Within that article we had noted that while this was, arguably, the most common expression of the formale in its non-penitential form (the form which is made up of three pigna, or pine-cone like objects), there are many examples of other formale.
By way of reminder though, there are three basic types of formale: 1. The Penitential Form. 2. The Common / Ordinary Form. 3. The Solemn Form. Which is used is dependent upon the particular day or season of the liturgical year that we find ourselves in. We have already discussed how the penitential form is manifest, and as to the solemn versus ordinary forms, that is primarily distinguished by the presence (or absence) of decorative stonework on the formale. Those that have such stonework fall into the class of formale used on the most solemn of liturgical and ceremonial occasions, while those that do not fall into the common, day to day form, used for less solemn occasions.
The formale that we are going to feature today all fall into these latter two categories, but unlike the examples we featured in our previous article, which focused on the image of the Holy Spirit, these particular formale are either characterized purely by decorative stonework (the classic solemn form of formale) and/or they include devotional imagery of the saints and the like -- no doubt many of which were selected for reason of their patron saint status in the particular area in which they were used.
With all that in mind then, we begin with those formale of the latter variety; those that include devotional imagery.
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| ca. 1440-1460. Due to the quality of the image, it is difficult to precisely ascertain the saint in question, but it would appear to be an apostle or evangelist. |
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| Manufactured in Rome in 1793, featuring an image of St. John |
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| ca. 1875-1900, featuring the Blessed Virgin Mary |
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| 18th cent. with an image possibly meant to depict St. Jerome |
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| Made in 1477, featuring the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven, surrounded by angels. |
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| circa 1450-1500, featuring possibly St. Roch |
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| ca 18th century, featuring the Trinitarian form of the All Seeing Eye of God. |
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| ca. 1944, featuring possibly St. Fidelis and St.Abundius |
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| circa 1900-1944 |
These next examples are examples of the formale sans any devotional imagery, but which are instead simply ornamented with coloured gemstones. As we had noted earlier, this is one of the classic forms of the solemn version of the formale.
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| ca. 1750-1764 |
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| ca. 1840-1860. While the cameo at the centre does indeed have an image of an unidentified saint, we are going to class this amidst these other gemstone only versions. |
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| 19th cent. |
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| ca. 1790-1799 |
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| 1921 with the arms of the prelate in question who used it. |
