Choir Dress - Roman Catholic Choir Dress

Roman Catholic Choir Dress

Choir dress in the Roman Catholic Church is worn by deacons, priests and bishops when presiding at or celebrating a liturgy that is not the Mass, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, or when attending Mass without celebrating or concelebrating the Eucharist. It is worn by seminarians, instituted lectors and acolytes, and altar servers and choir members at Mass or other liturgical events.

The basic components of choir dress are:

• the cassock, with or without fascia (fringed sash worn around the waist),
• if the person is a brother or priest in a religious order that has its own habit (Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.), the habit is worn in place of the cassock,
• the surplice (or rochet if the wearer is a bishop, cardinal, or canon), and
• the biretta (though in practice this is now optional).

For seminarians, deacons, and priests the cassock is exactly the same as their normal cassock: a black cassock with black buttons, girded with a black fascia.

Priests who hold additional honors may wear a different cassock: chaplains of honor wear a black cassock with purple piping, buttons, and fascia, while honorary prelates and protonotaries apostolic wear a purple cassock with scarlet piping and buttons with a purple fascia. A black cassock with amaranth piping and buttons, girded with a purple fascia, serves as pian dress (academic dress) for an honorary prelate or protonotary apostolic. Canons may wear the rochet (if the chapter has been granted usus rochetti by papal indult) with a distinctive mozzetta, the particular colors of which are determined by the chapter.

Bishops wear the above mentioned purple cassock with scarlet piping, and add a pectoral cross suspended from a green and gold cord, a mozzetta over the rochet, and a purple zucchetto under the biretta. A cardinal wears a scarlet cassock with scarlet trim, pectoral cross on a red and gold cord and a red mozzetta over the rochet, with a red zucchetto. The Pope's choir dress includes a white cassock, rochet, red silk mozetta, red brocade stole and his pectoral cross hangs from a golden cord. Some canons wear their cross on a ribbon, but only a bishop may wear the cross on a cord. Under new regulations, neither bishops nor canons wear fur trimmed cappas.

The cope and/or stole may be worn over choir dress when a cleric presides over a sacrament (for instance, at matrimony, if not celebrated during Mass), or by the cleric presiding over prayers (for instance, the priest presiding at a solemn celebration of Vespers in the Liturgy of the Hours at a seminary might wear cope and stole over choir dress, while the priests of the faculty and seminarians would wear simple choir dress of cassock and surplice).

Monks who are neither deacons nor priests also have a form of choir dress: the full monastic habit with the monastic cowl forms their formal wear for attending the Liturgy of the Hours or Mass.

Informal house dress for the higher clergy is the simar with fascia (a fringed sash worn around the waist), and zucchetto. Formal house dress may include additionally the biretta and ferraiuolo. For everyday wear, especially in North America and Great Britain, a clergyman may wear a collared clergy shirt with black or grey coat and pants. Some clergy, especially religious, will wear non-clerical dress when about parish duties among those who know them well. Sometimes, cardinals or bishops will have piping and colored buttons attached to their clergy shirts so it resembles the simar.