What exactly is a Pallium?

by Michael Shackleton · January 19, 2016

The pallium, I believe, is a liturgical vestment worn by the pope and by archbishops who receive it from the pope to symbolise their communion with the Holy See. I cannot find any clear description of its origins and development. Could you tell me more about it? P Evans

Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago swings a censer over the altar during a Mass at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago where he received the pallium. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

Let me begin in an unlikely way by referring to Mark 14:51 which describes the arrest of Jesus: And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

This linen cloth could have been a pallium, that is, a kind of shawl commonly worn as daily wear by the Greeks and Romans before and during Jesus’ lifetime.

Think of some of the ancient statues and paintings you have seen of men with a single strip of folded cloth draped over their body, usually covering the left shoulder and then drawn around the body under the right arm and brought back over the left shoulder to hang down the back. Some old statues show famous heroes wearing nothing but this.

Usually the pallium was worn over a tunic or similar undergarment and it became the common way to dress.

By the time Christ was born, intellectuals, teachers and philosophers made a great show of their palliums by sporting them in public places to boast of their learning and status. It did not take long before the clergy wore them too, to indicate their dignity.

The way it was worn and its shape and size evolved slowly. By the 4th century it had become a narrower strip of linen or wool. It was now draped not under the right arm but around the back of the neck, then over the right shoulder.

In the same century the popes began to wear it as a symbol of their supreme jurisdiction and they reserved the right to bestow it on some but not all bishops.

This meant that the pallium had to be simpler and easier to put on and take off. It developed into a circular strip placed around the shoulders with a vertical strip, called a lappet, hanging down chest and back, making it look something like the letters Y or T.

In the 9th century the pallium was made only of woollen fabric and given only to archbishops to symbolise their union with the See of Peter, and not only theirs but the union of all bishops in the metropolitan region which they headed.

The modern pallium is still a narrow circular strip worn on the shoulders. It is embroidered with crosses and its lappets are about 30cm long.

Traditionally, archbishops had to receive the pallium in Rome. Pope Francis, to avoid what he calls airport bishops who leave their flocks too often, has allowed the pallium to be conferred by his representative in the archbishop’s own cathedral.