The impetus for this post occured early on Holy Thursday. I fell asleep with the TV on (sound off), EWTN to be exact. At about 4:00 EST, while half-asleep, I hazily turned towards the TV and saw Benedict XVI out of the corner of my eye. I quickly went back to sleep. Somehow, in my subconscious mind, I had the crazy idea he brought back the Sedia Gestatoria, and was wearing an old Roman style chasuble, and everyone was covered in brocaded vestments, lace, and all the “Old Triumphalism”. I was sorely disappointed when I fully came to a little later to see what we are all used to now. Strange how the half-conscious human mind works. (Wiki on Sedia Gestatoria)
¡”Old Triumphalism”!
I much rather prefer the old triumphalism to the new triumphalism where the pope has become and a true emperor, where the faith and customs of the church are the will of the current pontiff.
Besides the sedia gestatoria was an act of charity to all those who, with much struggle, have managed to reach the Vatican to see the person of the Vicar of Christ.
Why should I go to pains to go the Vatican if I will not be able to see the pope’s figure.
As for Benedict XVI reviving the Sedia Gestatoria, first we would see the Nile River changing course than this to happen. Pope Benedict is very German and as such, ideology comes first to charity.
I am very much hopeful that “Old Triumphalism” comes back! I was not using the term in the manner liberals use to demean ecclesial ceremonial beauty. I was using it as a “dig” against such thinking. The Nile could of course change course if it is God’s will. So there is hope for seeing to Sedia eventually come back.
ken88, I do not want to appear negative, but I don’t believe it possible during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. We are already at the end of his second year in office, and all the signs he has been sending is of pleasing the iconoclasts in the Church. Not even JPII, who was less ideological than the germans, dared to brake the psycological barrier that represents to modernists using the Sedia Gestatoria. I remember reading some comentaries during JPII reign that he was going to use it. Either because of his illness or because of beliefs, he did not do so. An the recent AE very much reinforced the view of the iconoclast in the jerarchy, regarding the exterior customs of the church. As much as I share your hope, I do not see it feasible, at least during the pontificate of Benedict XVI.
I agree, I don’t think Benedict will bring it back, but it could happen under a future pope.
ken88, anything could happen with the next pope, and I mean “anything”, for good or for bad.
Ken,
Jp II had a sedia gestatoria, although it was called the “Popemobile,” bullet proof to boot, which prior to this, it was in an open air modified Jeep. I wonder, dDoes Pope Benedict XVI use it too?
Pope JP II did sit on a portable throne that was pushed down the aisle of st peter’s during his final years. I believe that early in his reign the present Holy Father visited the chapel of the palafeneri who used to carry the sedia and i think he made clear that certain things were in the past. Paul VI got rid of the canopy over the sedia which was the beginning of the end. I would like to know if any of the Prince assistants still take part in Papal ceremonies , I dont remeber any mention of the Marshal of the Conclave when the Pope was elected.
I think BXVI indeed uses the “popemobile”. However, it is not a sedia gestatoria by a long shot. Same function, but the sense of majesty is not the same. I, or anyone else, can drive around in a white convertable standing, and waving. Ah..but, can I get a couple of my friends to carry me around on their shoulders in a gilded chair?
I think not. Very unique to the papacy.
ken88, I am not sure if I share your view on the majesty of being in the Sedia Gestatoria. I think that using it was a matter of expediency rather than majesty.
As for the popemovile, that is only used outdoors, but inside Saint Peter’s Basilica or when the Pope enters Paul VI Hall the Sedia Gestatoria should be used. As for Paul VI we all know of his iconoclastics views, which by the way were pure hyprocresy because if there was ever an emperial pope, in action, that was Paul VI. Pius XII and the others before him were really servants of the servants of God. Since John XXIII on liberal popes have been seated at the Vatican and boy are they forceful and emperial.
As for majesty, no secular majesty has ever received the kind of “adoration” that JPII has received. ¡Talking about majesty! ¡Hum!
To all those that have the hope that Pope Benedict XVI will bring back the Sedia Gestatoria or that believe that he is a staunch tradionalist, let me refer you the book “The Ratzinger Report” in which at the beginning of the book the interviewer quotes the then Cardinal Ratzinger from “Das Neue Volk Gottes, pag. 150-”:
“As long as the church wanders on earth, she has no right to glorify herself. The new triumphalism could become even more insidious than the tiaras and sedias gestatorias, which in any case and now more cause of smiles than of pride. (The Ratzinger Report, Chapter One, Right-Left. Optimism-Pessimism.).
He, the then Cardinal Ratzinger, in 1985 and as Prefect of CDF clearly demonstrates that to him the exterior signs of the papacy like the Sedia Gestatoria and Tiara are not positive elements in the life of the Church. In fact he views them as items of which one cannot be proud.
So stop believing that Pope Benedict XVI is a conservative. In fact, his interviewer, the italian journalist Vittorio Messori, categorizes him as a “balanced progressist”.
Humbolt, I am under no illusions about Pope Benedict. I know he is not the “rocked-ribbed” conservative the secularists make him out to be. In the past he has said, and done some things that many found disconcerting (i.e. subsistit). However, I think he is the best pope we have had in a long time. Also, the grace of state might have changed his view on a few things. Maybe just getting older?
Bringing back the Tiara, and Sedia? No, he will never do that, and that’s Ok right now, as the Church has bigger issues. Re-teaching basic doctrine, not drowning the Church in the sea of indifferentism, allowing the Ancient Mass out of the catacombs, slightly and slowly fixing the N.O., these are things I think he is doing in his own way. He is taking small steps in the right direction, and we need to pray for him.
I also agree that the pope has to be the servant of the Church’s traditio, and recent ones have used their roles to trample it.
ken88, amen for you said. Ever since John XXIII, to a lesser degree, and since Paul VI to a higher degree the Church is being governed by “activist” popes. I also hope that age has given Pope Benedict some time to reflect and some wisdom as what is the role of the pope and clergy. In fact he has the uncanny ability to constantly doubt himself and Vatican II, while at the same time seeking to reconcile what has been going in the church with tradition. I also hope that he will be able to make the grave decisions that need to be made in order to purify the Church. However, he is not a young man. At 80 years old he has time against him, and I am fearful of the cardinals available to succeed him. Let’s make no mistake, “activist” clerics are running the church, and many of them do not share Pope Benedict’s views and have the attitude to wait until he dies. That is why is so important the appointments he makes as cardinals. In this period, innaction is the path in favor of the ultra-liberals. I thinkt that the most important period in the life of the Church will be Pope Benedict’s successor. Either everything consolidates or the church returns to the self-destructing phase of the infamous Paul VI.
I agree, at 80 years old his slow pace is nerve racking. The old liberals can just wait it out, and stifle whatever little good things he might have done. However, I think it is just a matter of time, the younger clergy are much more conservative, and open to tradition. It might take a few decades, but eventually things will fix themselves. It’s Christ’s Church after all. We just needed a purification, and to be dragged through to desert to make appreciate all He has given us. Hopefully, Bendict does not make as many bad curial,and episcopal appointments as the last few popes made. Cardinal .. Mahoney? Eeeck! How’d that happen?
In the mean time what is to be done about all those souls being “sacrifizied” at the altar of liberalism? ¡In these times of apostasy faith is tested! Very few will survive the trial, intact.