The Penn's Grove record., 1882-04-22
Clerical Vestments.
How Much Primitive" Authority
There;is for Them.

How Much Primitive" Authority
There.is for Them.
Dean Stanley describes, evidently
with infinite amusement, the purely
secular and common origin of the pre-
sent official dress of the clergy,
whether in the Anglican or in the
Roman Church, and he enforces, with
the livsliest illustration, the conclu-
| sion that " the dress of the clergy had
no distinct intention, symbolical,
sacerdotal, sacrificial or my %stical,n but
originated simply in 1.-THE fashions
common to the whole community of
the Roman Empire during the first
three centuries" He begins by dress
ing up a lay figure at the time of the
Chrittian era, and shown how his
various garments have survived in
clerical costume. His shirt, con1tsia
or chemise, survives in two forms, the
alb, so called from its being white,
and the dalmatia, so called from Dal.
malta, from whence this shape of it
was derived-just 81 certain great
coats, to gu, tie the Deans illustration
are now called ulsters. This shirt,
after the invasion of the Northern bar
! arisns, used to be drawn over the fur
coat, sheep skin cr otter skin, the pei
Hsse of the Northern nations, and
hence, in the twelfth century, arose
the baroarous name Of su~perpeHiciun'
or surplice, the over fur" The pre-
sent rector of st. George's-in-the East,
the Rev. Harry Jones, told an anus
ing story of the Dean which illustrates
this p int. He came to preach at st.
Georges n very cold day, wrapped
in a fur coat, and Mr.. Jones advised
him to keep it on during the service.
"Yes," said the Dean, II think l
had better do so, and then my surplice
will be a true superpellicium." An
other form of the same dress survives
tn the Bishops rochet, which is the
little frock or coat wern by the medic
val Bishops out of doors when they
went out hunting. Similarly the pail
of an Archbishop is the relic of the
Roman toga or pallium. 1t is not SO
certain as the Dean supposes that cas-
sock is derived from Caracalla, "a
long overall, which Antoninus Bassia-
nus brought from France and whence
he derived his name,n for it has also
been traced to kds, skin or hide. But
there can be no doubt that chasuble
comes from cdsuld, ga slang name
used by the Italian laborers for the
cdpote," which they called their
little house." as ~"tile,o is-or was a
short time ACCUSED fer chat" and
as coat is the same word as " cote " or
" cottage" and "cope" is another
form of ~overcoat-a sort of waterproof;
OF that the mitre was an ordinary
head-dress worn by women, and still,
according to the Dean, to be seen in
the museums of Russia as the cap or
turban worn on festive occasions in
ancient days by princes and mobiles,
and even to this day by the peasant
women. The division into two points
is, he says, "only the mark of the
crease, which is the consequence OF its
having been, like an opera hat, folded
and carried under the ARM" The
stole, lastly, was a simple handker-
chief for common uses. On State oc-
casions such handkerchiefs were used
as ribbons, streamers or scarfs, and
were hence adopted by the Deacons,
who had little else to distinguish
them. The Dean mentions a curious
modern illustration of the way in
which the use of such a slight symbol
may arise. When Sir James Brooke
first returned from Borneo, where the
only sign of royalty was to hold a ker-
chief in the hand, he retained the
same practice in England. The pro-
cess by which these simple garments
passed into official use is easily traced.
First, the early Christian clergy and
laity alike, when they came to their
public assemblies, took care that their
clothes, though the same as they usu-
ally wore, should be especially neat
and clean. Next, it was natural that
the colors and forms chosen should be
of q grave and sober tint. Lastly came
the process, which may be easily fol
lowed in English society during the
last tw o centuries of common fashions
becoming fixed in certain classes at
particular moments, and of what was
once common to all becoming peculiar
to q few.-London Qaartety.