Galero

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Galero

A galero (pl. galeri; L. galerum, pl. galera) in the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
is a large, broad-brimmed tasseled hat worn by clergy. Over the centuries the galero was eventually limited in use to individual cardinals

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
as a crown

Crown (headgear)

A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents Political power, legitimacy, Crown of Immortality, righteousness, victory, Roman triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death....
symbolizing the title of Prince of the Church.

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Encyclopedia

A galero (pl. galeri; L. galerum, pl. galera) in the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
as a crown

Crown (headgear)

Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 28, 1243, to December 7, 1254....
in 1245 at the First Council of Lyon

First Council of Lyon

The First Council of Lyon was the Thirteenth Ecumenical Council, as numbered by the Catholic Church, taking place in 1245.The First General Council of Lyon was presided over by Innocent IV....
. Tradition in the Archdiocese of Lyon is that the red color was inspired by the red hats of the canons

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christianity clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule .Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergyhouse or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct or close of a cathedral and ordering his life according to the orders or rules of the church....
of Lyon. According to Noonan, Pope Innocent wanted his favorites to be distinct and recognizable in the lengthy processions at the council.

The cardinal Jean Cholet

Jean Cholet

Jean Cholet was a French people Cardinal who was commissioned by Pope Martin IV to preach the Aragonese Crusade in 1283.He was given Apostolic legate authority over the orders of friars as part of his commission to preach the plenary indulgence to all those who fought alongside Charles of Valois for the Crown of Aragon against Peter III o...
used his galero to crown Charles of Valois

Charles of Valois

Charles of Valois was the fourth son of Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon. His mother was a daughter of James I of Aragon and Yolande of Hungary....
in 1285 at Girona

Girona

Girona is a city located in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the rivers Ter River and Onyar. It is the capital of the Spanish Girona and of the Catalan comarca of the Giron?s....
during the Aragonese Crusade

Aragonese Crusade

The Aragonese Crusade or Crusade of Arag?n, a part of the larger War of the Sicilian Vespers, was declared by Pope Martin IV against the King of Arag?n, Peter III of Aragon, in 1284 and 1285....
, pronouncing him King of Aragon, and resulting in roi du chapeau ("king of the hat") becoming Charles's nickname.

Second Vatican Council

When creating a cardinal, the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
used to place a scarlet galero on the new cardinal's head in consistory

Consistory

AntiquityOriginally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion .In the Roman empire, it was specifically applied to a formal meeting of the Comites consistoriales, i.e....
, the practice giving rise to the phrase "receiving the red hat." In 1969, a papal decree following the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965....
ended the use of the galero as an act of humbling the Church hierarchy. It was deemed that by removing such elaborate regalia, the people could better identify with their pastoral leaders. Today, only the scarlet zucchetto

Zucchetto

The zucchetto , also called pileolus in Latin, is a small cap worn by clergy of the Roman Catholic Church and within Anglicanism . It was first adopted for practical reasons — to keep the clergy's tonsured heads warm in cold, damp churches — and has survived as a traditional item of dress....
and biretta

Biretta

The biretta is a square cap with three or four ridges or peaks, sometimes surmounted by a tuft, traditionally worn by Catholic Church hierarchy and some Anglican and Lutheran clergy....
are placed over the heads of cardinals in consistory. A few cardinals from eastern rites wear distinctive oriental headgear. However, some cardinals continue to obtain galeri privately so that the old ceremony of its suspension over their tombs may be observed.

When a cardinal dies, it is traditional that his galero be suspended over his tomb, where it remains until it is reduced to dust, symbolizing how all earthly glory is passing. It is said that when it falls, the cardinal's soul has entered Heaven. In the United States, where only a few cathedrals have crypts, the galeri of past archbishops who were cardinals are suspended from the ceiling. Some of the Cathedral churches in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
that hang the galeri of past Cardinals from their ceilings are:

Basilica of the Assumption
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, also called Baltimore Basilica or Baltimore Cathedral, was the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States, and was the first major religious building constructed in the nation after the adoption of the United States Constitution....
, co-cathedral of Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland in the United States. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay....
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri, located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. St....
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church located at 5200 Maryland Route 139, in northern Baltimore, Maryland....
, Baltimore, Maryland
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral church of the United States in Los Angeles, California....
, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle

The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington D.C., most commonly known as St. Matthew's Cathedral, is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington....
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
Holy Cross Cathedral, Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
Holy Name Cathedral
Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago

Holy Name Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of the Holy Name, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, one of the largest Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States....
, Chicago, Illinois
St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

St. Patrick's Cathedral is aEnglish Gothic architecture#Decorated Gothic Gothic Revival architecture-style Roman Catholic Church cathedral church in North America....
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....

Ecclesiastical heraldry

The galero (or "ecclesiastical hat") is still in use today in ecclesiastical heraldry

Ecclesiastical heraldry

Ecclesiastical heraldry is the tradition of heraldry developed by Christianity clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiology heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses....
as part of the achievement of the coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....
of an armigerous Roman Catholic cleric. The galero replaces the helmet

Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries, a variation of the hat. The oldest use of helmets was by Ancient Greek soldiers, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from sword blows and arrows....
and crest

Crest (heraldry)

A crest is a component of an heraldry display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
, because those were considered too warlike for the clerical state. The color of the galero and number of tassels indicate the cleric's place in the hierarchy. Depiction in arms can vary greatly depending on the artist's style, but even when it looks like a cappello romano

Cappello romano

A cappello romano or saturno is a hat with a wide, circular brim and a rounded rim worn outdoors in some countries by Roman Catholic Church clergy, when dressed in a cassock....
with tassels, in heraldry it is still considered a galero.

Galero

Second Vatican Council

Ecclesiastical heraldry

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