Brief notes and a little history ...

PROVINCES

In 597, Pope St Gregory the Great sent St Augustine and his fellow monks to Britain to convert the Angles. Their mission, based in Canterbury, flourished and the Pope bestowed the pallium on St Augustine. He proposed that there would be two provinces, one in London and the other in York; each province would have its own Metropolitan bishop who was authorised to ordain bishops in twelve other areas. Canterbury grew to be the ecclesiastical centre in the south and so replaced London. Canterbury and York are still the provinces of the Anglican Church in England.
 

In 1850, when the Catholic hierarchy was restored to the country, there were four provinces: Westminster, Cardiff, Liverpool and Birmingham. Each province had its own Metropolitan Archbishop. Southwark belonged to the Westminster province. However, in 1965, Surrey and Sussex were split from Southwark to form the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. At the same time, Southwark’s bishop, Cyril Cowderoy, was appointed as the Metropolitan Archbishop of a newly formed Southern Province which includes the dioceses of Arundel and Brighton, Portsmouth and Plymouth.
 

This was not the first time that the Southwark diocese had been split to form a new diocese. In 1882, the Portsmouth diocese had been established.
 

THE METROPOLITAN

The term Metropolitan may not be familiar. A Metropolitan Archbishop (or Metropolitan would be equally correct) is appointed to ‘preside’ over an ecclesiastical province including his own Archdiocese which is located in the metropolis (city). The province will include a number of dioceses, known as ‘suffragan dioceses’, which in a limited way the Metropolitan oversees.
 

Not all Archbishops are Metropolitans. The Pope may give the title of Archbishop to members of the Roman Curia, to Apostolic Nuncios (the Church’s ambassadors)  - for instance Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St James, or as an honorary title - for instance in 1937 Pope Pius XI gave the title of Archbishop to Bishop Peter Emmanuel Amigo, Southwark’s bishop from 1904 until 1949.

 

THE PALLIUM
 

All Metropolitan Archbishops - but only Metropolitans – receive the pallium from the Pope on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.
 

Archbishop Kevin receives the pallium from Pope John Paul II
on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29th June 2004

The pallium is made of wool and worn round the shoulders of the Pope and Metropolitans. It symbolises their pastoral role as shepherds in imitation of Christ, the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11-17). The term pallium is the Latin for ‘mantle’ or ‘small cloak’. It is a circle of wool with pendants front and back and six small black crosses. But the design has varied over the centuries and Pope Benedict XVI chose an earlier design with which to be clothed during his inauguration to the Petrine Ministry.

During his homily the Pope said that the pallium brought to mind the yoke of Christ. He continued:
'The symbolism of the pallium is even more concrete: the lamb's wool is meant to represent the lost, sick or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders and carries to the water of life.'
 

The Master of Ceremonies adjusts the pallium
after it has been placed on the Pope's shoulders

According to ancient tradition, two lambs are blessed by the Pope on the Feast of Saint Agnes, 21st January. Today they are provided by the Trappist Fathers of the Abbey of Tre Fontaine. After the blessing they are entrusted to the care of the Benedictine nuns of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. They are cared for in the garden of the convent and are shorn shortly before Easter. Their wool is added to other wool and woven into the strips which are made into the pallia. Each pallium contains at least some wool that has been shorn from the lambs blessed by the Pope.

Once made the pallia are placed in a 350-year-old casket in the Confessio of Saint Peter's Basilica. This is the area where Saint Peter's bones rest. It is from there that they are brought on the day they are conferred on the Metropolitan Archbishops.