The Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne (Lat. Stator proximus a Solio Pontificis maximi) was a hereditary title of nobility available in the Papal Court from the early 16th century until the reforms of Pontificalis Domus by Pope Paul VI in 1968, when the Papal Court was reformed into the current Papal Household. The title is not currently in use, though it has not been formally suppressed.
During the period of the Papal Court, the Prince Assistants were the highest ranking honor available to a layman within the court. They were parallel to the Prelate Assistants to the Papal Throne. The Prince Assistant was always conspicuous in his position next to the papal chair on great solemnities. [1]
It could be granted by hereditary right, as it was to the heads of two of the famous Roman families of papal nobility, the Orsini and the Colonna. It could also be granted ad personam, to individuals without hereditary effect. [2]
"The Assistants to the Throne offer their services to the Prefect of the Apostolic Palace; it is their duty to do the honors of the house on the occasion of the most solemn civil ceremonies, mentioned in n. 4 § 3, and to collaborate in the smooth running of the service of the Pontifical Lay Family." [3] Those civil ceremonies include official audiences (granted to Sovereigns, Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Ministers of Foreign Affairs: presentation of credentials by Ambassadors and Ministers accredited to the Holy See) and unofficial audiences. [4]
Writer Grace Greenwood describes observing a prince assistant bearing a wreath of palms during a Palm Sunday service in St. Peter's. [5] During canonization ceremonies, a special candle, painted with the likeness of the new saint and often scenes from their life, was presented by the Postulator of the Cause to the Prince Assistant. Another was presented to the pope, and a third to the Cardinal Prefect for the Congregation of the Causes for Saints. [6]
In other words, the Assistants to the Papal Throne are the senior-most of the Gentlemen of His Holiness. Assistants to the Papal Throne, whether Prince or Prelate, were given seats of the highest precedence during papal ceremonies or liturgies, ceremonially ranking just below the College of Cardinals.
The office is believed to have been instituted by Pope Julius II in 1511. Various branches of the Colonna family held the title. The Orsini family held the title from 1735 to 1958. [7]
Since the 16th century, there have been numerous disputes and judicial controversies between the heads of the two traditionally hostile families, in order to assert their right of precedence over each other, deriving from a long series of privileges obtained over the centuries by their respective families, as evidenced by numerous memoirs and decrees, thanks to the changing favor of the popes for one family or the other, so much so that in order to overcome the sometimes heated controversies on precedence, which had been going on at least since the pontificate of Clement XI, Pope Benedict XIII established that the title of Prince assistant to the papal throne should alternate between the two heads of families. [7]
In January 1958, Pius XII relieved Filippo Orsini of the title after his extramarital affair with English actress Belinda Lee was made public. [8]
In 1962, Pope John XXIII appointed Alessandro Torlonia as the new Prince assistant, as he wanted a complement of two to serve as Custodians of the Second Vatican Council. Torlonia had previously served as the lay advisor to the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.
In 1968, as part of the ongoing reception and implementation of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI issued an Apostolic Letter motu proprio which reformed the Papal Court into the Papal Household, consisting of two sections, the clerical Papal Chapel, and the lay Papal Family. Nearly all titles of nobility and many of the other Renaissance titles were suppressed.
During those reforms, the Prince Assistants ceased to be a hereditary title, and the two living Prince Assistants, Asprenno Colonna and Alessandro Torlonia were allowed to retain the title personally until their deaths. Colonna died in 1987, [9] and Torlonia died in 2017. [10]
The title is not currently in use.
The House of Colonna, also known as Sciarrillo or Sciarra, is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope and many other church and political leaders. The family is notable for its bitter feud with the Orsini family over influence in Rome, until it was stopped by papal bull in 1511. In 1571, the heads of both families married nieces of Pope Sixtus V. Thereafter, historians recorded that "no peace had been concluded between the princes of Christendom, in which they had not been included by name".
The House of Orsini is an Italian noble family that was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and Renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini family include five popes: Stephen II (752–757), Paul I (757–767), Celestine III (1191–1198), Nicholas III (1277–1280), and Benedict XIII (1724–1730). The family also included 34 cardinals, numerous condottieri, and other significant political and religious figures. The Orsini are part of the Black nobility who were Roman aristocratic families who supported the Popes in the governance of the Papal States.
Pope Clement X, born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 April 1670 to his death, in July 1676. Elected pope at age 79, he has since been ranked as the oldest pope at the time of his election.
The House of Torlonia is the name of an Italian princely family from Rome, which acquired a huge fortune in the 18th and 19th centuries through administering the finances of the Vatican. The first influential member of the Torlonia family was Marino Torlonia, who rose from humble origins in the Auvergne region of France to become a very rich businessman and banker in Rome.
Monsignor is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons. or Msgr. In some countries, the title "monsignor" is used as a form of address for bishops. However, in English-speaking countries, the title is unrelated to the episcopacy, though many priests with the title later become bishops.
A Papal Mass is the Solemn Pontifical High Mass celebrated by the Pope. It is celebrated on such occasions as a papal coronation, an ex cathedra pronouncement, the canonization of a saint, on Easter or Christmas or other major feast days.
The House of Erba-Odescalchi and the House of Odescalchi are branches of an Italian noble family formed by the union of the Erba and Odescalchi families. The Odescalchi family was, since the election of Benedetto Odescalchi as Pope Innocent XI in 1676, part of the highest Roman aristocracy.
A Prelate of Honour of His Holiness is a Catholic prelate to whom the Pope has granted this title of honour.
The Noble Guard was one of the household guard units serving the Pope, and formed part of the military in Vatican City. It was formed by Pope Pius VII in 1801 as a regiment of heavy cavalry, and abolished in 1970 by Pope Paul VI following Vatican II. Conceived as the Pope's personal guard, the unit provided a mounted escort for the Pope when he moved about Rome in his carriage and mounted guard outside his apartments in the papal palaces. The guardsmen were also available for special missions within the Papal States at the behest of the pope. One of their first major duties was to escort Pius VII to Paris for the Coronation of Napoleon in 1804.
The papal household or pontifical household, called until 1968 the Papal Court, consists of dignitaries who assist the pope in carrying out particular ceremonies of either a religious or a civil character.
The Prefecture of the Papal Household is the office in charge of the Papal Household, a section of the Roman Curia that comprises the Papal Chapel and the Papal Family.
The black nobility or black aristocracy are Roman aristocratic families who sided with the Papacy under Pope Pius IX after the Savoy family-led army of the Kingdom of Italy entered Rome on 20 September 1870, overthrew the Pope and the Papal States, and took over the Quirinal Palace, and any nobles subsequently ennobled by the pope prior to the 1929 Lateran Treaty.
Cursores apostolici was the Latin title of the ecclesiastical heralds of the papal court. The office was abolished in 1968 with the motu proprioPontificalis Domus.
Gentile Virginio Orsini was an Italian condottiero and vassal of the papal throne and the Kingdom of Naples, mainly remembered as the powerful head of the Orsini family during its feud with Pope Alexander VI. Though best known as Lord of Bracciano, during his lifetime he bore many titles, among which Count of Tagliacozzo, Vicovaro and Anguillara, Lord of Cerveteri, Knight of the Order of Emellino (1463), Constable of the Kingdom of Naples and Gonfalonier of the Roman Church. The aforesaid fiefs were all confiscated in favor of the Colonna or the Borgia family during Virginio's conflict with Naples and the Pope.
The Roman Court or Papal Curia was reformed by the papal bull Pontificalis Domus issues by Pope Paul VI in 1969. It abolished the role of the old Roman nobility at the papal court with the exception of the position of Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne. The titles abolished, such as the Grand Master of the Sacred Apostolic Hospice and Marshal of the Holy Roman Church and the Sacred Conclave, remain heredity but are now purely honorary.
The Bishops-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne were ecclesiastical titles in the Roman Catholic Church. It designated prelates belonging to the Papal Chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions. They ranked immediately below the College of Cardinals and were also Counts of the Apostolic Palace. Assistants at the Pontifical Throne, unless specifically exempted, immediately enter the Papal nobility as Counts of Rome.
Pontificalis Domus was a motu proprio document issued by Pope Paul VI on 28 March 1968, in the fifth year of his pontificate. It reorganized the Papal Household, which had been known until then as the Papal Court.
The orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See include titles, chivalric orders, distinctions and medals honoured by the Holy See, with the Pope as the fount of honour, for deeds and merits of their recipients to the benefit of the Holy See, the Catholic Church, or their respective communities, societies, nations and the world at large.
The Sacchetti family is an Italian noble family originating in Tuscany, now resident in Rome, whose earliest documented member Merlo lived during the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The name of the family is derived from one or more members known as Sacchetto. According to Ugolino di Vieri (1438–1516),"nobile Sacchetti genus est, moenia primus romanus sangius".
The papal nobility are the aristocracy of the Holy See, composed of persons holding titles bestowed by the Pope. From the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century, the papacy held direct temporal power in the Papal States, and many titles of papal nobility were derived from fiefs with territorial privileges attached. During this time, the Pope also bestowed ancient civic titles such as patrician. Today, the Pope still exercises authority to grant titles with territorial designations, although these are purely nominal and the privileges enjoyed by the holders pertain to styles of address and heraldry. Additionally, the Pope grants personal and familial titles that carry no territorial designation. Their titles being merely honorific, the modern papal nobility includes descendants of ancient Roman families as well as notable Catholics from many countries. All pontifical noble titles are within the personal gift of the pontiff, and are not recorded in the Official Acts of the Holy See.
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