A photograph of bishops at the Second Vatican Council. Most are wearing purple mantelletta over the rochet and purple choir cassock. On their heads are the zucchetto and purple biretta. Most seem to be wearing the pectoral cross on the chain, rather than the green and gold cord that would be more proper for choir dress. In the background, one can make out the scarlet of a Cardinal, whose biretta is tuftless and who wears the scarlet mozzetta over his mantelletta. You can also make out two bishops in blue, rather than purple. These are religious order bishops -- Franciscans, I think. Also in the background, two prelates in the wide-brimmed saturno.
The Pope, vested in mitre and cope, is greeted by a newly created Cardinal, vested in the scarlet mozzetta over scarlet choir cassock and rochet.
Pope Benedict XVI, assisted by two deacons. The Pope wears a cope of Blessed John XXIII (notice the coat of arms on the orphrey) and a precious mitre that belonged to John Paul I. The deacons, vested in dalmatics, hold the cope open in the traditional fashion, which makes it easier for the Pope to walk. Beneath the cope you can easily see the pectoral cross, stole, alb, and cincture.
The Pope is assisted with the removal of his chasuble for the anointing of the altar of a new church. This gives a good view of the pontifical dalmatic he is wearing beneath the chasuble. Under the dalmatic, he wears the pectoral cross (not visible), stole (not visible), and alb.
Canons
Canons are ecclesiastical dignitaries attached to "chapters," which exist in certain cathedrals and other greater churches. Originally, chapters gave the clerics a common life and provided for the singing of the canonical hours (and the performing of other sacred duties) in the churches that had them. With time, other responsibilities were given to canons, and in some dioceses the cathedral chapter wielded considerable power, including the naming of the bishop. In those places that have canons nowadays, their role is often merely honorary (as is the case with monsignori), although some are still obliged to certain sacred responsibilities within the chapter, and some still have special authority.
We mention the canons here because, within their chapter, canons usually enjoy special vestural privileges. These privileges vary from chapter to chapter: in some places, the canons wear mozzettas or mantellettas of this or that color, in others the biretta is modified, in some a cappa is allowed, or fur, or vesture that is almost indistinguishable from that of a bishop. As this photopost grows, we'll accept submissions of pictures depicting and describing the vesture of specific chapters. European readers: we're counting on your help!
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Warsaw, Poland are wearing the violet manteletta over rochet and black cassock, with purple trim and fascia. On chains, over the manteletta, each canon wears a chapter cross.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Salzburg, Austria, wear cherry red birettas and mozzettas, with a chapter cross on a cherry red ribbon.
The canons of the Capitular Chapter of the Collegiate Basilica of St. Helen Empress Augusta in Malta enjoy vestural privileges granted by Pope Urban VIII in the Papal Bull Sacri apostolici ministerio on the 5th December 1630, through which he erected the said chapter on the petition of Don Filippo Borgia. The following is their choir vesture: a rochet over the cassock, a cappa magna fastened at the back, (the reversed diaconal stole is part of the cappa) and a black biretta. Pope Leo XIII granted the use of a pectoral cross and a ring in 1862. The Capitular Mace was granted in 1914. Pius XII elevated the Collegiate Church to a Minor Basilica in 1950, granting the privilege of using the papal umbrellone and the tintinnabulum.
The collegiate chapter of the Basilica of Sts Peter and Paul in Gozo, Malta, seem to have the same privileges as the above Basilica of St Helen: folded purple cappa, with the odd reversed diaconal stole, over rochet and black cassock, with rings and unjeweled pectoral crosses. The two canons in the lead, wearing red tufted birettas and full purple and purple-piped cassocks respectively, presumable enjoy some special dignity. Notice, too, the tintinnabulum (processional bells) and umbrellone of the basilica, as well as the chapter mace carried by a verger.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Malta have two types of choir dress, I am told. The first image shows a cathedral canon in normal choir dress: purple mozetta, unjewelled gold pectoral cross on a golden cord, a black biretta with red pom-pom, rochet, over a black cassock with purple trim. On feast days, this filettata cassock is replaced by a full purple (paonazza) one. The cathedral canons of Malta have the privilege of being all protonotaries apostolic ad instar. In the third photo, you see Metropolitan Archbishop Joseph Mercieca wearing the cappa magna (held by Seminarian Stephen Attard, who provided us with the photo) and attended by cathedral canons.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Cracow, Poland, seem to wear a black biretta with purple pom-pom, a ring, a capitular cross on a chain, and a violet cappa over rochet and black cassock.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Swidnica, Poland, wear purple-tufted black birettas, a purple mozzetta with rochet, over a black cassock trimmed in purple. They use a ring and a capitular cross on a chain.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Kalisz, Poland, seem to have the same privileges as the Swidnica canons.
The Co-Cathedral Chapter of Ostrowiec Wielkopolski, Poland, in the same Diocse of Kalisz, seem to have the same vesture as their colleagues in Kalisz Cathedral, except that they wear a purple manteletta instead of a mozzetta.
The Cathedral Chapter of the Polish Army's Field Cathedral in Warsaw are seen here wearing capitular crosses on a chain, over the purple manteletta, with rochet and purple-trimmed black cassocks. I can't see whether they have rings. None of them is wearing a fascia (the cassock sash), which one would expect to be purple, and without seeing their birettas one would presume that they are completely black.
The Collegiate Chapter in Biecz, Poland, (Diocese of Rzeszow) wears the black biretta with purple pom-pom, purple manteletta, a capitular cross on a very interesting chain, rochet, and a purple-trimmed black cassock. In some of the pictures, I'm noticing canons with black mantelettas and a different sort of cross: presumably, they belong to a different chapter.
The Cathedral Chapter of Glasgow, Scotland, used to wear this striking choir dress of a fur-trimmed purple mozzetta (with hood!) over rochet and purple cassock. I'm told that the Archbishop has retired the old canons and changed the choir dress to a purple-trimmed black cassock with a grey mozzetta. Sic transit, I suppose.
The Canons of Avignon, France, enjoy vestural privileges that apparently date back to the days of the Popes' residence there. The monsignor seen here is dean of the chapter. Judging from the photo, the Avignon canons wear a scarlet cappa without a train, and a pectoral cross. Any more information?
The Cathedral Chapter of Southwark, England, wear a purple mozzetta with amaranth buttons and ermine trim. The two priests shown here are the provost and provost emeritus.
The canons of the Collegiate Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico, have two styles of choir dress, which I assume depend on the rank of the canon. Here we see one canon with purple mozzetta and chapter cross on a chain, over rochet (actually, it looks as if he's incorrectly in a surplice) and purple cassock; the other is wearing a purple-piped black mozzetta over a black cassock (perhaps also piped in purple?).
These canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Merida, Spain, are wearing the black cappa trimmed in purple over rochets and black cassocks trimmed in purple.
These canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Segovia, Spain, wear black cappas with a violet uppper piece over rochet and (apparently) solid black cassocks.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Augsburg, Germany, wear a purple mozzetta with a chapter cross on a ribbon, over rochet and full purple cassock.
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, wear what seems to be an oddly folded purple cappa magna, with an ermine-trimmed upper piece, over rochet and purple cassock. The canons are seen here in a Palm Sunday procession, complete with a bishop on a donkey!
The canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Quito, Ecuador, are seen here in an unusual custom called arrastre de las caudas ("dragging of the trains"). They're wearing black cappa magna, with the train extended and (because they are involved in a penitential ceremony) with the hoods pulled over their heads. The rest of their vesture seems to be rochet and black cassock. In the first photo, you can see the diocesan bishop in his purple cappa, trimmed in ermine (technically no longer allowed for bishops), and his hood pulled over his head (and apparently biretta). I'll let my correspondent describe this ceremony:
It involves canons wearing the cappa with the hood covering their head and caudatarii carrying the trains. The canons then lie face down in choir and the local bishop (also in cappa) presents a dark flag that no one is supposed to touch. The whole thing takes place during Wednesday of Holy Week and I do not really know the symbolism behind it. The first photo shows the archbishop of Quito, Ecuador, and the canons lying on the floor during last year's "arrastre". The second photo is a historic shot of the event.
Unidentified Belgian canons, during the funeral of the Bishop of Bridge. They seem to be wearing black cappas with a striped-fur upper piece. Any more information?
More unidentified canons, these from Spain. They are wearing black cappas trimmed in burgundy velvet, over rochets and black cassocks. The priests in the middle don't seem to be dignitaries: the green pom-pom on their Spanish-style birettas is probably indicative of an academic degree (and thus ought not to be worn for purely liturgical ceremonies). Can anyone help identify the chapter in question?
This photo is of the Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception, in Paterno, Italy. As regular canons, rather than capitular canons, these fellows are technically outside the scope of this particular post, but the photograph is too good to pass up. My correspondent explains what you are seeing:
These canons did not only wear the violet cappa magna, the actually made a procession through the town with the trains of the cappa trailing behind them on the ground, as seen on the photo. This was done every year on "Venerdi Santo". To boot, these canons also wore socks and zucchetto of matching color and buckled shoes. Of course, this beautiful custom eventually came to and end, too (Supposedly the provost one day saw the archbishop amongst the spectators during the procession. The provost felt sort of guilty that he was dressed ten times as well as the archbishop and instantly got rid of the cappae).
Episcopal Gloves
Episcopal gloves, also called episcopal gauntlets, are liturgical gloves used by bishops in the traditional Roman Rite of the Mass. Following Vatican II, a number of traditional items of vesture were abolished, but the gloves seem merely to have stopped being mentioned. So, on a rare occasion, one may still see a bishop using gloves in the New Mass, such as the Archbishop of Seoul (see below) just prior to his creation as a Cardinal. The relevant sections from the Catholic Encyclopedia article:
Liturgical gloves (chirothecœ, called also at an earlier date manicœ, wanti,) are a liturgical adornment reserved for bishops and cardinals. Other ecclesiastics, including abbots, cannot use them without a special papal privilege. They are worn only at a pontifical Mass, never at any other function, and then only to the washing of the hands before the Sacrifice. Episcopal gloves at the present day are knitted by machine or hand from silk thread, and are ornamented on the back with a cross; the border of the opening for the hand is also, as a rule, embellished. The colour of the gloves must correspond with the liturgical colour of the feast or day in the services of which they are worn; episcopal gloves, however, are never black, as they are not used on Good Friday nor at the celebration of Masses for the dead. When a bishop is consecrated the gloves are put on him by the consecrator, aided by the assisting bishops, just after the Blessing. The use of episcopal gloves became customary at Rome probably in the tenth century, outside of Rome they were employed somewhat earlier....
Episcopal gloves are symbolical of purity from sin, the performance of good works, and carefulness of procedure.
The Ferraiuolo
The ferraiuolo is a formal cape worn by the clergy over the non-choir cassock on special, non-liturgical occasions. From the time of Bl. Pius IX (I believe) until the 1969 revisions of Paul VI, it was required of any cleric received in audience by the Pope or attending a non-liturgical function at which His Holiness was present.
The ferraiuolo comes in three colors: black, purple, and red. Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church wear red, bishops and the highest ranks of honorary monsignors (now only the upper eschelon of the Roman Curia and protonotaries apostolic -- although, before, prelates of honor also had the privilege) wear purple, and everyone else wears black. Cardinals and others directly representing the Pope may use watered silk as the material.
One is most likely to run into a ferraiuolo these days at an academic event or some formal occasion where gentlemen would be wearing tuxedos. The following are some images of the ferraiuolo in use. Mouse over the image to see the commentary.
Dalmatics (and Tunicles)
The dalmatic, worn over the diagonal stole, is the vestment corresponding to the order of deacons. Its history is set forth in fascinating detail in the Catholic Encyclopedia article (although a few bits of the legislation mentioned do not apply to the post-Vatican II rite, and one minor element does not even apply to the 1962 Missal of the Traditional Rite). The tunicle (or tunic) is a vestment very similar to (and often identical with) the dalmatic and is worn by the subdeacon (without any stole).
There is a second sort of dalmatic, usually made of much lighter material than the normal sort, worn by bishops when they celebrate Solemn Pontifical Mass (or what amounts to it in the New Rite). When used, this "pontifical dalmatic" is worn under the chasuble. If the bishop is singing Mass in the Old Rite, he also wears a "pontifical tunicle" under the pontifical dalmatic. In the Novus Ordo, it's (alas) not common that bishops wear the dalmatic even for very important Masses, although some (such as my own) do.
The last section of this photopost is dedicated to a very special use of the dalmatic. On very solemn occasions, the Pope is accompanied by two Cardinals who belong to the rank of Cardinal Deacons. They vest in the full dalmatic (generally worn over their scarlet choir cassock, with the knee-length rochet, and amice around the neck) and make use of the white-damask mitre (the mitra simplex).
As usual, move your mouse over a picture to read the commentary. Click on the photo to open a bigger version in higher resolution (particularly fun with some of those papal photos).
Pontifical Dalmatics
Cardinal Deacons
The Cope
The cope (Latin cappa or pluviale) is a liturgical mantle, open in front, and having a stylized hood hanging on the back. The Roman cope is semicircular and fastens at the chest, whereas the more modern French-cut cope approximates a full circle of material and fastens at the neck. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains:
... It was [originally] a vestment for processions, and one worn by all ranks of the clergy when assisting at a function, but never employed by the priest and his sacred ministers in offering the Holy Sacrifice. At the present day it is still, as the "Cæremoniale" directs, worn by cantors on certain festal occasions in the solemn Office; but it is also the vestment assigned to the celebrant, whether priest or bishop, in almost all functions in which the chasuble is not used, for example in processions, in the greater blessings and consecrations, at solemn Vespers and Lauds, in giving Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, at the absolutions and burial of the dead, at the Asperges before Mass, etc. At a pontifical high Mass it is worn by the assistant priest who especially attends upon the bishop. As regards colour the cope follows that of the day, and it may be made of any rich or becoming material....You'll notice that in a number of the photos, Popes are wearing a curious, very long version of the cope known as the mantum, or papal mantle. This is reserved to the Supreme Pontiff and is often fastened by a particularly elaborate morse. Otherwise, all the photographs are of copes in the strict sense. Mouse over each image to read the commentary.
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