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Rings in Connection with Ecclesiastical Usages

THE ring has, for many ages, formed a part of ecclesiastical insignia. It appears to have had a twofold purpose and signification, the one as a mark of dignity and authority, the other symbolic of the mystical union between the priesthood and the Church.

To commence with the head of the Romish hierarchy: that distinguished authority on antiquarian topics, Mr. Octavius Morgan, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., &c., has contributed to the 'Archæologia' (vol. xl. p. 392) a very interesting account of 'Episcopal and other Rings of Investiture;' and, since the publication of that paper, has kindly informed me that Mr. Waterton states, from his own knowledge, that the 'Fisherman's Ring' is the Pope's ring of investiture, and is placed on his finger immediately after his election, before it is engraved. But if, as it sometimes happens, the Pope-elect is not a bishop, he is consecrated prior to his coronation as Supreme Pontiff, and receives the ring with the usual formula, except that the consecrating cardinal kisses his hand after investing him with the ring. There is a ring which the Pontiff wears on state occasions-the stone of which is an exquisitely fine cameo, cut in bloodstone, of the head of Our Saviour-which is known to be more than three hundred 6