ASK FATHER: Priest’s cassocks with shoulder capes
From a reader…
I was wondering if any secular/diocesan priest is allowed to wear a black mozzetta as part of their choir dress? I have seen pictures of some priests wearing a black mozzetta such as the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.
Ah… finally something truly important… a welcome relief from such trifles as the upcoming brawl at Synod, the undermining of marriage, the silence of bishops about Planned Parenthood selling baby parts, the meaning of prayers for Mass, etc.
First, canons are… canons. They have their own particular style of dress for their house cassock and for choir.
The little cape over the shoulders of the house cassock was, once upon a time, a mark of jurisdiction. Bishops use it. Pastors of parishes could use it I believe (back when there was far more complicated ecclesiastical clothing). I don’t think it really marks jurisdiction anymore, given the way that it is used or not used, higgledy-piggledy.
These days, I think most priests use it because it looks nice. I have a cassock with one of these. I used it because it was warm. I grew up in Minnesota, but I have never been so cold in my life as in Rome in winter, back in the day. I shiver just thinking about it.
Paul VI – wrongly, I think – did away with a lot of the things that clerics used to wear. For example pompoms on the ends of fascias were abolished. Some priests use them anyway. Back in the day, priests were not to use black watered-silk fascia. These days some do. Why? They look nice.
“But Father! But Father!”, some will say. If these things are forbidden, then they shouldn’t be used! You are antinomian!”
To which I respond: So what?
If using these things makes their black (or purple) socks roll up and down, great.
It was a mistake to simplify ecclesiastical garb to the degree that it was simplified. We will see that usage, praxis, will – guttatim – reintegrate the old things back into general use.
I don’t know if this is part of the “gravitational pull” that the older forms are exerting on the new or if this is something else.
One think I do know – liberals hate stuff like this.
All the more reason to use it.
Strike a blow for decorum.
But .. a caution: Don’t fix too much attention on these things. It’s just stuff. Array your mind and heart with holy thoughts, study, prayers, and works of mercy and let your outward acts and words ring with charity and truth.
But back to the question. You were asking about choir dress not the house cassock for everyday dress.
Unless you are a member of an equestrian order, diocesan clerics ought to wear – for choir dress – the cassock and, over it, surplice, having their biretta as cover. I don’t see any reason for more than that.
Meanwhile…
[CUE MUSIC]
From the official WDTPRS parodohymnodist – now Father Tim Ferguson – to the Sound of Music tune “My Favorite Things”:
Dalmatics on deacons and cassocks on priests,
habits on nuns and immovable feasts,
bishops in soutanes with big, gaudy rings –
these are a few of my favorite things.Devotions to Mary, novenas and stations,
fasting and penance on Days of Rogation,
High Mass and Low Mass and papal blessings –
these are a few of my favorite things.Rosaries and incense and fiddleback vestments,
BINGO on Mondays with homemade refreshments,
statues of angels with halos and wings –
these are a few of my favorite things.When RENEW strikes!
When the rail’s gone!
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply pop into a Solemn High Mass
and then I don’t feel so baaaaaad!
[MUSIC CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND]
When you’ve had a hard day sorting out what fancy gear priests can wear, … nay rather… when you have had a hard day biting your tongue over the shabby way most priests usually dress these days…. for the love of GOD can’t these men put on clerical clothes? Can we have a little liturgical decorum? In the name of all that is holy, isn’t about time that clerics start dressing as if both their own role in the Church and what they are doing in church might be slightly
important, rather than throwing on something they rummaged up from the laundry bag behind the “Tasty Bakery” after the night shift?
It’s enough to make you….
Why not relax with a WDTPRS mug filled to the brim with piping hot Mystic Monk Coffee?
Refresh your supply now! Not just Monk Coffee … Mystic Monk!
It’s swell!
