Galeros very slowly turning to dust
Galeros are broad brimmed, tasseled hats that cardinals receive from the pope when they are installed in office. The hats indicate a cardinal's status as a prince of the church. After the death of a cardinal it's traditional to hang the cardinal's galero from the ceiling above his tomb until it's reduced to dust. This is to show that earthly glory is passing.
St. Patrick's Cathedral in NY has a crypt, and six cardinals (McCloskey, Farley, Hayes, Spellman, Cooke, O'Connor) are entombed there. However, only four galeros hang above the crypt. What happened to the other two galeros? Answer to be posted tomorrow.
By the way, Cardinal McCloskey's galero has been hanging from the ceiling since 1885, and it has a long way to go before it's dust. Hanging galeros from the ceiling until they turn to dust is definitely not the clearest way to show that earthly glory is passing.
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