" above all other stones," and that for this reason the great prelates wore it on their fingers.51
The
green variety of tourmaline found in Brazil, and often called "
Brazilian emerald," was for a long time and is now used quite freely in
Brazil as a setting of episcopal rings.52 While this is a
departure from the general usage of selecting a blue stone, preferably
sapphire, for this purpose, it nevertheless finds a parallel in the
employment of emeralds for bishops' rings in quite ancient times, as is
the case with one of the earliest of these rings, that described, or we
should rather say proposed, in the letter of St. Avitus, Bishop of
Vienne in France.
When
a prelate has been raised to the rank of cardinal, he has to resign
any ring he may have been entitled to wear previously, and awaits the
bestowal of the special cardinal's ring by the pope. It is conferred by
the pope personally at the consistory wherein he assigns a title to the
newly-chosen cardinal. This ring is made by a pontifical jeweller; it
is of gold, with a sapphire in the bezel and, on the inside, the arms
of the Sovereign Pontiff. Withal it is rather inexpensive, the average
cost having been put at about $32, although each cardinal is obliged to
pay into the Congregation of the Propaganda the sum of $642 (3,210
francs) as a "ring tax." This payment, however, gives him the valuable
right of bequeathing his property as he pleases by
51
Italian XIV Century MSS. in the author's library. What appears to be a
topaz ring is on the fourth finger of the right hand in Titian's
portrait of Archbishop Filippo Archinto, painted in the middle of the
sixteenth century.
52 Edinburgh Review, July, 1866, p. 247.
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