Vestments and symbols of the Office of the Cardinal

By 
  • February 13, 2012

When Archbishop Thomas Collins becomes Thomas Cardinal Collins the principal colour of his vestments will become scarlet to symbolize the blood that a cardinal is willing to shed for his faith.

Scarlet was installed as the colour for cardinals by Pope Gregory X at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274.

The vestments of a cardinal have evolved over the decades and the current standards were set in 1969 under Pope Paul VI.

Click here to view this illustration as a PDF

Style_page

[issuu width=600 height=360 shareMenuEnabled=false showHtmlLink=false shareButtonEnabled=false searchButtonEnabled=false backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=120213145325-3bfc806d6b34412495cfeafcd1f595f4 name=cardinalcollins username=catholicregister tag=canada unit=px id=210c4e7b-566f-f004-1010-691ae972570f v=2]

Please support The Catholic Register

Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

DONATE