Catholic Cardinal's ring

Jewelry Discussion
1

I throw myself on the mercy of Orchid.

I desperately need a picture of a Catholic Cardinal’s ring. I have
spent an hour searching the web, and found numerous text references,
but no pictures of the actual ring (lots of photos of Cardinals in
their red robes, but no close-ups of their ring.)

I called the Archdiocese, and they asked me if I could recite the
stations of the cross. When I couldn’t, they couldn’t help me.
(That LAST part was a JOKE, folks.) Don’t want to offend anyone. The
person who I needed to talk to at Archdiocese wasn’t available.

Any of you good Catholics out there know a reference site on the web,
or have a book with the picture which I need?

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157

2

David - the best I could find on short notice is a chapter on The
Religious Use of Rings in the book “Rings for the Finger” by George
Frederick Kunz. I have the paperback Dover edition and the
Cardinal’s ring is discussed at pp. 277-278 and described as gold
with a bezeled sapphire, emerald or ruby. There are a number of
drawings of ecclesiastical rings including Bishop’s rings and
Pope’s rings but no drawings that I found for the Cardinal’s ring.
Hope this helps. Sheridan Reed

3

Hi David,

There are a number of drawings of ecclesiastical rings including 
Bishop's rings and Pope's rings but no drawings that I found for
the Cardinal's ring.

Typically, Cardinals are elevated to that rank from that of Bishop.
They get their rings as part of the consecration rite when they’re
made a Bishop. There’s no requirement for a ‘new ring’ when they’re
made a Cardinal.

This was confirmed by the local diocesan office.

Dave

4

Books I can recommend:

-Rings through the Ages, by Ward, Cherry, Gere & Cartlidge
-The Ring, by Sylvie Lambert
-Rings for the Finger, by George Kunz

ROBB

5

I found a Bishop’s ring at

http://stbrigids-kilbirnie.com/Media/church-uten/bishop-ring-1.jpg
http://stbrigids-kilbirnie.com/Media/church-uten/bishop-ring-2.jpg

A cardinal’s may be the same but with a ruby.

Mary Jackson
Sr. Web Developer
National Arbor Day Foundation

6

Thank you to all of you who put in LOTS of effort helping me with
this. Terri May got it exactly right when she called a photo of the
ring “elusive.” We DID manage to create the ring and shipped this
morning. As usual, with film industry projects, time was of the
essence. (They ALWAYS need ‘yesterday’ delivery .)

p.s. I think I have mentioned THIS one before… We got a call on a
Sunday (we’re closed) for a commercial shoot. They needed (ON
TUESDAY ! ! ! ) three different rings with company logos and colored
enamel. We accomplished that on within deadline.

Anyone who would like to see a photo of the Cardinal’s ring, please
contact me directly, and I’ll email one.

David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157