An ecclesiastical ring is a finger ring worn by a clergyman, such as a Bishop's ring.
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Historical antecedents
St. Clement of Alexandria[1] says that a man might lawfully wear a ring on his little finger, and that it should bear some religious emblem --a dove for the Holy Spirit, a fish (ichthys) for Christ or an anchor. In any case the Acts of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas (c. xxi), about the beginning of the third century, mention the martyr Saturus took a ring from the finger of Pudens, a soldier who was looking on, and gave it back to him as a keepsake, covered with his own blood.
Episcopal rings
In Western Christianity, rings are worn by bishops of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and other denominations. Eastern Orthodox bishops do not normally wear rings, but some Eastern Catholic bishops do.
St. Augustine of Hippo indeed speaks of his sealing a letter with a ring,[2] However, in a Decree of Pope Boniface IV (A.D. 610) we hear of monks raised to the episcopal dignity as anulo pontificali subarrhatis, while at the Fourth Council of Toledo, in 633, we are told that if a bishop has been deposed from his office and afterwards reinstated, he is to receive back stole, ring and crosier (orarium, anulum et baculum). St. Isidore of Seville at about the same period couples the ring with the crosier and declares that the former is conferred as "an emblem of the pontifical dignity or of the sealing of secrets".[3] The ring is strictly speaking an episcopal ornament conferred in the rite of consecration, and that it was commonly regarded as emblematic of the mystical betrothal of the bishop to his church. In the eighth and ninth centuries in manuscripts of the Gregorian Sacramentary and in a few early Pontificals (e.g., that attributed to Archbishop Egbert of York) we meet with various formulae for the delivery of the ring. The Gregorian form, which survives in substance to the present, runs in these terms: "Receive the ring, that is to say, the seal of faith, whereby thou, being thyself adorned with spotless faith, mayst keep unsullied the troth which thou hast pledged to the spouse of God, His Holy Church."
The ideas of the seal (signet ring), indicative of discretion and of 'conjugal' fidelity, dominate the symbolism attaching to the ring in nearly all its liturgical uses. The latter idea was pressed so far in the case of bishops that we find ecclesiastical decrees enacting that "a bishop deserting the Church to which he was consecrated and transferring himself to another is to be held guilty of adultery, and is to be visited with the same penalties as a man who, forsaking his own wife, goes to live with another woman."[4] Perhaps this idea of espousals helped to establish the rule, of which we hear already in the ninth century, that the episcopal ring was to be placed on the fourth finger (i.e., that next the little finger) of the right hand.
As the pontifical ring had to be worn on occasion over the pontifical glove, it is a common thing to find medieval specimens large in size and proportionately heavy in execution. The inconvenience of the looseness thus resulting was often met by placing another smaller ring just above it as a keeper.[5] As the pictures of the medieval and Renaissance periods show, it was formerly quite usual for bishops to wear other rings along with the episcopal ring; indeed the 1882 edition of Caeremoniale episcoporum (Book II, viii, nn. 10-11) still assumed that this was likely to be the case. Custom prescribed that a layman or a cleric of inferior grade on being presented to a bishop should kiss his hand (called baciamano in Italian), that is to say his episcopal ring, and it was a popular misapprehension to suppose that an indulgence was attached to the act. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, though the hierarch (bishop) does not wear a ring, he holds his fingers in such a way as to form the initials associated with Jesus Christ, it is customary to kiss this symbol of Christ when receiving his blessing (which one should do upon being introduced). Another reason is that the right hand touches the Host during communion so once again, it is Christ being kissed, not the bishop. The right hand of Orthodox priests also is kissed for the same reason.
Episcopal rings, both at an earlier and later period, were sometimes used as receptacles for relics. St. Hugh of Lincoln had such a ring which must have been of considerable capacity. (On investiture by ring and staff, see Conflict of Investitures.) Traditionally, three rings were bestowed: the pontifical, the gemmed, and the ordinary. However, in recent years, most bishops have only received one ring for the sake of modesty in costs.
Modern rings for bishops have tended to be far simpler than those of earlier periods: most bishops today choose or are given as gifts wide gold bands with a Christian symbol (a cross, chi-rho, or crucifiction scene, for example), rather than a jeweled ring.
Other clerical rings
Besides bishops, many other ecclesiastics are privileged to wear rings. The pope of course is the first of Roman Catholic bishops, but he does not habitually wear the signet ring distinctive of the papacy and known as "the Ring of the Fisherman", but usually a simple cameo, while his more magnificent pontifical rings are reserved for solemn ecclesiastical functions.
Cardinals also wear rings. Prior to the reign of Pope John XXIII, a cardinal was not required to be a bishop, but he would wear a ring even if he had not been consecrated to the episcopate. The ring belonging to the cardinalitial dignity is conferred by the pope himself in the consistory in which the new cardinal is named to a particular "title". It was formerly set with a sapphire, while it bore on the inner side of the bezel the arms of the pope conferring it. Modern cardinalatial rings are gold with a scene of the crucifiction of Jesus worked in metal, and without a jewel. The privilege of wearing a ring has belonged to cardinal-priests since the time of Innocent III or earlier,[6]
Abbots (monastical prelates) in the earlier Middle Ages were permitted to wear rings only by special privilege. A letter of Peter of Blois[7] in the twelfth century shows that at that date the wearing of a ring by an abbot was apt to be looked upon as a piece of ostentation. Yet in the later Pontificals the blessing and delivery of a ring formed part of the ordinary ritual for the blessing of an abbot, and this is still the case at the present day. On the other hand, there is no such ceremony indicated in the blessing of an abbess, though certain abbesses have received, or assumed, the privilege of wearing a ring of office.
The ring is also regularly worn by certain other minor prelates, for example prothonotaries apostolic, but the privilege cannot be said to belong to canons as such without special indult (papal favor).[8] In any case such rings cannot ordinarily be worn by these minor prelates during the celebration of Mass. The same restriction applies to the ring which is conferred as part of the insignia of the doctor of theology or of canon law.
Other Christian rings
The plain rings worn by certain orders of nuns and conferred upon them in the course of their solemn profession, according to the ritual provided in the Roman Pontifical appear to find some justification in ancient tradition. Saint Ambrose of Milan[9] speaks as though it were a received custom for virgins consecrated to God to wear a ring in memory of their betrothal to their heavenly Spouse. This delivery of a ring to professed nuns is also mentioned by several medieval Pontificals, from the twelfth century onwards.
Wedding rings, or more strictly, rings given in the betrothal ceremony, seem to have been tolerated among Christians under the Roman Empire from a quite early period. The use of such rings was of course of older date than Christianity, and there is not much to suggest that the giving of the ring was at first incorporated in any ritual or invested with any precise religious significance. But it is highly probable that, if the acceptance and the wearing of a betrothal ring was tolerated among Christians, such rings would have been adorned with Christian emblems. Certain extant specimens, more particularly a gold ring found near Arles, belonging apparently to the fourth or fifth century and bearing the inscription Tecla vivat Deo cum marito seo [suo], may almost certainly be assumed to be Christian espousal rings.
In the coronation ceremony too, it has long been the custom to deliver both to the Sovereign and to the queen consort a ring previously blessed. Perhaps the earliest example of the use of such a ring is in the case of Judith, the stepmother of king Alfred the Great, but it is unclear whether that ring was bestowed upon the queen in virtue of her dignity as queen consort or of her nuptials to King Æthelwulf of Wessex.
Rings have also occasionally been used for other religious purposes.
- At an early date the small keys which contained filings from the chains of St. Peter seem to have been welded to a band of metal and worn upon the finger as reliquaries. The relics of other saints or of the True Cross have also been incorporated into rings. An ancient custom to this day at the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, is to place a ring on the finger of St. Catherine of Alexandria and then wear it as an eulogia (blessing).
- In more modern times, rings have been constructed with ten small knobs or protuberances, and used for saying the rosary (called a "finger rosary" or "rosary ring").
- Also in the present day Orthodox Christians have designed komboskini rings, smaller prayer ropes that can be worn on the finger.
References
- ^ Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, III, c. xi.
- ^ Augustine of Hippo, Ep. ccxvii, in Patrologia Latina (P.L.), XXXIII, 227.
- ^ Isidore of Seville, P.L., LXXXIII, 783.
- ^ Du Saussay, Panoplia episcopalis, 250.
- ^ See Lacy, Exeter Pontifical, 3.
- ^ See Sägmüller, Thatigkeit und Stellung der Cardinale, 163.
- ^ Peter of Blois, P.L., CCVII, 283
- ^ Barbier de Montault, Le costume et les usages ecclesiastiques selon la tradition romaine (Paris, 1897-1901), I, 170.
- ^ Ambrose of Milan, P.L., XVII, 701, 735
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. Rings
External links
- Baciamano kissing the episcopal ring (commentary and photos)
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