THE PRESENT RITE OF THE PAPAL CORONATION — After 1870 the coronation took place inside St Peter’s (Pius X and Pius XI) rather than outside or in the Sistine Chapel (Leo XIII and Benedict XV); Pius XII, however, was crowned on the loggia of St Peter’s. The date of the coronation is fixed by the newly elected pope and is ordinarily celebrated on a Sunday or another feast day.
The pope, clad in sacred vestments and the white *piviale* with its gold-embroidered mitre, descends the Scala Regia in the customary solemn papal procession, crosses the portico of St Peter’s and enters the Basilica through the bronze door. Seated on the *sedia gestatoria*, flanked by flabella, he is borne into the portico of St Peter’s, which on this occasion is adorned with crimson damask and gold fringe, while the singers of the Basilica chant *Tu es Petrus*. He descends from the sedia and takes his seat on the throne erected there, receiving the homage of the Vatican Chapter.
The Cardinal Archpriest kisses his hand and foot and receives from the Pope the double embrace. Thereupon he expresses his joy and that of the Vatican Chapter at the Pope’s elevation to the pontificate; then the canons, beneficiaries and all the clergy of the Basilica are admitted to kiss his foot.
When this act of homage is concluded, the Pope returns to the *sedia gestatoria* and, through the main door, proceeds to the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, where he prostrates himself briefly in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed there; he is then borne to the Chapel of St Gregory for the singing of Terce or None according to the rubrics.
There a throne is erected without a canopy, to which he ascends after brief prayers at the faldstool, and admits the cardinals in choir dress (even during Lent or Advent) to kiss his right hand beneath the *aurifrigium* of his cope or *piviale*. When this obeisance is finished, the Pope rises and imparts his blessing to the people.
The singing of the canonical hour then begins, and at its conclusion the Pope, vested in the sacred pontificalia for the solemn pontifical Mass, at the signal of the first Cardinal Deacon—who, ferula in hand, says *Procedamus in pace*, to which the choir responds *In nomine Christi. Amen*—precedes the Cross and the procession to the papal altar, borne on the *sedia gestatoria* beneath a white canopy, with flabella at either side.
As he emerges from the Chapel of St Gregory, a master of ceremonies kneels with a silver-tipped staff topped by tow, and a chaplain with a lighted candle sets the tow alight; the master of ceremonies raises the staff and sings the words: *Pater sancte, sic transit gloria mundi*. This ceremony is repeated three times during the journey from the chapel to the altar. On arriving there the Pope recites the common prayers of the Mass, which proceeds in the solemn rite of the papal pontifical. After the Confiteor the first deacon places the mitre on his head; then he returns to the *sedia gestatoria*, and the three cardinal-bishops who serve as subdeacons recite over him the special prayers of the coronation.
When these are finished the Pope ascends the steps of the altar, where the Cardinal Deacon removes the mitre and places the *pallium* over his shoulders, pronouncing the formula: «Accipe pallium sanctum, plenitudinem pontificalis officii, ad honorem omnipotenti Dei et gloriosissimae Virginis Mariae eius Matris, et beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli et Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae». After the incensation of the altar the Pope is incensed and kissed on one cheek and on the breast by the Cardinal Deacon; the same is done by the two assisting Cardinal Deacons.
The Pontiff then proceeds to the throne where he receives the final *adoration*. The cardinals kiss his foot and hand, which he embraces twice; patriarchs, archbishops and bishops kiss his foot and right knee; mitred abbots and the penitentiaries kiss his foot.
After the Mass prayer *In die coronationis*, the Pontiff is seated, and the first Cardinal Deacon, ferula in hand, accompanied by a master of ceremonies and followed by the auditors of the Rota, consistorial advocates and other officials of the Papal Court, preceded by four mace-bearers, processes to the tomb of St Peter and, kneeling, intones the litanies of the coronation.
When these prayers and litanies have been recited, the celebration of the Pontifical continues.
After the Mass, as the Pope is borne back on the *sedia gestatoria*, the Cardinal Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, accompanied by two canons, approaches and offers him a white silk purse embroidered in gold, containing twenty-five *giuli*, «for a well-sung Mass». His Holiness extends his hand to be kissed by the archpriest and hands the purse to the officiating Cardinal Deacon, who passes it to his *quadratario*. The procession is then reformed. According to the ancient ceremonial, which was restored for the coronation of Pius XII, the procession passes in state through the Basilica, then beneath the portico, up the Scala Regia to the Sala Regia, and thence enters the hall called the Benediction Loggia above the portico of St Peter’s.
On the balcony in the centre of the façade a throne is erected, and the people in St Peter’s Square witness the coronation ceremony.
The Pope, having ascended the throne, is surrounded by the cardinals. At his sides take their places the assisting deacons, the prelates who carry the papal cross, the tiaras, mitres and candlesticks.
The choir intones the ancient hymn: «Corona aurea super caput eius», etc., after which the Dean of the Sacred College recites the *Pater*.
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**FIG. 1.** (photo Alinari)
**CORONATION** — Coronation of Pius III (8 Oct. 1503).
**Fresco** by Bernardino Pinturicchio in the Piccolomini Library.
**Siena Cathedral.**
The second deacon approaches the Pope, who remains seated on the throne, and removes his mitre. The Dean of the Order of Deacons then takes the tiara and places it on the Pope’s head, saying: «Accipe tiaram tribus coronis ornatam et scias te esse patrem principum et regum, rectorem orbis, in terra vicarium Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi, cui est honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen».
After the third *ir.*, the Pope, seated, reads aloud the usual prayers and then, standing, imparts the triple blessing.
The assisting Cardinal-Deacon proclaims in Latin and Italian the plenary indulgence granted by the Supreme Pontiff. — *Vedi* tav. CVIII.
**FIG. 2.** OF THE IMAGES OF MARY MOST HOLY
The ancient custom of representing crosses surmounted by a crown and especially sacred images with a crown upon the head, as well as the pious practice of offering precious objects and crowns to the likenesses of the saints, by which they were adorned as a sign of particular veneration, led to the solemn coronations of Marian images. Clement VIII donated a gem-studded crown to the venerated image in the basilica of S. Maria Maggiore. The various titles of the queenship of Mary Most Holy (such as Mother of Jesus Christ and participant in His work and authority as Redeemer, as Queen by excellence of the various categories of saints) and the final phase of her bodily assumption into heaven, represented by her *ir.* by the hand of Jesus Christ or the Trinity, provide a doctrinal foundation for this cultic expression.
The rite of solemn and public coronations of Marian images began to take shape from the end of the 16th century. The Capuchin preacher Girolamo Paolucci of Calboli da Forlì (d. 1620) urged his listeners to collect gold, silver, and precious gems for the making of crowns, which were then placed with great displays of piety upon images of the Madonna, and likewise of the Child Jesus, that were venerated in the places where he preached. Contemporary accounts describe the coronations he promoted, for example, in Cremona (1596), Parma (1600), and Comacchio (1619), with the participation of both ecclesiastical and civil authorities, who celebrated the rite. His zeal was emulated by his confrere Fedele da S. Germano Vercellese (d. 1623), who, among many Marian images, had that of the sanctuary of Oropa crowned (1620). This form of cult was furthered by Alessandro Sforza Pallavicino, Count of Borgonovo (Piacenza), who donated the gold for the crown with which the Vatican Chapter solemnly adorned on 27 August 1631 the image of S. Maria della Febbre in the Sacristy of the Beneficiaries of the basilica of S. Peter. After promoting the coronation of other Marian images in Rome, he gave stability to this devotion by bequeathing in his testament of 3 July 1636 a legacy to the aforesaid Chapter for the sending of crowns to images of Mary Most Holy in Rome first, and then to those held in particular veneration in other sanctuaries. The right to perform such coronations became the prerogative of the Chapter of S. Peter, which established the conditions and ceremonial for them. The Supreme Pontiffs, however, reserved to themselves the right to perform personal coronations: Pius VI on 3 May 1782 crowned the image of S. Maria del Popolo in the cathedral of Cesena; among those crowned by Pius VII is the Madonna of Loreto (February 1801); Gregory XVI, on 15 August 1838, placed a gem-studded golden crown upon the Madonna "Salus populi romani" of the Pauline or Borghese Chapel in S. Maria Maggiore. Other images are crowned by apostolic brief. The coronation of a statue or image of the Madonna may be performed by the local bishop by his ordinary authority. Permission (given by apostolic brief) of the Holy Father or the Vatican Chapter is required if the coronation is to be performed in their name and by their authority for a more solemn occasion. The coronation of statues or images of saints is not permitted.
Iconography. — The iconographic representation of the *ir.* of Mary developed no earlier than the thirteenth century; Byzantine art knew nothing of it at all. In the art of Western Europe, the type evolved in synoptic depictions of the Assumption of Mary, which, in a continuous series—often vertical—of several scenes, illustrate the successive phases of the Virgin’s passage from earth to Heaven, where the *ir.* of Mary symbolized the triumphant entry of the Mother of Christ into eternal glory. Among the earliest examples of representations of the *ir.* of Mary in the synoptic genre are a miniature from the Psalter of Queen Blanche of Castile of France, now preserved in the Library of the Arsenal in Paris, and a sculpture in a tympanum of the church of Notre Dame in Paris, both dating from the first two decades of the thirteenth century. Frequent are the *ir.* of Mary in various tympana of other Gothic churches in France. A fine example of a similar representation in Italian art, though a century later, is the oculus window in the apse of the Duomo of Siena, recently dated to about 1320 and attributed to a design by Duccio.
In Italian art, the iconographic development of the *ir.* of Mary is preceded and derived from a type of depiction of the Virgin in glory, where Mary sits at the right hand of Christ upon a throne, with saints or angels at her side. The great apse mosaic of S. Maria in Trastevere in Rome, dating from about 1160, is a splendid exemplar of this representation; an example of the same type, though more than a century later, is the fresco in the apse of the Upper Church of the Basilica of S. Francesco in Assisi, attributed to Cimabue. In these “glories,” only the action of Christ placing the crown upon His Mother’s head is missing for them to be called proper “coronations.”
This gesture, however, appears with full clarity in the splendid apse mosaic of the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, a masterpiece by Jacopo Torriti from 1296.
The rich development of the iconography of this theme in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Italy coincides with the formal establishment of the Rosary, in which the *ir.* of Mary constitutes the subject for meditation of the last Mystery of the life of Mary. It is noted that the origins of the Rosary, linked to St. Dominic, precede by a little the very first representations of the *ir.* of Mary in the art of Western Europe.
In the fourteenth century, in scenes of the *ir.*, the Madonna sits upon a massive Gothic throne to the right of Christ; angels and saints surround the throne. Models of the typical fourteenth-century depiction include: the Baroncelli Chapel polyptych in the church of S. Croce in Florence, sometimes attributed to Giotto; the fresco above the pulpit of the Lower Church of the Basilica of S. Francesco in Assisi (c. 1325), attributed, though without sufficient basis, to Maso; and the large panel in the National Gallery in London, attributed to Orcagna or his school. The *ir.* of Lorenzo Monaco, dated 1413 and now in the Uffizi, follows the Gothic tradition of the fourteenth century, as does the nearly contemporary grand representation by Jacobello del Fiore in the Accademia in Venice.
Around 1400, the throne of Christ and Mary increasingly loses its heavy architectural aspect, transforming into a drapery of rich decorative fabrics, sometimes upheld by angels. Lorenzo di Niccolò Gerini depicts the *ir.* in this manner in his panel in the Uffizi; similarly, in the second half of the fifteenth century, the same subject is painted by Sano di Pietro, two examples of which are preserved in the Pinacoteca in Siena. A late exemplar of this type, on the eve of the sixteenth century, is the altarpiece by Bernardino Fungai in the church of the Servites in Siena.
During the course of the fifteenth century, the throne is soon replaced by clouds. This iconographic reform of the *ir.*
**CORONATION** — *The Eternal Father crowns Mary Most Holy.* Panel by Fra’ Filippo Lippi (1441-47) — Florence, Uffizi Gallery.
Mary made a significant contribution to the development of this iconography. However, his grand Coronation of the Louvre still largely follows the traditional arrangement, although a new element appears in it: the Virgin kneeling to receive the crown. Instead, his three Coronations in S. Marco in Florence—the fresco in a cell of the convent, the majestic panel, and the tondo in the Museum—all unfold amid clouds. Even in the works left by Fra Filippo Lippi, the Virgin kneeling receives the crown from the hands of her Divine Son, whether on a throne (triptychs in the Vatican Pinacoteca and the Uffizi) or amid clouds, as in the fresco in the cathedral of Spoleto.
Numerous altarpieces from the second half of the fifteenth century depict the Coronation of Mary in their upper section, unfolding in Heaven amid choirs of cherubim, and in the lower section, various saints. Examples of this type include: the altarpiece by Alunno in the church of S. Niccolò in Foligno, the altarpiece by Piero Pollaiuolo in the church of S. Agostino in S. Gimignano, and above all the great Coronation with four saints by Botticelli, from 1490, in the Uffizi. Also belonging to this iconographic group is the large altarpiece by Francesco di Giorgio, painted in 1471 and now in the Pinacoteca of Siena, although in it the horizontal division into two distinct parts is less pronounced. The terracotta altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia at the Osservanza in Siena also approaches this model.
The Virgin is almost always depicted to the right of Christ. A rare exception to this rule is the altarpiece by Pinturicchio from 1503–1505 in the Vatican Pinacoteca, where in the Heavenly scene set against a mandorla adorned with putti, the Virgin is seen kneeling to the left of her Divine Son.
The Coronation painted by Raphael before 1505 for the church of S. Francesco in Perugia and now preserved in the Vatican Pinacoteca is divided into two horizontal parts: in the upper section of the panel, Christ is depicted crowning Mary, who sits to His right on the clouds, while in the lower section, the flower-strewn empty tomb of the Madonna is seen, surrounded by the Apostles.
Twenty-five years later, G. Romano and F. Penni follow the same iconographic arrangement in their altarpiece now in the Vatican Pinacoteca.
Rare are the depictions in which Mary is crowned not only by Christ but by the Most Holy Trinity. Thus, for example, in a panel from the early fifteenth century by Gentile da Fabriano, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, in a panel by Giovanni d’Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini, preserved at the Accademia in Venice, and also in the sixteenth-century fresco painted by Sodoma on the walls of the Oratorio di S. Bernardino in Siena, the Father Eternal and the Holy Spirit take part in the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, although only Christ places the crown on Mary’s head. Instead, in an engraving by Albrecht Dürer and in the pinnacle of the grand wooden altarpiece of the church of Our Lady in Cracow, a masterpiece by Veit Stoss from the late fifteenth century, and in the Coronation painted by El Greco, preserved in the Bosch collection in Madrid, the Father Eternal and Christ together place the crown on Mary’s head, while the dove of the Holy Spirit illuminates the representation of the divine mystery from above. — See pl. CIX–CX.