Ecclesiastical Vestments: Their development and history

by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister

IX. The Pall.—The pall is a symbol of jurisdiction, which is worn by the Pope, and by him bestowed upon all archbishops.

The material of which the pall is made is white wool. Both the shape of the vestment and its ornamentation have undergone modifications since it was invented, even during the mediaeval period itself. Its earliest appearance, and all that is known of its origin, is described in the preceding chapter. The folding of the pallium must have given a little trouble whenever it was put on; and this must before long have suggested the shape which meets us in the mediaeval pall: that of a loop of cloth with two tails projecting from opposite points in its circumference. A slight difference is observable between palls represented early and those represented late in the mediaeval period. In the former the branches are almost horizontal, passing round the arms between the shoulder and elbow; in the latter they pass over the shoulder. In the former case the pall resembles a T, in the latter a Y, whether seen from before or behind the wearer.

Fig. 12.—St Dunstan. (From a manuscript in the Cottonian Library; showing early forms of pall and mitre.)

In whichever form it appears, however, the pall was secured in its place by pins. At first, when the vestments were of simple description, these pins could be run through pall and chasuble without doing much damage; afterwards, however, when enrichments were heaped upon the chasuble, these pins were not run into that vestment at all, but through loops provided for the purpose. It was discovered, however, that the pall in its latest development would stay in its place quite as well without pins as with them, and the loops were therefore abandoned. As the pins were generally made of gold, with heads of precious stones, some reluctance was felt at abandoning them altogether, and accordingly they sank into the position which the maniple and other vestments assumed—that of being ornaments.

The length of the pendent tails shows considerable variety at different times. They are extremely long—often extravagantly so—in monuments dating between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. After that date they were curtailed, and at present are not more than a foot long. There is a little button of lead sewn into the ends of the tails to make them hang properly.

The pall never displayed that tendency to elaborate adornment which distinguished the other vestments of the mediaeval age. Doubtless the fact that all palls were made at Rome, and but few were made at a time, prevented any great change in fashion. Some differences are, notwithstanding, noticeable. In the earliest representations of tailed palls there is to be seen a single cross at the end of each tail; the same cross is to be seen worked on early oraria and mappulae. But in mediaeval and modern times there is a difference. At present the pall has six crosses, one on each tail and four on the oval, worked in black. In the middle ages we find sometimes four, sometimes as many as eight, worked in purple.

The history of each individual pall is curious. On the morning of St Agnes's Day (January 21) in each year, two lambs are sent into Rome each in a basket, the baskets being slung over a horse's back. These lambs are chosen with special reference to whiteness and goodness. The horse is driven to the palace of the Pope, who comes to a window and makes the sign of the cross over the lambs, which are then conducted to the church of St Agnes without the walls. Here, gaily adorned with flowers and ribbons, they are brought up to the altar, and kept there till mass is sung. After mass (formerly at the Agnus Dei) the celebrant blesses the lambs, which are then handed over to the charge of the canons of St John Lateran, by whom they are sent back to the Pope. The Pope hands them on to the dean of his subdeacons, who delivers them up to a nunnery, where they are kept and fed. When they are shorn, the wool is woven by the nuns into palls. On the eve of the day of St Peter and St Paul these palls are taken to St Peter's, and there blessed after evensong, after which they are shut up in a silver-gilt box to wait till they are wanted for bestowal on a new archbishop.

Each archbishop on election must go to Rome in person to receive the pall, unless prevented by serious obstacles—when the latter is the case it is solemnly sent to him by the Pope. He is not permitted to engage in any episcopal duty before receiving the pall; afterwards the vestment is worn only at High Mass on the following days: Nativity, St Stephen, St John, Circumcision, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Ascension, Pentecost, Feasts of the Virgin, Nativity of St John the Baptist, all days of Apostles, All Saints, Dedications of Churches, principal local feasts in the diocese, Consecrations of Bishops, Ordinations of Clergy, Feast of the local Dedication, and the Anniversary of the wearer's consecration. The Pope, however, wears the pall at all times when he says mass.

The pall is the symbol of the archiepiscopal authority, therefore it may not be worn without express papal permission outside the limits of the jurisdiction of the archbishop.[57] When he dies, the pall is buried with him, but it is only placed on his shoulders if he be buried within his own province, otherwise it is folded and placed beneath his head.[58] The pall is the only vestment which may not be lent by one cleric to another.