JOHN PAUL II BLESSES LAMBS ON FEAST OF ST. AGNES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 20, 2001 (VIS) - Pope John Paul, continuing an ancient tradition, this morning blessed several baby lambs whose wool will be used to make the palliums given every year to new metropolitan archbishops as symbols of their office. The ceremony took place in a room adjacent to the Paul VI Hall.

The blessing of the lambs, who are under one year of age, takes place on or near the January 21 feast of St. Agnes for whom the traditional symbol is a lamb. This virgin-martyr died about 350 and is buried in the basilica named after her on Rome's Via Nomentana. Traditionally the lambs are raised by the Trappist fathers of the Abbey of the Three Fountains and, when shorn, their wool is made into the palliums by the sisters of St. Cecilia.
In a 1978 document, "Inter Eximina Episcopalis," Pope Paul VI restricted use of the pallium to the Pope and metropolitan archbishops, In 1984 Pope John Paul decreed that it would be conferred on the metropolitans by the Pope on the June 29 solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles.

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