Miter (clothing)

The mitra and the episcopal staff.

The mitra, a word from the Latin: mitra and this one from the Greek: μίτρα, "band" or "turban" It is the headdress with which those with episcopal dignity cover their heads during liturgical services. Ordinaries such as mitred abbots and abbesses also use it despite not having episcopal consecration or being women. Those who possess such a privilege are called mitraters in reference, precisely, to the fact that they are empowered to wear the miter. Currently they are made with cardboard lined with fabric (chevron, trevira, linen) or also with a sheet of mica (plastic). Two wide ribbons called infulas hang from the rear edge.

By extension, the position held by the archbishop or bishop, the territory under his jurisdiction, and all the income that he generates, is also called mitre.

Etymology

Origins from the Greek term μίτρα, mítra (Ionian μίτρη mítrē), meaning a piece of armor, usually a metal shield worn around the head. waist and under a breastplate, as mentioned in Homer's Iliad. In later poems, it was used to refer to a headband worn by women for their hair; and a kind of formal Babylonian headdress, as mentioned by Herodotus (Histories 1195 and 7.90).

The verb mitrar means to obtain a bishopric and mitral is applied to what has the shape of a miter.

Origin

Mitra of Bishop Sztojkovics, Hungary, ca. 1860, stolen in 1989

In ancient Judaism, members of the Sanhedrin wore sacred garments described in the Book of Exodus. From the head ornament known as mitznefet derives the miter adopted by Christianity. However, some Greek and Roman priests also wore some type of diadem, crown or band around their head.

Around the V century, a semi-ovoid bonnet worn by bishops at functions was known in the Eastern Church and it is possible that in the western one there would be some other to shelter the head and without liturgical character. But these garments lacked the uniformity and significance that the true episcopal miter has as it appears in some miniatures.

The first known figurative representation of the miter is found in codices from the XI century and the first official document that speaks of it is a bull of Pope Leo IX, dated 1049. However, the oldest surviving mitres date from after the century. XIII.

It can be deduced from some codices that the miter must have started to be used around the middle of the X century, but only by privilege or concession pontifical that was repeated in particular cases and almost a couple of centuries had to elapse for such use to be common and ordinary. The first concession that an abbot obtained to use the miter dates from the year 1000 AD. C. and although it was a purely personal concession, it was followed by many others that resulted in the stable privilege of being able to use said garment in certain monasteries (mitrated abbots).

Evolution of the miter

Mitra evolution since the centuryXI to the present

San Isidoro de Sevilla with mitra, portrayed by Murillo

The ancient graphic representations of mitres and the authentic exemplars of this garment that have been preserved since the XIII century They let us know the successive evolutions of it that occurred in the following way:

• throughout the centuryXI the mitra consisted of a conical birnet adorned with a simple tape or gallon around the forehead, called circulus, hanging behind the ends of it, called ♪, which are a symbol of power, of consecration to divinity and its dedication to the interpretation of the Old and New Testaments.
• at the beginning of the centuryXII rounding the conical tip and then plunging the mitre to the central part forming to the sides rounded paths that in many specimens end in tip and remains the mitre with side ends, very common in the centuryXIIto the beginning of the centuryXIII. From the centuryXII, are adorned some mitres with embroidery and pedreria according to the style of each time. Also embroidered the tapes that hang behind the mitre called sparkling, tracolos and fanones, which in the Middle Ages came to have suspended gold bells.
• at the end of that centuryXII begin in some models to place the ends of the mitra ahead and behind, instead of the sides and are adorned with a vertical gallon or tituluscontinuing as before circulus like ♪.
• after following the previous arrangement of greater width than height, in the centuryXIV it acquires higher height with sharpening of the tips equaling the height and width at the end of it.
• the height of the mitre continues to grow in the following centuries until reaching an almost double height than the width in the centuries XVII and XVIII. In the centuryXVI angular ends are transformed into pointed arches.
• Although there are mitras in different liturgical colors, some old, the color established normatively is white or golden.

Use

In the Catholic sphere, the miter is one of the ornaments typical of the episcopal order, and therefore it is used in most liturgical celebrations by ecclesiastics invested with such order. Exceptionally, it is granted to those ecclesiastics who, not being bishops, have the right to use pontificals: non-bishop cardinals, mitred abbots, capitular dignities, etc.

The liturgical evolution gave rise to the differentiation of three types of miter: precious, golden and simple. In many cases two of them were used, alternating according to the liturgical moment.

• La beautiful (in Latin, mitra pretiosa) is adorned with embroidery, in many cases with pedreria, and used in solemn acts when no other type of mitra was specified. Minor prelates with pontifical uses could not use it.
• La golden mitra (in Latin, mitra auriphrygiata) it does not carry embroidery but it is covered with gold bread, and it was used in the pontificales held during the Advent and Lent, in non solemn blessings and in certain parts of the pontifical mass, alternating with the precious, as was the case of the sermon.
• La mitra simple (in Latin, mitra simplex) is a white mitre without adornment, which was used at the funerals, in the offices of Good Friday, and when the one who carried it was not the main office of the ceremony. The simple mitre of the cardinals in collegiate acts is made of a lady's fabric; the simple mitre of the Pope is bound by a golden galon.

After the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, only two types of miter were differentiated, the precious and the simple, the golden having remained. assimilated to the precious. The simultaneous use of two mitres in the same celebration is not contemplated.

• La beautiful is used on all occasions when the simple mitra is not required.
• La mitra simple is used at funerals and in participation in collegial celebrations. The one of the cardinals is still adamascada and the pope continues to use it in gold.