Knock Three Times

[honorthesabbath]

Now how funny is this??? Does anyone know WHY this is done? Does it go back to some other pagan ritual? (Now I can't get Tony Orlando's song out of mind head--ggrr--lol)

[FONT=VERDANA, GENEVA, HELVETICA]Knock Three Times
When the Pope dies, the officials that were part of the papal administration no longer rule. The governing of the Vatican is taken over by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, or Chamberlain of the church. The camerlengo supervises all aspects of what goes on from the the death of the pope to the election of the next pope. His responsibilities include the papal funeral and preparations for the conclave.[/FONT]
[FONT=VERDANA, GENEVA, HELVETICA]The camerlengo's first duty is to perform a medieval ritual. At the deathbed of the pope the camerlengo takes a silver hammer and lightly taps on the pope's forehead three times, calling him by his Christian name. When there is no reply, he announces to those present that the pope is dead. The camerlengo also removes the Fisherman's Ring from the Pope's finger. At the first meeting of the Sacred College the ring and papal seals are broken.[/FONT]

 

[MidnightCry]

I've never heard of that before. That is too weird. A bunch of grown men watching while someone taps on the forehead of a dead man and calls his name -- I think I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face.

 

[happywiththelord]

Why take the ring from his finger? why not make a new one. Its kinda like stealing from the dead dont ya think?

 

[honorthesabbath]

ROFL--I'm glad you said that! The practice does seem rather...odd!

 

[RND]

Now how funny is this??? Does anyone know WHY this is done? Does it go back to some other pagan ritual? (Now I can't get Tony Orlando's song out of mind head--ggrr--lol)

[FONT=VERDANA, GENEVA, HELVETICA]Knock Three Times
When the Pope dies, the officials that were part of the papal administration no longer rule. The governing of the Vatican is taken over by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, or Chamberlain of the church. The camerlengo supervises all aspects of what goes on from the the death of the pope to the election of the next pope. His responsibilities include the papal funeral and preparations for the conclave.[/FONT]
[FONT=VERDANA, GENEVA, HELVETICA]The camerlengo's first duty is to perform a medieval ritual. At the deathbed of the pope the camerlengo takes a silver hammer and lightly taps on the pope's forehead three times, calling him by his Christian name. When there is no reply, he announces to those present that the pope is dead. The camerlengo also removes the Fisherman's Ring from the Pope's finger. At the first meeting of the Sacred College the ring and papal seals are broken.[/FONT]

If the Chamberlain of the church takes his fisherman's ring, who gets his fish hat?