Lentorama 2013: There's a Name for That

Day 40: sedes stercoraria

We end our 40 days of Catholic things with one of the more legendary items in papal history. The sedes stercoraria, or posterior chair, was said to be used to check the gender of newly-elected popes. The new pope would sit on the chair, and it would be someone's ticklish duty to make sure that the pope had the appropriate male parts. 

The only problem is that there's no record of this ever happening. The purpose for this chair is derived from the hole in the seat - whose actual purpose is unknown, as what existing chairs there are date from Roman times - and the Pope Joan legend, where a woman was purportedly elected pope and only discovered when she gave birth during a procession. Just as there is no record of newly-elected popes getting a ball check, there's also no historical record to confirm a female pope. The legend persists, to some extent because there's no proof (evidence of a Vatican coverup!).

I did stumble across one article that suggested that these chairs were used to verify if a man (not sure if it was a pope specifically or clergy in general) had been castrated. So maybe there's something to the testicle theory.

So there you go. Another Lentorama come and gone. Hope all three of you enjoyed.