Bishop Morlino on Liturgical Music
This letter was sent to anyone involved with liturgical music and published in the Diocesan Newspaper in the Diocese of Madison WI. I think it's well done so I wanted to share it with you all:
Dear Friends,
The clear teaching of the Second Vatican Council is that the presence of Christ at Mass occurs in four different ways: the most sacramentally intense presence of Christ is His Real Presence under the signs of bread and wine; the second most sacramentally intense presence of Christ is in His proclaimed word; the third most sacramentally intense presence of Christ is through the priest, who is ordained to act in the person of Christ; and the fourth most sacramentally intense presence of Christ is in the assembly. These four "places" of the presence of Christ are all important but they are not all equal in sacramental intensity.
Misinterpretation of council teachings
In previous communications, I have written about what Pope Benedict has called the discontinuity hermeneutic, that is the various misinterpretations of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which have occurred since the council and which now stand in need of correction.
After the council, an overemphasis was given to the presence of Christ in the assembly, so that the other ways Christ is even more sacramentally intensely present suffered a certain neglect.
Evidence of that is given through the occurrence, not unusual throughout the United States, of the practice of the taking of the consecrated Precious Blood of Christ, which remained after Mass, and pouring it down the sacrarium or even an ordinary sink. Evidence of this is also given in the need seen universally among the Bishops of the United States to issue a document affirming and clarifying our belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic species.
As I have said repeatedly, everything that we do or do not do at the Eucharistic liturgy teaches. Pope Benedict has called us recently to a reflection about the music that is sung during the liturgy, and in fact our national bishops' conference will be considering this matter further at our coming meeting in November.
Music during the Mass
The question arises, does some of the music routinely sung embody the incorrect overemphasis on the presence of Christ in the assembly, so that people are confused as to the importance of the sacramental intensity of His presence, especially under the signs of bread and wine.
Certain songs come to mind where the lyrics raise a real question for me. For example: "We are called, We are chosen, We are Christ for one another, We are a promise, We are sower, We are seed, We are question, We are creed." Singing that song repeatedly teaches people something, and I am afraid that it is something that I as Bishop do not want to teach them, but we certainly need to begin a dialogue about these matters.
Another example of this same problem would be the lyrics of the hymn Gather Us In, where a seemingly endless explanation is given to God about who We are, who are gathered in.
Pope Benedict has said that the music at Mass is not an extrinsic accompaniment to the liturgy, but is intrinsically part of our prayer of praise and adoration and thanksgiving to the Lord. The words of the songs we sing should be focused on giving praise and adoration to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, rather than explaining to God things about ourselves or even praising ourselves.
When we gather for the Eucharist, we gather as sinners as the beautiful Eucharistic Preface teaches: "You have no need of our praise, yet our desire to thank You is itself Your gift. Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to Your greatness, but makes us grow in your grace, through Jesus our Lord." That prayer of the Church contains the truth about the assembly. We are an assembly in whom Christ is indeed present, an assembly blessed with this wonderful gift even though we are sinners. The music we sing at Mass should teach nothing different than that.
Open discussion about music at Mass
I make these observations in order to open a discussion about the music we sing at Mass, in the context of my addressing my second focal point since coming to Madison (vocations has been the first focal point), of liturgy and catechesis. This is just the beginning of a discussion. I will in the near future be issuing additional guidelines for music at celebration of Confirmation only (which will take effect next Easter), and any further liturgical approaches that we take as a diocese will depend on the continuing wisdom which Pope Benedict offers us about liturgical music, on the wisdom we receive from our deliberations as a National Conference of Bishops, and upon the reflections I hear from our good priests and people in the days ahead.
But I write this present communication in the hope that pastors and brother priests, deacons, and various liturgical ministers in the parishes will begin to reflect on and discuss this particular important matter, so that the liturgical prayer of our people will be more integral with and more expressive of authentic spirituality and theology, and as a result our faithful people who pray that prayer will be even more holy than so many of you already are.
We must remember that as we pray before the "Holy, Holy, Holy," the angels and saints are present with us giving praise to the Trinity. The hymns we sing should be worthy of the participation of the angels and saints.
Thank you for reading this, God bless you and yours. Praises be Jesus Christ!
Bishop Swain's Coat of Arms, Motto and Apostolic Succession
For those interested here is some very interesting information about the Coat of Arms, the Motto, and Apostolic Succession. I find the Apostolic Succession to be particularly interesting in the there are six popes in his lineage include Saint Piux X. Check it out:
The Armorial Achievement of the Most Reverend Paul J. Swain, Residential Bishop of Sioux Fall in South Dakota, is divided in half vertically in a formula known in heraldry as impalement. In the United States residential bishops customarily ‘marry’ their personal arms with those of the diocese that they govern. This was so for many centuries throughout the Church but late in the 19th century most residential bishops began to opt not to do so. Although this is historic it is not mandatory, although nearly all American residential bishops continue so to do. Naturally, titular bishops do not have the heraldic right to this privilege. When a residential bishop incorporates the impalement of arms, the original diocesan arms appear on the left half of the shield (as one views it) while the bishop’s personal arms appears on the right.
ARMS OF SIOUX FALLS
The arms of the Diocese of Sioux Falls were created when the diocese was erected in November 1889. Three elements were then selected to represent the new See: flowing waters, the Christian Cross, and a bishop’s staff. The waters represent the Sioux River upon which was founded the diocese and where the new See was seated. The cross represents the Church as (then) newly erected and the staff entwining the cross is intended to represent the Church’ battle counteracting evil. The original designer’s intent, from documents found in the diocesan archives, was to create a shield that represented the Good News of Christ as presented to the peoples of the plains. The Arms of the Diocese are worked entirely in blue Celeste and silver (which in heraldry is always rendered as white).
ARMS OF BISHOP SWAIN
The design of the Swain arms brings homage to both the Blessed Virgin in the title of Our Lady, Gate of Heaven (a title taken from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin) as well as to the Divine Grace of Mercy, and to two personal patrons—Saint Raphael the Archangel and Saint Thomas More.
The design of the armorial achievement of The Most Reverend Paul J. Swain incorporates these particular elements, and shall therefore be described in the following manner:
The arms have been properly divided as per fess enarched, that is to say in half divided horizontally, but rather than by a straight line the division is enarched. In the area found at the top of this division, the color of the field is deep red, known properly in heraldry as sanguine, representing the Blessed Sacrament through the Precious Blood of the Risen Christ as celebrated throughout the world each day in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Red also represents martyrdom, in particular those bishops who have come before Bishop Swain who surrendered their lives for the defense of the faith. The division line, per fess enarched was selected to accommodate a special image found in the field below.
Upon this field primarily honoring Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament appears a gold heraldic gate known in heraldry as a Portcullis. This gate herein represents the Blessed Virgin Mary in one of the many titles attributed to Her in the great spiritual tradition of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. The theology found in this title represents both the motherhood of Mary, the gate being symbolic of the womb through which the Christ Child came into this world, and also Her particular role in the history of salvation as the church teaches that Mary, the conduit or passage way, leads all to her Divine Son. The gate is symbolic of this role in salvific history.
Gold is one of the two Heavenly attributes in ecclesial heraldry, the other being silver, and as such, also represents the Wisdom of God and the fidelity of the Blessed Trinity. It likewise represents loyalty to the Petrine Office. This particular rendition of the “Gate of Heaven” charge (i.e. heraldic image) has been created by James-Charles Noonan, Jr for Bishop swain. Although the portcullis has appeared throughout history in civil heraldry, this charge honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary is new in all ways.
Noonan has designed this image so that there are ten links in each of the two chains suspended from the gate, each of these chains represents a decade of the Holy Rosary as October, the month in which Bishop Swain has been consecrated bishop, is likewise the month of the Holy Rosary in the Church. At the terminus of each chain, in place of the traditional medallion, is found a rose motif, once again honoring the Mother of Christ in Her title of Mystical Rose (Rosa Mystica). Further homage has been added so that the teeth of the grid of the gate, that it to say the jagged base of the gate itself, have been rendered as Fleur de Lys, or as lilies, the flower of the Virgin Mary.
Then bottom half of the division has been rendered in true heraldic blue. Blue in ecclesial heraldry represents philosophical truth and great learning (i.e. dogma) and herein is symbolic of both the role of bishop in the Church and Bishop Swain’s earlier career. It is also the hue traditional to the Blessed Virgin and the company of Angels. Upon this rich field appear three images. Forming an “ X “ design, which is known in heraldry as charges being placed in saltire, are two staffs. The first of these staffs is properly called the bourdon, a French term used to describe a stylized staff of office which was traditionally associated with chancellors, priors, field marshals and officers of state in monarchies. The bourdon is a formal baton and represents great dignity, especially in government. Herein, it represents the office of Chancellor—the office held by Thomas More under the Tudor king Henry VIII.
When Henry abandoned his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in favor of Anne Boleyn, he also abandoned his Catholic faith. In his move to found a state church in England, the king forced thousands of statesmen, churchmen (including Cardinal Wolsey and many bishops and priests) as well as most peasants to forsake their faith. Those that refused so to do, remaining loyal to Rome and the papacy, were murdered and hundreds of monasteries, other church properties, and private estates were forfeit to the crown. One of those who surrendered their office, position, wealth and property (and ultimately his life) was Thomas More who had long loyally served the king as Chancellor of England. Later canonized, Saint Thomas More has been the patron of jurists and canonists for centuries and has been a personal patron for Paul J. Swain. As such, the bourdon of the chancellor has been incorporated into the Swain heraldic design. It has been specifically worked in silver as this metal, one of the two Heavenly colors, represents the purity of the attribute of loyalty to God and steadfastness in the faith.
The second charge (i.e. image) completing the “ X “ form is a simple walking staff. This too has been worked in silver as herein this hue represents angelic purity. In the Apocrypha we learn that Raphael the Archangel appears to Tobias and accompanies him on his journey eastward out of Nineveh towards Mesopotamia and Babylon. Not knowing that his wise traveling company is none other than one of the company of archangels, Tobias nevertheless followed the sage advice of his wise companion and great miracles ensued. Throughout this earthly journey, Raphael is depicted as walking with the aid of a large staff. In honor of this scriptural passage, the staff has been selected in honor of the Archangel so dear to both the Diocese of Madison, from whence Bishop Swain comes to the episcopacy, and to Paul J. Swain himself. The bishop served his entire priesthood in a diocese founded under the patronage of Saint Raphael. In his last assignment, the post held at the moment of his elevation to the episcopacy, he served as Rector-Pastor of the cathedral dedicated to this same titular and so profound homage to this archangel of God is necessitated. Together, in the in saltire form of the “ X “ is also a spiritual commitment against sin, the “ X “ representing the firm commitment against any turn away from God.
Above these two staffs is found a brilliant, eradiated sun. In ecclesial heraldry, the brilliant, burning sun represents Divine Grace and/or Mercy. It is also the symbol for the Resurrection and Christ glorified. The Book of Genesis tells us that the sun, moon and stars were created on the fourth day and as such they have held symbolic import for thousands of years. In the design process for Bishop Swain’s heraldic achievement, the bishop-elect stressed the need for him to commemorate all the Divine Mercy that has come to him throughout his life, particularly in his conversion to the Catholic faith and during his entrance into the priesthood of Christ. To bring specific attention to this emblem, the designer selected a line division known as enarched so that prominence would be given to the fullness of the sun design and to the import of its spiritual symbolism. The sun is rendered as proper, that is to say in gold as is properly used when depicting it.
Gold in ecclesial armorial is traditionally representative of the sun, which in church heraldry also translates to the Son of God and therefore is symbolic of the of the Second Person of the Trinity from Whom all Mercy and Grace flow. Gold also represents Divine Truth and therefore translates to the gift of the teaching authority of the Office of Bishop, which Paul J. Swain now enters.
Thus comprises the description of the heraldic shield of Bishop Paul J. Swain. However, there are external elements to every ecclesial coat of arms design that must also be explained. Surmounting the episcopal shield is the pilgrim’s hat, the heraldic emblem for all prelates and priests of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church for more then one thousand years. For the rank of bishop, both residential and titular, the pilgrim’s hat is always worked in deep green, the true color of the Office of Bishop. A scarlet silk lining has been the norm for all clerics in the Catholic Church since the Renaissance. For the rank and office of bishop there are six tassels suspended on either side of the hat in a pyramidal style. The hat is properly known in the Church as the galero and the tassels take the name fiocchi. These, too, are worked in green for the rank of bishop.
Behind Bishop Swain’s coat of arms is found the episcopal cross. For the bishops, this cross has only one transverse arm. The cross may be jeweled or depicted as plain and most resembles the processional cross used in liturgies. When Bishop Swain discussed his new armorial design, he requested one last symbolic remembrance—further reference to one of his primary patrons Saint Raphael the Archangel. In addition, October is also the month honoring the various choirs of angels and as this is the month of the bishop’s consecration it was important to recognize this as well.
As the episcopal cross is one of the most prominent external elements in his design, the Angelic Cross, a cross worked with sets of angel’s wings cut into each of the four compartments representing all of the choirs of angels, and with a central multi-faceted cut sapphire, known as the stone of Heaven of the Blessed Virgin because of its deep brilliant blue radiance and representing all the graces emanating from Heaven because of its many facets, was specifically created by Bishop Swain’s heraldic designer to honor this special patronage in a prominent way.
Overall, Bishop Swain’s episcopal coat of arms has remained faithful to the style of Church heraldry originally developed in the Middle Ages. It is this ancient style that the Church continues to demand in the seals of office of each diocesan bishop, and of the co-adjutors and the titular bishops as well, whose seals traditionally derive from the design of the personal coat of arms.
MOTTO
In heraldry, a motto has been both a personal philosophy of life as well as a family dictum, and sometimes even a cry for battle. But in Church heraldry, a prelate’s personal motto has always been intended to represent his personal spirituality and theologically based philosophy of life and is most frequently grounded in Sacred Scripture or in a prominent prayer or litany.
Bishop Swain selected for his motto the opening words of Psalm 117: CONFITEMINI DOMINO, which translates into English as “Give Praise to the Lord” – the words by which Paul J. Swain has lived his life as a convert to Roman Catholicism, in his vocation as a priest of the Church, and now which he intends as the hallmark of his episcopacy in the fullness of Holy Orders. In full, the first paragraph of this beautiful Psalm reads:
Give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures forever. Let Israel say, that he is good: that his mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say, that his mercy endures forever. Let all that fear the Lord say that his mercy endures forever.
In my trouble I called upon the Lord: and the Lord heard me, and uplifted me.
The motto, or device, is always depicted below the shield and is most commonly (and properly) found inscribed upon a satin ribbon.
THE APOSTOLIC SUCESSION OF PAUL J. SWAIN
All bishops of the Catholic Church enjoy a direct line of succession to one or more of the Twelve Apostles, as from the very foundation of the Church only a bishop possessed the power to consecrate, or ordain, another. And so, every bishop that the Church has ever nominated, from the foundation of the Church on the First Holy Thursday through today, forms part of an unbroken line of episcopal sacramental continuity.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote of this bond to the early Christian fathers from the Vatican in May 2006 saying: "In this way the succession of the episcopal function is ... a guarantee of the endurance of apostolic tradition. The link between the college of bishops and the original community of the Apostles may be seen, above all, as a form of historical continuity. ... However, continuity may also be considered in a spiritual sense, because apostolic succession in the ministry is a privileged place for the action and transmission of the Holy Spirit."
Paul J. Swain’s episcopal lineage can be accurately verified to the mid-sixteenth century. Although we know that all bishops of the Church can assure their unbroken episcopal genealogy back to the Apostolic College, it is rare that specific written records still survive beyond the late fifteenth or early sixteenth centuries. Nevertheless, we know beyond any doubt whatsoever that every bishop consecrated in the fullness of Holy Orders throughout the history of the Catholic Church maintains an unbroken line back to the Apostolic College, as both Church law and liturgical custom required nothing less.
Although modern bishops are today routinely consecrated in the local cathedrals throughout the world, before the early nineteenth century, nearly all episcopal consecrations took place in Rome and therefore, all roots to every new bishop’s succession lineage eventually return to the heart of the Church at Rome.
When he is consecrated a bishop on 26 October 2006, Bishop Swain will be able to claim some of the most illustrious Churchmen in the history of the modern Church as his spiritual fathers, as predecessors in the Apostolic Succession are properly known.
This imposing lineage, which includes six historic popes, begins when Bishop Swain will be consecrated (or ordained to the episcopal dignity) at the hands of Archbishop Harry Flynn, Metropolitan Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Archbishop Flynn was born in 1933 in Schenectady in New York and was ordained a priest of the Albany Diocese on May 28, 1960. In 1986 Pope John Paul II, Servant of God, elevated Father Flynn to the episcopal dignity and translated him to the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana as Co-Adjutor Bishop. He succeeded as bishop of Lafayette in 1989 but in 1994 Pope John Paul named him Co-Adjutor with rights to succession to the Metropolitan Archiepiscopal See of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, which he fully assumed as Ordinary the following year. From this consecration of Bishop Swain by Archbishop Flynn, in reverse order, we can now establish Bishop Swain’s personal line in the Apostolic Succession.
Archbishop Flynn was himself consecrated a bishop in 1986 at the hands of Howard James Hubbard, Bishop of Albany. Bishop Hubbard was born in 1938 and has been a priest for forty-three years and a bishop for nearly thirty, all of which have been spent in his native See of Albany. It was Terrance Cardinal Cooke of New York who ordained Hubbard a bishop. Cooke was an illustrious but quiet figure in American church history. He was born in 1921 and received all of his pre-ordination training from a variety of seminaries and universities in the United States. In 1941 New York’s Cardinal Spellman ordained Cooke to the priesthood in Manhattan’s Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. It was Francis Spellman who also elevated Cooke to the post of Auxiliary Bishop of New York, consecrating him on December 15, 1965. Three years later, Pope Paul VI elevated Cooke as Archbishop at the death of Spellman. The following year, April 28, 1969, the same pope named him a cardinal-priest in the title of Saints John and Paul (Giovanni e Paolo). Cooke died in 1983.
When Terrance Cooke was ordained a bishop at the hands of Spellman, amongst others, he came to the episcopacy through one of the most important church figures ever know. Francis Spellman was born in 1889 outside of Boston. When he showed a keen intellect and interest in a vocation he entered priestly studies, eventually being transferred to Rome and the Pontifical North American College and the most prestigious university Propaganda Fide. There he was ordained a priest in 1916. Sixteen years hence he was elevated to the episcopacy, being consecrated the titular bishop of Silva at the hands of (then) Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, Secretary of State for Pope Pius XI. Pacelli, of course later became pope himself, as Pius XII, thus finding the first pope within the episcopal lineage and Apostolic Succession of Bishop Paul J. Swain.
The Pacelli were a noble house and family in Rome. Eugenio, a generally unhealthy child, was born in 1876 and was educated mainly at home by his mother, tutors and by his uncle, a Roman pastor by the name of Padre Giuseppe Pacelli, a younger brother to young Eugenio’s father. In late teenage years, Eugenio was enrolled at the Pontifical Gregorian University and thereafter at the Sant’Apollonare and in 1899, at the age of twenty-three, he was ordained a priest. Eugenio never served in parochial life. He quickly entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (then known as the Pontifical Academy for Noble Ecclesiastics), a training ground for future curial officers and papal diplomats, and thereafter entered the Secretariat of State where he remained most of his career. At the age of forty-one he was elevated to the office of bishop and sent to the Kingdom of Bavaria as nuncio (papal ambassador). Because of the church’s high regard for this young prelate, Eugenio Pacelli was consecrated a bishop in the Sistine Chapel on May, 13, 1917 at the hands of Pope Benedict XV (born Giacomo della Chiesa). And to Bishop Swain’s Apostolic Succession we had a second pontiff.
Giacomo della Chiesa (Benedict XV) was born at Pegli on November 21, 1854. He served as archbishop of Bologna and was likewise consecrated inside the Sistine Chapel. It was Pope Saint Pius X (born Giuseppe Sarto) whose hands ordained della Chiesa a bishop on December 22, 1907. He was joined in this sacred rite by the Archbishop of Cagliari (Mons. Pietro Balestra) and by the Archbishop of Vercelli (Mons. Teodoro Valfre di Bonzo).
Pope Saint Pius X is the third pontiff found in the prestigious Apostolic Succession of Bishop Swain. He was born Giuseppe Sarto on June 2, 1835 at Riese. He was ordained in 1858 and came to the episcopacy twenty-six years later when he was consecrated on November 16, 1884 at the church of Sant’Apollonare at the hands of the Papal Vicar for Rome, Cardinal Lucido Maria Parocchi. Before his election to the papacy, Sarto (Pius X) served as Bishop of Mantova and as the Patriarch of Venice.
It was Lucido Maria Parocchi who consecrated Sarto a bishop. Parocchi was Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and Cardinal-Bishop of the Suburbicarian See of Albano at the time of his consecration of the future pope. He had served as Archbishop of Bologna and previously as Bishop of Pavia and ended his career as the incumbent in the order of Cardinal-Bishops in the See of Porto e Santa Rufina. Parocchi was 25 years a cardinal, 31 a bishop and 47 a priest and consecrated twenty-one prelates in the Office of Bishop by the time of his death. But when he was himself named a bishop in 1871, he was consecrated in the church of the Trinità del Monti, the baroque gem that crowns the Spanish Steps at the head of the via Condotti in Rome. Parocchi’s principal consecrator on that day was the famous Cardinal Patrizi-Naro.
By the time of Parocchi’s consecration rites, Costantino Cardinal Patrizi-Naro, his primary consecrator, was already quite ancient. Patrizi-Naro, in fact, spent a great deal of the last years of his life performing the Rite of Consecration of a Bishop, as most new appointments to this office traveled to Rome for the ceremonies marking their elevation. Patrizi-Naro was the Titular Archbishop of Philippi when he ordained Parocchi. He had been consecrated a bishop as a very young man in 1828 and so by 1871 had been a bishop for forty-three years. At his own rites in 1828, Patrizi-Naro was consecrated by Carlo Cardinal Odescalchi of a famous princely family at the church of Santa Caterina da Sienna in Rome.
Odescalchi was a Jesuit scholar of note and was then the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. He, himself, was ordained a bishop in 1823 at the hands of Guilio Cardinal della Somaglia. Odescalchi went on to become the Cardinal-Archbishop of Ferrara. When Somaglia consecrated him at the basilica of the Twelve Apostles thirteen cardinals were in attendance as were two titular patriarchs, Antioch and Constantinople that served as co-consecrators.
Guilio Maria Cardinal della Somaglia lived during the Napoleonic invasions of Rome and saw Pope Pius VII deposed by French soldiers and deported to France. Somaglia was consecrated a bishop in 1788 at the church of San Carlo ai Catinari at hands of Swiss-born Hyacinth-Sigismond Cardinal Gerdil of Geneva. Gerdil, a priest of the Barnabite Order of St. Paul, was a noted writer and linguist who lived much of his life in Rome, serving as Cardinal-Prefect of the Propaganda Fide. He was consecrated in 1777 by Marcantonio Cardinal Colonna, the Papal Vicar for Rome and a scion of one of the most prestigious of Rome’s many dominant noble families, and himself one of the most influential cardinals the Roman Curia has ever known. He, like Somaglia, was consecrated at the Church of San Carlo ai Catinari.
Because of the power and wealth of the Colonna, Marcantonio was himself consecrated a bishop by Pope Clement XIII in 1762 in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace of the Quirinale (then the primary papal residence, later the home of the kings of united Italy and now the home of the Republic of Italy’s presidency). In Clement XIII a fourth pontiff to Bishop Swain’s Apostolic Succession is added. Many prestigious prelates joined the pope in consecrating Colonna including the heir to the Stuart claims to the English throne, Henry Cardinal-Duke of York (who was also Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati).
Clement XIII, as Carlo Rezzonico, became a bishop in 1743. He was consecrated in the basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles by none other then Pope Benedict XIV. And so Bishop Swain adds a fifth pontiff to his episcopal lineage. Pope Benedict XIV was born Prospero Lambertini who before coming to papacy served as titular Archbishop of Teodosia, as Ad Personam Archbishop of Ancona and as a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. In fact, he was named cardinal in 1726 but his appointment was kept secret, or in petto, until it was announced in 1728. And like so many others that came to the papacy, Pope Lambertini was also Archbishop of Bologna. But he rose to the episcopacy when he was name a bishop by Benedict XIII who consecrated him in the Pauline Chapel of the Quirinale in 1724. And in Pope Benedict XIII’s act of consecration, Bishop Swain adds a sixth pontiff to his lineage.
Benedict XIII was an Orsini, one of Rome’s mightiest feudal families. Orsini was a Dominican and the Cardinal-Archbishop of Manfredonia when he came to the Petrine Office. Earlier, when he had become bishop in 1675, Orsini was consecrated at the church of Saints Dominic and Sixtus, a church under the spiritual care of his order, at the hands of Cardinal Pauluzzo degli Albertoni Altieri (known historically as Cardinal Altieri). The Altieri were amongst the richest and most powerful families that Italy had ever known and they provided the Church with many priests, abbots and cardinals through the centuries. At the time of the Orsini consecration, Altieri was the Cardinal-Bishop of Montefiascone e Corneto. His own consecration had taken place in the church of San Selvestro in Capite at the hands of Ulderico Carpegna.
Cardinal Carpegna, then also the Bishop of Gubbio, was himself consecrated a bishop in 1630 at the hands of Luigi Cardinal Caetani (the Titular Patriarch of Antioch), yet another illustrious nobleman who had entered the Church. These rites took place in the favored Pauline Chapel of the Quirinale as much of the Vatican complex had fallen into disrepair and no pope had lived there for well over a century.
Luigi Caetani became a bishop at the hands of Cardinal-Prince Ludovisi of the papal house of Ludovisi-Boncompagni; he was at the time Cardinal-Archbishop of Bologna. The Caetani rite of consecration took place at the Esquiline Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in June 1622.
Ludovisi was ordained a bishop only the year before in 1621 in the palatine chapel of the residence of his main consecrator Archbishop Galeazzo San Vitale, emeritus archbishop of Bari and then Prefect of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, a post commonly known as the Papal Sacristan.
San Vitale was, in turn, consecrated a bishop in 1604 in the chapel of the Apostolic Sacristy (close to the Sistine Chapel inside the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican) which was then in his domain as Papal Sacristan. Dominican Cardinal Girolamo Bernerio who became a bishop himself in 1586 consecrated San Vitale . As for Bernerio, at his appointment as Bishop of Ascoli, he was consecrated at the basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles at the hands of Cardinal Guilioantonio Santorio. Santorio was the Archbishop of Santa Severina and had himself been consecrated in 1566 at the Quirinale. At the time of his episcopal ordination, the principal consecrator, Scipione Rebiba, was both a cardinal and the Ad Commendam Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.
Scipione Cardinal Rebiba was elevated to the episcopacy in 1541 when he was ordained to the episcopal dignity as auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Pietro Carafa of illustrious renown at Chieti.
When lines of Apostolic Succession eventually lead to Cardinal Rebiba, tracing the formal lineage of a newly ordained bishop official ends as the records pertaining to Cardinal Rebiba’s episcopal consecration and those immediately preceding him in office were destroyed in a fire in Chieti, the village north of Rome where Rebiba first became Auxiliary Bishop. As the oral history goes no further as well, we cannot formally list the remaining lineage of Bishop Swain’s Apostolic Succession but nevertheless we can still be certain, beyond any doubt whatsoever, that each bishop named today enjoys the unbroken, sacred lineage to one, or more, of the Twelve Apostles of Christ.
