VATICAN II BISHOP'S RING

PopePaul VI ring

When the world's Roman Catholic bishops concluded the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago each of them were presented with the above ring by Pope Paul VI.

The ring is a simple gold ring which shows Jesus in the centre flanked by the Apostles Peter and Paul.

The above ring belongs to me and originally belonged to a bishop who was a Council Father from the USA. When I got is some years ago I had it strengthened by a jeweller friend.

Called the “mitre ring,” it was designed in the 1965 by a famous Italian sculptor called Enrico Manfrini (1917 - 2004).

Enrico Manfrini

0s by the late sculptor Enrico Manfrini, who created statues or engravings of each pope from Pius XII to John Paul II.

Manfrini designed the miter ring at the request of Pope Paul VI. Cast in gold or silver (gold for bishops and silver for lesser dignitaries), the ring was presented by the pope to commemorate the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Because of the connection to Vatican II, the mitre ring is also called the “council ring.”

The mitre ring was all but forgotten by many until an eBay posting in 2012, when a gold miter ring, complete with its presentation box, came up for sale.

What at the time seemed to be a minor tidbit of history gained a bit more attention when Pope Benedict XVI retired and relinquished his fisherman’s ring (symbol of the pope’s authority). In its place, the retired pope now wears a replica of the mitre ring. (While the former Joseph Ratzinger attended Vatican II, he was not a bishop at the time and did not receive his own miter ring.)

Benedict's mitre ring

The original mitre rings are distinguished from their replicas by the coat of arms of Paul VI which is stamped inside.

Pauk VI coat of arms on inside

The ring gets its headgear moniker from the fact that it is shaped like a mitre. In the peak-shape of the ring’s face is an engraved cross above the figure of Christ. On either side of Christ stand Peter and Paul.

The story grew even more when — for his own fisherman’s ring — Pope Francis chose a ring design that Manfrini had made for Pope Paul VI. Since the late pope preferred another ring, the Manfrini ring only existed as a wax mold kept in the custody of Pope Paul’s former secretary, Msgr. Pasquale Macchi. According to Vatican Radio and confirmed by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, when the monsignor died, he left the mould to his long-time aide, Msgr. Ettore Malnati.

Msgr. Malnati used the mold to cast a ring in gold-plated silver which the prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re proposed to Pope Francis, with a number of other rings, as a potential fisherman’s ring. Pope Francis chose the Manfrini ring and wears it today.

Francis' Manfrini ring