Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/446

 VESTMENTS

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VESTMENTS

architecture the vestibule was reduced in size, and became an ornamental baldachino-like structure, which also served as an entrance, as in the cathedral at Freiburg in Baden. The name "Paradise" for the vestibule explains the festival, popular among the common people and called the Expulsion of Adam, held at Halberstadt as early as 1391, and which took place in the vestibule. In the Middle Ages alms were distributed and offerings made in the vestibule. The latter was used at times also for judicial pro- ceedings, and in many such ante-chambers the announcements of the standard weights and measures were posted up, as at Freiburg in Baden the standard weight of bread in 1270, 1317, and 1320.

In Italy the architecture of the Renaissance and of the Rococo style held to the vestibule, which had been made sacred by tradition. Alberti considered its use necessary on all occasions. Even basilicas, as San Giovanni in Lateran and Santa Maria Mag- giore, received new porticoes, which in the two churches just mentioned were constructed as loggias in two stories. These vestibules were detrimental to both churches, concealing the facades and giving the buildings a somewhat secular appearance. The Carmelite church at Arezzo has a vestibule with columns built by Benedetto da Majano.

Beda Kleinschmidt.

Vestments. In Western Europe. — By liturgi- cal vestments are meant the vestments that, accord- ing to the rules of the Church or from ecclesiastical usage, are to be worn by the clergy in performing the ceremonies of the services of the Church, conse- quently, above all, at the celebration of the Mass, then in the administration of the sacraments, at bless- ings, the solemn recitation of the canonical hours, pub- lic services of prayer, processions, etc. The liturgical vestments of the Latin Rite are: the amice, alb, cinc- ture, maniple, stole, tunicle, dalmatic, chasuble, sur- plice, cope, sandals, stockings (or buskins), gloves, mitre, pallium, succinctorium, and fanon. The pope has the most elaborate and the greatest number of liturgical vestments, for all the vestments mentioned belong to him. The vestments of the priest arc the amice, alb, cincture, maniple, stole, chasuble — vest- ments which the priest wears at the celebration of the Mass — then, in addition, the surplice and the cope. Besides the vestments worn by the priest the liturgical dress of the bishop includes also the tunic, dalmatic, sandals, buskins, gloves, and mitre; those of the arch- bishop include further the pallium. The subdiaconal vestments consist of the amice, alb, cincture, maniple, and dalmatic; those of the deacon of amice, alb, cinc- ture, maniple, stole, and dalmatic. Finally, the lower clergy wear the surplice as a liturgical vestment, a vestment that belongs to all the grades of ordination.

In the E.\st. — There :ire also liturgical vestments in the Oriental Rites. They are fewer than the sacer- dotal vestments of western Europe, and vary from these also as regards form, nature, and use. Never- theless the sacerdotal vestments of the Ea.st and West agree in essentials. The liturgical vestments worn in all Oriental Rites as well as in western Euroi)e are: the under-tunic (alb), the cincture, stole, chasu- ble, and omophrif)n (pallium). In the East the chasuble is still bell-shaped, but, according to present usage, is .slit in front in .some rites. It is customary only in a few of the Eastern Rites to use the humeral veil and the mitre as in the Latin Rite, still, some, instead of a mitre, have a hat like the tiara, a covering like a turban, or, lastly, a cowl or veil. The vestments peculiar to the Oriental Kites .'ire: the sakkos, the outer vestment of the Creek bishop, which is like a dalmatic; the epigonation of the dreeks and .Vnnenians, a rhomhic-shai>ed (iniamcnt of bish- ops and prelates that hangs on the right side to below the knee, hence the name; lastly the epimanikia,

cuffs, or gloves with the part for the hand cut off, customary in all riental Rites. Pontifical vestments are the liturgical head-covering, excepting in the Ar- menian Rite where the priest also wears such a cover- ing for the head, the sakkos, the omophorion, the epigonation, and the epimanikia.

Liturgical Vestments in a more General Sense. — Be- sides the vestments worn by the clergy there are vari- ous other articles of clothing worn by ecclesiastics which are not, it is true, designated as vestes sacr(F, but which, ne\-ertheless, in a general sense can be included among the liturgical vestments. Thus, in the Latin Rite, there are the cappa magna, the amess, the mozetta, the rochet, the biretta; m the Greek Rite the mandyas (mantle) of the bishops, and the biretta-like covering for the head called kamelaukion, which, when worn by monks or bishops, has a veil called exokame- laukion.

Origin. — The Mturgical vestments have by no means remained the same from the founding of the Church until the present day. There is as great a difference between the vestments worn at the Holy Sacrifice in the pre-Constantinian period, and even in the following centuries, and those now custotaary at the services of the Church, as between the rite of the early Church and that of modern times. Just as the ceremonies that to-day surround the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries are the product of a long de- velopment, so are also the present liturgical vest- ments. It was sought at an earlier era to derive the Christian priestly dress from the vestments of the Jewish religion. Yet even a superficial comparison of the liturgical vestments of the New Covenant with those of the Old should have sufficed to show the error of such an opinion. The Chi'istian vestments did not originate in the priestly dress of the Old Testament, they have, rather, developed from the secular dress of the Gra>co-Roman world. The influence of the dress of the Mosaic cult upon the form of the Christian priestly dress can only be conceded in this sense, that the recollection of it must have made the use ol' liturgical garments specially reserved for the services of the Church appear not only entirely in keeping with the dignity of the mysteries of religion, but even necessary. This influence, however, was clearly gen- eral in character, not such as to make the Jewish priestly dress the prototype of the Christian.

Development. — Four main periods may be dis- tinguished in the development of the Christian priestly dress. The first embraces the era before Constantine. In that period the priestly dress did not yet differ from the secular costimie in form and ornament. The dress of daily life was worn at the offices of the Church. In times of peace and under normal conditions better garments were probably used, and these were especially reserved for the cele- bration of the Sacred Mysteries. It would undoubt- edly have scandalized the faithful if they had seen the bishop and his assistants perform their sacred office in dusty, dirty, or worn garments. The opinion which St. Jerome expresses — "The Divine religion has one dress in the ser\ice of sacred things, another in or- dinary intercourse and hfe" — is certainly true also for the pre-Constantinian period, which it is hardly permitted to reg;ird as a period of liturgical barbarism. It is even possible, though not demonstrated, that, as early as the cIo-'jc of the ])re-Constantinian (leriod, lit- urgical insignia came into use among the bishops and deacons, as the orarion, or stole, and the omophorion or pallium.

The second period embraces the time from about the foui-th to the ninth century. It is the most im- liortant epoch in the history of liturgical vestments, the epoch in which not merely ;i priestly dress in a special sense was created, but one which at the same lime determined the chief vestments of the present liturgical dress. The jirocess of de\elopment which