page_title: Flabellum
section_title: Western Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Flabellum / Western Christianity
caption_attribution_description: Latina: Pius XII in sede gestatoria mantum papale sumens
context_page_description: A flabellum, in Christian liturgical use, is a fan made of metal, leather, silk, parchment or feathers, intended to keep away insects from the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ and from the priest, as well as to show honour. The ceremonial use of such fans dates back to Ancient Egypt, and an example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. A flabellum is also a fan-shaped structure on the fifth legs of horseshoe crabs.
context_section_description: Flabella were originally used liturgically in the West as well as the East, but they fell into disuse for the Mass in the Latin Church about the fourteenth century.
  Apart from the foregoing liturgical uses, a flabellum, in the shape of a fan, later of an umbrella or canopy, was used as a mark of honour for bishops and princes. Prior to Vatican II, two fans of this kind were used at the Vatican whenever the pope was carried in state on the sedia gestatoria to or from an altar or audience-chamber. Through the influence of Count Ditalmo di Brozza, the fans formerly used at the Vatican were presented in 1902 to a Mrs. Joseph Drexel of Philadelphia, USA, by Pope Leo XIII; in return, she gave a new pair to the Vatican. The old ones are currently exhibited in the museum of the University of Pennsylvania. The spread is formed of great ostrich plumes tipped with peacock feathers; on the palm (base of the fan) are the arms of the Holy See, worked in heavy gold on a crimson field, the tiara being studded with rubies and emeralds. The new pair of flabella is on display in the Vatican museum.
  Lisbon Patriarchal Cathedral also holds two Flabella and one Sedia Gestatoria in its museum. It is thought the right of the Cardinal patriarchs to use such honour was granted after the efforts of king John V of Portugal that obtained the titles and other honours such as the use of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, above the Cardinal Patriarch's carriage, in imitation of that of the Popes.
caption: Pope Pius XII carried on the sedia gestatoria while being flanked by the papal flabella
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