The Pallium or Pall (derived, so far as the name is concerned, from the Roman pallium or palla, a woollen cloak) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries past bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See.

The pallium, in its present form, is a narrow band, "three fingers broad," woven of white lamb's wool from sheep raised in Valencia, Spain, with a loop in the centre resting on the shoulders over the chasuble, and two dependent lappets, before and behind; so that when seen from front or back the ornament resembles the letter Y. It is decorated with six black crosses, one on each tail and four on the loop,

In origin the pallium and the omophorion are the same vestment. The omophorion is a wide band of cloth, much larger than the modern pallium, worn by all Eastern Orthodox bishops and Eastern Catholic bishops of the Byzantine Rite. The theory that explains its origin in connection with the figure of the Good Shepherd carrying the lamb on his shoulders, so common in early Christian art, is obviously an explanation a posteriori. The ceremonial connected with the preparation of the pallium and its bestowal upon the Pope at his coronation, however, suggests some such symbolism. The lambs whose wool is destined for the making of the pallia are solemnly presented at the altar by the nuns of the convent of Saint Agnes.

The awarding of the pallium became controversial in the Middle Ages,

For his formal inauguration Pope Benedict XVI reverted to an earlier form of the pallium, from a period when it and the omophorion were virtually identical. It is wider than the modern pallium although not as wide as the modern omophorion, made of wool with black silk ends, and decorated with five red crosses, three of which are pierced with pins, symbolic of Christ's five wounds and the three nails. Only the Papal pallium takes this distinctive form.

At present only the Pope and metropolitan archbishops wear the pallium, and a metropolitan has to receive the pallium before exercising his office in his ecclesiastical province, even if he was previously metropolitan elsewhere. No other bishops, even non-metropolitan archbishops or retired metropolitans, are allowed to wear the pallium unless they have special permission. For example, Angelo Cardinal Sodano, the newly elected Dean of the College of Cardinals, received the privilege of wearing the pallium for the suburbicarian diocese of Ostia on 29 June 2005.

Footnote

1.   Peter de Rossa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy (Corgi, 1988) p.137.

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain.

Pallium Pallium Palio Pallium פליום Pallio パリウム Palliumnb:Pallium Paliusz Palij Pallium