Rings for the finger

by George Frederick Kunz

“Ring of the fisherman”

Fairholt’s “Rambles of an Artist”

Hand of “Judith” from picture by Lucas Cranach: Rings beneath glove-fingers slit to give them room

Impression of the Annulus Piscatoris (Ring of the Fisherman) of Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605)

Archæologia, vol. xl, p. 140

The ring is broken to prevent the sealing of any pontifical document during the vacancy of the papal see. When the army of the French Republic occupied Rome in 1798, the Republican emissary Haller, after informing Pius VI that he would be taken from Rome, demanded all his papal rings. After surrendering the others, the pope pleaded that he might be allowed to keep the Fisherman’s Ring, but as the Frenchman sternly insisted that this also must be given up, the pope reluctantly yielded. However, when on examination, the ring was found to be of small value, it was restored to the pontiff.

The earliest existing mention of the Fisherman’s Ring seems to be in a letter addressed by Pope Clement IV, in 1265, to his nephew Pietro Grossi of St. Gilles, in which he states that in addressing members of his family he used the Sigillum Piscatoris, the private seal of the popes.[420] It was not until the fifteenth century that this originally private seal came to be generally used for the papal Briefs. An impression of the Fisherman’s Ring of Clement VIII made in 1598, in the sixth year of the pope’s reign, is surrounded with a bit of twisted vellum. A comparison of this seal with the one used by Pius IX, shows the modifications of the established design due to the preferences of the engravers of successive rings. The ring of Pius IX was of plain gold, weighing about an ounce and a half, the design was engraved on an oval plate. It is said to have been made out of the gold constituting the Fisherman’s Ring of his predecessor, Gregory XVI.[421]

It is thought probable that the custom of breaking the Fisherman’s Ring on the demise of a pope was first instituted at the death of Leo X in 1521. The papal engravers are believed to have kept a new ring ready in case of sudden need, leaving a blank space for the new pope’s name. When his election has been confirmed, the Cardinal Camerlengo places the ring on his hand, asking him at the same time by what name he elects to be called. The ring is then removed and given to the engraver for the addition of this name. In later times it has been kept permanently in the guardianship of the Cardinal Chamberlain, and has not been generally used for stamping documents, an iron die of like design being employed for this purpose.