Procession of the Holy Nail

Procession with the relic of the Holy Nail leaving the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Milan, 21 June 1939. The cross-shaped reliquary is carried by Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, who, like the canons accompanying him, wears a mitre on his head, which is one of the characteristic features of the Ambrosian rite. What we cannot see in the black and white photograph is the red colour of the vestments. It is also worth paying attention to the altar boy assisting the canon visible in the foreground, who holds his cope in one hand and his ferula in the other (the second one can be seen behind the reliquary).