What does it all mean?

Irina recently visited a museum that, among other things, displayed Catholic liturgical vestments. Inspired by this, I thought I would put together a brief introduction to Catholic liturgical vestments, using my superpope action figure, which my friend J put in my stocking last Christmas.

The Hat

The hat is called a "Mitre." It is a tiara worn by bishops or abbots (the head of a community of monks.) it has two long tails called lappets that hang down at the back. The mitre is a symbol of a bishop's authority, and he wears it during every Mass - but always takes it off when he says prayers, because a man's head is not supposed to be covered when he prays. The Orthodox bishops of the east also wear mitres, but they are very different looking; theirs look more like a traditional crown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitre

The Staff

The staff is called a sheperd's crozier. It is meant to show that a bishop (or an abbot) is the leader of a flock. It normally has a round crook like a real sheperd's staff, but Pope John Paul II's crozier had a depiction of the crucifixion for a crook. A bishop who is visiting a church in his own jurisdiction (called a diocese) will hold the crook out, to show his pastoral care of the flock. But when he visits a church in another bishop's jurisdiction, he will point the crozier back at himself, as a symbol of respect for the local bishop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crozier

The Outer Garment

The outer garment the figure is wearing is called a chasuble. This is typically worn by all priests during a Mass, and a bishop like the Pope, of course, is still a priest. Along with most of the robes a priest wears, the chasuble is descended from the ordinary clothing worn by public officials of the Roman empire. These fashions passed out of use when the empire lost temporal sovereignty over Europe, but of course, since the church persisted, so did the priestly clothing. A deacon wears a somewhat reduced form of the chasuble called a dalmatic. Chasubles are not just for Catholics - in most Protestant churches I've been in, the minister wears something similar. The two letters overlapping are the Greek letters alpha and omega (meaning the first and the last.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasuble

The Inner Garment

The plain white robe worn underneath the chasuble is called an alb. All of the ministers on the altar - from Popes to deacons and even altar boys and altar girls - wear an alb during Mass. It is typically a white baptismal gown, and a symbol of the purity granted by God to all (by being white.) Most Protestant ministers wear an alb as well, frequently, along with choir singers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alb

The Stole

Not visible is the stole, similar to the Tallit. A priest (or bishop) wears the stole around the neck, and wrapped around the front. A deacon wears a stole over the shoulder. A friend of mine made a stole for our priest out of beads... it was quite beautiful (and pretty heavy.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stole

The Pallium

The sort of scarf like garment, ending in the rounded black piece, is called a Pallium. It is a Papal symbol, always made out of pure white lambs' wool, from lambs raised by monks. In recent centuries, the Pope will grant certain bishops who have been entrusted with great authority (overarching care of several regions or a country) a pallium of their own, which they are only entitled to wear if given to them by the Pope. My archbishop, the very Rev. Marcel Gervais, was given a pallium by the late Pope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallium

There... I think I thought of most of it.