of jurisdiction, and, consequently, not to be worn outside the limits of his diocese. (o)
On the Bishop's death, his pontifical hat is placed at the foot of the catafalque, and, after his burial, is suspended above his tomb. (p)
According to a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, (q) the pontifical hat of the Protonotaries Apostolic of the first three classes is made of black cloth, with lining, borders, cords and tassels of rose-colored (or amaranth red) silk. (r) At the funeral of the Prelate, this hat is placed at the foot of the catafalque.
3. Besides the pontifical hat, the Protonotaries Apostolic of the first three classes have the privilege of wearing the "Semipontifical" or Prelatial hat, which differs from the preceding only in this, that it has a narrower brim. (s)
This hat is conceded also to the Prelates Referees of the Signature, and to the Masters of Ceremonies of the Apostolic Palace. But while the semipontifical hat of the Protonotaries Apostolic is trimmed with rose-colored (or amaranth red) silk, that of the Referees and Masters of Ceremonies is trimmed with purple.
Both pontifical and semipontifical hats are worn only when the Prelate is vested in the cappa magna; he puts the hood of the cappa on his head and the hat over it, then he ties the strings under his chin, the tassels hanging over his breast.
4. The pontifical and semipontifical hats being tokens of dignity, are usually placed over the coats-of-arms of the Prelates, (t) as will be seen further on.
(a) In Great Britain, ecclesiastics wear this hat, when they do not make make use of the high silk hat.
(b) Caer. Episc. I., i., 3.—The prevailing custom is that the cordon of the Archbishop's hat be entwined with gold. Even many Bishops use the same cordon, owing to the difficulty of finding a merely green cordon.
(c) Constit. Inter multiplices, February 21, 1905, nn. 16, 17.
(d) Const, cit., n. 79.
(e) Caer. Episc. I., i., 8.
(f) Barbier de Montault, op. cit., Tom. I., p. 238.—J. de Narfon, Leon XIII. intime, ch. IV., p. 182.—And other authors.
(g) Barbier de Montault, op. cit., Tom. I., p.456.— Grimaldi, op. cit., ch. VIII., p. 115.
(h) Caer. Episc. I., iii., 5.
(i) Caer. Episc. I., ii., 1.—H. Fisquet, Ceremonies de Rome, passim.
(j) Ceremonies de Rome, passim.
(k) Ferraris, Bibliotheca canonica, art. Cardinales, II.
(l) Fisquet Ceremonies de Rome, p. 199.
(m) The "Regent of the Chancery," though not invested with the episcopal character, is privileged to wear a hat similar to that of a Bishop.
(n) Caer. Episc. I., i., 1.—I., iii., 5.
(o) S. R. C., Sept. 23, 1848.
(p) Caer. Episc. II., xxxviii., 13.— Barbier de Montault, op. cit. t Tom. II., p. 351.
(q) S. R. C., Febr. 7, 1707.—Pius IX.'s Constit. Apoatolicae 8edit (1872).— Pius X.'s Const. Inter multiplices (Febr. 21, 1905, n. 16).— Barbibr pb Montault, op. cit, Tom. II., p. 351.
(r) This hat was conceded to the Protonotaries Apostolic by Pope Clement X., Aug. 6, 1674.— Annalecta Iuris Pont., 3d. S., col. 699.
(s) S. R. C, April 16, 1644.
(t) Innocent X.'s bull, Militantis Ecclesiae (1644).—Pius X.'s Constit. Inter multiplies (1905), nn. 18, 68, etc., etc.
