The historic installation of New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks on Friday featured fascinating rituals steeped in Catholic Church tradition.
From knocking at the doors of historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the heart of Manhattan to begin the ceremony to changing the color of the rug inside the majestic house of worship to match Hicks’ status in the Church the archdiocese left no stone unturned when it came to religious pomp and circumstance:
Knock, knock
Before Hicks even stepped inside the cathedral to officially claim his new position, the 58-year-old archbishop engaged in the door-knock.
The tradition involves a new archbishop knocking on St. Pat’s 20,000-pound bronze front doors to be “let in’’ or welcomed to his new position.
In Hicks’ case, he knocked on the doors with a small metal gold-colored tack hammer three times, conjuring up the most important number in the religion, which represents among other things the Holy Trinity.
His predecessor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, also used a hammer — although his had a blue head, and he knocked a total of nine times for good measure.
The doors were opened for Hicks by Father Enrique Salvo, who is rector of the cathedral — before the new archbishop was then warmly welcomed by Dolan.
Direct from Rome
Once everyone is inside, the pope’s ambassador to the US must read an ornately written proclamation at the start of the special Mass to officially announce the new archbishop’s installation.
Papal envoy Cardinal Christophe Pierre read aloud the letter from Pope Leo XIV — who grew up not far from Hicks near Chicago — then held it up to the clergy and rest of the congregation, as is tradition, as proof of its contents.
Throne of power
The new archbishop is then led to his official seat in the cathedral — a historic wooden chair that is to the congregation’s left and perched higher than the altar, giving him a clear view of the congregation.
The seat is called the “Cathedra,” or “chair” in Latin.
Hicks’ taking of the chair from Dolan represented him accepting the reins to the archdiocese, one of the largest in the country with an estimated 2.5 million Catholics.
At Dolan’s final Mass at the helm of the archdiocese Sunday, he kissed the chair.
“I said goodbye to that chair. I said, “Cathedra, you’ve been a great seat for 17 years,’’ he told the news outlet the Free Press in an interview this week.
Green under his feet
The carpet leading up to and under the cathedra at St. Pat’s had to be changed from red to green for Hicks.
It was made red when Dolan became a cardinal in 2012, as he continued to lead the archdiocese, but since Hicks is just an archbishop, it had to be changed to his level’s color.
Coat of arms
Hicks’ personal religious coat of arms — expressed in the form of a hanging banner — replaced Dolan’s over the chair, too.
The new archbishop’s coat of arms includes St. Patrick’s Cross for his new New York flock, a symbol each man in the position adopts, CBS said.
It also features a blue patch to represent Lake Michigan to note when the Illinois native became a bishop in bordering Chicago in 2018.
There is a bit of a rosemary plant, too, to symbolize St. Oscar Romero, a martyr from El Salvador, where Hicks spent five years working with the poor.
The motto on the banner for Hicks — who is fluent in Spanish — is “Paz y Bien,” Spanish for “peace and good.”
Unlike the tassles and other key parts of Dolan’s coat of arms that are red, Hicks’ are green, again to note his lower position as an archbishop.
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