Tri-Regnum

With Pope Leo’s coronation on Sunday, the celebration is much different than what it was in the past, at least until 1963. Now the coronation is with a mitre, the shepherd’s ring and the pallium. But in the past, the coronation was with a tri-regnum, a heavy crown that stopped with Pope Paul VI. He actually was crowned with it, but he decided to sell it for charity. It is presently in a Museum in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. On Christmas Day 1964, Paul VI gave a blessing Urbi et Orbi (to the City and the World ) wearing the bishop’s mitre. Never again did he or any of his successors choose to wear a tiara or a tri-regnum (three-tiered crown.) That was the last time the tri-regnum was used. It is called tri-regnum since it has three levels of gems and precious jewels, and is obviously very heavy. 

Pope St Paul VI wearing the tri-regnum crown

Apart from John Paul I, all of Paul VI’s successors had (still have) their own tiaras. In each case, they were given as a gift to the popes: John Paul II received the tiara in 1981 from the faithful from Hungary; In 2011, Dieter Philippi, a German businessman and famous collector of headgear, gave Benedict XVI a tiara made by a factory specializing in creating liturgical vestments for the Byzantine liturgy; while in 2016, Francis was presented with the tiara by the then president of the Macedonian parliament. None of these tiaras have ever been used or publicly displayed.