Papal tiara tiara bearing three crowns. The papal tiara was never worn for liturgical celebrations, such as Mass. At such functions the Pope, like other bishops, wore a mitre. However, a tiara was worn during the solemn entrance and departure processions, and one or more could be placed on the altar during the elaborately ceremonial Pontifical High Mass. The tiara was thus worn in formal ceremonial processions, and on other occasions when the pope was carried on the "sedia gestatoria", a portable throne whose use was ended by Pope John Paul II immediately after his election in October 1978. His short-lived predecessor,
History of the chair Roman chairs were of marble, also adorned with sphinxes. The curule chair was originally very similar in form to the modern folding chair, but eventually received a good deal of ornament. The most famous of the very few chairs which have come down from a remote antiquity is the reputed Chair of Saint Peter in St Peter's Basilica at Rome. The wooden portions are much decayed, but it would appear to be Byzantine work of the 6th century, and to be really an ancient sedia gestatoria. It has ivory carvings representing the labours of Hercules. A few pieces of an