Imperial Popes

Mary Ann Collins
(A Former Catholic Nun)

October 2002
Revised January 2006

Constantine gave Pope Silvester a beautiful palace with the finest furniture and art. Silvester wore silk brocade robes and he had servants to wait on him. Near his palace was a cathedral which had seven altars made of gold, a canopy of solid silver above the main altar, and 50 chandeliers. Silvester was given the use of the imperial mail system and transportation system. [Note 1]

Churchmen wore purple robes, reflecting the purple of Constantine's court. That was an external change. The most important change was an internal one. Under Pope Silvester, the internal structure of the Church took on the form and practice and pomp of the Roman Empire. Popes dressed and acted like Roman emperors and they had the same imperial attitude. They lived in luxury and they wanted to rule over both church and state. [Note 2]

Imperial papacy reached its peak during the Middle Ages. Popes were rich and powerful, and they ruled over kings and emperors.

Pope Gregory VII reigned from 1073 to 1085. He excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV. In order to receive forgiveness from the Pope and to have the excommunication removed, Emperor Henry had to spend three days repenting in front of the castle where the Pope was staying. It was bitter cold (January 1077). Henry spent most of his time kneeling in the ice and snow, weeping and pleading for forgiveness. When Gregory finally allowed Henry to come into the castle, the Pope publicly humiliated the Emperor. [Note 3]

Pope Gregory VII declared that the Pope has the right to depose kings and emperors, to make laws, and to require secular rulers to kiss his feet. He said that nobody has the right to judge the Pope. Gregory also declared that because of the merits of Saint Peter, every duly elected Pope is a saint. [Note 4]

Pope Innocent III reigned from 1198 to 1216. He wore a gold crown covered with jewels. He sat upon a purple throne. His clothes sparkled with gold and jewels. His horse was covered with scarlet. Kings and churchmen kissed his foot. The Inquisition persecuted people who disagreed with him. Innocent became the most powerful man in the world. [Note 5]

Pope Boniface VIII reigned from 1294 to 1303. He said that he was Caesar, the Roman Emperor. He wore a crown which was covered with more than 200 costly jewels, including rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and large pearls. [Note 6]

Boniface sought to further increase the Pope's power and authority. In his encyclical "Unam Sanctam" he said that no person can be saved unless he or she is subject to the Pope. (You can read this online.) [Note 7]

Purple dye used to be extremely expensive. The color was a symbol of wealth and power. Purple was worn by Roman emperors and popes. During the middle ages, wealthy popes used gems and purple stones in papal architecture. The purple came from porphyry (a stone which has crystals embedded in a purple groundmass). [Note 8]

Pope Paul II reigned from 1464 to 1471. He enjoyed luxurious living and had a tiara of gold that was covered with jewels. He had “Bacchanalian parades” that revived the pagan “carnival games” of ancient Rome. After the games, the people gathered in front of the Pope’s palace to eat, and then the Pope stood on his balcony and threw money to the crowd. In 1464, he introduced the use of scarlet as a symbol of wealth and power. He called it “Cardinal’s Purple,” because it was worn by his cardinals. Scarlet became a luxury dye during the Middle Ages. (Catholic cardinals still wear scarlet.) [Note 9]

Pope Paul VI reigned from 1963 to 1978. He was the last Pope to wear the papal tiara. This is a triple crown, made of gold and covered with jewels. You can see pictures of the tiara online. [Note 10]

The Pope is an absolute monarch in the Vatican. He sits on an ornate throne. You can see pictures of the throne online. [Note 11]

Cardinals are called "princes of the church". They are citizens of the Vatican in addition to being citizens of their homelands. [Note 12]

Popes, cardinals and bishops wear gold and jewels. They wear rings and crosses. The Pope has a special ring known as the "Ring of the Fisherman". He also has magnificent pontifical rings which he wears on special occasions. Cardinals have rings of sapphire and gold. They often have additional rings of their own choosing. [Note 13]

For special occasions, popes, cardinals, and bishops wear vestments that are decorated with gold or made of gold cloth. (This is cloth that is actually made of real gold.) Some vestments are studded with jewels. Even the gloves of high-ranking churchmen are decorated with gold. Such imperial splendor was prevalent during the Middle Ages, but it still exists today. During the Middle Ages, gloves were sometimes studded with jewels. But even in recent times, they are decorated with gold. Pope Pius XII reigned from 1939 to 1958. He had gloves and shoes that were decorated with gold. Some of his shoes had jewels on them. [Note 14]

In Saint Peter’s Basilica, there is a life-sized statue of Saint Peter, sitting on a papal throne. On the Feast Day of St. Peter, this statue wears pontifical vestments and the papal crown (tiara). The art book “Treasures of the Vatican” has a photograph of this statue wearing vestments of gold and scarlet, and a gold triple crown that is studded with large jewels. The National Geographic’s art book “Inside the Vatican” has a picture of the statue with a nun kissing its feet. The right foot has been worn smooth because so many people have kissed it. [Note 15]

Popes wear ermine (an expensive fur often worn by royalty). They have a special cape called a mozzetta which is trimmed with ermine. [Note 16]

For solemn occasions, popes use a portable throne called a "sedia gestatoria". It is a richly adorned chair which is covered with silk. Long rods go through gold-covered rings. The throne is carried by twelve uniformed footmen. When the Pope celebrates solemn pontifical Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica, he arrives in state, preceded by a procession of cardinals, bishops and prelates. The Pope is carried on the sedia gestatoria, with a canopy over him and special fans made of white feathers on either side of him. [Note 17]

Pope Pius XII reigned from 1939 to 1958. When Vatican officials came into his presence, they had to kneel while speaking with him, and leave the room walking backwards. When he telephoned Vatican officials, they had to drop to their knees with the phone in their hand and remain kneeling while they spoke to him. This was going on in 1958. That is less than 50 years ago.[18]

The Pope has a huge, luxurious palace. The Pontifical Palace, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter's Basilica are filled with priceless paintings and statues. The architecture is rich and ornate. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo. In addition, there are 22 Vatican museums which are full of art treasures. Pictures of all of these things are available online. Please look at them. Words are inadequate to convey the rich architectural complexity and the artistic elegance of the Pope's palace, chapel, and church. Their opulence defies description. [Note 19]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chamberlin, Russell, “The Bad Popes,” Phoenix Mill, England: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2003.

De Rosa, Peter, “Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy,” Dublin, Ireland: Poolbeg Press, 1988, 2000. The author used to be a priest. He is still a practicing Catholic. While he was a priest, he did research in the Vatican archives.

Johnson, Paul, “A History of Christianity,” New York: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1995. The author is a Catholic.

Kelly, J.N.D., “The Oxford Dictionary of Popes,” New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Martin, Malachi, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church,” New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981. The author was a Catholic priest and a theologian.

McBrien, Richard P., “Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II,” San Francisco, California: Harper, 2000. The author is a Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

McCarthy, James G., “The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and the Word of God,” Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1995. The author is a former Catholic.

National Geographic, “Inside the Vatican” (Bart McDowell with photographs by James L. Stanfield), Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1991. This narrated picture book has large, full-color pictures.

Norris, Herbert, “Church Vestments: Their Origin & Development,” Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2002.

Rendina, Claudio, “The Popes: Histories and Secrets,” Santa Ana, California: Seven Locks Press, 2002.

Shelley, Bruce, “Church History in Plain Language,” Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982, 1995.

Skira, Albert, “Treasures of the Vatican: St. Peter’s Basilica, The Vatican Museums and Galleries, The Treasure of St. Peter’s, The Vatican Grottoes and Necropolis, the Vatican Palaces.” Created by Albert Skira for “Horizon Magazine,” 1962. Text by Maurizio Calvesi of the University of Rome. Introduction by Deoclecio Redig de Campos, Curator of Medieval and Modern Art, Pontifical Museums and Galleries, Vatican City. Translated from the Italian by James Emmons.

USE OF THIS ARTICLE

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NOTES

1. James G. McCarthy, “The Gospel According to Rome,” pages 231-232. James McCarthy is a former Catholic

2. Ramsay MacMullen, “Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400,” pages 49 and 113-119. Claudio Rendina, “The Popes: Histories and Secrets” (Santa Ana, California: Seven Locks Press, 2002), pages 29 and 41-45. Richard P. McBrien, “Lives of the Popes” (San Francisco, California: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997), pages 45-46 and 57-58. Hans Kung (translated by John Bowden), “The Catholic Church: A Short History” (New York: Modern Library: 2001, 2003), pages 33-44. Paul Johnson, “A History of Christianity,” pages 67-69 and 99-103. Malachi Martin, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church,” pages 19-38. Peter de Rosa, “Vicars of Christ,” page 45.

3. Paul Johnson, “A History of Christianity,” pages 194-197. (Paul Johnson is a Catholic.) Peter de Rosa, pages 62-64. Malachi Martin, pages 137-146.

4. Paul Johnson, “A History of Christianity,” pages 196-197. Claudio Rendina, “The Bad Popes,” pages 268-274. (Page 274 says that Gregory wanted to make the countries of Europe become feudal estates of the Pope, with all of the kings meekly obeying him.) J.N.D. Kelly, “The Oxford Dictionary of Popes,” pages 154-156. Richard P. McBrien, “Lives of the Popes,” pages 185-188. Malachi Martin, page 140. Peter de Rosa, “Vicars of Christ,” pages 166-167.

5. Peter de Rosa, pages 66-69. Paul Johnson, page 199. Claudio Rendina, pages 309-316. (Page 310 says that Innocent was convinced that he had “total power” over other men.) J.N.D. Kelly, pages 186-188. Richard P. McBrien, pages 209-211.

6. Bruce L. Shelley, “Church History in Plain Language,” page 215. Russell Chamberlin, “The Bad Popes,” pages 87-93. J.N.D. Kelly, page 209. Richard P. McBrien, page 435. (This says that Boniface liked to dress in “imperial regalia”.)

7. Russell Chamberlin, pages 93-123. Claudio Rendina, pages 357-364. J.N.D. Kelly, pages 208-210. Richard P. McBrien, pages 229-232.

Pope Boniface VIII, “Unam Sanctam,” November 18, 1302. The quotation is near the end. You can read this encyclical online. If the following links don’t work, then do a search for “Unam Sanctam”.

http://www.newadvent.org/docs/bo08us.htm

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/b8-unam.html

8. Paloma Pajares Ayuela, “Cosmatesque Ornament: Flat Polychrome Geometric Patterns in Architecture” (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002). Chapter 2 (“Rome”) tells how wealthy medieval popes used purple and gems in papal architecture in order to show their imperial power. The purple came from porphyry (a rock that has crystals embedded in a purple groundmass).

9. Claudio Rendina, pages 420-423. Richard P. McBrien, pages 263-264.

Dr. Richard M. Podhajny, “History, Shellfish, Royalty, and the Color Purple” in “Paper, Film & Foil Converter,” July 1, 2002. (This is a technical, industrial magazine. Color is important to the printing industry. The article discusses the history of the colors purple and scarlet.) You can read the article in their online edition of the magazine.

http://pffc-online.com/ar/paper_history_shellfish_royalty

Herbert Norris, “Church Vestments: Their Origin & Development,” pages 162-163. (This tells when scarlet came into use for vestments.) National Geographic, “Inside the Vatican,” pages 46-47. (This shows cardinals wearing scarlet vestments.)

10. Herbert Norris, pages 108-115. This discussion of the papal tiara includes several pictures of popes wearing tiaras. Albert Skira, “Treasures of the Vatican, page 86. This shows a portrait of Pope Alexander VI kneeling, with his tiara on the ground in front of him.

Richard P. McBrien. Following page 392, there is a series of numbered pictures. Pictures 2, 3, 9 and 13 show popes wearing the papal crown (tiara).

You can see pictures of the papal tiara online. Google has a search engine just for pictures (images). Go to Google’s home page. You will see some words that are underlined. Click on “Images.” Then search for “tiara” or for “pope + tiara” or for “papal tiara”.

http://www.Google.com

11. Richard P. McBrien, “Lives of the Popes.” Following page 392, there is a series of 40 pictures that have numbers. Pictures 13, 19, 20, 23, and 27 show popes seated on thrones.

National Geographic, “Inside the Vatican,” pages 92-93. This photograph shows a life-sized statue of Saint Peter sitting on a papal thrown inside Saint Peter’s Basilica. Pages 48-49 show the Pope being carried on a portable thrown.

Six pictures of popes with the papal crown (tiara). Two of these pictures show Popes Pius XII and John XXIII seated on an ornate papal throne.

http://www.geocities.com/rexstupormundi/papalcrown.html

12. Eric Convey and Tom Mashberg, “Law Grilled in Deposition” in “The Boston Herald,” May 8, 2002. The third and fourth paragraphs discuss Cardinal Law’s dual citizenship.

13. Herbert Norris, pages 8, 183-185. National Geographic, page 58. This shows a ring of Pope Pius IX. It has so many diamonds on it that you can barely see the gold.

“Rings” in “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” Volume XIII, 1912. “Pectorale” in the “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” Volume XI, 1911. This is the pectoral cross which is worn by popes, cardinals, bishops, and abbots. It is made of precious metal (gold, silver, platinum) and ornamented with jewels (diamonds, pearls, etc.). It contains a relic of a saint.

14. Herbert Norris, “Church Vestments: Their Origin & Development.” The entire book describes vestments that, for high-ranking churchmen, are often decorated with gold and jewels. Even their gloves have gold on them, and sometimes jewels as well. This was especially true during the Middle Ages, but it is also true today.

National Geographic, pages 59, 71, 83, 202, and 209. Page 59 shows a chalice of Pope Pius X that is solid gold and set with numerous diamonds. (When you look at it, you see more diamonds than gold.) Page 71 shows Pope John Paul II wearing a gold miter and vestments decorated with gold. Page 83 shows Pope John Paul II wearing gold vestments. (They are made of gold cloth, as opposed to just being decorated with gold.) Page 202 shows gloves and shoes of Pope Pius XII. They are decorated with gold. One pair of shoes has jewels on them. (They appear to be rubies and emeralds.) Page 209 shows a miter that was worn by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I. It is decorated with gold and set with many jewels.

In the Vatican, there is a portrait of Pope Alexander VI wearing gold vestments that are covered with jewels. There is a large, full-color picture in Albert Skira, “Treasures of the Vatican,” page 86. There is a smaller full-color picture in the National Geographic book, “Inside the Vatican,” page 49. (Although it is smaller, you can still see the gold and jewels.) There is also a small black-and-white picture in Richard P. McBrien, “Lives of the Popes.” (Following page 392 there is a series of numbered pictures. The portrait of Alexander VI is Picture 10.)

15. Albert Skira, “Treasures of the Vatican,” page 31. This shows a picture of the statue of Saint Peter wearing vestments of gold and scarlet, with a gold crown that is studded with jewels.

National Geographic, “Inside the Vatican,” pages 92-93. This shows a nun kissing the foot of the statue. It also shows a close-up of the foot that has been worn smooth from being kissed so much.

16. “Mozzetta” in “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” Volume X, 1911. This is a special red cape worn by the Pope. In the six winter months, he wears a mozzetta trimmed with white ermine. In the six summer months he wears a lighter mozzetta without ermine.

Herbert Norris, pages 114 and 179. (Page 114 shows Pope Sixtus IV wearing a tiara and mozetta. Page 179 discusses the mozetta.)

17. National Geographic, pages 48-49. This shows the Pope being carried on the sedia gestatoria (the portable papal throne). Richard P. McBrien, “Lives of the Popes” has pictures of the Pope being carried on the sedia gestatoria on the front cover of the book and on page 11.

“Sedia Gestatoria” in “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” Volume XIII, 1912. “Pontifical Mass” in “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” Volume XII, 1911. This describes the use of the sedia gestatoria (portable papal throne) for the solemn procession that occures during a Pontifical Mass.

You can see pictures of the sedia gestatoria online. Google has a search engine just for pictures (images). Go to Google’s home page. You will see some words that are underlined. Click on “Images.” Then search for “sedia”.

http://www.Google.com

18. Paul Johnson, page 503.

19. You can see dozens of pictures of the Sistine Chapel if you do an Internet search for “Christus Rex” + “Sistine Chapel”. It will lead you to a page called “Cappella Sistina”. It has 27 categories listed. If you click on one of them, you will get a webpage with small pictures on it. If you click on the small pictures, you will get larger ones.

To see the Vatican museums, search for “Christus Rex” + “Museums.” To see Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Pontifical Palace, search for “Christus Rex” + “Vatican city”. (It will say “Citta del Vaticano.”)

You can also find good pictures by doing a Google search for “images”. Go to Google’s home page. You will see some words that are underlined. Click on “Images.” Then click on “Sistine Chapel” or “Vatican museums” or whatever else you are looking for.

http://www.Google.com

Copyright 2002 by Mary Ann Collins. All rights reserved.

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