Imposition of Pallium Mass For Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R. Set for September 14

On Thursday, September 14, 2017, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, The Most Reverend Christophe Pierre, will impose the Pallium on Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., sixth Archbishop of Newark, in a special Mass to be celebrated in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. The Mass is set to begin at 2:00 p.m.

The pallium is a special liturgical garment worn only by Metropolitan Archbishops – those prelates who preside over an ecclesiastical province. The Province of New Jersey consists of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Dioceses of Trenton, Camden, Paterson and Metuchen.

A narrow circular band of white lamb’s wool with two bands hanging from front to back, the pallium is decorated with six black crosses that recall the wounds of the crucified Christ and adorned with three pins that symbolize the nails of the Crucifixion. It is worn around the neck. The Holy Father bestows a Pallium as a symbol of an Archbishop’s close relationship to the Holy See.

The Mass of Imposition of the Pallium will be the first such liturgy to take place in the Cathedral Basilica in 63 years, when Archbishop Thomas Boland, the second Archbishop of Newark, received his pallium on October 19, 1954. The first Archbishop of Newark, Archbishop Thomas Walsh, received his pallium in the Cathedral on April 27, 1938.

Archbishops Peter L. Gerety and John J. Myers, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick each received the pallium directly from the Holy Father in liturgies that took place at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.