Crossbearer

Cross-bearer (cruciger).

1. In the Romish Church, the designation of the chaplain of an archbishop, or a primate, who bears a cross before him on solemn occasions. The pope has the cross borne before him everywhere; a patriarch anywhere out of Rome; and primates, metropolitans, and those who have a right to the pallium, throughout their respective jurisdictions. A prelate wears a single cross, a patriarch a double cross, and the pope a triple cross on his arms.

2. The name cross-bearers ("cruciferi") was also applied to the Flagellants in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. SEE FLAGELLANTS.