The liturgical vestments the priest wears

The liturgical vestments worn at Mass have evolved over time. Nevertheless, since the earliest days of the Church, liturgical vestments have been worn by priests for the celebration of the Mass.

Feb 13, 2015

Q: What is the origin and meaning of the vestments the priest wears at Mass?

A: The liturgical vestments worn at Mass have evolved over time. Nevertheless, since the earliest days of the Church, liturgical vestments have been worn by priests for the celebration of the Mass. Even though priests of the Old Testament wore vestments in their liturgical rites, the “Christian” vestments are not really adaptations of them; rather, the vestments of the Christians developed from the dress of the Graeco-Roman world, including the religious culture. Nevertheless, the Old Testament idea of wearing a special kind of clothing in the performance of liturgical rites did influence the Church. St Jerome asserted, “The Divine religion has one dress in the service of sacred things, another in ordinary intercourse and life.” After the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313, the Church continued to refine “who wore what, when, and how” until about the year 800 when liturgical norms for vesting were basically standardized and would remain so until the renewal following the Second Vatican Council.

To date, for the celebration of Mass, a priest wears the amice, alb, cincture, stole, and chasuble. (With the promulgation of the new Roman Missal in 1969, the use of the maniple was suppressed.)

The amice is a piece of white linen, rectangular in shape, with two long cloth ribbons. The priest places it around his neck, covering the clerical collar, and then ties it by crisscrossing the ribbons in his front (to form a St Andrew’s cross), bringing them around the back, around the waist and tying them in a bow. The practical purpose of the amice is to conceal the normal clerical clothing of a priest, and to absorb any perspiration from the head and neck. In the Graeco-Roman world, the amice was a head covering, oftentimes worn underneath the helmets of the Roman soldiers to absorb sweat, thereby preventing it from flowing into their eyes. The spiritual purpose is to remind the priest of St Paul’s admonition: “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The former vesting prayer was, “Place, O Lord, the helmet of salvation on my head to resist the attacks of the devil.”

The alb is a long, white garment, which flows from shoulders to ankles, and has long sleeves extending to the wrists. (The word alb means “white.”) The alb was a common outer garment worn in the Graeco-Roman world and would be similar to the soutane worn in the Middle East. However, those of authority wore albs of higher quality with some kind of embroidery or design. Some modern style albs have collars which preclude the necessity for an amice. The spiritual purpose reminds the priest of his baptism, when he was clothed in white to signify his freedom from sin, purity of new life, and Christian dignity. Moreover, the Book of Revelation describes the saints who stand around the altar of the Lamb in Heaven as, “These are the ones who have survived the great period of trial; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14). In the same way, the priest must offer the Mass with purity of body and soul, and with the dignity befitting Christ’s priesthood. The former vesting prayer was “Make me white, O Lord, and purify my heart so that being made white in the Blood of the Lamb, I may deserve an eternal reward. -- By Fr William Saunders, Phd

--Continued next week

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