The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-07-16
Sixth Sermon Of series on Catholic
Worship, prepared by Rev. T. X.
Leehner, st. AIMS Church, Butte,
Montana.
THE PRIEsTLY vEsTMENTs.

THE PRIEsTLY VEsTMENTs.
In the instruction last week. my
dear brethren, the sacred vessels used
in the celebration Of Mass were brieny
described; in this sermon we shall
explain the vestments the priest wears
when offering the Holy Sacrifice.
In the Old Testament God Himself
prescribed the vestments to be worn
by the priest. Thus in Exodus (2S,
2-5) we read:
And thou shall make holy vesture
Aar Aaron thy brother for glory and for
beauty. And thou shalt speak to all
the wise of heart, whom have filled
with the spirit of wisdom, that they
may make Aaron's vestments, in which
he being consecrated may minister to
me. And these shall be the vestments
that they shall make: A rational and
an ephod, a tunic and strait linen
garment, mitre and girdle. They
shall make the holy vestments for thy
brother Aaron and his sons, that they
may do the Office of priesthood unto
Me. And they shall take gold, and
NAOI0L, anu puIp1S, dAO oSnA ASS S"ASS
dyed, and fine linen"
Vestments in Old Law.
In Ecclesiasticus $50, 6-12) the high
priest Simon is pictured as he entered
the sanctuary clothed with the vest
ments of his Office. He is likened to
the brilliant morning-star, to the sun
shining in the heavens, to the rain
bow, to the flowers Of the roses in the
springtime, to the lilies on the rivers
bank, to sweet-smelling incense, to a
massy vessel of solid gold, adorned
with every precious stone, to the bud
ding olive tree and the lofty cypress
so magnificent was the raiment in
which he was clad.
If such distinctive and costly vest
ments were prescribed to be worn by
the priests in the Old Law, and COM
manded under the severest penalties
(Exod. %, 43), why should God not
wish that in the New Law, of which
the Old was but the shadow, His priests
be clothed in appropriate vestments
when they celebrate the adorable
Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the
sacrifices of the Old Law were merely
the figure?
Early Christian Vestments.
The form of the vestments used in
the first ages of the Christian era did
not differ from the ordinary civilian
dress. Still, the Church commanded
that the garments used in offering the
Holy Sacrifice should be of the very
best material and should be worn only
in the celebration of the divine
mysteries. The Council of Trent,
therefore, could we'll say that the use
of distinctive vestments rested on
apostolic prescription and tradition"
For the sake of uniformity, the
Church in the course of time determin-
ed the material of the vestments to be
used by her ministers. The amice and
alb must be of linen, the cincture may
be of wool or silk, for the chasuble,
stole and maniple no special material
is prescribed. All that is required is
that they be of the richest of fabrics.
AS the Mass is the representation
and renewal of the Passion and Death
of Christ, the vestments will naturally
bear some reference and resemblance
to the garments in which He was
clothed in His Passion or to the instru-
ments of torture with which His
Sacred Body was afflicted.
Thus the amice reminds US of the
shameful yelling of Our Lord by those
,ho CIV huff hn
alb recalls the white garment with
which Herod clothed Him as a fool.
The cincture brings back the scene in
the Garden of Olives where He was
seized and bound. The maniple recalls
the cords that bound His hands to the
pillar. The stole indicates the burden
of the Cross. The chasuble reminds
us of the seamless garment woven by
His Holy Mother and the purple robe
of royalty that was thrown about Him
in mockery.
In a moral sense the vestments
designate the virtues with which the
priest should be adorned in order that
he may worthily represent the great
High-priest, Jesus Christ
How Priest Is Clothed.
The priest first puts on the amice
which is, as you see, a large rectangu
lar piece of linen with two ribbons at
tached. He touches it to his head, and
then drops it on his shoulders
Formerly, the amice remained on the
head until the celebrant came down
from the altar to begin the Mass
custom that is still preserved in some
orders of monks, ". g. the Dominicans
The significance of this act is to remind
the priest that vain, worldly and dis
tracing thoughts are to be banishe6
during the Holy Sacrifice, as is evident
from the prayer that he recites:
place, o Lord, on my head, the helmet
of salvation, that may overcome the
assaults of Satan" After the amice ha:
been dropped on the shoulders it i.
wrapped about the neck. There was {
practical purpose attached to this II
the early Church. With the neck pro
tected, the priest was less liable tS
contract those ailments of the throa
that might be expected to occur wheI
the Sacrifice was offered in damp
underground places. From this comes
the secondary spiritual meaning tina
the Church draws from the amice, ant
which the Bishop mentions in the ritz
Il - ~