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Views from the Choir Loft

Vesting Prayers • Part 1 of 9

Fr. David Friel · July 5, 2015

HAT IS THE PURPOSE of sacred vestments, and what is their origin? These are questions that most ordinary Catholics probably could not answer. A very good (and very concise) explanation of liturgical vesture is given by Fr. Mauro Gagliardi, consultor to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff (available from the Vatican webpage). His article is well worth a look.

The Roman Rite could have developed in such a way that the Sacraments are celebrated by priests who dress in the clothes common to their culture, but it did not. Instead, a system of sacred vestments worn only for worship arose. I would argue that this development has two major advantages over the wearing of profane clothing.

First, wearing sacred garments reserved for the liturgy helps the sacred ministers to adopt a sense of detachment from the secular sphere and the ordinary concerns of daily life. The external vesture, in other words, produces a positive interior effect.

Secondly, sacred vestments serve to emphasize the ministerial role of the one who wears them. As the above-mentioned Vatican webpage puts it:

One might say that the “camouflaging” of the minister’s body by the vestments depersonalizes him in a way; it is that healthy depersonalization that de-centers the celebrating minister and recognizes the true protagonist of the liturgical action: Christ. The form of the vestments, therefore, says that the liturgy is celebrated in persona Christi and not in the priest’s own name. He who performs a liturgical function does not do so as a private person, but as a minister of the Church and an instrument in the hands of Jesus Christ.

These are two of the strongest reasons why the Church adopted sacred vestments for the liturgy and continues their usage to the modern day.

Clerical vestments derive from the regular clothing of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the earliest days of the Church, therefore, it was not the external form of the vestments that distinguished them from secular clothing; it was, rather, the quality of the garments. Only the highest quality fabrics and handiwork were used for liturgical vestments, and these vestments were used only for worship.

Later, after invasions, demographic shifts, and the simple passage of time, the common dress among Westerners underwent alterations. Clerical garb and liturgical vestments, however, remained unchanged. Secular clothing was thereby further distinguished from liturgical vesture.

Then, in the Carolingian period (circa 8th Century), new distinctions arose within the liturgical garments. These changes were meant to distinguish the three levels of Holy Orders (for example, chasubles as different from dalmatics). It was in this time that the sacred vestments reached their definitive form, remaining essentially unchanged in the centuries since.

Each of the vestments worn by the priest at Mass is accompanied by a prayer to be said as it is donned. These prayers are biblically, theologically, and spiritually quite rich. Over the coming weeks, I will present these vesting prayers along with a reflection on the prayer, itself, and the significance of the particular vestment.

Part 1 • Introduction

Part 2 • The Hand Washing

Part 3 • The Amice

Part 4 • The Alb

Part 5 • The Cincture

Part 6 • The Maniple

Part 7 • The Stole

Part 8 • The Chasuble

Part 9 • The Dalmatic

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

Filed Under: Articles, Featured Tagged With: Roman Collar Distinctive Garb, Traditional Catholic Vestments, Vesting Prayers Last Updated: March 29, 2021

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)
    I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

In the Orthodox Churches they have kept that pristine liturgy, so beautiful. We have lost a bit the sense of adoration. They keep, they praise God, they adore God, they sing, time doesn’t count. God is the center, and this is a richness …

— Pope Francis (8/2/2013)

Recent Posts

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