) but not used by him Although often referred to as Papal Tiara, historically there have been many, and 22 remain in existence. Many of the earlier papal tiaras (most notably the tiaras of
Pope Julius II and that attributed to
Pope Silvester I) were destroyed, dismantled or seized by invaders (most notably by
Berthier's army in 1798), or by popes themselves;
Pope Clement VII had all the tiaras and papal regalia melted down in 1527 to raise the 400,000 ducats ransom demanded by the occupying army of
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Over twenty silver tiaras exist, of which the earliest, the sole survivor of 1798, was made for
Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century. On 21 March 1800 as Rome was in the hands of the French,
Pius VII was crowned in exile, in
Venice, with a
papier-mâché tiara, for which ladies of Venice gave up their jewels. Many tiaras were donated to the papacy by world leaders or heads of states, including Queen
Isabella II of Spain,
William I (German Emperor), Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria and
Napoleon I of France. The tiara provided by the last was made from elements of former papal tiaras destroyed after the capture of Rome, and was given to Pius VII as a 'wedding gift' to mark Napoleon's own marriage to
Empress Josephine on the eve of his imperial coronation. Others were a gift to a newly elected pope from the See which they had held before their election, or on the occasion of the jubilee of their
ordination or election. . The arms on the flag, with a tiara, are the same as the papal arms, except that the positions of the gold and the silver keys are reversed. In some instances, various cities sought to outdo each other in the beauty, value and size of the tiaras they provided to popes from their region. Examples include tiaras given to Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, the former by John's home region, the latter by Paul's previous archiepiscopal see of
Milan on their election to the papacy. Popes were not restricted to a particular tiara: for example, photographs show Pope John XXIII, on different occasions, wearing the tiara presented to him in 1959,
Pope Pius IX's 1877 tiara, and Pope Pius XI's 1922 tiara. Pope Paul VI, whose bullet-shaped tiara is one of the most unusual in design, was the last pope to wear a papal tiara (though any of his successors could, if they wished, revive the custom). Most surviving tiaras are on display in the Vatican, though some were sold off or donated to Catholic bodies. Some of the more popular or historic tiaras, such as the 1871 Belgian tiara, the 1877 tiara and the 1903 golden tiara, have been sent around the world as part of a display of historic Vatican items. Pope Paul VI's "Milan tiara" was donated to and is on display in the crypt church of the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in
Washington, D.C., United States.
Shape Most of the surviving (three-crown) papal tiaras have the shape of a circular
beehive, with its central core made of
silver. Some were sharply conical, others bulbous. Except for that of Pope Paul VI, all were heavily
bejewelled. The three crowns are marked by golden decorations, sometimes in the form of crosses, sometimes in the shape of leaves. Most are surmounted by a cross set above a
monde (globe), representing the universal sovereignty of Christ. Each tiara had attached to the back two
lappets; highly decorated strips of cloth embroidered with golden thread, bearing the coat of arms or another symbol of the pope to whom the tiara had been given. There are two rather unusual tiaras: the
papier-mâché tiara made when
Pope Pius VII was elected and crowned in exile, and the one made for
Pope Paul VI in 1963, which is somewhat bullet-shaped, contains few jewels and, instead of being adorned by three coronets, is marked with three parallel circles and has a double-tiered crown at its base. The tiara given to
Pope Pius IX in 1877 by the Vatican's
Palatine Honor Guard in honour of his Jubilee is strikingly similar in design to the earlier tiara of Gregory XVI. It remained a particularly popular crown, worn by, among others,
Pope Pius XI,
Pope Pius XII and
Pope John XXIII. Pope Pius XI's 1922 crown, in contrast was much less decorated and much more conical in shape.
Weight Except for the
papier-mâché tiara, the lightest tiara was that made for Pope John XXIII in 1959. It weighed just over , as did the 1922 tiara of Pope Pius XI. In contrast, the bullet-shaped tiara of Pope Paul VI weighed . The heaviest papal tiara in the papal collection is the 1804 tiara donated by
Napoleon I to celebrate both his marriage to Josephine and his coronation as French emperor. It weighs . However it was never worn, as its width was made, some suspected deliberately, too small for Pope Pius VII to wear. A number of popes deliberately had new tiaras made because they found those in the collection either too small, too heavy, or both. Rather than use the papier-mâché tiara, Pope Gregory XVI had a new lightweight tiara made in the 1840s. In the 1870s, Pope Pius IX, then in his eighties, found the other tiaras too heavy to wear and that of his predecessor, Pope Gregory, too small, so he had a lightweight tiara made also. In 1908 Pope Pius X had another lightweight tiara made as he found that the normal tiaras in use were too heavy, while the lightweight ones did not fit comfortably. New methods of manufacture in the 20th century enabled the creation of lighter normal tiaras, producing the tiaras of Pius XI and John XXIII. That, combined with the existence of a range of lightweight tiaras from earlier popes, meant that no pope since Pius X in 1908 needed to make his own special lightweight tiara.
Symbolism depicted the papacy as the
Antichrist in
Luther's 1522 translation of the New Testament. Under pressure from German rulers, the top two layers representing kings and nobility were removed from some later editions. There is no certainty about what the three crowns of the tiara symbolise, as is evident from the multitude of interpretations that have been and still are proposed. Some link it to the threefold authority of the "Supreme
Pontiff: Universal Pastor (top), Universal Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction (middle) and Temporal Power (bottom)". Others interpret the three tiers as meaning "father of princes and kings, ruler of the world,
vicar of Christ". The words that were used when popes were crowned were: ("Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art father of princes and kings, ruler of the world, vicar on earth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and glory for ever and ever"). Yet others have associated it with the threefold office of
Christ, who is Priest, Prophet and King, or "teacher, lawmaker and judge". Another traditional interpretation was that the three crowns refer to the "Church Militant on earth", the "Church Suffering after death and before heaven", and the "Church Triumphant in eternal reward". Yet another interpretation suggested by Archbishop Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, who designed Pope Benedict XVI's tiara-less coat of arms, was "order, jurisdiction and magisterium", while a further theory links the three tiers to the "celestial, human and terrestrial worlds," which the pope is supposed to symbolically link. Lord Twining suggested that just as the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned three times as king of Germany, king of Italy and Roman emperor, so the popes, to stress the equality of their spiritual authority to the temporal authority of the emperor, chose to be crowned with a tiara bearing three crowns. ==Use==