Origins in the Roman Empire

The wearing of the Eucharistic vestments is the only everyday custom which has come down to us from the old civilisation of the Roman Empire before the barbarian hordes from Russia and China swept across Europe at the beginning of the fifth century.  The break-up of the Empire began in the year 410 AD when Alaric, the barbarian chief, captured and looted Rome, the city which for 800 years had been unconquered.

And so the face of Europe was changed.  Thus, until then, the ordinary dress which people wore at home and in the streets, was of the gown type, long and graceful; quite different from that of the barbarians who dressed like the Viking warriors we see in pictures, with skins wound round their legs and kept in place with criss-crossed leather thongs.  It is from this barbarian dress that we get the modern trousers.  Gradually the dress of the old civilisation disappeared from ordinary daily life, and people began to wear the same kind of clothes as the barbarians.  But there was one exception: the clergy, when celebrating the Eucharist, still wore the dress that they had always worn.  In their minds the dress of the barbarians was connected with the savage, barbarian invasions, with the burning of churches and the butchering of Christians.  So the clergy continued to celebrate the Eucharist in the everyday dress of the old Roman Empire and do so still to this day.

Ordinary dress of the Romans

During the 300 years before the sack of Rome, the ordinary dress which people wore consisted of a long undergarment of white linen (the alb); a knee-length tunic with short sleeves; and on top a circular cloak with a hole in the middle for one to put one’s head through (the chasuble). 

So the record of the martyrdom of St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, in the year 258 AD describes his death:  he took off his red cloak, folded it, knelt down on it and prayed to the Lord.  Then he took off his tunic, handed it to the deacons and stood up in his alb, awaiting the executioners. (1) Some years later a girdle was also worn by certain government officials.  A scarf also came into use as a sign of some particular office or rank.  Some believe this is the origin of the stole.  Others believe that the stole originated from a napkin or towel and is linked with Jesus’ washing and drying of his disciples’ feet on Maundy Thursday.  According to this, the stole shows that its wearer, like Jesus, is one who serves.  Lastly a large handkerchief (the maniple) was carried over the left arm.

Vestments today

So today the priest at the altar still wears most of these garments.  There is the alb, the long white undergarment, sometimes tied at the waist with a girdle.  There is the stole which denotes the wearer’s office by the way it is worn: round the neck with the ends hanging straight down for a bishop; crossed over the chest for a priest and held in place with the girdle; and over the left shoulder with the ends tied at the right side for a deacon.  Modern albs do not require a girdle and so nowadays priests usually wear their stoles hanging straight down.  The maniple is fastened over the left forearm but is not often worn today.  Over everything is the chasuble.  The only other vestment that the celebrant may wear is the amice, which is worn round the neck.  This came into use much later in order to keep the wearer warm in the unheated and draughty churches of the Middle Ages.  Modern albs often have a hood attached and this takes the place of the amice.

The biretta (square cap), like the bishop’s mitre, began as a ‘cap of state’ worn by court officials in the fourth century.

The knee-length tunic with short sleeves is still used at a Solemn Eucharist or High Mass by the deacon and subdeacon.  The deacon’s is called a dalmatic, and the subdeacon’s a tunicle.

Colours

As the vestments went out of ordinary use and were worn only by the clergy at the Eucharist, so they began to be embroidered and ornamented, as a way of honouring God.  But the custom of having different colours for the different seasons and festivals of the Church did not come in until the 12th century. 

Purple or violet, as a sign of penitence and solemn prayer, is used in Advent and Lent.  White or gold is an expression of joy, and so is kept for feasts of Our Lord, Our Lady, the Angels and all the Saints who were not martyrs.  Red, the colour of fire, is used on Pentecost (Whitsunday) when the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles in the likeness of tongues of fire.  And, being also the colour of blood, it is used for the feasts of the martyrs who gave their lives for the Faith.  Black, for mourning, is used for Requiems when the Eucharist is offered for the repose of the souls of the Faithful Departed.  In some churches purple is used for Requiems.  And green, as the symbol of life, is used during the season of Epiphany, when it represents Our Lord’s growth to manhood.  It is also used during the season of Trinity, when it represents the growth of his Church from the first Pentecost until now.

Importance of vestments

Of that growth the Eucharistic vestments themselves are a witness, a witness that the Church goes back through the Middle Ages, through the Dark Ages and the barbarian invasions, back to the Roman Empire and to the great persecutions when the Church heroically guarded, and handed down for us, the Catholic Faith delivered by Jesus to his Apostles.  And the vestments also remind us that the Church holds fast to the same truth as she did then, that the Blessed Sacrament is Our Lord’s Ascended Body and that in the Eucharist we offer him to God as the Saviour of the world. 

And the vestments are also a reminder of our responsibility and privilege as Christians to safeguard the Faith and hand it on to those who come after us.

SUMMARY

1. The Eucharistic vestments were once the ordinary dress worn by people in the Roman Empire.  It is the only everyday custom which has survived the barbarian invasions of 1,600 years ago.

2. The vestments usually worn today are the alb (white undergarment), stole (official scarf/sign of service) and the chasuble (cloak).  The colours are white or gold, purple, red, green and black.

3. The vestments remind us that the Eucharist today is the same as it was in the Early Church, namely, the offering to God of Our Lord Jesus Christ upon his throne of glory and in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

4. The vestments are also a reminder of our responsibility as Christians to safeguard the Faith and hand it on to those who come after us.

Reference

Dix, G. (1945) The shape of the liturgy, Westminster: Dacre Press.