RINGS
60
RINGS
to establish the rule, of which we hear ah-eady in the
ninth centurv, that the episcopal ring was to be placed
on the fourth finger (i. e., that next thehttle finger)
of the right hand. As the pontifical ring had to be
worn on occasion over the glove, it is a common thing
to find medieval specimens large in size and pro-
portionately hea\-}- in execution. The inconvenience
of the looseness thus resulting was often met by
Cbtstal rings engraved in intaguo with Christian
Emblems, Rome
placing another smaller ring just above it as a keeper (see Lacy, "Exeter Pontifical", 3). As the pictures of the medieval and Renaissance periods show, it was formerly quite usual for bishops to wear other rings along with the episcopal ring; indeed the existing " Cseremoniale episcoporum" (Bk. II, viii, nn. 10-11) assumes that this is still likely to be the case. Custom prescribes that a layman or a cleric of inferior grade on being presented to a bishop should kiss his hand, that is to say his episcopal ring, but it is a popular misapprehension to suppose that any indulgence is attached to the act. Episcopal rings, both at an earlier and later period, were sometimes used as receptacles for relics. St. Hugh of Lincoln had such a ring which must have been of considerable capacity. (On investiture by ring and staff see Inve-stitcres, Conflict of.)
Besides bi.shops, many other ecclesiastics are privileged to wear rings. The pope of course is the first of bishops, but he docs not habitually wear the signet ring distinctive of the papacy and known as "the Ring of the FLsherman" (see below in this ar- ticle), but usually a simple cameo, while his more magnificent pontifical rings are reserved for solemn ecclesiastical functions. Cardinals also wear rings independent!}' of their grade in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The ring belonging to the cardinalitial dignity is conferred by the pope himself in the con- BLstory in which the new canlinal is named to a par- ticular "title". It is of small value and is .set with a Bai)phire, while it bears on the inner side of the bezel the arms of the jxjpe conferring it. In practice the cardinal is not required to wear habitually the ring thus pres<-nte<l, and he commonly prefers to use one of his own. The privilege of wearing a ring has be- longe<i to cardinal-priests since the time of Innocent III or earlier (see Sagmiiller, "Thatigkeit und Stel- lung der Cardinale", 163). Abbots in the earlier Middle Ages were permitted to wear rings only by Bper-ial privilege. A letter of Peter of Blois in the twelfth century (P. L., CCVII, 283) shows that at that datf the wearing of a ring by an abbot was apt to be Irxjkfd ujKjn an a pief:e of ostentation, l)Ut in the later Pontifieids the blessing and deliver}' of a ring forrne<l fiart of the ordinary ritual for the con- secration of an abbot, and this is still the case at the prew-nt day. On the other hand^ there is no such ceremony indicated in the blessmg of an abbess, though certain abbenwH hnve received, or assumed, the privilege of wearing a ring of office. The ring is ali*o regularly worn by certain other minor prelates, for example prothonotaries, but the privilege cannot be said to belong to canons a» such (B. de Montault,
"Le costume, etc.", I, 170) without special indult.
In any case such rings cannot ordinarily be worn by
these minor prelates during the celebration of Mass.
The same restriction, it need hardly be said, applies
to the ring which is conferred as part of the insignia
of the doctorate either of theology or of canon law.
The plain rings worn by certain orders of nuns and conferred upon them in the course of their solemn profession, according to the ritual provided in the Roman Pontifical, appear to find some justification in ancient tradition. St. Ambrose (P. L., XVII, 701, 735) speaks as though it were a received custom for virgins consecrated to God to wear a ring in memory of their betrothal to their heavenly Spouse. This delivery of a ring to jirofessed nuns is also men- tioned by several medieval Pontificals, from the twelfth century onwards. Wedding rings, or more strictly, rings given in the betrothal ceremonj', seem to have been tolerated among Christians under the Roman Empire from a quite early period. The use of such rings was of course of older date than Chris- tianity, and there is not much to suggest that the giving of the ring was at first incorporated in any ritual or invested with anj' precise religious signifi- cance. But it is highly probable that, if the accept- ance and the wearing of a betrothal ring was toler- ated among Christians, such rings would have been adorned with Christian emblems. Certain extant specimens, more particularly a gold ring found near Aries, belonging apparently to the fourth or fifth centur}', and bearing the inscription, Tecla vivat Deo cum marito seo [suo], may almost certainly be assumed to be Christian espousal rings. In the coronation ceremony, also, it has long been the cus- tom to deliver both to the sovereign and to the queen consort a ring previously blessed. Perhaps the ear- liest example of the use of such a ring is in the case of Judith, the step-mother of Alfred the Great. It is however in this instance a little difficult to deter- mine whether the ring was bestowed upon the queen in virtue of her dignity as queen con.sort or of her nuptials to Ethelwulf.
Rings have also occasionally been used for other religious puri)oses. At an early date the small keys
Signet of St. Arnould, Bishop
OF Metz, VII Century
Bishop's Gold Ring,
Gaul, VII Century
which contained filings from the chains of St. Peter
seem to have been welded to a band of metal and worn
ui)on the finger as reliquaries. In more modern
times rings have been constructed with ten small
knobs or protuberances, and used for saying the
rosary.
Babinoton in Diet. Christ. Anliq.; Leclercq in Did. darch. chrit., I (Paris, 1907), s. v. Anneaux; Deloche, Etude historigue el archiologique Kiir leu anneaux (Paris, 1900); I)u Saussay, Parioplia rinHcopalis (Paris, 1640), 17.5-294; Dalton, Catalof/ue of early Chrintinn Anlu/uities in the British Museum (London, 1901); Barbier de Montault, Le co.tlume el leu usages ccclesias- tiques aelon la tradition romaine (Paris, 1897-1901).
IIeubert Thurston.
II. The Ring of the Fisherman. — The earliest mention of the Fisherman's ring worn by the popes is in a letter of Clement IV written in ]2V}Fi to his nephew, Peter Grossi. The writer states that jjopes were then accustomed to seal their private letters with "the seal of the Fisherman", whereas public documents, he odds, were distinguished by the
