The pope, also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church, and has also served as the head of state or sovereign of the Papal States and later the Vatican City State since the eighth century. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013.
Pope Adrian V, born Ottobuono de' Fieschi, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 July 1276 to his death on 18 August 1276. He was an envoy of Pope Clement IV sent to England in May 1265 who successfully completed his task of resolving disputes between King Henry III of England and his barons. Adrian V was elected pope following the death of Innocent V, but died of natural illness before being ordained to the priesthood.
Thomas à Kempis, CRV was a German-Dutch Catholic canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of The Imitation of Christ, published anonymously in Latin in the Netherlands c. 1418–1427, one of the most popular and best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", Kempen being his home town.
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
The Holy See exercised political and secular influence, as distinguished from its spiritual and pastoral activity, while the pope ruled the Papal States in central Italy.
A papal coronation is the formal ceremony of the placing of the papal tiara on a newly elected pope. The first recorded papal coronation was of Pope Nicholas I in 858. The most recent was the 1963 coronation of Paul VI, who soon afterwards abandoned the practice of wearing the tiara. To date, none of his successors have used the tiara, and their papal inauguration celebrations have included no coronation ceremony, although any future pope may elect to restore the use of the tiara at any point during his pontificate.
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, is a Christian devotional book first composed in Medieval Latin as De Imitatione Christi. The devotional text is divided into four books of detailed spiritual instructions: (i) "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", (ii) "Directives for the Interior Life", (iii) "On Interior Consolation", and (iv) "On the Blessed Sacrament". The devotional approach of The Imitation of Christ emphasises the interior life and withdrawal from the mundanities of the world, as opposed to the active imitation of Christ practised by other friars. The devotions of the books emphasize devotion to the Eucharist as the key element of spiritual life.
The sedia gestatoria or gestatorial chair is a ceremonial throne on which popes were carried on shoulders until 1978, which was later replaced outdoors in part with the popemobile. It consists of a richly adorned, silk-covered armchair, fastened on a suppedaneum, on each side of which are two gilded rings; through these rings pass the long rods with which twelve footmen (palafrenieri), in red uniforms, carry the throne on their shoulders. On prior occasions, as in the case of Pope Stephen III, popes were carried on the shoulders of men.
"Gloria in excelsis Deo" is a Christian hymn known also as the Greater Doxology and the Angelic Hymn/Hymn of the Angels. The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria.
The incipit of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word incipit comes from Latin and means "it begins". Its counterpart taken from the ending of the text is the explicit.
The Ring of the Fisherman, also known as the Piscatory Ring, is an official part of the regalia worn by the pope, who according to Catholic theology is the head of the Catholic Church and successor of Saint Peter, who was a fisherman by trade. It used to feature a bas-relief of Peter fishing from a boat, a symbolism derived from the tradition that the apostles were "fishers of men". The Fisherman's Ring is a signet used until 1842 to seal official documents signed by the pope. Since at least the Middle Ages it has been a tradition for Catholics meeting the pope to show their devotion by kissing the ring.
The Monkey and the Cat is best known as a fable adapted by Jean de La Fontaine under the title Le Singe et le Chat that appeared in the second collection of his Fables in 1679 (IX.17). It is the source of popular idioms in both English and French, with the general meaning of being the dupe of another.
"Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" is a single by American rock band Brand New from their second album Deja Entendu. "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" was released to radio on November 18, 2003.
Missa Papae Marcelli, or Pope Marcellus Mass, is a mass sine nomine by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. It is his best-known mass, and is regarded as an archetypal example of the complex polyphony championed by Palestrina. It was sung at the papal coronation Masses.
"This too shall pass" is an adage about impermanence of Persian origin. It reflects the temporary nature, or ephemerality, of the human condition — that neither the negative nor the positive moments in life ever indefinitely last. The general sentiment of the adage is found in wisdom literature throughout history and across cultures, but the specific phrase seems to have originated in the writings of the medieval Persian Sufi poets.
Nicholas Bozon, or Nicole Bozon, was an Anglo-Norman writer and Franciscan friar who spent most of his life in the East Midlands and East Anglia. He was a prolific author in prose and verse, and composed a number of hagiographies of women saints, reworkings of fables, and allegories.
Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, which has been associated with the proverbial advice "to choose the lesser of two evils". Several other idioms, such as "on the horns of a dilemma", "between the devil and the deep blue sea", and "between a rock and a hard place" express similar meanings. The mythical situation also developed a proverbial use in which seeking to choose between equally dangerous extremes is seen as leading inevitably to disaster.
The Holy Roman Emperor received the imperial regalia from the hands of the Pope, symbolizing both the pope's right to crown Christian sovereigns and also the emperor's role as protector of the Catholic Church. The Holy Roman empresses were crowned as well.
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam or Ad majórem Dei glóriam, also rendered as the abbreviation AMDG, is the Latin motto of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), an order of the Catholic Church. It means "For the greater glory of God."
Der Mensch lebt und bestehet, Op. 138, No. 1, is a sacred motet for unaccompanied mixed choir by Max Reger. The German text is a poem by Matthias Claudius, beginning with "Der Mensch lebt und bestehet nur eine kleine Zeit". The piece is in A minor and scored for eight voices in two choirs SATB. Composed in Meiningen in 1914, it was published in 1916 after Reger's death as the first of Acht geistliche Gesänge.
