Cappella Papale

The papal litter

Pie-XII-Sedia
Pope Pius XII on the sedia gestatoria accompanied by the members of the Papal Court.

Threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel surround the bed of Solomon. All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man’s sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night. King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus: the pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem. Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his engagement  and of the joy of his heart. [(Canticles 3, 7-11) own translation]