Choir dress: Encyclopedia II - Choir dress - Roman Catholic choir dress

Choir dress - Roman Catholic choir dress

Choir dress in the Roman Catholic Church is worn when attending a liturgy that is not the Mass, especially the liturgy of the hours, or, in the case of priests and bishops, when attending Mass without celebrating or concelebrating the Eucharist.

The basic components of choir dress are:

• the cassock with fascia or, if the person is religious, the religious habit,
• the surplice (or rochet if the wearer is a bishop), and
• the biretta.

For seminarians, deacons, simple priests, and chaplains of His Holiness, the cassock is exactly the same as their normal cassock. This means that chaplains of His Holiness wear a black cassock with purple trim and piping and purle fascia, while priests, deacons, and seminarians wear just a black cassock with black fascia.

Bishops also add a pectoral cross suspended from a green and gold cord, a mozzetta over the rochet, and a zucchetto under the biretta. Bishops and archbishops have purple zucchetti and mozzetti, while cardinals have scarlet ones. Cardinals wear their pectoral crosses on a red and gold cord, while the Pope's hangs from a golden cord.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Roman Catholic choir dress", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki