• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Catholic Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

What Should Female Lectors Wear At Mass?

Jeff Ostrowski · July 7, 2014

293 Comic AMICE HE COLLEGE GIRLS who acted as lectors for the Newman Center in Lawrence, KS, often wore mini-skirts so revealing it seemed they weren’t wearing pants. I know this because I attended daily Mass at the St. Lawrence Center while studying at the University of Kansas. (For the record, I’m told a new priest “cleaned house” after I left in 2005.)

As a young piano student, I remember being dumbfounded by lectors dressed immodestly and asking the question: What attire should lectors wear? I was taught that women should never wear cassock and surplice.

An ALB is also out of the question, because it’s traditionally a priestly vestment. Current legislation does allow women to wear an alb, but when they do, they’re told they must also wear “a cincture and an amice,” which strikes me as absurd. 1 But here we are not considering what a women lector is allowed to wear: we are asking what they ought to wear.

I SAY AGAIN: THE ALB is traditionally a priestly vestment. The amice and cincture are, too, and have special prayers said by the priest as he puts them on. To my knowledge, there is not one shred of iconographical evidence contradicting the idea that the alb is exclusively a priestly vestment. (Here I am considering iconographical evidence from 1960 going back to the 10th century.) Liturgists in the 1980s put forward the idea that lay Christians might have worn the alb in the earliest centuries of the Church, but selectively “plucking” a vague idea from that time period seems fraught with problems, since we have so little concrete evidence.

Pick up a copy of the Jogues Missal to see how this issue was addressed:

      * *  Jogues Illuminated Missal — A Pew Book for the Ordinary Form


Which of these possible solutions do you prefer?

            298 Lady Lector         301 Lector Woman

The blue cassocks are used for ladies at the Lateran Basilica in Rome.


UPDATE :

Some people have been quoting St. Paul in who said women should be quiet and never speak in Church (I Corinthians 14:34). I’m not sure how that quote should be interpreted in modern times. For example, Pope Pius XII encouraged women to speak in Church (the so-called “Dialogue” Mass), and the 1962 Missale Romanum allows women to make the responses if no male server is present. Furthermore, nuns inside convents have been “speaking” and singing in Church for centuries. But which of us would accuse Pope Pius XII of being ignorant of St. Paul?

However, St. Paul’s quote reminds us to guard against Bugnini’s idea of picking and choosing from a “pristine” age of the Church (while denigrating the organic development that took place through the centuries). Bugnini was either confused or dishonest about what he was doing when he declared: “Here in the Consilium we are not working for museums and archives, but for the spiritual life of the people of God.” Some people have suggested the worst example of Bugnini’s antiquarianism was the “restoration” of the Responsorial Psalm. It’s true that Pope Leo and St. Augustine alluded to something akin to the Responsorial Psalm, but we have absolutely no idea what it actually looked like or sounded like in the 4th century. In fact, I’ll give 10 million dollars to anyone who can show me just one musical score of an “original” Responsorial Psalm from the 5th century.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   General Instruction of the Roman Missal — §119

In the sacristy, according to the various forms of celebration, there should be prepared the sacred vestments (cf. nos. 337-341) for the Priest, the Deacon, and other ministers:
a) for the Priest: the alb, the stole, and the chasuble;
b) for the Deacon: the alb, the stole, and the dalmatic; the latter may be omitted, however, either out of necessity or on account of a lesser degree of solemnity;
c) for the other ministers: albs or other lawfully approved attire. All who wear an alb should use a cincture and an amice unless, due to the form of the alb, they are not needed.

General Instruction of the Roman Missal — §339

In the Dioceses of the United States of America, acolytes, altar servers, readers, and other lay ministers may wear the alb or other appropriate and dignified clothing.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Reform of the Reform Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

Jeff Ostrowski

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Here’s an audio excerpt (33 seconds) of a setting for Kyrie VIII which was recorded live last Sunday at our parish in Los Angeles. The setting (“Missa de Angelis”) is by composer Richard Rice, and you can download the free PDF if you click here and scroll to the bottom. I think Richard’s composition is marvelous. I missed a few notes on the organ, but I’ll get them right next time.

—Jeff Ostrowski
5 April 2021 • When Girls Sing

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

To the extent that the new sacred music is to serve the liturgical celebrations of the various churches, it can and must draw from earlier forms — especially from Gregorian chant — a higher inspiration, a uniquely sacred quality, a genuine sense of what is religious.

— Pope John Paul II (June 1980)

Recent Posts

  • Did Solesmes Abbey Drink The 1960s Kool-Aid?
  • Fr. Thomas Reese • “Young People Should Not Be Allowed To Attend” Latin Mass
  • 10 Examples • “Diversity of Musical Styles” (Latin Mass)
  • Can You Spare 33 Seconds?
  • “The Great Reset” • For Your Choir?

Copyright © 2021 Corpus Christi Watershed · Charles Garnier on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.