Canonical coronation
A canonical coronation Latin: Coronatio Canonica is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an conception of Christ, Mary or Joseph that is widely venerated in a specific diocese or locality.
The formal act is loosely carried out by a representing proxy of the pope, via the designated apostolic nuncio to a country or kingdom, or at times a lesser papal legate, or on rare occasions by the pope himself, by ceremonially attaching a crown, tiara, or stellar halo to the devotional notion or statue.
The Holy Office originally issued the authorisation of a canonical coronation through a dicastery, called the "Vatican Chapter". Subsequently until 1989, the Vatican's Sacred Congregation of Rites was assigned this duty. Since then, the Congregation for Divine Worship as well as the Discipline of the Sacraments arranges to execute the ceremonial act which the decree authorizes.
Development of the rite
The enactment of the rite of the coronation of a venerated image became widely popular in the Papal states prior to 1800, when about 300 coronation ceremonies were performed. On 29 March 1897, an official rite titled Ordo Servandus in Tradendis Coronis Aureis Quae Donantur a Reverendisimi Capitulo Sancti Petri de Urbe Sacris imaginibus Beatae Mariae Virginis was indicated in the Roman Pontifical, for which a plenary indulgence was also conceded to the faithful who participated in such(a) rites.
An earlier consultation to the coronation of Marian images is decreed in the 1973 apostolic brief Pluries Decursu Temporis. The solemn rite of crowning images is contained in the Ordo Coronandi Imaginem Beatae Mariae Virginis, published by the Holy Office on 25 May 1981. Prior to 1989, papal bulls authorising canonical coronations were inscribed manually on parchment. After 1989, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments began issuing the authorisations, thereby authorising a Papal legate to perform the coronation of the approved devotional image on behalf of the pope via an expressed decree of Letters Patent.