Prince assistant to the papal throne: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Title of nobility in the Catholic Church}}

The '''Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne''' are hereditary offices of the Papal Curia. They date from the early sixteenth century, and survived the reform of the [[Prefecture for the Pontifical Household]] in 1968. Today the only hereditary posts still in use at the Vatican are the Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne.

The '''Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne''' (Lat. ''Stator proximus a Solio Pontificis maximi'') was a hereditary title of nobility available in the Papal Court from the early 16th century until the reforms of ''[[Pontificalis Domus]]'' by [[Pope Paul VI]] in 1968, when the Papal Court was reformed into the current [[Papal Household]]. The title is not currently in use, though it has not been formally suppressed.<ref name="Sonnenon">{{cite journal |url=https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2024/05/the-papal-court-prince-assistants-to.html |title=The Papal Court: Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne (Principe Assistente al Soglio Pontificio) |work=[[Liturgical Arts Journal]] |first1=John Paul |last1=Sonnenon |date=May 9, 2024 |accessdate=July 5, 2025}}</ref>

==Privileges==

There are two posts, which are currently held by [[Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cessi]], and [[Colonna family|Prince Don Marcantonio Colonna, Prince and Duke of Paliano]]. The Colonna family have been Prince Assistants since 1710, though their papal princely title only dates from 1854. The [[Torlonia]] family were appointed in 1958 (their title dates from 1854 also), in succession to the Prince [[Orsini]], who had been Prince Assistants from c.1735 to 1958.

During the period of the Papal Court, the Prince Assistants were the highest ranking honor available to a layman within the court. They were parallel to the [[Assistant to the papal throne|Prelate Assistants to the Papal Throne]]. The Prince Assistant was always conspicuous in his position next to the papal chair on great solemnities.<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ4HAAAAQAAJ&dq=Prince+assistant+to+the+papal+throne&pg=PA66 Hemans, Charles Isidore. ''Catholic Italy, its institutions and sanctuaries'', Part, Tipografia Baracchi, 1860, p. 66]</ref>

It could be granted by hereditary right, as it was to the heads of two of the famous Roman families of papal nobility, the [[Orsini family|Orsini]] and the [[Colonna family|Colonna]].<ref name="Sonnenon"/> It could also be granted ''ad personam,'' to individuals without hereditary effect.<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Noonan |first1=James Charles |title=The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Catholic Church |date=2012 |publisher=[[Sterling Ethos]]|page=95 |isbn=978-1402787300 |edition=Revised }}</ref>

[[Category:Roman Curia| ]]

"The Assistants to the Throne offer their services to the Prefect of the Apostolic Palace; it is their duty to do the honors of the house on the occasion of the most solemn civil ceremonies, mentioned in n. 4 § 3, and to collaborate in the smooth running of the service of the Pontifical Lay Family."<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Paul VI |title=Pontificalis Domus 7§9. |url=http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/la/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19680328_pontificalis-domus.html |website=Holy See}}</ref> Those civil ceremonies include official audiences (granted to Sovereigns, Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Ministers of Foreign Affairs: presentation of credentials by Ambassadors and Ministers accredited to the Holy See) and unofficial audiences.<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248794/what-happens-when-the-pope-receives-a-head-of-state |last1=Gagliarducci |first1=Andrea |title=What happens when the pope receives a head of state? |publisher=[[Catholic News Service]] |date=August 27, 2021}}</ref>

Writer [[Sara Jane Lippincott|Grace Greenwood]] describes observing a prince assistant bearing a wreath of palms during a Palm Sunday service in St. Peter's.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfRVAAAAYAAJ&dq=Prince+assistant+to+the+papal+throne&pg=PA272 |last1=Greenwood |first1=Grace |title=Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe |publisher=[[Ticknor, Reed, and Fields]] |year=1854 |page=272}}</ref> During canonization ceremonies, a special candle, painted with the likeness of the new saint and often scenes from their life, was presented by the Postulator of the Cause to the Prince Assistant. Another was presented to the pope, and a third to the Cardinal Prefect for the [[Dicastery for the Causes of Saints|Congregation of the Causes for Saints]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2022/12/traditions-of-solemn-papal-mass.html |last1=Tribe |first1=Shawn |title=Traditions of the Solemn Papal Mass: Canonization Candles |work=Liturgical Arts Journal |date=December 29, 2022}}</ref>

In other words, the Assistants to the Papal Throne are the senior-most of the [[Gentlemen of His Holiness]]. Assistants to the Papal Throne, whether Prince or Prelate, were given seats of the highest precedence during papal ceremonies or liturgies, ceremonially ranking just below the [[College of Cardinals]].<ref name="Sonnenon"/>

==History==

[[File:Marcantonio VII Colonna.jpg|thumb| [[Marcantonio VII Colonna|Marcantonio Colonna]] in ceremonial dress ]]

The office is believed to have been instituted by [[Pope Julius II]] in 1511.<ref name="Sonnenon"/>

Various branches of the [[Colonna family]] held the title. The [[Orsini family]] held the title from 1735 to 1958.<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref name=time>[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,868243,00.html "The Papal Prince", ''Time'', February 10, 1958]</ref>

Since the 16th century, there have been numerous disputes and judicial controversies between the heads of the two traditionally hostile families, in order to assert their right of precedence over each other, deriving from a long series of privileges obtained over the centuries by their respective families, as evidenced by numerous memoirs and decrees, thanks to the changing favor of the popes for one family or the other, so much so that in order to overcome the sometimes heated controversies on precedence, which had been going on at least since the pontificate of [[Clement XI]], [[Pope Benedict XIII]] established that the title of Prince assistant to the papal throne should alternate between the two heads of families.<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref name=time/>

In January 1958, [[Pope Pius XII|Pius XII]] relieved Filippo Orsini of the title after his extramarital affair with English actress [[Belinda Lee]] was made public.<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref>"Papal Prince's Title in Jeopardy", ''Independent'', 29 January 1958, Long Beach, California, USA, Access Newspaper Archive.</ref>

In 1962, [[Pope John XXIII]] appointed [[:it:Alessandro Torlonia (1925)|Alessandro Torlonia]] as the new Prince assistant, as he wanted a complement of two to serve as Custodians of the Second Vatican Council. Torlonia had previously served as the lay advisor to the [[Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State]].<ref name="Sonnenon"/>

In 1968, as part of the ongoing reception and implementation of the [[Second Vatican Council]], [[Pope Paul VI]] issued an Apostolic Letter ''motu proprio'' which reformed the Papal Court into the [[Papal Household]], consisting of two sections, the clerical Papal Chapel, and the lay Papal Family. Nearly all titles of nobility and many of the other Renaissance titles were suppressed.<ref name="Sonnenon"/>

During those reforms, the Prince Assistants ceased to be a hereditary title, and the two living Prince Assistants, Aspreno Colonna and Alessandro Torlonia were allowed to retain the title personally until their deaths. Colonna died in 1987,<ref name="Sonnenon"/><ref>{{cite news |title=In Lutto L'Aristocrazia al Solenne Funerale del Principe Colonna |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1987/10/28/in-lutto-aristocrazia-al-solenne-funerale.html|language=Italian|newspaper=[[la Repubblica]] |date=1987-10-28}}</ref> and Torlonia died in 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fabrizi |first1=Filippo |title=Morto a 92 anni don Alessandro Torlonia, ultimo principe del Fucino |language=Italian |url=https://www.ilcentro.it/l-aquila/morto-a-92-anni-don-alessandro-torlonia-ultimo-principe-del-fucino-1.1794615 |agency=[[Il Centro]] |date=2018-01-02}}</ref>

The title is not currently in use.<ref name="Sonnenon"/>

==See also==

*[[Assistant at the Pontifical Throne|Prelate Assistants to the Pontifical Throne]]

*[[Papal nobility]]

*[[Papal household]]

*[[Black Nobility]]

*[[Noble Guard]]

{{portal bar|Catholicism|Vatican City}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

*[http://www.chivalricorders.org/vatican/pplcourt.htm Almanach de la Cour - The Hereditary Officers of the Papal Court]

{{Papal orders, decorations, and medals}}

{{Papacy}}

{{Holy See}}

[[Category:Officials of the Roman Curia| ]]

[[Category:Nobles of the Holy See]]

[[Category:Princes in Italy]]

[[Category:Princes of the Papal States]]

[[Category:Honorary titles of the Holy See]]

[[Category:Papal household]]

[[Category:Princes of the Holy See]]