What is the significance of the pectoral cross?

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The pectoral cross is intended to be a personal reminder to the bishop that he bears in his person the cross of Christ and the witness of the gospel to the world as his pastoral responsibility. It has a long standing tradition.

Or, as the story goes…

A bishop came to one parish for confirmation. He began a series of questioning to the candidates.

“What is a crosier?” he asked.

Every hand in the group was raised. This surprized him. Typically, most kids were a bit shy about answering his questions. So he called on a young lady, who rose and stated that the crosier was the bishop’s pastoral staff, which reminding us of how he is a shepherd of the diocese who shuold guard the sheep from danger and bring them back to the community of faith.

“Very good!” he praised.

“And what is a mitre?” he continued?

Again, every hand went up. “Wow!” he thought. “They obviously are on fire and have been tutored well.”

Upon choosing a boy, the candidate stood and explained how this was the bishop’s hat which symbolized his authority.

“Excellent!” the bishop told him.

But suspecting that something was up and, perhaps, their teachers had scouted out his other confirmations and usual line of questioning, he changed the standard pattern, asking,

“And what is a pastor?”

As suspected, every hand was raised. He chose one candidate, whi jumped up to explain how, “A pastor is the cross which the bishop constantly wears around his neck all day and night!”
 
The pectoral cross is intended to be a personal reminder to the bishop that he bears in his person the cross of Christ and the witness of the gospel to the world as his pastoral responsibility.
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Then why not a priest who is the pastor of a single parish? My question is, why are bishops to specifically wear a larger one?

Good story, by the way. :cool:
 
Why bump? We are asking a serious question and would like an answer so that we may better understand our faith.:confused:
 
Good question:)

I found this on the New Advent site…
Crux Pectoralis
“The name of the cross used by the pope, cardinals, bishops, abbots, and other prelates entitled to use the pontifical insignia. It is worn on the breast attached to a chain or silken cord, the colour differing, according to the dignity of the wearer, i.e. green, violet, or black. It is made of precious metal, ornamented, more or less, with diamonds, pearls, or similar embellishment, and contains either the relics of some saint, or a particle of the Holy Cross…”

read the rest here…
newadvent.org/cathen/11601a.htm
 
dale(name removed by moderator) said:
Why bump? We are asking a serious question and would like an answer so that we may better understand our faith.:confused:
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“bump” is just a messageboard forum way of getting the thread up to the top of the topic list again so that it doesn’t get lost down low and forgotten. As in “Bumping up to the top” not “bumping off.”
 
I’ll probably have to check The Church Visible for a more definitive answer. My understanding has been that the bishop wears it primarily because he is the one who possesses the fullness of pastoral responsibility for a diocese in his very person.

This from wikipedia:
The pectoral is the latest addition to episcopal ornaments. The custom, however, of wearing a cross on the breast either with or without holy relics, dates back to ancient time and was observed not only by bishops, but also by priests and lay people. The first mention made of the pectoral cross as a part of pontifical ornament is made by Innocent III, and its use as such only became customary toward the close of the Middle Ages. As an adornment for bishops we meet it the first time toward the end of the thirteenth century (Durandus), but at that time it was not generally worn by bishops. As Durandus says: “it was left to the discretion of the individual bishop to wear it or not”.
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As to why not a crucifix, I think that the idea is partly that the bishop is to lay his own life on that cross as the witness to his people.

Another little tidbit… a priest I knew was one seen wearing something around his neck which looked suspiciously like a pectoral cross. I knew it couldn’t be that, but had to get closer to see what it actually WAS. Sneaking up, he saw me and said hello. “Hi, Father. Oh, ok, that’s just a NAMETAG on the chain! I was worried they might have made you a bishop, and I wouldn’t want you to have to wear THAT cross around your neck!”
 
chicago said:
I’ll probably have to check The Church Visible for a more definitive answer. My understanding has been that the bishop wears it primarily because he is the one who possesses the fullness of pastoral responsibility for a diocese in his very person.
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To quote Nainfa, the pectoral cross is a “sign of the order or dignity” not “of jurisdiction”- he says that the connection with the pastoral office of the bishop is therefore mistaken. A bishop could wear it even when outside his diocese.
 
Just because the priest does not wear his for the world to see does not mean he is not wearing one under his cassock…
 
Anyone could wear a pectoral cross, and there wouldn’t be anything wrong with it. I recall, for instance, everyone in my class being given a Jerusalem cross at senior retreat in high school. Many of us continued to wear it on its rope necklace hanging over our hearts each day for the rest of the school year.

It is just that the sign seems especially appropriate for the bishop and has become to be identified with them as a tradition.
 
In the West, the bishop’s pectoral cross (frequently with a relic of the True Cross inside it) became part of the insignia of a bishop, along with the ring (originally the seal of the diocese), crozier, and mitre.

In the Byzantine tradition, most priests have at least a silver pectoral cross or crucifix. Bishops wear a pectoral icon called a “panaghia” or “encolpion”, which was originally a pyx so the Bishop could give Communion immediately to whosoever needed and desired it.
 
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