Crozier

Crozier, or pastoral staff, one of the insignia of a bishop, and probably derived from the lituus of the Roman augurs. It is crook-headed, and borne by bishops and archbishops alike (see Pastoral Staff). The word “crozier” or “crosier” represents the O. Fr. crocier, Med. Lat. crociarius, the bearer of the episcopal crook (Med. Lat. crocea, croccia, &c., Fr. croc). The English representative of crocea was crose, later crosse, which, becoming confused with “cross” (q.v.), was replaced by “crozier-staff” or “crozier’s staff,” and then, at the beginning of the 16th century, by “crozier” (see J. T. Taylor, Archaeologia, Iii., “On the Use of the Terms Crosier, Pastoral Staff and Cross”).

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