“The Crosier or Pastoral Staff”, also named “ferrules”, “tau”, or “crook”, according to its shape.

Nowadays, Western regions are only familiar with the curved staff, but formerly the same words “cambutta” or “bacula” equally refered to the various styles, as there was not even a single text relating to form specification to refer to. Strictly speaking , in the Greek Church, there is no ancien text mentionning Pastoral Staff. The staff is straight and embellished with an ivory or ebony knob. Not before the XIII century, did the “volute” staff become the Bishop’s atribute, in the West.

 Origin of the Pastoral Staff. Ferrule, tau.- The Pastoral Staff evidently derives from the traveller’ stick. A long time ago, faithfuls would go to mass with their stick, since the first centuries’ ceremonials would advise them to drop their stick off during the Gospel. It was used as a support during the lenghty ceremonies one would attended to while standing.

That being said, no irrefutable evidence can be found of the Pastoral Staff being used  as such, prior to the V or VI century, although its usage is credibly anterior. A letter from Pope Celestin I (422-432 AD) and the Vitae of Saint Cesarius of Arles († 542 AD) mention the Crosier being used in that manner, and since then texts quote it frequently.

The Pope would carry a straight Pastoral Staff , the “ferrule”, a kind of sceptre ending sometimes with a knob, and more often with a simple or double cross. The Pontiffs carried the ferrules during their induction ceremony in the Lateran. Pope Sixtus V abandonned it in 1585. It can be seen, for instance, in the hands of the statues on the façade of Berteaucourt-aux-Dames (XII century), and on the seal of Phillip, Archbishop of Sens, in 1339.

The “tau” is another type of Pastoral Staff” very common in the Middle Ages till about the XIII century. It owes its name to the letter T which depicts it. The tau of Saint Lou (Bishop from 427 AD to 477 AD), preserved in Briennon-the-Archbishop (Aube) could be the oldest known Pastoral Staff, if truly genuine, as it is believed; the wooden shaft ends with an small ellongated barrel of rock crystal, embedded in a silver socket and topped with a cabochon in a bezel setting. Many others are from carved ivory; for instance, the specimen of Fecamp, dating back to the Romanesque period, with a central character surounded by two volutes. The Deutz model, from the romanesque period too, and that of Gerald, Bishop of Limoges, †1022, are also in ivory; they end with two lion heads. The tau of Abbot Morand (990-1004). In Cluny, is a simple crutch from chiselled ivory.

The specimen from the Soltykoff collection, very fine workmanship of lavish engravings under the shaft. Also noteworthy, is the lead Tau (XII century)  in the Cathedral of Coïmbre, and the amber specimen of the Russian patriarch Philarethe Nikitich, once preserved in the treasure of the Cathedral , in Moscow. It worth pointing out that Taus and Cantal Staffs can be confused, since they have identical shapes.

The oldest crosiers.-  In the very beginning crosiers were just a curved stick; it became one of the Bishop’ symbols and early on, by extension, that of Abbots and Abbesses. All sorts of materials were used to create the various types of Pastoral Staff: wood, ivory, horn, silver, etc. Lead crosiers were also found in tombs, as the one in the tomb of the Abbot of Jumieges, William, † 1142, but they were of symbolic importance.

 (Source - « Liturgia, Popular Encyclopedia for Liturgical Knowledge» published under the  direction of  Abbot R. AIGRAIN -Editions Bloud and Gay, in 1931)