Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-09-14
PLACIDUS LOUIS CHAPELLE,
By the Grace of God and of the ApOs-
~ tOlic See Archbishop of
Santa Fe.

To the venerable clergy and faithful people
of the archdiocese, grace unto you and
peace from God, our Father, and from our
Lord Jesus Christ.
God willing, we shall be invested with
the sacred pallium by his eminence, Car
dinal Gibbons, in our cathedral on the
18th day of next October.
We know that you, dearly beloved
brethren, will fully appreciate the great
honor done to this archdiocese by that
eminent prelate who, notwithstanding his
many cares and the long distance which
separates Baltimore from Santa Fe, has
so readily consented to perform among
US ceremony which is fraught with the
deepest significance for us all in this ter
ritory. And yet it seems meet that the
revered cardinal, archbishop of Balti-
more, should officiate on that solemn oc-
casion, because your archbishop is bound
to him by strong and sacred ties. We, to
eur lasting advantage, were privileged
TO DC HIS lolloW stuueuu III oV' "aly
seminary, Baltimore. We had the happi-
ness of exercising the sacred ministry for
thirteen years under his paternal juris-
diction, he honored us with his friend
ship and he conferred upon us the Epis-
copal conservation. Moreover his emin-
ence gave us to this archdiocese because
I. =. al
cessor, for our clergy and for our people.
We rejoice therefore that such great
and wise pontiff should crown all his
favors by investing US with that sacred
ornament, which indicates the fullness of
the pontifcal Office, its prerogatives and
its duties.
The history of the pallium, although
somewhat obscure, is most interesting,
but in short circular letter like this We
i can not relate its various phases. 1t will
be sufficient for our present purpose to
say that originally it was the Roman
toga which, especially during the latter
ages of the Roman empire, became n
symbol of high official and even of i'm
perial dignity. AS the liturgical rest
ments were not materially different, dur
ing the early centuries of the church,
from the garments worn by philosophers,
teachers or magistrates, it was natural
that the cloak, worn at that time almost
exclusively by those high IN authority,
should have been adopted by the church
, to distinguish the chief members of the
hierarchy.
The pallium in the course of time un-
derwent many notifications as to it's
shape and size. In its present form 1T is
a narrow circular band of cloth woven of
white lambs wool and worn on the
shoulders by the pope, patrlarchs and
archbishops. Two pieces of like material
and width depend from it on the breast
and back of the wearer and worked on 1T
are crosses of black silk into which are
inserted gold pins.
All human means of intellectual COM
munication, from the fact of our com
posite nature which is bodily as we'll
as spiritual, being necessarily fguratlve,
IL ia but natural and reasonable that
much importance should always have
been attached to outward symbols which
typify grand idea or which designate
dignity, Office and rank.
A man so narrow minded as not to be
willing to see this would, if consistent,
turn deaf ear to all appeals to respect
the flag of his country. He could not
but sneer at a brave general for the great
value he sets on the stars which adorn his
military coat or at the officer who prizes
highly his hardly won shoulder straps.
Sensible people, however, would LOOK
upon such man as unreasonable and
fanatical. The motives, therefore, for
which great importance is attached to
the ceremony of comforting the pallium
are apparent. 1t is an outward sign
of spiritual Loyalty on the part of the
prelate invested with it to the see OF
Peter; mark of the high dignity to
which he has been raised and reminder
of the grave responsibilities which his
office entails.
The palliums are blessed by the sover
eign pontif or by delegated cardinal on
the eve of the feast of Saints Peter anc
Paul. laid on the tomb of the prince of the
Apostles and sent to patriarchs and arch
bishops who have been newly appointed
to rule dioceses throughout the church.
This sacred ornament, thus taken from
the tomb of st. Peter and sent by hi
legitimate successor to more firmly ant
lovingly bind the recipient to the cente
of Catholic unity, is the holy badge o
pontificial power in its fullness, for whel
invested with it patriarch or archbishop
aco uires the plentitude of that jurisdic
tion in his diocese, province or patri
Archaic, which thelaws of the church direc
he should possess and exercise. Thl
vestmeut of white wool worn on tn
shopldars ia an emblem of the rood shep