CROZIER AND PASTORAL STAFF.
(Vol. ii., p. 248.)
A correspondent inquires what was the difference between a crozier and a pastoral staff. The crozier (Crocia, Mediæval Latin), Fr. Crosse, Ital. Rocco Pastorale, German. Bischofstab, is the ornamental staff used by archbishops and legates, and derives its name from the cross which surmounts it. A crozier behind a pall is borne on the primatial arms of Canterbury. The use of the crozier can only be traced back to the 12th century. Cavendish mentions "two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his archbishoprick and the other for his legatry, always before" Cardinal Wolsey. The fact did not escape Master Roy, who sings thus:—
"Before him rydeth two Prestes stronge,
And they beare two Crosses right longe,
Gapinge in every man's face."
Hall says that he removed from Whitehall "with one cross." In the Eastern Church patriarchs only have a crozier; a patriarch has two transverse bars upon his crozier, the Pope carries three.
The pastoral staff was the ensign of bishops. Honorius describes it as in the form of a shepherd's crook, made of wood or bone, united by a ball of gold or crystal, the lower part of the staff being pointed.
"In Evangelio Dominus Apostolis præcepit, ut in prædcatione nihil præter virgam tollerent. Et quià Episcopi pastores gregis Dominici sunt, ideò baculum in custodiâ præferunt: per baculum, quo infirmi sustentatur, auctoritas doctrinæ designatur; per virgam, quà improbi emendantur, potestas regiminis figuratur. Baculum ergò Pontifices portant, ut infirmos in Fide per doctrinam erigant. Virgam bajulant, ut per potestatem inquietos corrigant: quæ virga vel baculus est recurvus, ut aberrantes à grege docendo ad poenitetiam trabat; in extremo est acutus, ut rebelles excommunicando retrudat; hæreticos, velut lupos, ab ovili Christi potestativè exterreat."—In Gemmâ Animæ, lib. i. cap. 218, 219., apud Hitterpium.
In its primitive form it appears to have been a staff shaped like a T, and used to lean upon. It was gradually lengthened, and in some cases was finished at the top like a mace. The pastoral staff is mentioned in the Life of S. Cæsarius of Arles. Gough says that the pastoral staff found in the coffin of Grostete, Bp. of Lincoln, who died in 1254, was made of red wood ending in a rudely shaped ram's horn. It was inscribed: