The Patriarch of Lisbon's Tiara

If you go to the website of the Patriarchate of Lisbon, and I'm sure everybody has at one point or other, you will find the see's quite singular seal: a triple tiara above a crozier and a double-barred archiepiscopal cross. It's not, surprisingly enough, a gesture of ultramontane fealty, one soon realizes as the odd heraldic details start to build up: the triple crown is peculiarly attenuated, while the papacy abandoned the crozier as an insignia of office centuries ago. In fact, it is a vestige of the papal insignia supposedly granted to the newly-erected patriarchate in 1716. While the late heraldist Archbishop Bruno Bernard Heim, no great lover of the baroque, scoffed at the story and reports the then-current incumbent had not placed the tiara above his shield, Archibald King's 1957 Liturgy of the Roman Church records it as cold fact:

Pope Clement XI (1700-21), at the request of King John V of Portugal (1706-50), accorded papal insignia to the patriarch of Lisbon. The king had earned the gratitude of the Sovereign Pontiff, not only by his victories over the Turks, but also by his lavish expenditure and costly presents. [Note: And you have a problem with this how?] The glorification of the Portuguese monarchy, and, incidentally, of the Church of Lisbon was part of the royal programme for the establishment of the pure absolutism of divine right. The Pope in the bull In supremo apostolatus solio had in 1716 created the patriarch of Lisbon, and later conceded the distinctive papal insignia for the occupant of the see on certain solemnities of the year.

Among the privileges thus granted was the right to wear the fanon, subcinctorium, and falda. [The fanon was a peculiar striped shoulder-cape worn by the Pontiff, while the subcintorium was a maniple-like device attached to the cincture, worn by the Pope and certain Ambrosian-rite bishops, and the falda was a skirtlike vestment with an extended train.] A tiara, known as a triregunum, was conceded at the same time, which, although not identical with the papal triple crown, looked very much like it at a distance. The Pope sent the patriarch two flabella, and from that time, two only were used in Rome. The sedia gestatoria of the Lusitanian patriarch was said to have exceeded that of the Pope in magnificence. The practice of receiving Holy Communion at the throne in solemn Masses was not, however, conceded to the patriarch of Lisbon. (162)

The Catholic Encyclopedia adds to this some equally fascinating details:

The discovery of America added a vast territory to the Church, over which it seemed natural that a patriarch should reign. In 1520 Leo X created a "Patriarchate of the West Indies" among the Spanish clergy. In 1572 Pius V joined this rank to the office of chief chaplain of the Spanish army. But in this case, too, the dignity is purely titular. In 1644 Innocent X gave the patriarch some jurisdiction, but expressly in his quality of chaplain only. He has no income as patriarch and is often also bishop of a Spanish diocese. In 1716 Clement XI, in answer to a petition of King John, who, in return for help in fighting Turks, wanted a patriarch like the King of Spain, erected a titular Patriarchate of Lisbon at the king's chapel. The city was divided between the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Lisbon and the new patriarch. In 1740 Benedict XIV joined the archbishopric to the patriarchate. The Patriarch of Lisbon has certain privileges of honour that make his court an imitation of that of the pope. His chapter has three orders like those of the College of Cardinals; he himself is always made a cardinal at the first consistory after his preconization and he uses a tiara (without the keys) over his arms, but he has no more than metropolitical jurisdiction over seven suffragans.

I don't know how many of these fascinating (if perhaps slightly dubious) practices persist, but they seem to have at the very least been in full swing as recently as one hundred years ago. We at the Shrine are currently seeing if we can get St. Flutius's Basilica here formed into a minor patriarchate; while we're not interested in the tiara, we might like to get one of those liturgical drinking straws the Pope used to use. And the shoes. Definitely the shoes. It's all about the buskins, dude.