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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
A staff of office is of great antiquity. It is believed to symbolize superiority, power, capacity, and function: the superiority, power, and authority of the person bestowing it, the presumed competence and capacity of the recipient, and the official function he endeavours to discharge. Sometimes such a staff is actually used as a support.
page 351 note a “And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, etc.;” Exodus, vii. 19. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock.” Numbers, xx. 7, 8.
page 351 note b “The Archbishop delivers the Sceptre, with the Gross, into the King's Bight Hand, saying,
Receive the Royal Sceptre, the Ensign of Kingly Power and Justice.
And then He delivers the Bod, with the Dove, into the King's left Hand, and saith,
Receive the Rod of Equity and Mercy: and God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed, direct and assist You in the Administration and Exercise of all those Powers which He hath given You. Be so merciful, that you be not too remiss; so execute Justice, that You forget not Mercy. Punish the Wicked, protect the Oppressed; and the Blessing of Him who was ready to perish shall be upon You; thus in all things following His great and holy Example, of whom the prophet David said, ‘Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest iniquity; the Sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a right Sceptre;’ even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” Form and Order of the Coronation. etc. pp. 39, 40. London: 1821Google Scholar.
page 351 note c “Lay my staff upon the face of the child.” 2 Kings, iv. 29.
“With wand of ebony, and sable stole,
Chaldea's wisest scan the spectral scroll.”
Belshazzar's Feast, by Edwin Arnold, p. 10. Oxford: 1852.
page 352 note a “Regard Our confidence; respect Our authority, maintain the ancient rights of this office.” The monarch's address to the chamberlain, and the officials under him. “Offices Conferred by the Delivery of a Rod.”—Tracts, Lambeth library, 104, c. 10.
page 352 note b Archbishop Browne of Dublin, A.D. 1538, procured the removal and destruction of various relics preserved at Christ Church cathedral in that city, and publicly burnt what was then known and reverently regarded as “the staff of Jesus.” This staff, believed to have contained only a small fragment of the original, “was in Dublin performing miracles from the time of Patrick down to that time, and had been in the hands of Christ while he was among men.” See Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin; by Edward Seymour, M.A. p. 33. Dublin: 1869.
page 353 note a The pilgrim's staff of St. James the Great. This particular symbol is not unlike the earliest types of episcopal staves. In some early papal bullae, e.g. those of Pascal II. (A.D. 1099-1118) and Alexander III. (A.D. 1159-1181), I find a staff with a small globe on the top, placed between the heads of SS. Peter and Paul; but on that of pope John XXII. (A.D. 1316—1334) in my own possession, as well as on that of Innocent III. (A.D. 1352-1362) found a few years ago at Chetwode priory, Bucks, the staff is surmounted by a small Maltese cross.
page 354 note a St. Congan. See Brev. Aberdon. Pars Estiva, folio cxxvi. London: 1852-1854. Fordun, Scotichron. lib. iii. c. 28. Kalendars of Scottish Saints, etc. by A. P. Forbes, D.C.L. p. 310, Edinburgh: 1872.
page 354 note b “Longè est minor pedo pastorali Latinorum; ita nt episcopus incedens facile possit super ipsam manu sese fulcire. Summitas ejus sese in longum extendit, et versus extremas partes incurvatur, finitque in faciem duorum serpentum sese ex adverso adspicientium.” Commentarius de Sacris Ucclesiae Ordinationibus, authore Ioanne Morino, fol. 245; Parisiis: 1655. These two dragons, as professor Christopher Damalas asserts, were regarded as the dragon of the earth and the dragon of the air—neither of which would be permitted to harm the prelate who grasped faithfully and firmly “the rod and staff” of the Almighty's comfort. Thus the episcopal staff was not only to be the means of upholding and correcting his spiritual flock, but of sustaining the bearer of the symbol. A good example of a plain tau-shaped cross was observed and drawn by the late Dr. Oliver of Exeter, at Manaccan in Cornwall, and examined by the late Canon Rock It remained on a grave-stone in the chancel of St. Anthoninus's church. This stone, rectangular in shape, had five crosses in circles in a line along its head and four circles at its feet. An early type of mitre—not unlike the official caps of the doges of Venice—together with a book of the Gospels and the cross in question—were sculptured in relief. Other specimens of the tau-cross remain at Rockcliffe, Cumberland; Great Bedwyn, Wilts; and at Trewoof and Landewednack, in Cornwall. Moreover, in the ancient entrance to the round tower of Brechin cathedral church, in Scotland, there is a very remarkable doorway or entrance, some little distance from the ground. This, formed of four stones, is semi-circular in its head, and bears a clothed and crowned figure of Christ on the cross, sculptured in relief at the top of the arch. On either side of the entrance are two small carved figures of bishops or abbots on brackets; that to the right, in pontificalibus, bears a tau-shaped cross; that to the left, in flowing surplice and caputmm, a short staff with a crook at its head. At the foot of the entrance on either side is carved a conventional wolf or dragon. Competent judges, including the late Bishop Forbes of Brechin, regard this entrance as of great antiquity, probably as early as the tenth century. Its external border is adorned with a narrow band of small circles. The figures specially referred to seem to indicate that in Scotland both forms of the pastoral staff were in simultaneous use at the period in which the sculptured figures were made.
page 357 note a “Item; Baculus pastoralis de Mazero sive Cipresso, cum capite argenteo deaurato artificia-liter composite”
“Et Memorandum, quod dominus Episcopus [Robert de Braybrooke] habet in sua custodia ij baculos pastorales pertinentes ad ecclesiam.”— Archaeologia, “Inventories of St. Paul's, London,” vol. L. p. 515.
page 357 note b Amongst the “Ornamenta alienata per dictum Walterum Abbatem, sine voluntate conventus, tempore guerrae,” A.D. 1143. “Et nnum baculum argenteum.”—Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia, vol. ii. p. 274. London: 1886.
page 357 note c The pastoral staff of the Most Rev. Walter Steins, archbishop of Bombay, S.J. is of iron damascened in gold and silver—the staff hollow, and its crook adorned with brilliants, rubies, and moonstones. It is believed to have been originally made circa 1590 in Goa, but repaired and additionally adorned recently.
page 357 note d In the treasury of St. Mark's, Venice, there is a pastoral staff with a head of crystal, set in silver-gilt, and with the stem of ivory.—From information of Father Zanetti of Murano given to the author.
page 357 note e Three illustrations of the pastoral staff of St. Fillan may be seen in Mr. Joseph Anderson's very interesting volume, Scotland in Early Christian Times.
page 358 note a Vol. xxxiv. 406.
page 358 note b In a very ancient Oriental form “For the Promotion of an Abbot,” used in the eighth century and preserved in the Vatican Library (Liturg. MS. No. 1872), there is no delivery of the staff. Independent of directions for the imposition of the consecrating- bishop's hands and prayer, the only rubric stands thus: “Postea tollit ab eopallium quo circumdatur, et alterum ipsi circumponit: deinde ipsum osculatur et dimittit.
In another, of a somewhat later date, in the same library, No. 1875, a quarto MS., the following occurs in the service for the blessing of an abbot: “Accipe hunc baculum, ut ipso fultus gregem tuum sanctè et secundum Deum gubernes; nam in die judicii rationem de eo redditurus es Deo nostro.
“The following is from the same MS. relating to a bishop: “Accipe virgam istam, ut pascas gregem Christi tibi creditum, et recte obedientibus esto baculus et firmamentum: adversus autem inobedientes, scurras, et dicaces utere eadem virga, sed eos constringente et corrigente.” The ancient form for blessing the staff now quoted is at once terse and telling: “Deas sine Quo nihil potest benedici vel consecrari, hunc Baculum benedicere dignare, ut quotiescunque famulus Tuus ilium gestando, et te in corde tenendo, per hunc susfcentatur, et tuae benedictionis repleatur. Per.”
And the sentences below, used at its public delivery, are of remarkable appropriateness: “Cum datur baculus, dicit—Accipe baculum sacri regiminis signum, ut imbecilles consolides, titubantes confirmes, pravos corrigas, rectos dirigas in viam salutis aeternae, habeasque potestatem eligendi dignos, et corrigendi indignos, cooperante Domino nostro.”—From an ancient MS. known as “St. Gregory's Pontifical,” preserved in the Vatican Library.
In the Syrian—i. e. Nestorian—rite of consecrating a bishop the following direction occurs: “Deinde dedudt archidiaconus ordinatum ad, altare, baculumque accipit de manu ejus.” In that of the Maronites the older forms do not embody the giving of a staff, though here again custom is believed to have sanctioned its use.
page 358 note a “The Lord clothe thee with the garment of heavenly glory; arm thee with hidden and spiritual weapons; adorn thee with the works of righteousness; and beautify thee with the gifts of chastity; that, without spot or blemish, thou mayest feed the sheep committed to thy reverence, in the fear of God and in all holiness, now and for ever. Amen.”
“Then the Head shall give the staff into his right hand, and shall say: ‘The rod of power which Jesus Christ the Lord sent out of Zion. May He feed thee, and through thee guide those whom thou shalt feed. Amen.’ “The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. ii. pp. 346, 347Google Scholar.
page 358 note b Bede's treatise, De vii Ordinibus.
page 360 note a It however contained the following general direction regarding the use of the staff: “And whensoever tlie bishop shall celebrate the Holy Communion in the church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon him—beside his rochette—a surplice or albe, and a cope or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in Ms hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain.”
page 360 note b Examples of the vexillum occur on the brasses of archbishop Grenfield, in York Minster, A.D. 315; of abbot Esteney, Westminster abbey, A.D. 1498; and of bishop Goodrich, at Ely, A.D. 1554.
page 361 note a At Mechlin cathedral church the brass of a bishop or abbot remains, in which, to all appearance, a vexillum depended from a crozier, not a staff. Tradition, however, affirms that the brass represented an abbot.
page 361 note b It is now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle.
page 361 note c Cole's MSS. vol. xxxv. folio 8 in dorso.
page 362 note a For some of the facts and information here provided the author is indebted to the interesting drawings in Mr. Gough's collection, preserved in the Bodleian library: all the more interesting and valuable, because many of the objects depicted have by various methods—neglect, restoration, and otherwise—been either removed, lost, or destroyed. In some cases, however, the details of the pastoral staves represented in the sketches consulted were not sufficiently distinct to be of much use. At the same time, too much weight must not be given to representations of the details of such staves as remain carved or engraved on medieval tombs. In these cases, while the general idea and outline of the staff as used at the period was reproduced in stone, the details—in perfect harmony with current style—were no doubt left to the personal taste, skill, and ingenuity of the actual carver. The staff represented with the effigy of William of Wykeham, on his tomb in Winchester cathedral church, is possibly a bold representation of that preserved at New College, Oxford.
page 363 note a The late Mr. Planché (see The Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. xv. p. 123Google Scholar) was inclined to believe that this effigy represented an actual prelate, and n ot a to-bishop who had died during his assumption of office. But he provided no reason for its dwarfed size, no authority for putting aside the common tradition; while his speculative conviction may, of course, be valued for what it is worth.
page 363 note b “Item, ij parvi Baculi pro episcopo puerorum modici precii.” Archaeologia, vol. L.; “Inventories of St. Paul's, London,” p. 517.
page 363 note c The following monumental memorials of bishops and abbots remaining in England, in addition to those mentioned in the text, deserve to be studied:—
Welbeck abbey, Notts,—
On a slab a right hand grasping a tau-shaped pastoral staff.
St. Pierre, Monmouth,—
On a slab a hand grasping a floriated crozier.
Jervaulx abbey, Yorkshire,—
On a slab, a chalice on a floriated cross, with mitre and pastoral staff, the ornamented head of the latter ending in a trefoil.
Middleham, Yorkshire,—
Abbot Thornton, of Jervaulx, with crook turned inwards.
Eggleston abbey,—
On a slab a floriated cross, with a crook held by a right hand.
Romsey abbey,—
On a slab an abbot's outstretched arm holding a pastoral staff.
Dorchester abbey, Oxon,—
An abbot's arm and hand holding a pastoral staff (the brass lost).
Incised slab representing Roger abbot of Dorchester.
Slab of marble despoiled of its brass, from an altar-tomb, representing John de Sutton abbot of Dorchester.
Richard Beauforest (not mitred) abbot of Dorchester, in a choral cope, bearing a pastoral staff, A.D. 1510.
Selby abbey, Yorkshire,—
An incised slab in memory of abbot Lawrence, A.D. 1486.
An incised slab in memory of abbot Barwis, A.D. 1526.
Westminster abbey,—
John de Waltham, bishop of Sarum, A.D. 1395.
page 365 note a The crozier is termed in old documents the “crock-staff,” “cross-stave,” “croce,” “croke-staff,” and “gang-staff.”
page 365 note b It may be likewise added that the bishop of Rochester by custom—confirmed by pontifical bull of Innocent III.—is official crucifer to the archbishops of Canterbury, and this because Justus, the first bishop of Rochester, is traditionally believed to have carried the cross of Christ at the actual advent of St. Augustine.
page 365 note b It is believed—though some regard the notion as sentimental and too fanciful—that the reason why the supreme pontiff does not now use a pastoral staff or crook is that as its head is curved inwards such a form appears to imply a limited jurisdiction, whereas that of the holy see is regarded as not confined to one race, nation, or empire, but as universal. This conviction is set forth and maintained amongst other liturgical writers by Georgius, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Durandus.
page 365 note d A crucifix in stone of the same type, which I sketched in 1877, remains in the outer wall of the church of Nassington, Northamptonshire.
page 365 note e In an unsigned engraving, circa 1560, cardinal Wolsey is represented riding on a mule, and preceded, amongst others, by an official on horseback bearing a patriarchal cross. This is imperfectly reproduced in Law's History of Hampton Court Palace.
In an oval portrait in line engraving, circa 1688, of Oliver Plunket, archbishop of Armagh, engraved by Collin of Brussels, he is represented in a cope and falling bands, with a double-crossed staff placed on his left side.
page 366 note a The slab commemorating William de Fresney or Freny, archbishop of Bages in partibus infidelium, who died about A.D, 1290, represents him in joontificalibus. It is built into a wall at Rhuddlan, in the diocese of St. Asaph—part of the ancient priory. He was an English friar-preacher, and laboured so zealously in Armenia and the East that pope Urban IV. in 1263, consecrated him bishop. He was usually styled “William, bishop of Edessa,” and often pontificated in England. He is represented with a crozier in his left hand, giving the benediction with his right. See The Reliquary, vol. xxvi. pp. 113–116Google Scholar. London 1886. He was present at the translation of the relics of St. Hugh of Lincoln. See Earl. 31SS. No. 3720.
page 366 note b On the tomb of Henry Chicheley, at Canterbury, the archiepiscopal cross is lying on his left.
page 366 note c In illuminated MSS., wall-paintings, and sculpture, the popes are frequently represented as holding a patriarchal cross.
page 367 note a From information given by the late Chevalier J. W. Lloyd, K.S.Gr. of Plasmadoc, co. Denbigh. [Qy. Are these not more probably notarial marks? F. G. L.]
page 369 note a Amongst the casts of heads of foreign pastoral staves in the South Kensington Museum are the following subjects: 1. A bishop, with uplifted right hand, bestowing his benediction; 2. Agnus Dei; 3. The head of an ibex eating a trefoiled branch of leaves; 4. A dragon's head (from the Vatican collection); 5. The coronation of the Blessed Virgin; 6. The head filled with floral adornments (from the museum at Copenhagen); 7. The Virgin and Child attended by angels.
page 369 note b History of the Prebendal Church of Thame, p. 22. London: 1883Google Scholar.
page 378 note a James Smith, appointed bishop of Callipolis in partibus infidelium, 30th January, 1688, was consecrated bishop in the chapel of Somerset House, on May 13th (old style) of the same year. He received a stipend of £1000 a year from the government. He died, aged 66, on the anniversary of his consecration, and was probably buried at Wycliffe, in Yorkshire. Dr. Maziere Brady thus writes:— “In one of his visitations this prelate was robbed of his beautiful silver crozier (i. e. pastoral staff) by the notorious earl of Danby, first duke of Leeds, who triumphantly deposited it in York Minster. The crozier is described as seven feet long, with the figures of the Blessed Virgin and Child, the arms of the donor, queen Katherine of Portugal, and the arms of the bishop.”—Episcopal Succession, by Brady, W. Maziere, vol. iii. p. 247Google Scholar. Rome: 1877.
page 378 note b Of these—taken from inventories ranging in date from 1370 to 1540—so great and universal was the rapacity, fanaticism, and destruction of the Tudor oflicials arid others, that not twenty English examples, including mere fragments, are now known to be in existence. Of these, two of the fifteenth century are at Oxford—one at Corpus Christi College, the other at New College. The staff at St. John's is of post-Reformation date.”
In England alone pastoral staffs must have been almost without number at the beginning of the sixteenth century; and, although many were probably of metal—silver or copper enamelled—and having some intrinsic value, yet an equal or perhaps greater number were of ivory. Not merely bishops, but the heads of religious houses—abbots and abbesses—carried them as official tokens of their rank and dignity."—Ivories, by William Maskell, M.A. P.S.A. pp. 90, 91. London: Preface dated 1875.
page 379 note a The calculation made brought us to the conclusion that in the English cathedral churches prior to the Tudor changes no less than two hundred and fifty-two crooks and croziers were preserved, while in the various mitred and other abbeys there were no less than two hundred and seventy-four pastoral staves. Some of the numerous bishops in partibus infideliurn appear to have used these symbols of pastoral care, when exercising their office within any diocese in which they were duly and formally commissioned to assist the Ordinary. Long before the passing of the Suffragans’ Act under Henry VIII. numerous bishops in partibus are found acting in England.
page 379 note b At Winchester cathedral church, in the year 1471-2, there were three pastoral staves of silver and gilt; one of an unicorn's horn, as is on record; and nine others “of tre [i. e. wood] garnyshedd with syluer,” of ivory, and latten. There were no less than eleven others of wood, carved.
Amongst the “summe off ornamentes, goodes, and chattels belongyng to yo monasterie of Theoksburie,” signed by the “Master of our Lady's chapel,” are “seuen staffys” with “crockkheddys and haftes of sylu’.” This “summe” appears to have been made during the rule of abbot Richard de Cheltenham (A.D. 1481-1509).
page 379 note c “Might not they (the people who drew up what is termed ‘Edward the Sixth's Second Prayer Book’) have left the episcopal mitre? and especially the episcopal crozier (he meant the pastoral staff), that beautiful, affecting, and expressive symbol of the love and care of the faithful shepherd in feeding and tending the flock of Christ.”—Journal of a Tour in Italy, by Wordsworth, Christopher, D.D. in two volumes, p. 52Google Scholar. London: 1863.
page 380 note a History of Ireland, by Sir Ware, J., folio, vol. i. p. 485. Dublin and London: 1764Google Scholar.
page 380 note b In the restoration of these staves, which has become very general during the last half century amongst bishops of the church of England (nearly fifty now using them either at home or in the colonies), it seems desirable that they should be henceforth formally bestowed during the rite of consecration. It would not only be far better that such should be actually given by the consecrating pr%late when he uses the needful exhortation “Be to the flock a shepherd,” than that they should be subsequently bestowed by the lay-president of a mixed gathering in some town-hall or local athenaeum. The earl of Cork, master of the Queen's buckhounds, recently presented a handsome staff to lord Arthur Hervey, bishop of Bath and Wells. There is obvious fitness and sense in a metropolitan giving a staff to one of his suffragans: there is neither one nor the other in a “Master of the Queen's buckhounds” assuming the office.
page 380 note c The short cassock or apron assumed by English bishops, deans, and archdeacons I may here add is of foreign origin, and came in when it was the fashion to look upon bishops as “superintendents.” It was evidently borrowed from Germany, and was specially commented upon as a novelty, early in the seventeenth century.—See Life of Father John Gerard, by Morris, John, pp. 345, 346. London: 1881Google Scholar.
page 380 note d As well might an English earl or marquis, in modern evening dress, wear his coronet at a dinner-party, or carry his “gold stick of office”—supposing him to be a court official—at a private ball.
page 380 note e Caeremoniale Episcoporum, pp. 100-103. Romae, Typis Reu. Camerae Apostolicae, 1651.
page 380 note f See also De Liturgiis, P. A. Krazer, caput v. De Baculo, fol. 348-355: 1786.
page 381 note a “A crozier is a pastoral staff, two names for the same thing.”—Church Times, April 10th, 1885. “The error of confusing the pastoral or shepherd's staff with a crozier (which is a cross upon a staff, and not a crook at all) is constantly made. But it is an error, and not less so because uninformed persons and superficial, though dogmatic, writers adopt and perpetuate it.”—Builder, p. 82, for July 18th, 1885.