What Is A Dalmatic?

Dalmatic

PRESENT USAGE

The dalmatic is the outer liturgical vestment of the deacon. It is worn at Mass and at solemn processions and benedictions, except when these processions and benedictions have a penitential character, as in Advent, during the period from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter, at the blessing of candles and the procession on Candlemas Day, etc.; this is because the dalmatic has been regarded from the earliest times as a festal garment. The dalmatic is also worn by bishops under the chasuble at solemn pontifical Mass, but not at private Masses. Priests are not permitted to wear the dalmatic under the chasuble unless a special papal privilege to this effect has been granted, and then only on those days and occasions for which the permission, has been given.

At Rome, and throughout Italy, the dalmatic is a robe with wide sleeves; it reaches to the knees, is closed in front, and is open on the sides as far as the shoulder. Outside of Italy it is customary to slit the under side of the sleeves so that the dalmatic becomes a mantle like a scapular with an opening for the head and two square pieces of the material falling from the shoulder over the upper arm. The distinctive ornamentation of the vestment consists of two vertical stripes running from the shoulder to the hem; according to Roman usage these stripes are narrow and united at the bottom by two narrow cross-stripes. Outside of Rome the vertical stripes are quite broad and the cross-piece is on the upper part of the garment. There are no regulations as to the material of the dalmatic; it is generally made of silk corresponding to that of the chasuble of the priest, with which it must agree in colour, as the ordinances concerning liturgical colours include the dalmatic. As the dalmatic is the distinguishing outer vestment of the deacon, he is clothed with it at his ordination by the bishop, who at the same time says: "May the Lord clothe thee with the garment of salvation and with the vesture of praise, and may he cover thee with the dalmatic of righteousness forever".

HISTORY

According to the "Liber Pontificalis" the dalmatic was introduced by Pope Sylvester I (314-35). It is certain that as early as the first half of the fourth century its use was customary at Rome; then, as today, the deacons wore it as an outer vestment, and the pope put it on under the chasuble. In early Roman practice bishops other than the pope and deacons other than Roman were not permitted to wear the vestment without the express or tacit permission of the pope--such permission, for instance, as Pope Symmachus (498-514) gave to the deacons of St. Cæsarius Arles. The Bishops of Milan most probably wore the dalmatic as early as the fifth century; this is shown by a mosaic of Sts. Ambrosius and Maternus in the chapel of San Satiro near the church of San Ambrogio; mosaics in the church of San Vitale at Ravenna show that it was worn by the archbishops of Ravenna and their deacons at least as early as the sixth century. About the ninth century the dalmatic was adopted almost universally for bishops and deacons in Western Europe, even including Spain and Gaul, where instead of a dalmatic deacons had worn a tunic called an alb. About the tenth century the Roman cardinal-priests were granted the privilege of wearing the dalmatic, at which time also priests outside off Rome, especially abbots, received the same as a mark of distinction. Thus, John XIII in 970 granted the Abbot of St. Vincentius at Metz the right to wear the dalmatic. Benedict VII in 975 granted this privilege to the cardinal-priests of the cathedral of Trier, but limited it to occasions when they assisted the archbishop at a pontifical Mass or celebrated the solemn high Mass in the cathedral as his representatives. According to Roman usage the dalmatic was only worn by prelates at the pontifical Mass, and never under the cope on other occasions, as was often the case in Germany in the later Middle Ages.

The custom of leaving off the dalmatic on penitential days originated, like the vestment itself, in Rome, whence it gradually spread over the rest of Western Europe. In the twelfth century this usage was universal. On such days the deacons either wore no vestment over the alb or put on, instead of the dalmatic the so-called planeta plicata, a dark-coloured chasuble folded in a particular manner. An exception was made in the penitential season for Maundy Thursday on which it had been the custom from ancient times, principally on account of the consecration of the holy oils, to use the vestments appropriate to feast days, In early times the dalmatic was seldom used by deacons at Mass for the dead, but in the latter part of the Middle Ages it was universally worn during solemn requiem Masses. At an early date it was customary at Rome to confer the dalmatic on a deacon at ordination; the usage is recognized in the "Eighth Ordo" (eighth century) and the "Ninth Ordo" (ninth century) of Mabillon. In the rest of Western Europe the custom took root very slowly, and it did not become universal until towards the end of the Middle Ages. The first medieval liturgist to mention it was Sicard of Cremona (c. 1200), from whose language it is evident that the ceremony was not everywhere prevalent. A prayer at the bestowal of the dalmatic was not customary until a later period.

SHAPE AND MATERIAL IN EARLIER AGES

The original form of the vestment as well shown by the remains of the pre-Carolingian period, especially by the mosaics in San Satiro at Milan (fifth century) in San Vitale at Ravenna (sixth century), and in San Venanzo and Sant' Agnese at Rome (seventh century) also in various frescoes, such as the picture of the four holy bishops in the church of San Callisto at Rome. According to these representations it was a long, wide tunic with very large sleeves and reached to the feet. In the above-mentioned pictorial remains the width of the sleeves equalled the half or at least the third of the length of the vestment. Up to the twelfth century the Italian representations show no change in its form. After this, in the Italian remains, the vestment is shorter and the sleeves narrower although the traces of the change are at first only here and there noticeable. As early as the ninth century the shortening of the vestment and the narrowing of the sleeves had begun in Northern countries, but up to the twelfth century no important modification had taken place. In the thirteenth century the length of the dalmatic was still about 51-55 inches. In Italy this measurement was maintained during the fourteenth century; in the sixteenth century the dalmatic, even in Italy, was usually only about 47 1/4 inches long. In the seventeenth century its length everywhere was only a little more than 43 1/4 inches; in the eighteenth century it was only 39 1/3 inches, and at times about 35 1/2 inches. The shortening of the vestment could hardly go further and, as its length decreased, the sleeves became correspondingly narrower. To facilitate the putting on of the dalmatic slits were made in the sides of the vestment in the pre-Carolingian era, and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries regularly shaped openings were often substituted for the slits. In the latter part of the Middle Ages, especially in the fifteenth century, the sides were very commonly opened as far as the sleeves, unless the dalmatic was widened below by the insertion of a gore. Now and then, in the fifteenth century, the sleeves appear to have been opened for the sake of convenience, but this custom was not general until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and then it was not observed in Italy, where, in accordance with the Roman usage, the sleeves were always closed.

Originally the dalmatic was made of linen or wool, but when silk became more common and les