Sunday, November 09, 2008

The cardinals' hat: il galero rosso...



Many often ask for photos of the galero (the top photo was taken in London and the bottom one in Genoa). In the sixties a lot had to topple to the ground with the baying scream of modernity. It's a pity, but that's how it was. And it was bound to happen. In the Vatican, Italy and world at that time we all know of the sometimes murky and insalubrious manoeuvres that were going on to make everything "modern." Votes were assiduously provided by the "majority" and and so a lot of beauty like this was cut. The best we can do today is to still give this a posthumous endorsement and to hope for its return sometime soon, eh!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder why if Benedict XVI can restore a small fraction of the pomp and beauty at Papal Masses (esquisite vesture, music, altar, Pontifical thrones), why he can't allow -especially for the next consistory to name new Cardinals-the return of both the Cardinal's red cappa magna, and the red galero?
It would be a great gesture if he did allow it's re-introduction. And the Sedia Gestatoria! : )

PeterHWright said...

I think we need to remember that what was suppressed by Paul VI was not the cardinals' galero, but the ceremony of "coronation" with the galero. I of course regret this.

But the "red hat" still means what it says.

The galero still survives in a cardinal's coat of arms. And there are cardinals who have a galero made privately in order to keep alive the venerable tradition of suspending the galero over their tomb.

Will the old ceremony ever be resurrected ? I don't think so. Has, then, the galero disappeared as an external sign of cardinalatial rank ? No, it has not.