Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
VESTMENTS
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: VAN-VIR
del.icio.us it!
|
VESTMENTS
.
The word " vestment" (See also:Lat. vestimentum, In. vestire, to clothe), meaning generally simply an See also:article of clothing, is in the usage of the See also:present See also:day practically confined to the ceremonial garments worn in public See also:worship; in this sense it may be used equally of the See also:robes or "ornaments" of the ministers or priests of any See also:religion
.
Ecclesiastical vestments, with which the present article is solely concerned, are the See also:special articles of See also:costume worn by the See also:officers of the See also:Christian See also:
It will See also:deal briefly (1) with the See also:general See also:idea and the historical See also:evolution of ecclesiastical vestments, (2) with the vestments as at present worn (a) in the See also:Roman Catholic Church, (b) in the See also:Oriental Churches, (c) in the Reformed Churches, (d) in the Anglican Church
.
The more important vestments are dealt with in some detail under their See also:separate headings; here it will only be necessary to give See also:short descriptions of those which cannot be conveniently treated separately
.
1
.
The Origin and Idea of Ecclesiastical Vestments.—The liturgical vestments of the Catholic Church, See also:East and See also:West, are not, as was at one See also:time commonly supposed, borrowed from the sacerdotal ornaments of the Jewish See also:ritual, although the obvious analogies of this ritual doubtless to a certain extent determined their sacral character; they were developed independently out of the various articles of everyday See also:dress worn by citizens of the Graeco-Roman world under the See also:Empire
.
The officers of the Church during the first few centuries of its existence were content to officiate in the dress of See also:civil life, though their garments were expected to be scrupulously clean and of decent quality
.
The few scattered references in contemporary records to the dress of the See also:clergy all point to this as the only recognized See also:rule
.
Thus in the 37th of the so-called " Canons of See also:Hippolytus " we read: " As often as the bishops would partake of the Mysteries, the presbyters and deacons shall gather See also:round him clad in See also: 20) says that to See also:wear talares et tunicas manicatas was a disgrace among the See also:ancient See also:Romans, but that in his own day it was no longer so considered in the See also:case of persons of See also:good See also:birth . The tunica was originally of white See also:wool, but in the 3rd See also:century it began to be made of See also:linen, and from the 4th century was always of linen . About the 6th century the See also:long tunica See also:alba went out of See also:fashion in civil life, but it was retained in the services of the Church and developed into the various forms of the liturgical alb (q.v.) and surplice (q.v.) . The tunica dalmatica was a long, sleeved upper tunic, originating, as its name implies, in See also:Dalmatia, and first becoming fashionable at See also:Rome in the 2nd century; it is the origin of the liturgical dalmatic and tunicle (see DALMATIC) . Another over-dress of the Romans was the paenula, a cloak akin to the See also:poncho of the See also:modern Spaniards and See also:Spanish Americans, i.e. a large piece of stuff with a hole for the head to go through, See also:hanging in ample folds round the See also:body . This was originally worn only by slaves, soldiers and other people of See also:low degree; in the 3rd century, however, it was adopted by fashionable people as a convenient See also:riding or travelling cloak; and finally, by the sumptuary See also:law of 382 (See also:Cod . Theod. xiv. so, r, de habitu . . . infra urbem) it was prescribed as the proper everyday dress of senators, instead of the military chlamys, the toga being reserved for See also:state occasions . This was the origin of the See also:principal liturgical vestment, the chasuble (q.v.) . As See also:late as the 6th century these garments were common both to the clergy and laity, and, so far as their character was concerned, were used both in the liturgy and in everyday life . Meanwhile, however, a certain development had taken See also:place . By the 4th century the garments worn at liturgical functions had been separated from those in ordinary use, though still identical in See also:form . It is in the 4th century, too, that the first distinctive vestment makes its See also:appearance, the di,uo¢bpcov worn by all bishops in the East; in the 5th century we find this in use at Rome under the name of pallium (q.v.), as the distinctive See also:ornament of the See also:pope (see fig. s) . About the same time the orarium, or stole (q.v.), becomes fixed in liturgical use . The See also:main development and See also:definition of the ecclesiastical vestments, however, took place between the XX~'II . 's6th and the 9th centuries . The secular fashions altered with changes of See also:taste; but the Church retained the dress with the other traditions of the Roman Empire . At Rome, especially, where the popes had succeeded to a See also:share of the See also:power and pretensions of the Caesars of the West, the See also:accumulation of ecclesiastical vestments symbolized a very special dignity: in the second See also:quarter of the 9th century the pope, when fully vested, wore a camisia girdled, an alb (linea) girdled, an amice (anagolaium), a tunicle (dalmatica See also:minor), a dalmatic (dalmatica See also:major), stole (orarium), chasuble (planeta) and pallium . With the exception of the pallium, this was also the costume of the Roman deacons . By this time, moreover, the liturgical character of the vestments was so completely established that they were no longer worn instead of, but over, the ordinary dress . Hitherto the example of the Roman Church had exercised no exclusive determining See also:influence on ritual development even in the West . The popes had, from time to time, sent the pallium or the dalmatic—specifically Roman vestments—as gifts of See also:honour to various distinguished prelates; See also:Britain, converted by a Roman See also:mission, had adopted the Roman use, and English missionaries had carried this into the newly Christianized parts of See also:Germany; but the great Churches of See also:Spain and See also:Gaul preserved their own traditions in vestments as in other matters . From the 9th century onwards, however, this was changed; everywhere in the West the Roman use ousted the regional uses . This See also:change synchronized with the revival of the Western Empire under See also:Charlemagne. a revival which necessarily gave an impulse to the claims of the see of Rome . The See also:adoption of the Roman liturgical dress had, however, at most an indirect connexion with these claims . Charlemagne was active in prescribing the adoption of the Roman use; but this was only as See also:part of his general policy in the organization of his em- pire . A renovation of the Gallican Church was not the least crying need ; and, in view of the confusion of See also:rites (Galli)an, See also:Gothic, Roman, Ambrosian in 1'11' the Frankish empire, Charlemagne recognized that this innovation could only be effectually carried out by a closer connexion with Rome in ritual as in other matters . Charlemagne's activity in this respect was, in effect, but the completion of a See also:process that had been going on since the 6th century . Whatever effect the reinvigoration of the papacy may have had in hastening the process, the See also:original impulse towards the adoption of the Roman rite had proceeded, not from Rome, but from Spain and Gaul; it was the natural result of the lively intercourse between the Churches of these countries and the Holy See . Nor was the FIG . 2.—See also:Stigand, See also:Archbishop of process of assimilation by any See also:Canterbury (1052–1070) ; trom means one-sided . If Spain and the See also:Bayeux See also:Tapestry . See also:Note Gaul borrowed from Rome, they the See also:absence of the See also:mitre, the also exercised a reciprocal influ- chasuble short or tucked up in ence on the Roman use; it is front, the maniple still carried interesting to note in this See also:con- in the See also:left See also:hand . nexion, that of the names of the liturgical vestments a very large proportion are not of Roman origin, and that the non-Roman names tended to supersede the Roman in Rome itself.' ' Apart from the archiepiscopal pallium, the Churches of Spain and Gaul had need to See also:borrow from Rome only the dalmatic, maniple and liturgical shoes . On the other hand, it was from Spain and Gaul that Rome probably received the orarium (stole) as an See also:ensign of the major orders . See also:Father Braun, to whose kindness the writer is indebted for the above See also:account of the causes of the ritual changes in the Carolingian See also:epoch, adds that the papacy was never narrow-minded in its attitude towards See also:local rites, and that it was not until the See also:close of the See also:middle ages, when diversity had become confusion and worse, that it began to insist upon uniformity . Even then it allowed those rites to survive which could prove a tradition of 200 years . The See also:period between the 9th and the 13th centuries is that of the final development of the liturgical vestments in the West . In the 9th century appeared the pontifical gloves; in the See also:roth, the mitre; in the 11th, the use of liturgical shoes and stockings was reserved for cardinals and bishops . By the 12th century, mitre and gloves were worn by all bishops, and in many cases they had assumed a new ornament, the rationale, a merely honorific decoration (supposed to symbolize See also:doctrine and See also:wisdom), sometimes of the nature of a highly ornamental broad See also:shoulder See also:collar with dependent lappets; sometimes closely resembling the pallium; rarely a " See also:breast-See also:plate " on the See also:model of that of the Jewish high See also:priest.1 This elaboration of the pontifical vestments was contemporaneous with, and doubtless partly determined by, the assimilation of the bishops during those centuries to the type of the great feudal nobles whose ambitions and love of pomp they shared . In an See also:age when, with the evolution of the feudal organiza- tion of society, even everyday costume was becoming a uni- form, symbolizing in material and See also:colour the exact status of the wearer, it was natural that in the parallel organization of the Church the See also:official vestments should undergo a similar process of differentiation and definition . With this process, which in all its essential features was completed in the nth century, doctrinal developments had little or nothing to do, though from the 9th century onwards liturgiologists were busy expounding the mystic symbolism of garments which, until their See also:imagination set to See also:work, had for the most part no symbolism whatever (see below) . Yet in view of later con- troversies, the changes made during this period, notably in the vestments connected with the mass, are not without significance . Hitherto the chasuble had been worn indifferently by all ministers a't the See also:eucharist, even by the acolytes; it had been worn also at processions and other non-liturgical functions; it was now exalted into the mass vestment par excellence, worn by the celebrant only, or by his immediate assistants (See also:deacon and subdeacon) only on very special occasions . New vestments were de- vised to take the place, on less solemn occasions, of those hallowed by associa- tion with the holy See also:sacrifice; thus the processional cope (q.v.) appeared in the 11th century and the surplice (q.v.) in the 12th . A change, too, came over the general character of vestments . Up to the 9th century these had been very See also:plain, without ornament See also:save such traditional decorations as the clavi of the dalmatic; what splendour they had was due to their material and the ample folds of their draperies . But from this time onwards they tend to become more and more elaborately decorated with See also:embroidery and jeweller's work (see, e.g. the articles CHASUBLE and COPE) . Very significant, too, is the parting of the ways in the development of liturgical vestments in the East and West . During the first centuries both branches of the Church had used vest- ments substantially the same, developed from common originals; the alb, chasuble, stole and pallium were the equivalents of the trTLXapcov, 4evbXtov, iapaptov and The rationale is worn only over the chasuble . It is now used only by the bishops of See also:Eichstatt, See also:Cracow, See also:Paderborn and See also:Toul, by the special concession of various popes . See Braun, Liturg . Gewandung, pp . 676-700.c io46ptov . While, however, between the 9th and 13th centuries, the Western Church was adding largely to her See also:store of vestments, that of the East increased her See also:list by but three, the kexeipiov and E7rq iavtKCa (see MANIPLE) and the oiu<iOS (see DALMATIC) . The living force of development in the Latin Church was symbolized in her garments; the stereotyped orthodoxy of the See also:Greek Church in hers . With the exception of the mitre, introduced in the 15th or 16th century, the liturgical costume of the Eastern clergy remains now practically what it was in the 9th century . In the Western Church, though from the 9th century onwards the Roman use had been the norm, considerable alterations continued to be made in the shape and decoration of the liturgical vestments, and in this respect various Churches developed different traditions (see, e.g . CHASUBLE) . The definition of their use by the various orders of the clergy in the several liturgical functions, however, was established by the close of the 13th century and still continues in force . Before discussing the changes made in the various Reformed Churches, due to the doctrinal developments of the 16th century, we may therefore give here a list of the vestments now worn by the various orders of clergy in the Roman Catholic Church and the Oriental Churches . Roman Catholic Church.—As the sacrifice of the mass is the central See also:mystery of the Catholic faith, so the seven orders of the See also:hierarchy culminate in that of priest, who alone is em-powered to work the daily See also:miracle of the altar (see See also:ORDER, HoLY) . The vestments worn by the priest when celebrating mass are then the most important . The See also:cassock (q.v.), which must always be worn under the vestments, is not itself a liturgical garment . Over this the priest, robing for mass, puts on the amice, alb, girdle (cingulum), stole, maniple and chasuble . Taking the other orders downwards: deacons wear amice, alb, girdle, stole, maniple2 and dalmatic; subdeacons, amice, alb, girdle, maniple and tunicle; the vestment proper to the minor orders, formerly the alb, is now the surplice or See also:cotta . Bishops, as belonging to the order of priesthood with completed See also:powers, wear the same vestments as the priests, with the addition of 2 The stole and maniple alone are symbolical of order, i.e. of the relation to the sacrifice of the mass . From Braun's Getmandung, by of B . See also:Herder . Liturgisthe permission the See also:pectoral See also:cross, the pontifical gloves, the pontifical See also:ring, the 1 liturgical sandals and caligae, a tunicle worn over the stole and under the chasuble, and the mitre (see fig . 3) . See also:Arch-bishops, on solemn occasions, wear the pallium over the chasuble (see fig . 5) . Bishops also carry a See also:pastoral See also:staff (q.v.), as See also:symbol of their pastoral See also:office . Finally, the pope, when celebrating mass, wears the same vestments as an ordinary See also:bishop, with the addition of the subcinctorium (see ALB), a dalmatic, worn over the tunicle and under the chasuble, and the orate or fanone (see AMICE) . It should be noted that the litur- gical head-dress of the pope is the mitre, not the See also:tiara, which is the symbol of his supreme office and See also:jurisdiction (see TIARA) . Of the liturgical vest- ments not immediately or exclusively associated with the sacrifice of the mass the most con- spicuous are the cope and surplice . The See also:biretta, too, though not in its origin or in some of its uses a liturgical vest- ment, has developed a distinctly liturgical character (see BIRETTA) . Besides the strictly liturgical vestments there are also numerous articles of costume worn at choir services, in processions, or on ceremonial occasions in everyday life, which have no sacral character; such are the See also:almuce (q.v.), the cappa end mozzetta (see See also:Conn), the rochet (q.v.), the pileolus, a See also:skull-cap, worn also sometimes under mitre and tiara . These are generally ensigns of dignity; their form and use varies in different Churches, and they often represent special privileges conferred by the popes, e.g. the cappa of the Lateran See also:basilica worn by the canons of See also:Westminster See also:cathedral, or the almuce worn, by concession of Pope See also:Pius IX., by the members of the Sistine choir . The character of the vestments, the method of putting them on, and the occasions on which they are severally to be worn, are regulated with the minutest care in the See also:Missal and the Caeremoniale . Oriental Churches.—As already stated, the vestments of the great historical Churches of the East are derived from the same Graeco-Roman originals as those of the West, but in contra-distinction to the latter they have remained practically stereo-typed, both in character and number, for a thousand years; in the East, however, even more than in the West the tendency to gorgeous ornamentation has prevailed . An Orthodox bishop, vested for the holy liturgy, wears over his cassock—(I) the aTLXLipLOV, or alb (q.v.); (2) the irirpay0Lov, or stole (q.v.) ; (3) the I"wvri, a narrow stuff girdle clasped behind, which holds together the two vestments above named; (4) the firruavieLa, liturgical cuffs, corresponding, possibly, to the pontifical gloves of the West;i (5) the irLyov6.rtov, a stiff See also:lozenge-shaped piece of stuff hanging at the right See also:side by a piece of riband from the girdle or attached to the e6esos, the See also:equivalent of the Western maniple (q.v.) ; (6) the a6.KKOS, like the Western dalmatic (q.v.), worn instead of the oa,V6Xiov, or chasuble; (7) the wpoOpiov, the equivalent of the Western pallium (q.v.) . Be-sides these, the bishop also wears a pectoral cross (eyKhXrioe) and a See also:medal containing a relic (ravayca) . He also has a mitre (q.v.), and carries a See also:crozier (SLKaPiKLOV), a rather short staff ending in two curved branches decorated with serpents' heads, with a cross between them . The vestments o£a priest are the sticharion, epitrachelion, girdle, epimanikia and phainolion (see CHASUBLE) . He wears all these vestments only at the celebration of the eucharist and on other very solemn occasions; at other ministrations he wears only the epitrachelion and phainolion over his cassock . A dignitary in i Thi h is the view of Dr See also:Adrian See also:Fortescue (The Orthodox Eastern Church, p . 406) ; according to Braun (Lit . Gewandung, p. See also:loo) they were originally merely the ornamental cuffs (XLnpta) of the episcopal sticharion, which were detached for purposes of convenience.priest's orders is distinguished by wearing the epigonation; and in See also:Russia the use of the mitre is sometimes conceded to distinguished priests by the See also:tsar . The deacon wears the sticharion, without a girdle, the epimanikia and the orarion (hphp&ov, Lat. orarium, see STOLE) hanging over his left shoulder . The lesser orders wear a shorter sticharion and an orarion See also:wound round it . On less solemn occasions bishops wear the mandyas (.iavSGas), a cope-like garment fastened at the See also:lower corners as well as at the See also:neck, and the kalimaukion (KaX, ual/eioi), a tall, brimless See also:hat, with a See also:veil hanging down behind, and, in place of the SLaKbvcov they carry a short staff with an See also:ivory cross-piece . The kalimaukion is also worn by the other clergy in ordinary life, and with their vestments at processions, &c . The general character of the vestments is much the same in the other Oriental rites . The sticharion answers to the Armenian shabik, the Nestorian kutina, the Coptic tuniah or stoicharion; the epimanikia to the See also:Arm. pasban (which, however, resemble rather the Latin maniple), the Nestorian zando, and the Coptic kim¢n ; FIG . 7.—An Orthodox Eastern the epitrachelion to the Arm . See also:Patriarch in full Pontificals. See also:por-urar, Syrian uroro, Coptic See also:bat- rashil; the girdle to the Arm. kodi, Nestorian zunro; the phainolion to the Nestorian phaino and Arm. shurtshar, both of which are, however, cope-shaped.2 Armenian priests, besides, wear a mitre (see MITRE, fig . 3), and a collar-like ornament probably derived from the See also:apparel of the Western amice (q.v.) . The liturgical handkerchief, which in the Greek Church has become the epigonation, has retained its original form in the Armenian . The Liturgical See also:Colours.—In another respect the vestments of the Eastern differ from those of the Western Church . In the East there is no sequence of liturgical colours, nor, indeed, any definite sense of liturgical colour at all; the vestments are usually white or red, and stiff with See also:gold embroidery . In the West the See also:custom, long universal, of marking the seasons of the ecclesiastical year and the more prominent fasts and festivals by the colour of the vestments of clergy and altar See also:dates, approximately, from the Ieth century: the subject is mentioned (c . 'zoo) in the See also:treatise of See also:Innocent III., De sacra altaris mysterio (cap . 1o), where the rules are laid down which are still essentially those of the Roman Church,3 though the liturgical colours were only four, See also:violet belonging to the See also:category of See also:black—as that of See also:mourning . Custom in this respect was, however, exceedingly varied for a long time, numerous important Churches having their own " uses," and it was not until the time of the See also:Reformation that the Roman use was fixed and became the norm of the Churches of the Roman obedience . According to the rubric of the Roman Missal (tit. xviii.) the liturgical colours are five: white, red, See also:green, violet, black . Though, in the embroidery of vestments, many colours may be used, these five above named must severally give the dominant See also:tone of colour on the occasions for which they are appointed .
Gold brocades or See also:cloth-of-gold may, however, be substituted for red, green and white, and See also:silver for white
.
The following is a list of the occasions to which the various colours are appropriated:
White.—Trinity See also:Sunday, all festivals of Christ (except those connected with the See also:Passion), festivals of the Blessed Virgin, of the Holy Angels and Confessors, of holy virgins and See also:women (not being martyrs), nativity of St See also: 
In See also:England red vestments are worn at the mass (of the Holy Spirit) attended by the Roman Catholic See also:judges and barristers at the opening of term, the so-called " Red Mass." Green.—Sundays and week-days between See also:Epiphany and Septuagesima, and between Trinity and See also:Advent, except festivals and their octaves and Ember days . Violet.—Advent; the days between Septuagesima and Maundy See also:Thursday; vigils that fall on fast days, and Ember days, except the See also:vigil before Whitsunday (red) and the Ember days in Whitsun week (red) . Violet vestments are also worn on days of intercession, at votive masses of the Passion, at certain other masses of a pronouncedly intercessory and See also:penitential character, at intercessory processions, at the blessing of candles on See also:Candlemas Day, and at the blessing of the baptismal See also:water . A violet stole is worn by the priest when giving See also:absolution after See also:confession, and when administering Extreme See also:Unction . Black.—Masses for the dead and funeral ceremonies of adults; the mass of the pre-sanctified on Good See also:Friday.' See also:Benediction of Vestments.—In the Roman Catholic Church the amice, alb, girdle, stole, maniple, chasuble must be solemnly blessed by the bishop or his delegate, the prayers and other forms to be observed being set forth in the Pontificale (see BENEDICTION) . Other vestments—e.g. dalmatic, tunicle, surplice—are sometimes blessed when used in connexion with the sacrifice of the mass, but there is no definite rule on the subject . The custom is very ancient, Father Braun giving See also:evidence as to its existence at Rome as See also:early as the 6th century (Liturg . Gewandung, p . 76o, &c.) . Mystic Meaning of Vestments.—It is clear from what has been said above that the liturgical vestments possessed originally no mystic symbolic meaning whatever; it was equally certain that, as their origins were forgotten, they would develop such a symbolic meaning . The earliest See also:record of any See also:attempt to interpret this symbolism that we possess is, so far as the West is concerned, the short exposition in the Explicatio Missae of Germanus, bishop of See also: |