Benedict XVI needs new coat of arms, designer says
By Estefania Aguirre
Vatican City, May 4, 2013 / 06:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The cardinal who designed Pope Benedict XVI’s coat of arms says he needs a new one now that he is no longer the pontiff.
“The problem now is whether the Pope Emeritus can keep that same coat of arms or not,” said Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.
“And as a person who has always dedicated himself to this, I say ‘no,’” he told CNA during a May 2 interview.
The cardinal, who served from 1990 to 1998 as the first Apostolic Nuncio to Israel and Palestine, designed Benedict’s coat of arms in 2005.
His fascination with ecclesiastical heraldry is a lifelong interest. And that has led him to design the coat of arms for many Catholic institutions, bishops and cardinals.
But now he believes that the “coat of arms needs to be transformed to show that he is a Pope Emeritus,” he stated.
He has drawn up a new coat of arms, which he believes could be used now by the former pontiff.
He moved the big keys of Saint Peter from the back of the coat of arms to the top part of the shield and made them much smaller.
“That shows that he had a historic possession but not a current jurisdiction,” said the cardinal.
He also included the motto that Benedict used as a cardinal at the bottom, a feature that a papal coat of arms does not include.
“But this is only a proposal, it isn’t official,” Cardinal Lanza di Montezemolo qualified.
“I allowed myself to send him a note with suggestions because the elements of jurisdiction in effect need to be removed,” he stated.
The cardinal told how Benedict replied to him with a note stating that he felt “very unsure” and that he “does not dare.”
“But we will see, because the topic is still open,” said the expert in ecclesiastical heraldry.
He explained that while Pope Francis did not ask for his services, Benedict XVI contacted him as soon as he was elected Pope.
“He called on me the following day at 8 o’clock in the morning at the Saint Martha residency,” the cardinal recalled.
“I asked him what he wanted, he showed me the coat of arms that he had as Archbishop of Munich and as cardinal, and then asked me what I thought about it,” he said.
The cardinal answered him that it was good, but “not very correct” because it had four parts with two repeated elements.
“I suggested to put the main elements in three parts, and he replied he did not want the papal tiara,” said Cardinal Lanza di Montezemolo.
“He had a very clear idea of what he wanted, so I proposed some arrangements and I designed eight trials after working all day and night,” he recounted.
The next day the cardinal returned to the Saint Martha’s at 8:00 a.m. with the eight samples and Benedict chose one “very decisively” and signed it.
“It’s interesting how decided he was in adding and removing certain elements on the design,” the cardinal commented.
“I suggested using the miter, the symbol of the bishops.”
‘But one wouldn’t be able to see the difference between a coat of arms of a bishop and that of a Pope,’” Benedict XVI replied.
The cardinal added the keys of Saint Peter behind the coat of arms. Below, he added the pallium, which had never been done by a previous Pope, to show the collegiality between the Pope and the bishops.
The idea of adding the keys on a chief as an augmentation is nice, but let’s call it just that - an augmentation - rather than perpetuating the idea that arms are to be changed with every change of station.
Pelayo;98770 wrote:
...“I suggested using the miter, the symbol of the bishops.”
‘But one wouldn’t be able to see the difference between a coat of arms of a bishop and that of a Pope,’” Benedict XVI replied.
So his eminence Andrea Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo pushes the miter design, then when pushed back by Benedict XVI, he still emblazoned a miter! Hubris! The papal coat of arms is THE perfect time and place to use the Triregnum papal tiara! Let’s get back to historical precedence!
Papa Francis, are you listening???
—Guy
I doubt he is, Guy. In addition, I found this article disturbing. I really think Montezemolo is feeling neglected since Pope Francis didn’t use him to design the current papal arms and he’s trying to get back into the game with one swing, so to speak. He’s not going to be the next Bruno Heim so he should stop trying.
I find his idea for the keys on a chief to be unecessary and silly and his repeated attempts to attribute the change from the tiara to Pope Benedict cowardly. (not to mention that someone who purports to know as much about heraldry as he does should absolutely know that a mitre is NOT the heraldic symbol of bishops!)
A heraldic expert should also have known that the reason Benedict XVI should not use the same quartered arms as Archbishop Ratzinger was that Benedict XVI was no longer the archbishop of Freising and Munich. And actually hadn’t been for quite some time; he should have dropped the Freising Moor when he moved from Munich to the Curia.
The general undesirability of "four parts with two repeated elements" [sic; actually three different fields, one of them appearing twice] should have been decidedly secondary.
gselvester;98779 wrote:
I find his idea for the keys on a chief to be unecessary and silly and his repeated attempts to attribute the change from the tiara to Pope Benedict cowardly. (not to mention that someone who purports to know as much about heraldry as he does should absolutely know that a mitre is NOT the heraldic symbol of bishops!)
Is there any precedence in the heraldry of other popes that had resigned the Chair? How does a bishop or cardinal emeritus display his arms?
Alexander Liptak;98793 wrote:
Is there any precedence in the heraldry of other popes that had resigned the Chair? How does a bishop or cardinal emeritus display his arms?
Bishops and Cardinals emeriti use the same galero and (arch)episcopal cross that they were entitled to when they held their office, but they can not continue to impale their arms with those of their former see.
The use of the crossed keys and the papal triregnum/miter by a "pope emeritus" is inappropriate - because these are the symbols of the (arch)diocese of Rome. The fact that they are used as external ornaments instead of as an impalement of office is immaterial. Like an impalement, their use by an "emeritus" is incorrect.
For a "pope emeritus", I had suggested the use of the seldom seen three-armed "papal" cross, placed behind the shield as would be an episcopal or archepiscopal cross. This idea was summarily shot down by the ecclesiastical heraldry aficionados on this forum (whose opinions I do respect), but I still like the idea as a clear and non-usurping way to indicate a pope emeritus. Likewise, I used a green galero with thirty tassels (1-2-3-4-5 on each side) as befitting a Latin-rite Patriarch/Primate (two of the many dignities held by the pontiff). If he were re-created a Cardinal, then it would become red. {There is a picture of this idea somewhere on the forum…}
Alexander Liptak;98793 wrote:
Is there any precedence in the heraldry of other popes that had resigned the Chair?
Looking at pictures of papal coins online, it’s not obvious that there was any opportunity for a precedent to have been set at the time of the last resignation, Gregory XII in 1417. It looks like it was during just that period that papal arms started appearing on papal coins at all.
All the papal coins had an effigy of the pope on the obverse. Up through Boniface IX (1389-1404) the reverse is sort of cross. I couldn’t find a coin for Boniface’s successor, Innocent VII, who only reigned for 2 years. Innocent’s successor was Gregory XII, the last to resign, whose coins seem to have been the first to display the crossed keys as the main device on the reverse. Gregory’s successor was Martin V, who placed a crowned column (the central device from the Colonna family arms) in the upper angle of the keys. Next was Eugene IV (1413-1447), who placed a small shield of his family arms in the upper angle.
Then, two popes later, with Callixtus III (Borgia), 1455-1458, we find something that looks like a specifically papal achievement of arms, with the Borgia shield ensigned with the crossed keys above the shield, and the tiara above that.
If the coins are a good representation of broader papal heraldic practice (and perhaps they aren’t), then Gregory XII couldn’t have provided a precedent for how to display the arms of a former pope, because at the time there may have been no distinctive way to display the arms of a sitting pope.
steven harris;98794 wrote:
Bishops and Cardinals emeriti use the same galero and (arch)episcopal cross that they were entitled to when they held their office, but they can not continue to impale their arms with those of their former see.
The use of the crossed keys and the papal triregnum/miter by a "pope emeritus" is inappropriate - because these are the symbols of the (arch)diocese of Rome. The fact that they are used as external ornaments instead of as an impalement of office is immaterial. Like an impalement, their use by an "emeritus" is incorrect.
For a "pope emeritus", I had suggested the use of the seldom seen three-armed "papal" cross, placed behind the shield as would be an episcopal or archepiscopal cross. This idea was summarily shot down by the ecclesiastical heraldry aficionados on this forum (whose opinions I do respect), but I still like the idea as a clear and non-usurping way to indicate a pope emeritus. Likewise, I used a green galero with thirty tassels (1-2-3-4-5 on each side) as befitting a Latin-rite Patriarch/Primate (two of the many dignities held by the pontiff). If he were re-created a Cardinal, then it would become red. {There is a picture of this idea somewhere on the forum…}
That reminds me of a display that Boniface XIII, an Avignon antipope, used for his armorial display (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8uioawS4c1rvi754o1_r1_500.png).
Alexander Liptak;98797 wrote:
That reminds me of a display that Boniface XIII, an Avignon antipope, used for his armorial display (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8uioawS4c1rvi754o1_r1_500.png).
Boniface XIII? Do you mean Benedict XIII? Papa Luna?
I’d be interested in the contemporary source for this arrangement. This would seem to be one of the earliest examples of heraldic use of the tiara.
(Beautiful emblazonment, by the way.)
Joseph McMillan;98798 wrote:
Boniface XIII? Do you mean Benedict XIII? Papa Luna?
I’d be interested in the contemporary source for this arrangement. This would seem to be one of the earliest examples of heraldic use of the tiara.
(Beautiful emblazonment, by the way.)
Yes, Benedict XIII, not even sure how I typed Boniface really.
I found the composition in an e-book hosted on an Italian website; however, the e-book no longer seems available. It was titled Insegne e Simboli: Araldica Pubblica e Privata, Medievale e Moderna and was originally found at http://www.archivi.beniculturali.it/DGA-free/Sussidi/4_SussXI_p_315_481.pdf.
I am not sure of the date of the original work that I based mine off of, though I recall it was rather simple in design and the tiara still showed three crowns. I assumed it was borne by te antipope himself as most of the images in the e-book seemed contemporary. That and the fact that as an antipope there would be little to no need to, nor much interest in, creating new emblazonments for Benedict (save for me, of course).
Post script: Now that I am thinking about it some more, I believe the tiara was displaced over the sinister side of the shield and the cross disappeared behind the dexter side of the shield. It reminds me of how the bishops used to display their arms with a crozier to the dexter and mitre to the sinister. Perhaps someone is familiar to when that practice began, which could help date the arrangment I had found of Benedict?
Why not make a former pope bear the emblem of his vacancy, and use the crossed keys and umbraculum? The lack of galero and any crosses would keep it from being confused for the Cardinal Camerlengo, and there should be no mistaking a former pontiff for a basillica.
Pelayo;98770 wrote:
Benedict XVI needs new coat of arms, designer says
Vatican City, May 4, 2013 / 06:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The cardinal who designed Pope Benedict XVI’s coat of arms says he needs a new one now that he is no longer the pontiff.
If you go to http://exarandorum.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/benedict-xvi-to-montezemolo-no-thanks/ you’ll find a link to a recent article in an Italian publication that gives us Benedict XVI’s answer to Montezemolo’s proposal: "Thanks, but, no thanks".
Good for Benedict!
