Banner, Liturgical Use of the

BANNER, Liturgical Use of the. - From the 10th century banners are admitted as an ornament in sacred processions, where they precede the cortege, or are carried before individual groups. The oldest representations of this kind are offered by a Troparium of Prüm (Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris) and by a fresco in the underground church of St. Clement in Rome (11th century). At the same time they are mentioned in the testament of Leofric of Exeter (d. 1072) and in the decrees of Lanfranc (1089; cf. PL 150, 450). As their number and size grew, so too did the ornamentation of paintings or embroideries increase, sometimes made even by great artists (Raphael, Signorelli, etc.). According to current practice, banners that belong to societies opposed to the Church, or that bear forbidden or condemned insignia or emblems, may not be admitted into sacred places (S. Congr. of Rites, Decreta, 4390). Nothing is laid down concerning the color and material of banners. The prayer of the Roman Ritual for the blessing of a banner, for which a special permission of the Ordinary must be sought, alludes to the ordered ranks of Christians, who glory in finding themselves under the standard of Christ, and who ask to be able to overcome all enemies visible and invisible, and, after obtaining victory, to triumph in heaven. Banners are indeed a symbol of triumph and for this reason are found as a distinctive mark in the hand of Christ rising or descending into hell, and in the hand of the personified Church.

Filippo Oppenheim