Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI

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Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI
Adopted2005

The

papal election in 2005
.

History

The coat of arms was published in April 2005, after the papal election, in the Osservatore Romano.[1]

Shield

The shape of the

chalice
.

Blazon

The blazon (the written description, in terminology peculiar to heraldry, of the contents of the coat of arms) given on the Vatican website is as follows:

Gules, chape ployé Or, with the scallop shell Or; the dexter chape with a moor's head Proper, crowned and collared Gules, the sinister chape a bear trippant (*passant) Proper, carrying a pack Gules belted Sable.

This means, in non-technical English:

A red shield mantled in gold and with a gold scallop shell; the right (for the bearer of the shield, the left for the viewer) part of the mantle has the head of a moor in her natural colour (brown) wearing a red crown and red collar; the left part of the mantle has a walking bear in its natural colour (brown) carrying a red pack tied with black bands.

Note 1. A mantle outside the shield does not normally contain charges (an heraldic term for objects). Within the shield, as here, it is a religious symbol, and indicates ideals inspired in monastic spirituality.[

Order of Saint Benedict
.

Charges

Coat of arms of Joseph Ratzinger, as cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

The charges of the arms — the

Archbishop of Munich and Freising
. However, they relate not only to his origins, but also to his trust in God, as well his calling to spread this faith to others.

Scallop shell

The symbolism of the

Augustine
understand that man would never penetrate to the depths of the mystery of God. While a doctoral candidate in 1953, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger wrote his dissertation on The People of God and the House of God in Augustine's Teaching is always about the Church, and the shell therefore has a personal connection with the thought of this great Doctor of the Church.

The scallop shell is also an allusion to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. In the Roman Catholic Church, a sea shell is often used to pour water over the head of the child being baptized. Thus, a sea shell is used to evoke the imagery of this rite which is fundamental to the Christian life.

The shell also stands for

Saint James the Great, and his sanctuary at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, perhaps the principal place of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages. This symbol also alludes to "the pilgrim people of God", a title for the Church which Joseph Ratzinger championed at the Second Vatican Council as peritus (theological adviser) to Cardinals Josef Frings of Cologne and Julius Döpfner
of Munich-Freising (his episcopal predecessor). When he became Archbishop he took the shell in his coat of arms. It is also found in the insignia of the Schottenkloster in Regensburg, where the major seminary of that diocese is located, a place where Benedict taught as a professor of theology.

Finally, the

cardinal in 1977—was often called the "Pilgrim Pope" for his ground-breaking travels to the Holy Land, India, the United States, Colombia, the Philippines, and elsewhere. This precedent was greatly elaborated upon by Pope John Paul II
with his historic trips, numbering over a hundred. As a result, Benedict may be paying homage to these men and the new role for the papacy.

Moor of Freising

Moor's head of Freising, from the coat of arms of the Prince-Bishopric of Freising.
Moor's head of Freising, from the coat of arms of the Prince-Bishopric of Freising.

The

Pius VII and King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria
(5 June 1817).

The Moor's head is fairly common in European heraldry. It still appears today in the arms of Sardinia and Corsica, as well as in the blazons of various noble families. Italian heraldry, however, usually depicts the Moor wearing a white band around his head instead of a crown, indicating a slave who has been freed; whereas in German heraldry the Moor is shown wearing a crown. The Moor's head is common in the Bavarian tradition and is known as the caput Ethiopicum or the Moor of Freising.[2]

Corbinian's bear

A legend states that while traveling to Rome, Saint Corbinian's pack horse was killed by a bear. He commanded the bear to carry the load. Once he arrived, he released it from his service, and it returned to Bavaria. The implication is that "Christianity tamed and domesticated the ferocity of paganism and thus laid the foundations for a great civilization in the Duchy of Bavaria."[3] At the same time, Corbinian's bear, as God's beast of burden, symbolizes the weight of office that Benedict carried.

External ornaments

The coat of arms of the Holy See.
Banner of the Swiss Guard, with the coat-of-arms of Pope Benedict XVI modified to include the papal tiara.

Traditionally, a pope's coat of arms was externally adorned only by the three-tiered

papal tiara with lappets and the crossed keys of Saint Peter with a cord. No other objects nor a motto was added. The tiara represented the roles of authority of the pope, while the keys represent the power to loose and bind on heaven and earth (Matt 16:19). Pope Benedict's arms maintain the keys, but replace the tiara with a mitre and add a pallium. However, the tiara and keys remain the symbol of the papacy, and appear on the coat of arms of the Holy See and (reversed) on the flag of Vatican City
.

Mitre

In Pope Benedict's arms, the tiara is replaced with a silver mitre with three gold stripes.[4] These stripes recall the three crowns of the tiara, which came to represent the three powers of the Bishop of Rome: Orders, Jurisdiction and Magisterium. The stripes preserve that meaning and are joined at the centre to show their unity in the same person.

Pallium

The pallium with red crosses is also a new addition.[4] It represents a bishop's role of being pastor of the flock entrusted to him by Christ. The form of the pallium included in the coat of arms recalls that used by metropolitan archbishops (but with black crosses) rather than the much larger pallium worn by Pope Benedict at his inauguration.

After papal abdication

Main article: Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

Following his resignation as pope in 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope to step down from office since the resignation of

two crossed keys, should be removed or modified as they represent an office he no longer holds.[5][6]

Cordero presented two hypothetical designs of how he believed the new coat of arms of the pope emeritus should look, replacing the bishop's mitre with a white

galero with 15 tassels and placing the pope's episcopal motto "Cooperatores Veritatis" below the shield.[5]

One of the versions of the coat of arms of Benedict XVI proposed by Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo after the pope's resignation. It was never used.

References

  1. ^ "L'Osservatore Romano publishes new Papal coat of arms". Catholic News Agency. 27 April 2005. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  2. ^ "Coat of Arms of His Holiness Benedict XVI". Vatican Publishing House. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  3. ^ "The bear and the scallop-shell — a unique papal coat of arms". Catholic World News. 27 April 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  4. ^ a b Glatz, Carol (2005-05-18). "Pope drops papal crown from coat of arms, adds miter, pallium". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on April 28, 2005. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  5. ^ a b Glatz, Carol (2014-02-05). "Hark, the heraldry: cracking the coat-of-arms code". Catholic News Service. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  6. ^ Estefania Aguirre (May 4, 2013). "Benedict XVI needs new coat of arms, designer says". Catholic News Agency.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coats of arms of Benedictus XVI, Pope.
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