Roman Catholicism 101: Vestments

“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” This ancient aphorism reminds us that we are humans, not angels. All our knowledge comes to us through our physical senses. If it were possible for a person to be born and survive minus the sense perception-with no sense of sight, of hearing, of taste, of smell, of touch-that person’s mind would be an absolute blank, regardless of how well formed a brain he might have. The spiritual soul would be present, but all avenues to knowledge will be closed. Not only our knowledge, but our emotional and internal attitudes also depend upon bodily senses. We want sweet music for our sentimental moods, and peppy marches for our parades. We want soft lights for restfulness and bright lights for excitement.

It is no wonder then the external accessories can be of such importance in our religious life and worship. If caps and gowns can add to the seriousness of our graduation, colorful robes to the solemnity of a fraternal society’s initiation, and white tie and tails to the glamour of a formal ball-it is to be expected that special garments will foster our sense of awe in our worship of God. No one knows better than this than God who made us. That is why God in the Old Testament specifically prescribed certain vestments to be worn by the Mosaic priesthood. That is why God’s church in the New Testament has evolved, under God, special garments to be worn by priests in the discharge of their sacred duties, particularly when they celebrate Mass.

Alb and cincture

During the first three or four hundred years of Christian history, when the faithful gathered for the celebration of the Eucharist, the priest wore the ordinary clothing of the layman. In those days, a man’s ordinary garment was a long robe, a form of the Roman “toga.” When the Romanempire was conquered by the barbarian tribes from northern Europe towards the end of the fourth century, the style of men’s dress began to change, but the priests continued to wear the long flowing robe when celebrating the Mass. Thus the oldest of the Mass vestments in the alb (from the Latin word albus which means white), the long white robe which the priest put on over his cassock, his “everyday” clothes. The alb signifies purity of heart, and in symbol, the priest puts behind him as he dares to offer the Holy Lamb of God. In ancient times, the Roman toga was bound about the waist with a cord or girdle, and this girdle also survives as a Mass vestment which is called the cincture. The cincture is a cord of braided linen or wool and is a symbol of chastity, of restraint of physical desire.

amice

Along about the eight century, it became the custom for the priest to come to the altar with his head covered by a hood. Eventually, this hood became stylized as the vestment which is called the amice (from the latin word amictus meaning simply a covering). The amice is a white linen cloth of oblong shape, about 16 x 20 inches in size, with long apes sewn to two of its corners. In a few religious orders, the amice is still worn as a head covering at the beginning of the Mass. For other priests, the rule however is to touch the amice to the top of the head as the priest begins to vest for the Mass, and then to bring it down around the shoulders and tie it about the chest with tapes provided for the purpose. The Church has made the amice a symbol of the “helmet of salvation” of which St. Paul speaks: armor for the head against the attacks of Satan.

stole

While the alb is the oldest of the vestments, the amice is the first vestment which the priest puts on. With the amice about his shoulders the priest then dons the alb and then fastens the cincture about his waist. Clothed in white, the priest now is ready to assume the vestments which vary in color from day to day, from feast to feast. There are two of these colored Mss vestments: the stole and the chausible.

The priest next puts on the stole, a long band of colored cloth which goes over the shoulders and hangs down in front crossed upon the priest’s breast. The stole came into use about the fourth century, and seems to have derived from the official robe worn by Roman court judges; it was adopted by the Church as a symbol of priestly authority From a robe it evolved into a narrow band of cloth which is its form today. In her liturgy, the Church equates the stole with “the robe of immortality” which clothes the Christian soul.

chasuble

The last vestment which the priest puts on is the chasuble. This is the large colored vestment, usually ornamented, which hangs from the shoulders front and back. Because of its enveloping nature it gets its name from the Latin word “casual” which means “little house”. In Christian symbolism, it denotes the yoke of Christ, the yoke of Christian and priestly responsibility. Chasubles are made of two styles. The voluminous chasuble which hangs down at the sides over the arms is called Gothic chasuble. In its origin, the chasuble is simply a gradual adaptation of the outer cloak worn by men in the early centuries of Christian history.