We feature unique photographs from the archive of the American magazine LIFE, stored on Google servers, which present liturgical vestments from the treasury of the Apostolic Sacristy, including the papal coronation vestments of Holy Father Pius XII.
The photos show, among other things, the Pope’s own vestments and insignia, such as tiaras, falda, fanon and subcinctorium, as well as the vestments of the ministers of the altar, e.g. two versions of the dalmatic (white and red: the traditional papal colours) of the cardinal deacon proclaiming the words of the Holy Gospel during a solemn papal Mass.
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Source: Fondazione Cardinale Domenico Bartolucci
Below, in several versions, is a famous photograph by Giovanni Ferretto (photographic studio in Treviso, near Venice, where Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto was archbishop and patriarch from 1896 to 1903, elected Bishop of Rome during the first conclave in the 20th century). It shows the coronation vestments of Pope Pius X and some of the liturgical vessels used during solemn papal Masses.
Source: Fondazione Cardinale Domenico Bartolucci
RECOMMENDED READINGS
- Marzia Cataldi Gallo, Le vesti dei papi. I parati della Sacrestia pontificia: Seicento e Settecento, Genova: De Ferrari 2011.
- Marzia Cataldi Gallo, Vestire il pontefice. Dall’Antico Testamento a Papa Francesco, Genova: Sagep 2013.
- Marzia Cataldi Gallo, Il Papa e le sue vesti. Da Paolo V a Giovanni Paolo II (1600-2000), Città del Vaticano: Edizioni Muzei Vaticani 2016.