In honor of Bishop Paula Clark’s visit to St. Michael’s this past weekend, this next installment of “Symbols of our Faith” is all about the bishop’s crosier and mitre.
The word mitre itself has over time referred various article of clothing or armor, but most recently headdresses or turbans worn in ceremony, including the headdress worn by the Jewish high priest. As Christianity became the formal religion of the Roman Empire, the mitre (and papal tiara) became ceremonial headdresses for popes and bishops. It wasn’t until around 1150 that the mitre was commonly used by most bishops in the Roman Catholic Church. In the Anglican Church, the mitre fell out of use at the Reformation, but was restored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In The Episcopal Church, our first Presiding Bishop, Samuel Seabury, wore one as early as 1786. The unique shape is rumored to have been influenced by the Book of Acts, and was thought to resemble the tongues of fire that rested upon the disciples heads. Modern bishops, upon wearing the mitre, symbolize modern day apostles, and through their ministries the Holy Spirit empowers the church to be Christ’s body in the world.
In addition to wearing the mitre, a bishop usually carries a crosier: a stylized shepherd’s crook symbolizing the office of the bishop, and their responsibility to “guide” the “sheep” in their church as its shepherd, following in the steps of the Good Shepherd. The particular history of the crozier is unknown, but staffs were common in the ancient world, and shepherds are powerful symbols throughout Scripture.
For more general information about the crosier and mitre, see the Wikipedia articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosier and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitre .
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