The cassock, or soutane, is a Christian clerical robe used by the clergy and male religious of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, in addition to some clergy in certain Protestant denominations such as Anglicans, Presbyterians and Lutherans. "Ankle-length garment" is the literal meaning of the corresponding Latin term, . It is related to the habits traditionally worn by nuns, monks, and friars.
The cassock derives historically from the tunic of classical antiquity that in ancient Rome was worn underneath the toga, and the chiton that was worn beneath the himation in ancient Greece. In religious services, it has traditionally been worn underneath vestments, such as the alb.
In the West, the cassock is little used today except for religious services, save for traditionalist and those other Catholic clergy and religious who continue to wear the cassock as their standard attire. However, in many countries it was the normal everyday wear of the clergy until the 1960s, when it was largely replaced by clerical suits, distinguished from lay dress by being generally black and by a black shirt incorporating a clerical collar.
Etymology The word cassock comes from Middle French , meaning a long coat. In turn, the Old French word may come ultimately from Turkish (nomad, adventurer – the source of the word Cossack), an allusion to their typical riding coat, or from Persian (padded garment) – (raw silk) + (stuffed). The name was originally specially applied to the dress worn by soldiers and horsemen, and later to the long garment worn in civil life by both men and women. As an ecclesiastical term, the word cassock came into use somewhat late (as a translation of the old names of subtanea, vestis talaris, toga talaris, or tunica talaris), being mentioned in Canon LXXIV (74) of the Anglican 1604 Canons; and it is in this sense alone that it now survives.
The word soutane is a French word, coming from Italian , itself from Latin , the adjectival form of (beneath).
Eastern Christian practice
In Eastern Christianity there are two types of cassock: the Inner Cassock and the Outer Cassock or Rason. Monastics always wear a black cassock. There is no rule about colouration for non-monastic clergy, but black is the most common. Blue or grey are also seen frequently, while white is sometimes worn for Pascha. In the Eastern Churches, cassocks are not dress for any lay ministry. Generally, one has to be blessed to wear a cassock usually in the case of exercising a clerical duty.
Types of Eastern cassocks The inner cassock (more often simply cassock) is an ankle length garment worn by all major and minor clergy, monastics, and often by male seminarians. The Slavic, or "Russian" style ( , ) is double-breasted, closely fitted through the torso and flaring out to the skirt, with a high collar buttoned off-center, and may be cinctured with either a leather or wide cloth belt. The Greek version, called an anteri (αντερί), rason (ράσον), or zostiko (ζωστικό) is somewhat fuller, gathered at the waist with a narrow cloth belt, and with a high collar buttoned in the front. The inner cassock is usually worn by all clergy members under their liturgical vestments. The outer cassock ( , , ) is a voluminous garment worn over the inner cassock by bishops, priests, deacons, and monastics as their regular outerwear. It is not worn by seminarians, readers or subdeacons in the Russian tradition. In the Greek tradition, however, chanters may wear it in church, usually with no inner cassock beneath but directly over secular clothing. The outer cassock should be worn by a priest celebrating a service such as Vespers where the rubrics call for him to be less than fully vested, but it is not worn by any clergy beneath the sticharion. It may be worn with the bottoms of the sleeves turned back, which are sometimes faced in a contrasting colour. The Greek version tends to be somewhat lighter weight and more fully cut than the Russian. It is originally a monastic garment, and in the Russian tradition a man must be explicitly blessed by the bishop to wear it following his ordination to the diaconate. A cassock vest ("kontorasson" (κοντόρασον), "amaniko" (αμάνικο), "gileko" (γιλέκο)) is sometimes worn over the inner cassock. This is a closely fitted collarless vest, usually falling slightly below the waist. The vest has its origins in the outer cassock and therefore should be worn only by clergy and monastics who would, in formal or liturgical settings, wear the outer cassock. A cassock coat may be worn on very cold days, with the same cut as the outer cassock but slightly larger and of heavier material. It may or may not have a fur-lined collar. The coat is worn over the outer cassock, although many clerics may wear it in lieu of a coat on colder days.
Eastern Catholic and Orthodox examples
Oriental Orthodox examples
Western Christian practice
Latin Catholic
The cassock (or soutane) comes in a number of styles or cuts, though no particular symbolism attaches to these. A Roman cassock often has a series of 33 buttons down the front, symbolizing Jesus' life of 33 years, and 5 buttons on the cuff, symbolising the Five Holy Wounds. In some English-speaking countries these buttons may be merely ornamental, with a concealed fly-front buttoning, known as a Chesterfield front, used to fasten the garment. A French cassock also has buttons sewn to the sleeves after the manner of a suit, and a slightly broader skirt. An Ambrosian cassock has a series of only five buttons under the neck, with a sash on the waist. A Jesuit cassock, in lieu of buttons, has a fly fastened with hooks at the collar and is bound at the waist with a cincture knotted on the right side.
The ordinary Roman cassock worn by Roman Catholic clerics (as distinct from that worn as choir dress) is black except in tropical countries, where because of the heat it is white and usually without shoulder cape (pellegrina). Coloured piping and buttons are added in accordance with rank: black for priests, purple for chaplains of His Holiness; amaranth red for bishops, protonotaries apostolic and Honorary Prelates; and scarlet red for cardinals.
The 1969 Instruction on the dress of prelates stated that for all of them, even cardinals, the dress for ordinary use may be a simple black cassock without coloured trim.Instruction, 5 and 14
A band cincture or sash, known also as a fascia, may be worn with the cassock. The Instruction on the dress of prelates specifies that the two ends that hang down by the side have silk fringes, abolishing the sash with tassels.Instruction, 3, 15, 18, 19 A black faille fascia is worn by priests, deacons, and major seminarians, while a purple faille fascia is used by bishops, protonotaries apostolic, honorary prelates, and chaplains of His Holiness, when wearing a cassock with coloured trim. A black watered-silk fascia is permitted for priests attached to the papal household, a purple watered-silk fascia for bishops attached to the papal household (for example, Apostolic Nuncios), and a scarlet watered-silk fascia for cardinals. The Pope wears a white watered-silk fascia, sometimes with his coat of arms on the ends.
In choir dress, chaplains of His Holiness wear their purple-trimmed black cassocks with a cotta, but bishops, protonotaries apostolic, and honorary prelates use (with a cotta or, in the case of bishops, a rochet and mozzetta) cassocks that are fully purple (this purple corresponds more closely with a Roman purple and is approximated as fuchsia) with scarlet trim, while those of cardinals are fully scarlet with scarlet trim. Cardinals have the additional distinction of having both choir cassock sleeves and the fascia made of scarlet watered-silk. The cut of the choir cassock is still a Roman-cut or French-cut Roman cassock.
In the past, a cardinal's cassock was made entirely of watered silk, with a train that could be fastened at the back of the cassock. This train was abolished by the motu proprio Valde solliciti of Pope Pius XII with effect from 1 January 1953. With the same motu proprio, the Pope ordered that the violet cassock (then used in penitential periods and in mourning) be made of wool, not silk,Valde solliciti, III and in February 1965, under Pope Paul VI, a circular of the Sacred Ceremonial Congregation abolished the use of watered silk also for the red cassock.
An elbow-length shoulder cape, open in front, is sometimes worn with the cassock, either fixed to it or detachable. It is known as a pellegrina. It is distinct from the mozzetta, which is buttoned in front and is worn over a rochet.
The general rule of the Roman Catholic Church is that the pellegrina may be worn with the cassock by cardinals and bishops.Instruction on the Dress, Titles and Coats-of-Arms of Cardinals, Bishops and Lesser Prelates, 28 March 1969, 2 and 14 In 1850, the year in which he restored the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, Pope Pius IX was understood to grant to all priests there the privilege of wearing a replica in black of his own white caped cassock. Since then, the wearing of the pellegrina with the cassock has been a sign of a Roman Catholic priest in England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, although sometimes imitated by Anglican priests.
In his 1909 book, Costume of Prelates of the Catholic Church, John Abel Felix Prosper Nainfa proposed the use of the English word "simar", instead of the word "cassock", for the garment with shoulder cape, which he treated as distinct from the cassock proper. Others too have made the same distinction between the "simar" (with pellegrina) and the "cassock" (without), but many scholars disagree with Nainfa's distinction. More particularly, documents of the Holy See make no such distinction, using the term cassock or vestis talaris whether a pellegrina is attached or is not. Thus the 1969 instruction states that, for cardinals and bishops, "the elbow-length cape, trimmed in the same manner as this cassock, may be worn over it". Cassock, rather than simar, is the term that is usually applied to the dress of Popes and other Catholic ecclesiastics. The instruction also gives no support to Nainfa's claim that the cassock with shoulder cape should not be worn in church services, which moreover would be of difficult application, since the cassock with pellegrina is generally made as a single garment, with a non-detachable pellegrina.
Nainfa wrote that at that time the garment with shoulder cape was in Italian called a zimarra, a term, however, that in that language is today used rather of a historical loose-fitting overgown, quite unlike the close-fitting cassock with pellegrina worn by Catholic clergy,zimarra and similar to the fur-lined that was used in northern Europe.Zimarraimages in Wikimedia Commons Images of the historical zimarra as worn by women can be seen at "Dressing the Italian Way" and "The Italian Showcase".
In cold weather, the manto, an ankle-length cape with or without shoulder cape, or the greca, also known as the douillette, an ankle-length double-breasted overcoat, is traditionally worn over the cassock. For bishops and priests both the manto and greca are solid black in colour, while for the pope the manto is red and the greca is white.
Evangelical Lutheran
In the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and the North German Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck, clergy wear the cassock with the ruff as vestments.