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COPE (M.E. cape, cope, from Med. Lat....

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 96 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COPE (M.E. cape, cope, from Med. See also:Lat. capa, cappa)  , a liturgical vestment of the Western See also:Church . The word " See also:cope," now confined to this sense, was in its origin identical with "cape" and " cap," and was used until comparatively See also:modern times also for an out-See also:door cloak, whether worn by See also:clergy or laity . This, indeed, was its See also:original meaning, the cappa having been an See also:outer garment See also:common to men and See also:women whether clerical or See also:lay (see Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v.) . The word pluviale (See also:rain-cloaks, which the cope bears in the See also:Roman Church, is exactly parallel so far as See also:change of meaning is concerned . In both words the See also:etymology reveals the origin of the vestment, which is no more than a glorified survival of an See also:article of clothing worn by all and sundry in See also:ordinary See also:life, the type of which survives, e.g. in the ample hooded cloak of See also:Italian military See also:officers . This origin is clearly traceable in the shape and details of the cope . When spread out this forms an almost See also:complete semicircle . Along the straight edge there is usually a broad See also:band, and at the See also:neck is attached the " See also:hood " (in Latin, the clypeus or See also:shield), i.e. a shield-shaped piece of stuff which hangs down over the back . The vestment is secured in front by a broad tab sewn on to one See also:side and fastening to the other with hooks, sometimes also by a See also:brooch (called the See also:morse, See also:Lat. morsus) . Sometimes the morse is attached as a See also:mere See also:ornament to the See also:cross-piece . The cope thus preserves the essential shape of its See also:secular original, and even the hood, though now a mere ornamental appendage, is a survival of an actual hood . The See also:evolution of this latter into its See also:present, See also:form was See also:gradual; first the hood became too small for use, then it was transformed into a small triangular piece of stuff (13th See also:century), which in its turn See also:grew (14th and 15th centuries) into the shape of a shield (see See also:Plate II., fig .

4), and this again, losing its pointed tip in the 17th century, See also:

expanded in the 18th into a flap which was sometimes enlarged so as to See also:cover the whole back down to the See also:waist . In its See also:general effect, however, a cope now no longer suggests a " waterproof." It is sometimes elaborately embroidered all over; more usually it is of some See also:rich material, with the See also:borders in front and the hood embroidered, while the morse has given occasion for some of the most beautiful examples of the See also:goldsmith's and jeweller's See also:craft (see Plate II., See also:figs . 5, 6) . The use of the cope as a liturgical vestment can be traced to the end of the 8th century: a pluviale is mentioned in the See also:foundation See also:charter of the monastery of Obona in See also:Spain . Before this the so-called cappa choralis, a See also:black, See also:bell-shaped, hooded vestment with no liturgical significance, had been worn by the secular and See also:regular clergy at See also:choir services, processions, &c . This was in its origin identical with the See also:chasuble (q.v.), and if, as See also:Father Braun seems to prove, the cope See also:developed out of this, cope'and chasuble have a common source.' Father Braun cites numerous inventories and the like to show that the cope (pluviale) was originally no more than a more elaborate cappa worn on high festivals or other ceremonial occasions, sometimes by the whole religious community, sometimes—if the stock were limited—by those, e.g. the cantors, &c., who were most conspicuous in the ceremony . In the loth century, partly under the See also:influence of the wealthy and splendour-loving community of See also:Cluny, the use of the cope became very widespread; in the 11th century it was universally worn, though the rules for its See also:ritual use had not yet been fixed . It was at this See also:time, however, See also:par excellence the vestment proper to the cantors, choirmaster and singers, whose See also:duty it was to sing the invitatorium, responses, &c., at See also:office, and the introitus, graduale, &c., at See also:Mass . This use survived in the ritual of the pre-See also:Reformation Church in See also:England, and has been introduced in certain See also:Anglican churches, e.g . St See also:Mary Magdalen's, See also:Munster Square, in See also:London . By the beginning of the 13th century the liturgical use of the cope had become finally fixed, and the rules for this use included by See also:Pope See also:Pius V. in the Roman See also:Missal and by See also:Clement VIII. in the Pontificale and Caeremoniale were consequently not new, but in accordance with See also:ancient and universal See also:custom . The substitution of the cope for the chasuble in many of the functions for which the latter had been formerly used was primarily due to the See also:comparative convenience of a vestment opened at the front, and so leaving the arms See also:free .

A natural conservatism preserved the chasuble, which by the 9th century had acquired a symbolical significance, as the vestment proper to the celebration of Mass; but the cope took its See also:

place in lesser functions, i.e. the censing of the See also:altar during the Magnificat and at Mattins (whence the See also:German name Rauchmantel, See also:smoke-mantel), processions, See also:solemn consecrations, and as the See also:dress of.bishops attending synods . It is clear from this that the cope, though a liturgical, was never a sacerdotal vestment . If it was worn by priests, it could also be worn by laymen, and it was never worn by priests in their sacerdotal, i.e. their sacrificial, capacity . For this See also:reason it was not rejected with the "Mass See also:vestments " by the See also:English Church at the Reformation, in spite of the fact that it was in no ecclesiastical sense " See also:primitive." By the First See also:Prayer-See also:book of See also:Edward VI., which represented a See also:compromise, it was directed to be worn as an alter-native to the " vestment " (i.e. chasuble) at the celebration of the Communion; this at least seems the See also:plain meaning of the words " vestment or cope," though they have been otherwise interpreted . In the Second Prayer -book vestment and cope alike disappear; but a cope was worn by the See also:prelate who consecrated See also:Archbishop See also:Parker, and by the " gentlemen " as well as the priests of See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth's See also:chapel; and, finally, by the 24th See also:canon (of 1603) a " decent cope" was prescribed for the "See also:principal See also:minister" at the celebration of See also:Holy Communion in See also:cathedral churches as well as for the "gospeller and epistler." Except at royal coronations, however, the use of the cope, even in cathedrals, had practically ceased in England before the ritual revival of the 19th century restored its popularity . The disuse implied no doctrinal change; the See also:main See also:motive was that the stiff vestment, high in the neck, was incompatible with a full-bottomed See also:wig . See also:Scarlet copes with See also:white See also:fur hoods have been in continuous use on ceremonial occasions in the See also:universities, and are worn by bishops at the opening of See also:parliament . With the liturgical cope may be classed the red See also:mantle (mantum), which from the See also:firth century to the See also:close of the See also:middle ages formed, with the See also:tiara, the See also:special See also:symbol of the papal dignity . The immantatio was the solemn See also:investiture The of the new pope immediately after his See also:election, by Y mantum . means of the cappa rubea, with the papal See also:powers . This ceremony was of See also:great importance . In the contested election of 1159, for instance, though a See also:majority of the cardinals had elected See also:Cardinal See also:Roland (See also:Alexander III.), the defeated See also:candidate Cardinal Octavian (See also:Victor IV.), while his See also:rival was modestly hesitating to accept the See also:honour, seized the pluviale and put it on his own shoulders hastily, upside down; and it was on this ground that the See also:council of See also:Pavia in 116o based their See also:declaration in favour of Victor, and anathematized Alexander .

The isnmantatio See also:

fell out of use during the papal See also:exile at See also:Avignon ' This derivation, suggested also by Dr Legg (Archaeol . See also:Journal, 51, p . 39, 1894), is rejected by the five bishops in their See also:report to See also:Convocation (1908) . Their statement, however, that it is " See also:pretty clear " that the cope is derived from the Roman lacerna or birrus is very much open to See also:criticism . We do not even know what the See also:appearance and form of the birrus were; and the question of the and was never restored. origin of the cope is not whether it was derived from any garment of the time of the Roman See also:Empire, and if so from which, but what It will be convenient here to See also:note other vestments that have garment in use in the 8th and 9th centuries it represents . I developed out of the cappa . The cappa choralis has already been mentioned; it survived as a choir vestment that in See also:winter took the place of the See also:surplice, See also:rochet or See also:almuce . In the 12th century it was provided with arms (cappa manicata), but the use of this form was forbidden at choir services and other liturgical functions . From the hood of the cappa was developed the almuce (q.v.) . At what date the cappa choralis developed into the cappa magna, a non-liturgical vestment See also:peculiar to the pope, cardinals, bishops and certain privileged prelates, is not known; but mention of it is found as See also:early as the 15th century . This vestment is a loose robe, with a large hood (lined with fur in winter and red See also:silk in summer) and a See also:long See also:train, which is carried by a cleric called the caudatarius . Its See also:colour varies with the hierarchical See also:rank of the wearer: red for cardinals, See also:purple for bishops, &c.; or, if the dignitary belong to a religious See also:order, it follows the colour of the See also:habit of the order .

The right to See also:

wear a See also:violet cappa magna is conceded by the popes to the chapters of certain important cathedrals, but the train in this See also:case is worn folded over the See also:left See also:arm or tied under it . It may only be worn by them, more-over, in their own church, or when the See also:chapter appears elsewhere in its corporate capacity . Lastly, from the cappa is probably derived the mozzetta, a See also:short cape with a See also:miniature hood, fastened down the front with The buttons . The name is derived from the Italian mozzetta. mozzare, to cut off, and points to its being an abbrevi- ated cappa, as the episcopal See also:apron " is a shortened See also:cassock . It is worn over the rochet by the pope, cardinals, bishops and prelates, the See also:colours varying as in the case of the cappa magna . Its use as confined to bishops can be traced to the 16th century . See See also:Joseph Braun, S . J., See also:Die liturgische Gewandung (See also:Freiburg See also:im See also:Breisgau, 1907); also the bibliography to the article VESTMrNTS . (W . A .

End of Article: COPE (M.E. cape, cope, from Med. Lat. capa, cappa)
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