Papal waiter – Wikipedia

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The papal waiter It was, in the Catholic Church, a member of the “Pontifical Family” [first] in charge of the Pope’s direct personal service. There were also so -called “waiters” (Ted.: Desperate ) in the courts of the principles of the Holy Roman Empire. The charge was abolished in 1968 by Paul VI [2] .

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In the Middle Ages the term designates those who are known as Camerlenghi today. The following was designated the so -called cubicularum , that is, the managers of the bedroom ( room ) of the Pope. This function was a real office in the Lateran palace, on the Byzantine model. Soon simple maids of the Pope gradually acquired greater importance over the centuries.

A feature remained: the waiters are involved in the person of the Pope. They assume their function after the election of the new pontiff and leave it at his death. There may be exceptions: so Gasbert de Valle, appointed waiter on 18 September 1319 by Pope John XXII, retained his function as long as he died (1 January 1347), serving as a waiter Pope Benedict XII and Pope Clement VI.

In the modern era, pontifical waiters were divided into several categories. The functions of secret waitresses and that of waiter of honor are immediately distinguished: the secret waiters with the task of the anti -chain said secret of the Pope, to wait for the people received in private hearing; The waiters of honor in charge of the antechamber of honor, which leads to the throne room, where the Pope receives in the public hearing. The secret and honor waiters were all prelates of Mantellone, they boasted of the appellation of Monsignor and their title ceased with the death of the pontiff who had appointed them [3] .

Participants secret waiters [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The participating secret waiters had to be at least four, they were all belonging to the clergy and had pre -eminence on all the other waiters.
Their dress was the dress proper to the prelates of Mantellone, therefore composed of talare, band, ganglion and paonazzi covers; In the sacred functions they wore the crush except for different arrangements. In the solemn procession and in the sacred functions, where they served, they wore the red hood with silk exhibition, in the summer, and D’Ermellino in winter [4] .
The first participating secret waiter made the Coppiere service to the Pope, serving to drink during the gala lunches.
The second participating secret waiter served as a secretary of the embassy, ​​to which he was responsible, when there had been sovereigns or sovereign family characters in Rome, to bring them with the smoothies and the Palatine paraphrens, the candles, the palm trees and the Agnus dei Benedetti (medals containing Benedetta wax), also brought the papal compliments not only to the sovereigns, but also to the cardinals and ambassadors departing.
The third participating secret waiter was called wardrobe , he kept the clothes and objects of the pontiff and among his positions was to fit the cardinal cap to the new names of new appointment.
The fourth participating secret waiter had no specific assignment, but usually played the role of almsgiver or shaft. The function of the Sagrist was traditionally conferred on a Augustinian monk who was also awarded the episcopal rank, therefore he did not wear the usual dress said of mantellone , but the episcopal dress, which instead of being a paonazzo was black, as religious was allowed to wear the prelatice dress of the color of their religious dress [5] .
In the solemn papal procession they supported the Flabelli, the torches and the papal canopy [3] .

Under Pope Sixtus V they were in the number of eight, to become twenty under Pope Clement X and then re -engrave eleven under Pope Pius VII and then stabilize to five.

Supernumerary secret waiters [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The supernumerary secret waiters served in the anteroom of the papal apartment and attended pontifical chapels and papal liturgies, sitting in the benches encounter to the pope’s throne and, in the pontifical, at the steps of the throne itself [6] . With weekly shifts, in the papal hearings, they attended the first papal antechamber together with the Chamber Master [7] .
In the solemn papal procession they could support the Flabelli, the torches and the papal canopy, instead of the participating secret waiters [8] .
Although it is a non -profitable function, it was a very coveted honor as it allowed to enter the pontifical court with functions similar to those of a donut [9] .
Their dress was composed of talare, band, manllone and paonazzi covers; In the sacred functions they wore the crush except for different arrangements. In the solemn procession and in the sacred functions, where they served, they wore the red hood with silk exhibition, in the summer, and D’Ermellino in winter [ten] .
They were nine under Pope Alexander III and became sixty under Pope Gregory XV.

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Waiters of honor in a paonazzo dress [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The waiters of honor in a paonazzo dress were in charge of the anteroom of the throne of His Holiness. Their dignity was immediately lower than that of the supernumerary secret waiters, but as the latter witnessed the pontifical chapels with the title of monsignor and the papal liturgies, sitting in the benches encounter to the pope’s throne and, in the pontifical, on the steps of the throne itself [6] . In the solemn papal procession they could support the Flabelli, the torches and the papal canopy, instead of the secret waiters [11] . The dress was composed of core, band, gloove and paonazzi lining; In the sacred functions they wore the crush except for different arrangements. In the solemn procession and in the sacred functions, where they served, they wore the red hood with silk exhibition [11] .

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The waiters of honor outside the city they enjoyed the title of Monsignor only outside Rome, in fact outside the city . Their dress was the same as the secret waiters, but also only outside Rome. Where the Pope had gone to the places of residence of these waiters, they would have worn the manllone dress and, in the sacred functions, the red hood with an silk exhibition of equal color, in the summer, and of Ermellino in winter; However, giving precedence to the secret waiters. As with all the charges of the prelates of Mantellone, this also laid down the death of the pontiff who had appointed them [twelfth] .

Lay waiters [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Uniforms of secular pontifical waiters
Waiter secret of secular honor
Secret waiter of the hood and sword

The secret waiters could be hood and sword , that is, secular nobles, in number of five with precise functions and assistance from said waiters of number and supernumerary secular waiters and waiters of honor.
The “secret waiters of sword and participating hoods” who carried out actual service in the pontifical family and participated in the donations of the emoluments were:

Paolo VI reorganized in 1968, with his own motu Pontifical House , the services connected to the person of the Pope, to privilege the actual services at the expense of “those who are only nominal, decorative and external”. He suppressed the participating secret waiters, the waiters of honor in the paonazzo dress, the waiters of honor outside the city And the secular waiters “of the hood and sword”. He then created the “gentlemen of his holiness”, a body that welcomes the lay people. The secret waiters took the name of Cappellans of His Holiness [2] .

Although ecclesiastical legislation has proven, over the centuries, not fully comprehensive on heraldic, where the heraldic customs of the minor prelates were not yet well regulated, the custom has prevailed [13] . The secret waiters and ecclesiastical honor often developed their own coats of arms, stamped by the prelatice hat. The heraldic signs of Mons. Antonio Frassoni, secret waiter of Gregorio XV, and Mons. Vincenzo Santini, waiter of honor of Clemente XI, they attest that, as early as the seventeenth century, for the secret and honor waiters the hat was black with Twelve Padazzi flakes, in order 1, 2, 3 for each side [14] .

  1. ^ The whole of the clergy and laity of the Roman Curia employed in the Pope’s personal service is understood by pontifical family. Of course it has nothing to do with the Pope’s kinship.
  2. ^ a b Cf. Paolo VI, Motu Apostolic letter proprio Pontifical House (28 Marzo 1968).
  3. ^ a b Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. 7, Venice 1841, sub verb Waiters of the Pope .
  4. ^ Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. VII, Venice 1841, sub verb Participants secret waiters .
  5. ^ Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. 7, Venice 1841, sub verb Participants secret waiters .
  6. ^ a b Cf. F. Frezza di San Felice, Of the secret waiters and honor of the Supreme Pontiff. Historical memories , Roma 1884, p. 97.
  7. ^ Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. 7, Venice 1841, sub verb Supernumerary secret waiters
  8. ^ Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. VII, Venice 1841, sub verb Waiters of the Pope .
  9. ^ Cf. F. Pasini Frassoni, The Prelatizi hats, in “magazine of the heraldic college” 6 (September 1908), pp. 524-525.
  10. ^ Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. VII, Venice 1841, sub verb Supernumerary secret waiters .
  11. ^ a b Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. 7, Venice 1841, sub verb Waiters of honor in a paonazzo dress .
  12. ^ Cf. G. Moroni, Dictionary of historical-ecclesiastical erudition. From St. Peter to the present day , vol. 7, Venice 1841, sub verb Waiters of honor outside the city.
  13. ^ Cf. R. I’m traveling, Heraldry in the Catholic Church in light of canonical legislation . Origins, uses, legislation , Gammarò Edizioni, Sestri Levante 2018, p. 108. In addition, cf. A. Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo – A. Pompili, Ecclesiastical heraldic manual in the Catholic Church , Vatican city, p. 30.
  14. ^ Cf. F. Pasini Frassoni, The hats prevered , in “magazine of the heraldic college” 6 (September 1908), p. 524.
  • Filippo Frezza di San Felice, Of the secret waiters and honor of the Supreme Pontiff. Historical memories , Rome, Befani Typography, 1884.
  • Guglielmo Felici, The reverenda apostolic chamber. Historical-legal study , Vatican City, Tip. Vatican polyglot, 1940.
  • ( FR ) Philippe Levilla (Direzione), Historical dictionary of the papacy , Parigi, Fayard, 2003. ISBN 2-213-61857-7.

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