The Importance of the Papal Tiara and False Equality
I articulated my frustration with the omission of the Papal Tiara in one of my LinkedIn Articles by stating :
“Once you strip the Church of its natural order, you lose the aspect of its social responsibility to the world. One good example of this was the removal of the papal tiara and the “easing” of papal vestments to the bare minimum. Once you lose the monarchical and the divine aspects of the papacy, such as the disappearance of His Holiness’ Crown, you begin to lose the very reasons of what made the Papacy a point of key significance to Catholics, as it was a recognizable symbol of his temporal and theological supremacy. Whatever caused this loss of “reverence,” the aesthetic of the monarchical style evokes a state of awe to most Catholics and non-Catholics alike, as it recaptures and secures the natural order of the Church.”
The aesthetics of the subliminal authority with the papal tiara is just the tipping point. Its true value is in its assertion, considering that the three crowns on the papal tiara represent the pope’s three-fold duties — his responsibilities to teach, sanctify, and govern the Church. Moreover, it asserts also the Pope is the Vicar of Christ and also signifies His Holiness’ temporal authority.
The ceremonial factor of the Papal tiara symbolizes the passing on of the seat of St Peter. This is evident in the coronation of all popes: the tiara is placed on the candidate’s head with the words:
Accipe thiaram tribus coronis ornatam, et scias te esse Patrem Principum et Regum, Rectorem Orbis, in terra Vicarium Salvatoris Nostri Jesu Christi, cui est honor et gloria in sæcula sœculorum.
[Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art Father of Princes and Kings, Ruler of the World, Vicar of Our Savior Jesus Christ on earth, to him be the honor and glory forever and ever.]
This sacred oath was first taken, as recorded in Church annals [Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum, Migne’s Patrologia Latina 105, 40–44 and published by Eugene de Rozier, 1869], by Pope Saint Agatho on June 27, 678.
It was last used by Pope Paul VI in 1963. Moreover, since 1963, post-conciliar Popes have tossed aside the papal tiara in an attempt to placate “modern idealism ” and simultaneously grovel to the liberal hierarchy’s aspirations of clerical egalitarianism also known as collegiality — repeating the Enlightenment revolution’s false notion of equality. So it is a bundle of joy when there is not only myself but a strong amount of the laity who have enough Catholic sense to venture to reset the tiara on the cranium of Christ’s Vicar.
Aside from the New Commission of the Papal Tiara to craft and fit a modern Tiara for the Pope, which looked like some sci-fi-Dr Who-rip off (The Iron Dome like I put it), Pope Paul VI wore the tiara a number of times in the November of 1963, however, he dramatically laid it upon the main altar at St. Peter’s Basilica as a gesture of renouncing the papal claim to temporal power. After this act, no pope has worn the tiara since, not even for their papal coronation ceremony.
Ultimately it was Paul VI and his Iron Dome Tiara that set the future precedent.
As previously mentioned, Paul VI “retired” his tiara and would sell it, giving the proceeds of the sale to charity. Paul VI vision was to be with the “sign of the times” and to mark a rebirth of a new, more modern papacy.
Thus one must wonder why many traditional Catholics, in spite of that, continue to long instinctively for the restoration of the traditional artifacts of the papacy.
Many modernist-minded individuals would argue it is a mere nostalgia of a bygone era with sentiments of domination, of “throne imperialism” commodities, when the Church and her nations were relatively stable and universally bow downed to, even by its heathen enemies.
However, I would assert that not only is it a beating fire for tradition which the youth crave, but it is also through these external devices, such as the papal tiara, that Catholics can understand the extent of the authority vested by the successor of St. Peter, whom Christ placed over His Church to teach, sanctify, and govern. Are they merely wishing to see physically signified these dogmatic words of Vatican I’s Pastor Aeternus (On the Power and Nature of the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff)?
Hence we teach and declare that by the appointment of Our Lord the Roman Church possesses a sovereignty of ordinary power over all other Churches, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; to which all, of whatsoever rite and dignity, are bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, to submit, not only in matters which belong to faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world; so that the Church of Christ may be one flock under one supreme pastor, through the preservation of unity, both of communion and of profession of the same faith, with the Roman pontiff. This is the teaching of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and salvation.
Whether or not you are a traditionalist or modernist, the fact remains: Catholics desire to see revitalized public and visible admission of the temporal power that the Pope holds as Christ’s Vicar. This is the type of truly Catholic thinking which we need to adapt to root out our modern problems — nothing less than the practice of the Social Reign of Christ the King — it is pure anti dogma to the Liberal ideal which demands in the name of “religious liberty” the separation of Church and State, and for the sake of “humility”, the degradation of the Supreme Pontiff by placing him on equal footing with the average consecrated cleric.
“You are fortunate you have remained in the Church through your faith. You held fast to the foundations of the faith which has come down to you from the Apostolic Tradition …In the present crisis, it is they who have broken away from it.” ~ Saint Athanasius
