The Biretta shows that the liturgy is a sacred act.

It also shows how precious the Holy Name of Jesus is. Everytime the Holy Name is uttered, the Priest removes his Biretta out of respect and awe for the Name of the Lord.

The three tabs on the top of the Biretta are called horns, reminder of the Ram’s horns that used to call people to worship in the Old Testament. Ram’s horns also used to keep the oil when a King or prophet was consecrated.

Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father so the arch is on the right hand side of the biretta.

The gap around the middle tab shows the human and divine natures of Christ on either side.

The empty side shows that there is more work to do to teach about the faith.

The four corners symbolise that the gospel must be preached to the four corners of the earth, all nations must be taught the saving truths of the Catholic Faith.

The pom pom symbolises the round world, it’s not perfect, it’s straggly and we must reach it with the gospel.

The four corners also teach the truths about the Church, that she is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

Turn it upside down and it represents the tomb of Jesus, flip it over and look at the three tabs representing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, for on the third day he rose again from the dead.

Some people place a rosary bead inside the biretta to represent our Blessed Mother Mary, as without her yes Jesus wouldn’t have come into the world.

The Biretta is the last and highest vestment that the Priest puts on as the doctrine of the Trinity, shown in the three tabs, is the greatest and highest of our doctrines. 

The Priest takes the Biretta from the middle tab and the servers hand it to the Priest so that he can more easily take it from the middle tab. This 2^nd Tab, the middle one, represents Christ the second person of the Trinity, we can grasp something of the Trinity only through Christ and so we use that tab that represents Him as we can only know of the Trinity because Christ, the second person of the blessed trinity revealed it to us.

The Biretta is not a fashionable item nor an item that anyone could be proud to wear. It looks a bit silly and it makes the wearer feel a bit silly but it produces the effect of humility. The Priest recognises that the cross of Jesus is foolishness to our world and a stumbling-block for many, a sign of contradiction. But from death comes life; from defeat, victory. The Biretta keeps the Priest humble, reminding him that he is not there to parade his own personality, but rather that he represents Christ at the altar, to the glory of God.