Clergy Clothes

The Parish Church of St James
St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)

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Clergy Clothes

There are special terms for the clothes worn by the clergy and others when they are 'on duty'. Clerical is the term to describe the distinctive street clothing that clergy wear, such as black shirts with white collars. Vestment is the term for special clothing worn over street clothes by the people who lead an act of worship. They hide the distractions of fashionable clothing and they remind the congregation that the ministers are not acting on their own, but performing in their official capacities. The vestments which the priest and servers wear date back to past centuries when they were ‘Sunday best’ clothes. This historic link has been kept and modified over more than 1,000 years especially in the priest’s vestments.

Clergy Shirt
A clergy shirt is traditionally a black shirt with white tabs or a collar.

Round their necks priests wear a white clerical, or Roman collar. The dog collar is its nickname and it is worn with a clergy shirt.

The dog collar is a circular collar that goes completely around the neck with or without a black raised collar outside of it.

Cassock
First the priest puts on a cassock. This is a plain, black, lightweight, ankle-length garment with long sleeves and fastening up to the neck.

Bishops wear a purple cassock.

Our choir members wear blue cassocks with white surplices.

Surplice and Preaching Scarf
Over the cassock the priest puts on a surplice which is a loose tunic of white linen or cotton material, with wide or moderately wide sleeves, reaching to the hips or to the knee.

Over the surplice the priest wears a long black scarf.

Hood
When wearing the black scarf, the priest may also wear a hood.

Alb
For Holy Communion the priest wears an alb instead of the cassock and surplice. This is a plain, white, lightweight, ankle-length tunic with long sleeves. It is generally worn with a rope girdle tied around the waist (see below).

Amice
An amice is worn under the alb to cover other clothes. It is a white cloth with two long ribbon-like attachments to fasten around the shoulders of the priest.

Girdle
A girdle is worn around the waist, outside the alb, to gather or hold up clothing. It is a long, rope-like cord with tassled ends.

Stole
Over the alb the priest wears a long, narrow garment, called the stole, draped around the neck and hanging down in front of the wearer. This can be one of four colours depending on the time in the Church Year. See the page Colours of the Church Year.

Chasuble
Over the alb and stole the priest wears a chasuble. It is an ornate circular garment with a hole in the center for the head. This can be one of four colours depending on the time in the Church Year. See the page Colours of the Church Year.

		Cope The cope is as a very long cloak, open in front and of any liturgical colour. It may be worn on festal occasions, at any act of worship or during a procession which has a specific liturgical function, for example, Palm Sunday. The often highly ornamented band or clasp is called a morse.

		The Morse

Further Information
	Contact the The Vicar 020 8979 2069
	Associated pages on this website: Clergy \| Colours of the Church Year
	Links to other websites: REQuest

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