Pope Francis was to be buried at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome on Saturday following a funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square. The ceremony began at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET). Among the oldest traditions that mark the funeral preparations for Pope Francis is the destruction of his signet ring, the Ring of the Fisherman, one of the most storied pieces of papal regalia. Kissing the pope’s ring as a sign of respect is such a famous gesture that is has become a general expression for deference to authority, and the practice occasionally bothered Francis so much on grounds of hygiene and infection control that he would sometimes withdraw his right hand when people went to kiss it as they met him. Each pope gets his own new ring made at his investiture, which is then destroyed at the end of his papacy, which usually but not always coincides with his death. The National Post runs through the history and significance of this ring that is known in Latin as the “Anulus piscatoris.”