Cappae and Good Friday

Often at the weekends (even in Lent) I like to provide something a little frivolous, for the amusement and edification of readers. This week it comes via The Far Sight blog, which celebrates all things to do with the cappa magna.

Apparently, every Good Friday the canons of Paterno in Sicily had the privilege of wearing a cappa during the traditional procession through the streets. Read all about it here, but here's a picture to give you an idea of this penitential practice(!):

There are also some fine cappa pictures from Vatican II - I think the ascetic looking Cardinal on the top row, second from the right, is the English/Scots Cardinal Heard (Dean of the Rota and, originally, a priest of the diocese of Southwark), but I'm not entirely sure:

On a more serious note, there is a poignant excerpt from Leo XIII's Quod Apostolici Muneris (28 December 1878), with pictures showing how his predictions have come to pass.