The Bishop’s Heavy Cross

by Michael Shackleton · Published October 10, 2016 · Updated October 7, 2016

Sometimes I smile when I see pictures of our bishops wearing the emblematic cross on a chain prominent on their chests. Surely this is an uncomfortable and unnecessary ornament. What is the origin of this custom? H Wren

It is more than a custom. The Pontificale Romanum, which gives the directives for the dress and insignia of a bishop of the Roman Rite, requires the bishop to wear the pectoral cross as part of his usual dress code.

This was not always the case. It was only after the year 326, when the Christian empress St Helena reputedly discovered the True Cross in Jerusalem, that a kind of fad began in which Christians took to wearing little crosses around their necks.

These were of simple design but if they contained a tiny relic of the True Cross they were normally embellished with precious metal and jewellery. This lent them a devotional aura so that they were treated with reverence.

In the late 4th century St Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, noted that some of these crosses were made of gold as a fitting container for their sacred relic.

It seems that the first bishops to sport the cross were from the Eastern Church. They probably did so not to show off their rank but to indicate their commitment to their vocation and the cross of their Lord, because there is no evidence that the cross was then part of the bishop’s insignia of office.

Bishops in the West soon began to wear ornamental crosses too, generally containing relics of either the True Cross or some saint. But then Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) claimed that he alone, as the successor of St Peter, had the exclusive right to wear the pectoral cross as a mark of his primacy.

Bishops continued to wear the cross around their necks but more as an ornament than as a badge of office. In the pope’s presence they were not permitted to wear it. It was only in the 17th century that official liturgical books recognised the bishop’s right to wear the pectoral cross as a symbol of his authority.

I have never thought of asking a bishop if he finds the cross too heavy on his chest. Bishops seem comfortable enough to me, when they are in their cassocks or in their vestments.

When they are in their business suits, some bishops choose to place the cross in an inside pocket of their jacket to prevent it from sliding around, especially when driving a car.

Of course, the cross on the chest is not a necessity. Neither is the ring on his finger nor the Roman collar, but it is the bishop’s traditional distinguishing symbol of status in the hierarchy of the Church.