A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

Henry IV. coming to the crown, published a declaration, July 4, 1591, abolishing the edicts against the Protestants. This edict was verified in the parliament of Chalons; but the troubles prevented the verification of it in the parliaments of the other provinces; so that the Protestants had not the free exercise of their religion in any place but where they were masters, and had banished the Romish religion. In April, 1598, the king published a new edict of pacification at Nantes, granting the Protestants the free exercise of their religion in all places where they had the same in 1596 and 1597, and one exercise in each bailiwick.

This edict of Nantes was confirmed by Louis XIII. in 1610, and by Louis XIV. in 1652. But his letter, in 1685, abolished it entirely; since which time the Protestants ceased to be tolerated in France till the Revolution.—Broughton.

PÆDO-BAPTISM. (From παῖς, a child, and βαπτίζω, to baptize.) The baptism of children. (See Baptism of Infants.)

PALL, or PALLIUM. The word pallium properly signifies a cloak, thrown over the shoulders: afterwards it came to denote a sort of cape or tippet, and hence the ecclesiastical designation in the Western Church.

The origin of the pall, which has been generally worn by the Western metropolitans, is disputed; but whoever considers the ancient figures of it which are found in manuscripts, &c., will see that it was originally only a stole wound round the neck, with the ends hanging down behind and before. In the East the pall is called omophorion, and has been used, at least, since the time of Chrysostom. It is used by all the Eastern bishops, above the phenolion or vestment, during the eucharist; and, as used by them, resembles the ancient pall much more nearly than that worn by the Western metropolitans.—Palmer.

The pall was part of the imperial habit, and originally granted by the emperors to the patriarchs. Thus Constantine gave the use of the pall to the bishop of Rome; and Anthimus, patriarch of Constantinople, being expelled his see, is said to have returned the pall to the emperor Justinian; which implies his having received it from him. And the reason of the royal consent in this manner seems to be, because it was high treason to wear any part of the imperial habit without licence.

In after ages, when the see of Rome had carried its authority to the highest pitch, under Pope Innocent III., that pontiff, in the Lateran Council, A. D. 1215, decreed the pall to be a mark and distinction, intimating the plenitude of the apostolic power, and that neither the function nor title of archbishop should be assumed without it; and this, not only when a bishop was preferred to the degree of archbishop, but likewise in case of translations, when an archbishop was removed from one see to another. It was decreed, likewise, that every archbishop should be buried in his pall, that his successor might make no use of it, but be obliged to apply to the pope for another. By these means the court of Rome brought vast sums of money into its exchequer.

In the Romish Church the following is the description of the pall as given by Romish writers. The pallium is a part of the pontifical dress worn only by the pope, archbishops, and patriarchs. It is a white woollen band of about three fingers’ breadth, made round, and worn over the shoulders, crossed in front with one end hanging down over the breast; the other behind it is ornamented with purple crosses, and fastened by three golden needles or pins. It is made of the wool of perfectly white sheep, which are yearly, on the festival of St. Agnes, offered and blessed at the celebration of the holy eucharist, in the church dedicated to her in the Nomentan Way in Rome. The sheep are received by two canons of the church of St. John Lateran, who deliver them into the charge of the subdeacons of the Apostolic College, and they then are kept and fed by them until the time for shearing them arrives. The palliums are always made of this wool, and when made they are brought to the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, and are placed upon the altar over their tomb on the eve of their festival, and are left there the whole night, and on the following day are delivered to the subdeacons, whose office it is to take charge of them. The pope alone always wears the pallium, and wherever he officiates, to signify his assumed authority over all other particular churches. Archbishops and patriarchs receive it from him, and cannot wear it, except in their own churches, and only on certain great festivals when they celebrate the mass.

An archbishop in the Romish Church, although he be consecrated as bishop, and have taken possession, cannot before he has petitioned for, and received and paid for the pallium, either call himself archbishop, or perform such acts as belong to the “greater jurisdiction;” those, namely, which he exercises not as a bishop, but as archbishop, such as to summon a council, or to visit his province, &c. He can, however, when his election has been confirmed, and before he receives the pallium, depute his functions, in the matter of ordaining bishops, to his suffragans, who may lawfully exercise them by his command. If, however, any archbishop in the Romish Church, before he receives the pallium, perform those offices which result immediately from the possession of it, such as, for instance, those relating to orders and to the chrism, &c., the acts themselves are valid, but the archbishop offends against the canons and laws of the Church.

The pall is still retained as an heraldic ensign, in the arms of the archbishops of Canterbury, Armagh, and Dublin, and formerly constituted those of the archbishop of York also.