Pretty in Pink

Herewith the pink tufted hat of an Apostolic Protonotary, and a fine looking hat it is too. More of this we shall not say, lest the contentious amongst you be tempted to commit internet-related wickedness on the comment thread…

Pretty in Pink

Mother Prioress is convinced we have lost the plot, entirely, if we ever had it in the first place. Here today we give you a pink silk biretta, the logic for which is as follows: as it is customary for Cardinals to change to purple cassocks for lent and advent, surely pink or rose birettas would be requisite for the Gaudete and Laetare Sundays? Yes, we know it’s a dignity/insignia thing, not a liturgical colour thing, but is it not a thing to behold? And anyway a number of Anglican bishops in India, in areas where the priests wear white instead of black, wear pink instead of purple. Therefore, if they wore a biretta, therefore, it would surely be pink. So there.

In the Pink

So today we give you the Biretta of a Minor Prelate or Monsignor. It is plain black wool, but with a purple tuft and purple lining. It is also worn traditionally by parish priests in Spain, who have obviously noticed that a bit of purple here and there adds a dash of pizzazz to the proceedings. Considering they give to the wider church an entirely new style of biretta altogether, Mother Prioress finds this a department of no surprise.

We entitle this post according to the rather pink appearance of the Roman Purple lining.