How endearing to see our Holy Father don the specially created St. Ninian Tartan scarf during his papal ride in Scotland on this day, the Feast of St. Ninian. Ladies, does he not wear a scarf well?



Matthew Newsome, creator of the new tartan, explains the design:

The design incorporates white and yellow (the colors of the Vatican), white and blue (the colors of Scotland), white and red (the colors of John Henry Newman's arms, who will be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI during the visit), and green for the lichens growing on the stones at Whithorn, site of St. Ninian's church.

There are also 8 threads in the wide white line, one for each of the Catholic dioceses of Scotland, and exactly 452 threads pivot to pivot in the thread count, one for each Catholic parish in Scotland.