Benedict XVI : 24

October 2011.

In the above photograph, Pope Benedict is shewn wearing a mitre which we included in a previous post. Only today, however, was the full significance of this mitre made known to me, so I thought it fitting to put up a special post about it.

In the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel D'Oro in the city of Parvia, Italy, was built in the year 1362 an elaborate tomb to house the venerated remains of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church, who had died almost a thousand years earlier.

A recumbent figure of Saint Augustine vested as a mediaeval bishop is the centrepiece of the tomb. Part of that effigy is shewn below. Does the mitre depicted in the effigy look familiar? Yes, indeed. Pope Benedict's mitre, shewn above, is quite a good reproduction of the sculpted mitre on the tomb of Saint Augustine.

Effigy on the tomb of S' Augustine of Hippo.