![the priests garments the priests garments](https://brill.com/view/journals/jsj/52/3/15700631_052_03_s005_i0001.jpg)
In today’s world, daily wear for the clergy has mostly switched over from cassocks and ascots to suits or shirt and tie, with or without a jacket. Green represents life, hope, and growth, and is a sort of “wildcard” for color it can be worn anytime that another color is not already outlined (such as purple for Lent). Purple is most often used for remembrance or reflection situations, and (since 1988) officially worn during Lent and Advent. Red is used for the commemoration of martyrs and represents the blood of Christ. White (sometimes with gold) is equally common and usually is used for joyful ceremonies such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and ordinations. Black is the most common color, due to its formality and the sense of solemnity it imparts. The color of the garments also has meaning. It was declared formally as clerical clothing by the Council of Ratisbon in 742 AD. It is often made with 33 buttons, which signify the length of Christ’s earthly life.Ī chasuble, from a Latin word that means “little house” or “cottage,” is a piece of cloth that is a circle with an opening for a head – sometimes with a hood attached – that covered the entire wearer. Historically worn under the toga or himation, it is not worn over other clothing and looks more like a coat. Robes, such as albs (a name taken from the Latin tunica alba meaning white tunic), are often liturgical nowadays, though when they first came into common use, they were standard daily wear for many clergies.Ĭassocks (or soutane) is an ankle length garment. This is a wide, stiff band of ruffled, starched linen. Rather than a collar, some Lutheran clergy of the Church of Denmark and the Church of the Faroe Islands wear a ruff instead. Liturgical wear of a tippet, or large black scarf, may also have been a predecessor of the tabs. This reflects the ascot-like ties that preachers wore in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some choose to add preaching bands, or tabs, to the collar when delivering a sermon. The clerical collar can be in the form of a collarino – which is basically a standard dress shirt whose collar is adapted to accommodate an insert of white cloth or plastic- or a neckband, which is a detachable collar. Today, many are made of plastic for simplicity of both wearing and cleaning. As time went on, the clergy began to fold down the collar, often leaving only a small rectangle of the white showing, as many are pictured. Most often white, worn with a black shirt, the collar began as a strip of linen, closed at the back of the neck, with the shirt’s collar not folded down behind it. One of the most noticeable and memorable pieces that has long been associated with the clergy is the clerical collar.
![the priests garments the priests garments](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB14h._pgKTBuNkSne1q6yJoXXan/High-quality-Priest-Garments-poetry-choir-robe-clothes-European-and-USA-Priest-clothing-church-choir-costume.jpg)
The mandated dress was the cassock, which remained the common daily wear for priests until the middle of the twentieth century. In the thirteenth century, the Fourth Lateran council set forth a mandate that clergy was to dress distinctively to separate them from the laymen who were also scholars at the universities. Since the eighth century, specific clothing has been specified for clergy of many denominations.The canon law regulated the clergy’s clothing, and many local synods added supplements to that law. In Asia, monks were known for distinctive garb, but the clergy at large did not have any sort of uniform until 691 when the Trullan council specified that robes were to be worn or excommunication for a week would be enforced. In 875, Pope John VIII sent a letter to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, admonishing them to have their clergy wear ecclesiastical attire, so it would appear that sometime during that century, attire became more specific for clergy members, in Europe. A German council in 742 bid priests and deacons to wear longer garments, rather than the shorter tunics that had become popular, but even then, the garments were not generally considered to be clerical. It was preferred that the clergy be indistinguishable from the people around them at that time. In the early first century, preserved documents indicate that clothing that drew attention to a clergy member was discouraged.
![the priests garments the priests garments](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DTTODDQbaM8/VXDZGXAOrJI/AAAAAAAACUk/qeYQtashpqU/s1600/Clothing-of-High-Priest.jpg)
It was not until late in the eighth century AD that clergy began wearing garments that set them apart from the laity as a rule. These do not all have the same uniform as each other, but each has its own particular outfit that is preferred – or even mandated – for its clergy to wear. While not all churches mandate a certain set of garments for their clergy, those that do include denominations such as the Anglican Church, Methodist churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Lutheran churches, Episcopalian churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. Clerical clothing is a term used to refer to clothes worn by clergy when not presiding over liturgy the non-ceremonial garments that still indicate the clergy’s profession – the daily wear of priests, deacons, and other clergy members.