Cassock

A Roman Catholic priest from Belgian Congo wearing the Roman cassock.
Note the 33 buttons symbolizing the 33 years of earthly life of Jesus Christ.

The cassock, an item of clerical clothing, is a long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Roman Catholic Church and some clerics of the Anglican, Episcopalian, and Lutheran denominations. The cassock derives historically from the tunic that was formerly worn underneath the toga in classical antiquity.

The word cassock probably comes from the word "casaque" which means cloak; or cassaca, which means white. In older days, it was known in Latin as vestis talaris.

Although the cassock was formerly the universal everyday clothing of the clergy, many have abandoned it as in favour of a clerical suit of more conventional design. In current usage, wearing of the cassock can sometimes be a mark of a traditional cleric; its abandonment, a rejection thereof.

Western practice (Roman Catholic and Anglican)

The cassock, also known as a soutane, comes in a number of styles or cuts, though no particular symbolism attaches to these. A Roman cassock often has a series of buttons down the front--sometimes thirty-three (symbolic of the years of the life of Jesus); a French cassock also has buttons sewn to the sleeves after the manner of a suit, and a slightly broader skirt. A Jesuit cassock has a fly fastened with hooks. An Anglican cassock is often double breasted (then more correctly called a "sarum"), fastening at the shoulders on the opposing side of the breast. The single-breasted cassock worn by Anglicans sometimes has thirty-nine buttons rather than the Roman complement of thirty three. This is often said to signify the Thirty-Nine Articles, but may have developed from an older fashion.

An Anglican priest wearing a single-breasted cassock.

Generally the cassock can be attributed to the clerics of the Roman Catholic Church. There are two types of cassock: the ordinary cassock and the choir cassock. A band cincture or fascia is also worn with both types of cassocks.

The ordinary cassock is the simple black cassock seen on most Roman Catholic clerics. Additionally, for prelates or honorary prelates, colored piping (keeping in mind that the cassock is still black) and the colored fascia are permitted. In the cases of bishops, protonotaries apostolic, and honorary prelates, the piping is amaranth red and the fascia is purple; for cardinals, scarlet piping and fascia are the rule. Despite these distinctions, however, major prelates, even cardinals, ordinarily make use of the simple black cassock in their day to day responsibilities.

In tropical countries, Papal indult has allowed the ordinary cassock to be white. The piping and fascia correspond to the appropriate rank of the prelate (purple for honorary prelates, amaranth red for bishops and scarlet silk piping for cardinals).

Choir dress cassocks for bishops, protonotaries apostolic, and honorary prelates are fully purple (this purple corresponds more closely with a Roman purple and is approximated as fuchsia) with amaranth trim, while those of cardinals are fully scarlet with scarlet trim. The Catholic cardinal has the additional distinction of having both his choir cassock sleeves and his fascia made of scarlet watered-silk (also referred to as moiré). The cut of the choir cassock is still a Roman-cut or French-cut Roman cassock. In the past, the cardinal's entire choir cassock was made of scarlet silk moiré along with a train as well (some twenty-six inches which was later abolished by Pauline Motu Proprio in 1969). It should also be noted that the prelatial choir cassock usually means that for major prelates of the Church (bishops, archbishops, and cardinals) to be in choir they must also don the mozzetta and the rochet and only at occasions of the Church's liturgical life. For honorary prelates and protonotaries apostolic, their choir dress is merely their purple choir cassock and a surplice (unless indult has allowed for a rochet and mozzetta to be worn; in most cases this cannot be assumed).

A fascia, i.e., a wide band with fringe on the ends, is often worn around the waist of the cassock. The black faille fascia is worn by priests, deacons, and major seminarians, while the purple faille fascia is permitted for bishops, supernumeraries apostolic, prelates of honor, and chaplains of his holiness. Moreover, the black watered silk fascia is permitted for priests who are members of the Papal household, and the scarlet watered silk fascia is permitted for cardinals. The white watered silk fascia, with the appropriate coat of arms on the ends, is worn by the pope.

Cassocks are frequently confused with the simar, but there is a distinction in that the simar has the small shoulder cape without buttons and does not fasten in the front. In previous times, cassocks also had buttons on the upper parts of the sleeves, thus providing another differentiation from the simar, but Paul VI dropped this custom, leaving the Cassock and Simar virtually identical, save for the small shoulder cape with the latter.

In cold weather, the manto, the ankle length cape--with or without shoulder cape, or greca, the ankle length double-breasted overcoat of French origin, is traditionally worn over the cassock. For bishops and priests both the manto and greca are solid black in color, while for the pope the manto is red and the greca is white.

Cassocks are sometimes worn by seminarians studying for the priesthood, by religious brothers, by lay people when they are assisting with the liturgy in church, such as altar servers, and by members of choirs (frequently with cotta or, more usually in Anglican churches, surplice).

In Anglican churches, a black cassock is the norm, but other colors and variations are common. A very few canons choose to wear a black cassock with red piping, and, likewise, deans and archdeacons, black cassock with purple piping. However, these variations are not common. Bishops traditionally wear purple cassocks. However, some bishops, particularly Rowan Williams, have recently chosen regularly to wear black cassocks. This is perhaps due to closer ties with Eastern Orthodox churches and a desire to emphasise simplicity and humility over rank.

Eastern practice (Orthodox and Eastern Catholic)

In Eastern Christianity there are two types of cassock: the Inner Cassock and the Outer Cassock or Ryasa. Monastics always wear a black cassock. There is no rule about coloration for non-monastic clergy, but black is the most common. Brown, blue, or grey are also seen frequently, while white is often worn for Pascha.

• The inner cassock (more often simply cassock) is an ankle length garment worn by all major and minor clergy, monastics, and male seminarians. The Russian version, called a podryasnik (Russian: подрясник), is double-breasted, closely fitted through the torso and flaring out to the skirt, and with a high collar buttoned off-center [1]. The Greek version, called an anteri or rason, is somewhat fuller, gathered at the waist with a cord, and with a high collar buttoned in the front [2]. The inner cassock is usually worn by all clergy members under their liturgical vestments.
• The outer cassock also called a ryasa or riassa (Russian: ряса), or exorason (Greek εξώρασον or simply ράσο) is a voluminous garment worn over the inner cassock by bishops, priests, deacons, and monastics [3] as their regular outer wear. It is not worn by seminarians, readers or subdeacons in the Russian tradition. In the Greek tradition however, readers, cantors, choirmembers and other auxiliary lay personnel 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 full liturgical vestments. It may be worn with the bottoms of the sleeves turned back, which are sometimes faced in a contrasting color. 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 is sometimes worn over the inner cassock in cooler weather, especially in the Russian tradition. This is a closely fitted collarless vest with patch pockets, usually falling slightly below the waist [4].

Non-clerical sixteenth century jacket

A cassock is also a loose-fitting, pullover, hip-length jacket worn by ordinary soldiers in the sixteenth century. A cassock has attached sleeves and is open down the sides, similar to a mandilion.