Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	Long ago, a signet ring was an essential part of the wardrobe of influential people. A letter or document would be sealed with hot wax, and a signet ring pressed into the wax would affirm the origin of the document. In the case of the pope, at least from the thirteenth century, the ring was used to seal public documents with hot lead, saving the red wax for private letters. The public documents were called bullae after the Latin name for the lead stamp, and we still call them “papal bulls.”
	It is not surprising, therefore, that a signet ring has long been bestowed as part of the inauguration of a pope. The ring is called the Pescatorio, or “Ring of the Fisherman.” It reminds the wearer of his link with Peter, and his responsibility to continue the apostolic ministry of “fishing for human beings.” Until 1842 it actually functioned as a signet ring. Now, each pope receives a new gold ring at the beginning of his ministry. It goes on the fourth finger of his right hand and bears some fisherman design, usually St. Peter casting nets from a boat, as well as the pope’s name in Latin. A custom that endures for the pope, but not so much for bishops, is for people being introduced to him to kiss the Pescatorio as a sign of respect for his teaching authority. Another enduring custom is for the ring to be smashed and defaced at the pope’s death, originally a way of preventing counterfeit deathbed documents.
—Rev. James Field