Vestments

St Clares : How to read the church

Vestments .

The Alb

The long linen gown worn by the priest is called the alb, meaning simply the white garment. It is a survival of the white Roman toga. Its white colour denotes the necessity of purity, both of soul and body, in him who offers the Lamb of God to the Father.

The Cincture

This is the proper name for the girdle worn around the waist to bind the alb closely to the body. Generally this is white.It is made of braided wool or sometimes of wool.

The Stole

At Mass, and in almost every other religious function, the priest wears around his neck a long narrow vestment, the ends hanging down the front.

The Chasuble

The most conspicuous part of the costume of the priest at Mass is the Chasuble, the large vestment worn on the shoulders and hanging down the front and behind. The rear portion is often, though not always ornamented with a large cross.

The Origins of vestments

There was no distinction in dress between clergy and people in the earliest Christian centuries. It seems that priests in the first three centuries simply wore the civilian dress of the late Roman empire: a sleeved linen garment with a cincture, underneath a tunic. Over the centuries, fashions changed, and men began to adopt the barbarian custom of wearing breeches. No doubt the clergy adopted the new apparel for daily wear, but at the Eucharist they continued to use the old garb. Whatever the reason may be, by the end of the fourth century St Jerome was able to write that " The divine cult has one dress in the service of sacred things, and another for the ordinary business of life".

The Significance of Vestments

First and foremost, vestments are worn to show the value of the action that the wearer is performing, be it the Eucharist, a wedding, or any other service of the church. Secondly, vestments are indicators of the ecclesiastical orders: in other words they enable us to distinguish between bishops, priests and deacons. Thirdly the different items of liturgical vesture carry a symbolic meaning.

For example when a bishop is preparing to celebrate Mass. He may use the traditional vesting prayers, composed in the middle ages, which interpret the different vestments symbolically. He begins by donning the amice, a linen cloth which prevents the outer vestments from rubbing on his neck. The corresponding prayer runs: ' Place. O Lord, the helium of salvation on my head, that I may overcome the assaults of the devil'. Then he puts on the alb, essentially the same as the white linen garment of the late antique world, which symbolizes the robes of the saints washed white in the blood of the Lamb' A girdle, symbolizing chastity, secures the alb at the waist. The bishop wears ' the stole of immortality', a long narrow scarf. The outmost vestment is the chasuble derived from the late Roman cloak. This is a garment which covers the shoulders, and falls to the knees at the front and rear, with a hole for the head. The prayer identifies this with the easy yoke of Christ.

None of these vestments is unique to the bishop. The priest wears alb, stole and chasuble; and the deacon wears alb, stole and dalmatic, though the deacons stole hangs from the left shoulder and its ends are joined at the right hip. It is possible to identify a bishop by his use of the following insignia: miter, a tall cap rising to two peaks; the pastoral staff or crozier; a ring worn on the right hand; and the pectoral cross of precious metal.

If he is an archbishop he will also wear a pallium, a white woolen band marked with crosses, around his shoulders. Its wool comes from lambs blessed in an annual ceremony in Rome. The pallium itself is laid out on the tomb of St Peter overnight before it is presented to the archbishop by the Pope.

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