- Ceremonial of John XXIII
-
The Ceremonial of John XXIII was the last to use full papal ceremony, much of which was abolished subsequently after Vatican II.
Contents
Papal coronation
His papal coronation ran for the traditional five hours (Pope Paul VI, by contrast, opted for a shorter ceremony, while later popes declined to be crowned). However, as with his predecessor Pope Pius XII, he chose to have the coronation itself take place on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, in view of the crowds assembled in St. Peter's Square.
Tiaras
John XXIII wore a number of tiaras from the papal collection. On formal occasions, such as giving the Urbi et Orbi blessing, he wore the traditional 1877 Palatine tiara he had been crowned with. However, on other occasions he wore the lighter and more comfortable 1922 tiara of Pope Pius XI, which he used so often that it became strongly associated with him.
As with most other popes in the last two decades up to that point, he was given an expensive silver papal tiara by the people of Bergamo. The Tiara of Pope John XXIII, the lightest in the papal collection at 2 lb (900 g), was given to him eventually in 1959. When asked about the tiara during its manufacture, John asked that the makers halve the number of jewels with which they planned to decorate it and give the financial saving to the poor.
Liturgical reform
While maintaining the traditional papal ceremonial, Pope John continued his predecessors' policy of a gradual reform to the traditional Roman liturgy, publishing changes that had accrued since 1920 in the 1962 Missal, before the major reform of the liturgy after Vatican II. The 1962 Missal published by Pope John XXIII was the last typical edition of the Tridentine rite, which has now come to be formally recognized by Pope Benedict XVI as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.[1]
References
Categories:
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
