By Fr. Thom Hennen
Question Box
Q: Can you please explain the priest’s vestments for Mass and their significance?
A: The first and most basic vestment is the alb. It is a long, white garment that comes in a variety of styles. It is the baptismal garment. The word “alb” comes from the Latin albus, meaning white. Some priests subscribe to the “more lace, more grace” theory and others prefer the noble simplicity that is the hallmark of the Roman Rite.
While the vesting prayers are no longer strictly required, many priests still use them and they are a good way to prepare for Mass. The traditional vesting prayer while putting on the alb reads: “Purify me, Lord, and cleanse my heart so that, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, I may enjoy eternal bliss.”
Depending on the style of the alb, an amice may be worn underneath the alb to cover the collar or neck. This is a rectangular white cloth with two long strings. The cloth is tucked around the collar and the strings are wrapped under the arms behind the back and tied around the waist in front to secure it in place. It is symbolic of the “helmet of salvation” (see Ephesians 6:17). The vesting prayer for the amice (put on before the alb) reads: “Lord, set the helmet of salvation on my head to fend off all the assaults of the devil.”
The amice also serves a very practical function of preventing “ring around the collar.” It is a lot easier to throw an amice in with your whites and some bleach than to have to wash or dry clean your alb after just a few uses. Some clergy really work up a sweat under all those layers.
Once the amice (if necessary) and alb are donned, the next vestment is the cincture. This is basically a rope belt, often with tassels or knots at each end. Again, not all styles of alb may require a cincture, but the purpose is to gather or “cinch” the alb. In these modern times it also provides a handy place to clip a lavalier microphone pack. Cinctures may be white or correspond to the color of the other vestments for the season or particular feast.
The cincture is a symbol of purity and, accordingly, the vesting prayer for the cincture reads: “Lord, gird me with the cincture of purity and extinguish my fleshly desires, that the virtue of continence and chastity may abide within me.”
The cincture also serves to hold in place the stole, which is the next vestment that the priest puts on. The stole is the long strip that goes over the neck and hangs down in front. It is in the color of the season or feast. The stole is a symbol of the priest’s authority. The vesting prayer for the stole is: “Lord, restore the stole of immortality, which I lost through the collusion of our first parents, and, unworthy as I am to approach Thy sacred mysteries, may I yet gain eternal joy.”
Lastly, the priest puts on the chasuble, a large, usually circular cloth (also in the color of the season or feast) with a hole in the middle, worn like a poncho. The chasuble is the symbol of charity or love (see Colossians 3:14). In the seminary, we were taught the chasuble is worn over the stole because the priest’s authority should also be covered by love.
The vesting prayer for the chasuble reads: “O Lord, who has said, ‘My yoke is sweet and My burden light,’ grant that I may so carry it as to merit Thy grace.”
Tip to toe, now you know what the priest is wearing and what it means!
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and vicar general for the Diocese of Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)
Priests wear a variety of albs and stoles in the top picture and chasubles in the bottom picture for the ordination and installation of Bishop Dennis Walsh Sept. 27 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport.
