BLESSING OF LAMBS. - On the feast of St. Agnes, the celebrant, as the conclusion of the pontifical Mass, blesses on the altar of the Saint two white lambs, whose wool is to be used for making the sacred pallia (v. PALLIO). This custom is already recorded as traditional in the Roman ceremonial prepared by Agostino Patrizi Piccolomini (d. 1496) in collaboration with Giovanni Burcardo (d. 1506), published in 1516 by Cristoforo Marcello, archbishop of Corfu.

The two lambs constituted an annual canon that the basilica of St. Agnes owed to the Lateran, but, following the suppressions of the last century, this tribute lapsed, and it is interesting to note that the Italian government paid for some years to the Chapter of the Lateran the sum of 35 lire for the purchase of two lambs and related expenses (Archivio Lat. O 95, 43 letters 1875, 1876). The burden of offering them, subsequently borne spontaneously for some time by a good

Roman family, was assumed half a century ago by the Trappist Fathers of the Tre Fontane. Their transport is now done without special ceremonies, whereas in the past it took place in a picturesque manner, as is evident from a document of 1550, published by Armellini, and from the descriptions given by Nicola De Bralion and Domenico Macri in the 17th century. As for the rite of their presentation to the Pope, it should be observed that sometimes he gave them only a blessing from afar (from a window of the apartment). Their custody also passed through various phases: at first they were entrusted to the care of the apostolic Subdeacons, then to a monastery according to the good pleasure of the Pontiff. At present they are presented to the Pontiff by the Dean of the Sacred Rota, by a consistorial Advocate, by the Camerlenghi of the Lateran Chapter, by a Trappist monk and by the Master of pontifical ceremonies. Afterwards they are handed over to the Benedictine nuns of St. Cecilia, who must spin their wool.

Bibliography11 works

BIBL.: C. Marcello, Rituum ecclesiasticorum sive Sacrarum Caeremoniarum S. Romanae Ecclesiae libri III, Venice 1516, cc. XLVII B - XLVIII A; A. Fulvio, Antiquitates Urbis, [Rome] 1527, c. VII A; G. Cassander, Ordo Romanus de Officio Missae, Cologne 1561, c. 63; O. Panvinio, Interpretatio multarum vocum ecclesiasticarum quae obscurae et barbarae videntur, ed. Louvain 1572, p. 119; N. De Bralion, Pallium archiepiscopale, Paris 1648, pp. 43-46; Card. G. Bona, Rerum liturgicarum, lib. I, xxiv, 16, ed. Cologne 1674, p. 440; D. Macri, Notizie de' vocaboli ecclesiastici, s. v. Pallium, ed. Bologna 1682, p. 361 (or the Latin version entitled: Hierolexicon, ed. Venice 1712, p. 414); G. Catalani, Pontificale Romanum... commentariis illustratum, I, Rome 1736, tit. xiv, § 3; D. Bartolini, Gli Atti del Martirio della nobilissima Vergine Romana s. Agnese, Rome 1858, pp. 189-192; M. Armellini, Le Chiese di Roma dal sec. IV al sec. XIX, ed. Cecchelli, Rome 1942, pp. 1066-67;

A. Pietro Frutaz

@incollection{ec1_agnelli_benedizione_degli, author = {Frutaz, Amato Pietro}, title = {Agnelli, benedizione degli}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {457--458}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/agnelli-benedizione-degli} }

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Blessing of Lambs

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