The Pali-what?

Tricia Hempel, Editor of the Catholic Telegraph of Cincinnati, has a short piece on the history and meaning of the Pallium, which Archbishop Schnurr recieves next week from the Holy Father.

A snippet:

When the pallia are completed, they are brought to St. Peter’s Basilica. On June 28, the Vigil of Sts. Peter and Paul, they are blessed and remain overnight at the altar where St. Peter’s tomb lies.

The garment symbolizes an archbishop’s participation in the pastoral work of the pope and his apostolic succession. If an archbishop is assigned to another archdiocese, he must petition the pope for a new pallium.

References in writing to the pallium appeared as long ago as the early third century, but its use among Western archbishops did not become common until the ninth century.

As a pastoral symbol, the pallium is worn only by the pope and by archbishops who are metropolitans of ecclesiastical provinces; archbishops who serve as secretaries of Vatican congregations or as Vatican ambassadors around the globe do not receive one. The garment is intended to symbolize the authority of a metropolitan archbishop and his communion with the Holy See. It’s usually only worn at formal liturgical occasions within an archdiocese, such as an ordination.