Ecclesiastical Vestments: Their development and historyMacalister, Robert Alexander Stewart
History
Ecclesiastical Vestments: Their development and history
Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart
Church vestments
The Eucharistic vestments were placed over the cassock, as the cassock
was placed over the under-garments of the wearer. But it was so entirely
concealed by the long alb that it could scarcely be regarded as an
essential part of the vestments for the Eucharistic office. The case was
different, however, when the priest was vested in processional attire,
for the lower end of the cassock appeared very prominently under the
surplice, and its presence was consequently essential to complete the
processional outfit. We therefore discuss this vestment under the head
'Processional' rather than under the head 'Eucharistic.'
Cassocks were originally invented for purposes of warmth, and hence were
lined with furs. This custom was retained when the cassock became
exclusively a clerical dress, and we often find in monuments of
ecclesiastics indications at the wrist that the cassock was so lined.
The colour of the vestment was invariably black for ordinary
ecclesiastics, scarlet for doctors of divinity and cardinals, purple for
bishops and prelates, and on high occasions for acolytes; for the Pope,
white. The fur with which the cassock was lined was ermine or some other
precious kind for dignitaries; but ordinary priests were strictly
forbidden to wear anything more costly than sheepskin. The cassock as we
find it represented on mediaeval monuments was probably open to the
breast; I do not recollect having observed any counterpart to the modern
cassock, with a row of buttons from neck to hem (humorously compared by
Lord Grimthorpe to a boiler with a close row of rivets!). In some parts
of France and in Rome the cassock is kept in place by a sash; this also
is a modern innovation probably suggested by the custom of members of
the monastic orders.
II. _The Surplice._—From its fur lining, the cassock was called in
mediaeval Latin the _pellicea_; the name _superpellicea_ was accordingly
given to the vestment which was worn immediately over it—a name which
has passed by natural phonetic modifications into 'surplice.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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