Ecclesiastical ring gold, stone-set ring. Roman Catholic bishops traditionally have their episcopal ring set with an amethyst. Aside from the rings a bishop purchases or is given by others, his rings belong to the Church; he will have inherited the previous bishop's ring collection, which is held in trust. While all hierarchs are accorded the honor of being buried wearing a ring, all rings belonging to the Church will be returned to the Church upon the retirement or death of any hierarch. In a Decree of Pope Boniface IV (A.D. 610) it describes monks raised to the episcopal dignity as "anulo pontificali
Ring a Ring o' Roses article from the "Brooklyn Eagle". A group of young children (the eldest being about seven) form a ring, from which a boy takes out a girl and kisses her. An early version of the rhyme occurs in a novel of 1855, "The Old Homestead" by Ann S. Stephens: <poem> A ring – a ring of roses, Laps full of posies; Awake – awake! Now come and make A ring – a ring of roses.</poem> The novel goes on to describe a nineteenth-century Fourth of July celebration by children housed in a hospital in Roosevelt Island, New York (then known as