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Mozetta

Bishop Wim Eijk and some canons wearing mozzettas

A short, cape-shaped garment, covering the shoulders and reaching only to the elbow, with an open front, which may be fastened by means of a row of small buttons; at the neck it has a very small and purely ornamental hood. The privilege of wearing the mozzetta belongs properly to no one but the pope, cardinals, exempt abbots, abbots general, and the four prelates di fiochetti; only through a special privilege may it be worn by other ecclesiastics, abbots, canons, etc. Cardinals wear the mozzetta over the mantelletta, but bishops wear it without the mantelletta; the latter, however, may wear the mozzetta only within their own jurisdiction, outside of which the mantelletta must be worn instead of the mozzetta, Canons who have the privilege of wearing the mozzetta, may not use it outside of the church, save when the chapter appears in corpore (as a corporate body). The pope's mozzetta, is always red, except that, in Easterweek, he wears a white one. As regards material, his mozzetta, during the winter half-year, that is, from the feast of St. Catherine to Ascension Day is made of velvet or of cloth according to the character of the day or ceremony; in the summer half-year it is made of satin or fine woolen material (merino). It is edged with ermine only in the winter half-year. A cardinal's mozzetta is generally red; the colour is pink on Gaudete and Laetare Sundays, and violet in penitential seasons and for mourning. According to the time of year, it is made of silk or wool. When worn by bishops, prelates, canons, etc., the mozzetta is violet or black in colour; the material for these dignitaries is properly not silk but wool (camlet). Cardinals and bishops who belong to an order wearing a distinctive religious habit (e. g. the Benedictines, Dominicans, etc.) retain for the mozzetta the colour of the outer garment of the habit of the respective order. This also applies to abbots and Reformed Augustinian canons who have the privilege of wearing the mozzetta. The mozzetta is not a liturgical vestment, consequently, for example, it cannot be worn at the administration of the sacraments. Sometimes it is traced back to the cappa, this making it merely a shortened cappa; sometimes to the almutia. From which of the two it is derived, is uncertain. The name mozzetta permits both derivations. In all probability the garment did not come into use until the latter Middle Ages. It was certainly worn in the latter half of the fifteenth century as is proved by the fresco of Melozzo da Forli painted in 1477: "Sixtus IV giving the Custody of the Vatican Library to Platina". From the beginning the mozzetta has been a garment distinctive of the higher ecclesiastical dignitaries, the pope, cardinals, and bishops. (See HOOD.)

Cunegundes

Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland. She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her infancy it pleased God to give tokens of the eminent sanctity to which she was later to attain. With extreme reluctance she consented to her marriage with Boleslaus II, Duke of Cracow and Sandomir, who afterwards became King of Poland. Not long after their marriage, the pious couple made a vow of perpetual chastity in the presence of the Bishop of Cracow; and Cunegundes, amidst the splendour and pomp of the royal household, gave herself up to the practice of the severest austerities. She often visited the poor and the sick in the hospitals, and cared even for the lepers with a charity scarcely less than heroic. In 1279, King Boleslaus died, and Cunegundes, despite the entreaties of her people that she should take in hand the government of the kingdom, sold all her earthly possessions for the relief of the poor and entered the monastery of the Poor Clares at Sandeck. The remaining thirteen years of her life she spent in prayer and penance, edifying her fellow religious by her numerous virtues, especially by her heroic humility. She never permitted anyone to refer to the fact that she had once been a queen and was foundress of the community at Sandeck.

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Calendar of Saints - February

• February 1: Feria
• February 2: Presentation of the Lord - Feast
• February 3: Saint Blase, bishop and martyr or Saint Ansgar, bishop - Optional Memorial
• February 4: Feria
• February 5: Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr - Memorial
• February 6: Saints Paul Miki and companions, martyrs - Memorial
• February 7: Feria
• February 8: Saint Jerome Emiliani, priest; or Saint Josephine Bakhita, virgin - Optional Memorial
• February 9: Feria
• February 10: Saint Scholastica, virgin - Memorial
• February 11: Our Lady of Lourdes - Optional Memorial
• February 12: Feria
• February 13: Feria
• February 14: Saints Cyril, monk, and Methodius, bishop - Memorial
• February 15: Feria
• February 16: Feria
• February 17: Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order - Optional Memorial
• February 18: Feria
• February 19: Feria
• February 20: Feria
• February 21: Saint Peter Damian, bishop - Optional Memorial
• February 22: Chair of Saint Peter, apostle - Feast
• February 23: Saint Polycarp, bishop and martyr - Memorial
• February 24: Feria
• February 25: Feria
• February 26: Feria
• February 27: Feria
• February 28: Feria
• February 29, occurring only in leap year: Feria^[1]