Vatican, Jan. 22, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI blessed two lambs on January 21, the feast of St. Agnes, in a traditional ceremony held in the Urban VIII chapel at the Vatican. Wool from these lambs will be used to make the pallium: the white liturgical vestment worn by archbishops to symbolize their metropolitan authority.The lambs blessed by the Pontiff were raised by Trappist monks from the Roman abbey of Tre Fontane. They will be shorn by the nuns of St. Cecilia’s convent in the city’s Trastevere section, who will then fashion the vestments. The palliums are kept in a niche under the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica under June 29-- the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul-- when they are conferred upon all the new archbishops appointed during the past year.
The lamb is the symbol of St. Agnes, a 4th-century martyr. The blessing of the lambs is an old Vatican tradition that was revived by Pope John Paul II.