Pope’s Tiara (The)

He calls himself (1) Head of the Catholic or Universal Church; (2) Sole Arbiter of its Rights; and (3) Sovereign Father of all the kings of the earth. From these assumptions he wears a triple crown—one as High Priest, one as Emperor, and one as King. (See Brady, 250, 251.)

⁂ For the first five centuries the Bishops of Rome wore a bonnet, like other ecclesiastics.

Pope Hormasdas (514–523) placed on his bonnet the crown sent him by Clovis.

Boniface VIII. (1224–1303) added a second crown during his struggles with Philip the Fair.

John XXII. (1410–1415) assumed the third crown.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.