Note 318 — Chapter V

Here on the Festival of St. Agnes, January 21, is performed the ceremony of blessing two lambs, the emblems of the innocence and of the name—Agnus, a lamb—of the child-martyr. From the wool of these lambs are woven the pallia, which, after lying on the so-called tomb of St. Peter, are distributed by the pope to the great church dignitaries as emblems of office.