Feature News

Pallium pins: A gift from a friend

Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ana Rodriguez-Soto - Florida Catholic

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC Attorney Tom Equels, next to his wife, Laura, presents his friend and motorcycle-riding partner Archbishop Thomas Wenski with a gift during the Rome pilgrimage: the three pins that are affixed to the pallium which he received from the Holy Father.

ROME — Attorney Tom Equels has known Archbishop Thomas Wenski for many years — since his days as a priest at Notre Dame d’Haiti Church in Miami. On occasion, the two have been known to take motorcycle rides together.

Equels was among those who joined Archbishop Wenski in Rome for the Mass where he received his pallium from Pope Benedict XVI. The day after the ceremony, Equels gave Archbishop Wenski a gift: three gold pins, each set with a ruby, to complete the ornamentation of the pallium. The pins are meant to be a reminder of the nails with which Christ was crucified.

Made of lamb’s wool, the pallium is the symbol of an archbishop’s office: In this case, Archbishop Wenski’s role as Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Miami, which encompasses the seven dioceses of Florida. The archbishop must wear the pallium over the chasuble whenever he celebrates Mass in his province.

The pallium also symbolizes the union of all the archbishops with the pope. In his homily at the pallium Mass, Pope Benedict called it “a bond of love and an incentive for courage.”

Archbishop Wenski recalled those words during a Mass June 30 at the cathedral of the Diocese of Albano: “Pray for me,” he said, “that this pallium will truly be a bond of love uniting me with him and the other bishops and also a bond of courage as I lead the Archdiocese of Miami.”

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC The pallium pins are made of gold and encrusted with a ruby.

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC This is the pallium, without the pins inserted, which Archbishop Thomas Wenski received from Pope Benedict XVI.

Photos of the pallium pilgrimage are posted — and can be purchased — at www.dotphoto.com. Sign in as a guest, then put in the username “flcmiami” to go to the pallium pilgrimage albums.