The following article is the second of a 2 part series written by Rev. Dr. Bill Doggett. It is in response to some recent questions from parishioners about the vestments worn by clergy and other
participants during a worship service.
Decorative Vestments
The long strip of decorated cloth that ministers drape around their necks is a Stole. The stole was a sign of rank or office in pre-Christian Rome, and when the Roman Empire became Christianized in the fourth century, Bishops and other clergy were granted stoles as well. The earliest stoles were woven or sewn into the garments beneath them, and then carefully removed and reattached as the base garments wore out. Eventually, these decorative bands became independent. As a mark of order rather than function, stoles are worn by the ordained whenever they are vested for worship. Bishops and priests wear their stoles hanging vertically from the neck. Deacons wear their stoles diagonally over the left shoulder and tied or clasped at the right hip.
A related garment, the Tippet or Preaching Scarf, is a stole with pleats at the neck, sometimes decorated with arms or emblems of church, diocese or seminary or college. Black tippets may worn over the Cassock and Surplice by clergy at non-Eucharistic services like Morning or Evening Prayer. Blue Tippets may be worn similarly by lay preachers.
The poncho-like vestment worn by the presider at Eucharist is called a Chasuble. Like the stole it dates back to Roman times, and originally was a poncho – the Roman casula was a conical outer garment of coarse cloth with a neck hole worn to protect against rough weather. It is not known how this transitioned to a decorative liturgical vestment, but it may have been that Bishops in the early church wore their cloaks during Eucharist as a symbol that they were on a journey, or ready to depart at a moment’s notice. Chasubles come in a variety of shapes from simple circles of cloth to highly structured shapes with high folded collars and turn-backs at the wrist to show the linings. Some presiders wear the chasuble for the entire service, while others don it only for the Eucharistic Prayer.
The Cope is the ceremonial cape most often seen worn by bishops, but may be worn by any clergy, and by laity in certain circumstances. Originally a hooded cape, the Cope became a decorative liturgical vestment in the sixth or seventh century. The hood became decorative instead of functional (and in modern times is sometimes missing altogether) as the embroidered, brocaded and fringed liturgical copes would not have been worn in bad weather. The Cope is a processional garment, worn entering and leaving the church, and for wedding, funeral, and baptismal processions, and may also be worn by clergy and choir at non-Eucharistic services of great ceremony.
The Miter or Mitre is the ceremonial head-wear of a bishop, worn with the cope for processions, and without the cope when the Bishop gives Episcopal blessings and performs other actions unique to the office of bishop. The pointed shape of the flat-folding miter is only one of many possible forms. The word “miter” comes from a Greek word for “turban,” and in the bulbous forms of Orthodox miters and the Papal Tiara you can see shapes less stylized and closer to the original version.
The ribbons that hang from the back of the miter are called lappets. Their origin is unknown, but they may be stylized versions of the ends of a cord or ribbon that would adjust the headband of ancient miters.
Controversy
During the Reformation, vestments were a matter of great dispute. Many reformers felt the elaborate and expensive decorations of the ornamental vestments and paraments (altar, pulpit and other hangings) were antithetical to the teaching and mission of the church, and in some places all but the simplest vestments were banned, along with organs, paintings and stained glass. Others objected to vestments purely because of their connection with the unreformed rites of the Roman Catholic Church, referring to them as “popish rags.” Others found value in the tradition and the beauty of ceremonial vesture. The compromise reached in the Church of England between the factions was the “Ornaments Rubric” of Queen Elizabeth I’s 1559 version of the Book of Common Prayer, which directed that ornaments (meaning vestments and paraments) be retained that were in use “in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI.” Since the practice of the church was all over the map in that very early time of the English Reformation, the rubric left everyone pretty much free to do what they were accustomed to doing, while castigating others who did differently.
Use of vestments and paraments, though, greatly declined in the Anglican Church after the Reformation until the nineteenth-century Oxford and Cambridge Movements revived their use in order to bring some much-needed beauty and joy to the spiritual lives of the urban poor. Today the use of vestments and paraments is on the rise in the Episcopal Church, even here in Virginia, where Virginia Theological Seminary had long been a proponent of a more Puritan style of worship.
The seasonal colors of our vestments are also a legacy of the Oxford and Cambridge movements. The nineteenth century was a great time for the fabrication of traditions, from the clan tartans of Scotland to the fantasy reconstruction of medieval towns such as Carcassonne.
The seasonal colors of white and gold for Christmas, Eastertide and other high holy days, red for the day of Pentecost, Holy Week and martyr’s feasts, violet for Lent, blue or violet for Advent, and green for Ordinary Time (the non-season stretches between Epiphany and Lent and between Pentecost and Advent) were said to have been taken from the Sarum (Salisbury) rite, but the Sarum Missal actually specifies white and gold for the highest feasts, red for Pentecost, and then the best vestments for the high feasts, second best for second-order celebrations, etc. But despite the relative newness of the tradition, it is a lovely one, and has caught on widely, and not just in the liturgical churches.
Vestment Trivia
One style of cassock has 39 buttons down the front, one for each of the 1563 Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion which were the doctrinal confession of the Church of England (you can see them in the “Historical Documents of the Church” section at the back of the Book of Common Prayer). Some clergy were known to have left unfastened the buttons associated with the Articles with which they disagreed.
Many vestments had clever solutions to the problem of cleanliness in an era before dry cleaning. Some Stoles, Chasubles and Copes have a small lace-trimmed cloth lightly stitched to the neck which can be easily removed and laundered. A traditional Alb has a completely separate hood called an Amice which is tied to the body by long cords before the Alb is put on.
There are many other, less common liturgical vestments with their own odd names and peculiar histories. Birettas, Dalmatics, Tunicles, Maniples, Humeral Veils, and Zuchettas may all still be found in the sacristy closets and sometimes at the altar of certain Episcopal Churches.
Since at least the sixth century, there have been particular prayers associated with putting on vestments. One of the vesting prayers in the orthodox tradition is “My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, for He has clothed me with the garment of salvation and covered me with a tunic of happiness; He has crowned me as a bridegroom and as a bride, adorned me with jewels.”
Bill Doggett+