FALDA. - A white silk garment tending toward cream, with a long train that the pope girds at his waist and that drags along the ground. Little or nothing is known of its origins and of the time when it was adopted as a pontifical ornament: it is now exclusively reserved to the pope. The diaries of Alexander VI (toward the end of the 15th century) speak of it as a garment already in existence, and only regulate its use.
In ancient times there was also a wool falda that the pontiff wore on weekdays and on the Sundays of Advent and Lent; but at present the falda is only of silk. It is of two kinds: a shorter one, used in the secret consistories, at which the Holy Father appears in mozzetta and stole; the other, much larger, worn by the pope every time he is vested pontifically. It is put on after the rochet, in the room called "della f." near the Sala dei Paramenti in the Apostolic Palace. Since both are much longer than the height of the person and end in a long train or trailing hem, it is necessary to lift it so that the pope can walk. Two protonotaries of number, or two auditors of the Rota, according to the ceremonial, have the office of lifting the front edges of the falda, while two secret chamberlains support the side ends and the prince assistant to the Throne the rear end together with the pontifical mantle. The falda is used by the pope every time he assists at or solemnly celebrates Mass or Vespers, whether in the chapel of the Apostolic Palace or, in former times, in the various churches of Rome; that is, in all the sacred functions in which he wears the pontifical vestments, as in the procession of Corpus Domini, the washing of the feet, the opening and closing of the Holy Door, consistory, etc.
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Enrico Dante