- Tunicle
The tunicle is a liturgical
vestment associated with Roman CatholicLatin Rite subdeacon s, adopted also byAnglo-Catholic s andHigh Church Anglicans .For a description of the tunicle, see
dalmatic , the vestment with which it became identical in form, although earlier editions of theCaeremoniale Episcoporum indicated that it should have narrower sleeves. Sometimes it was also distinguished by a single horizontal band on the front and back, as opposed to the double band of the dalmatic.In Rome, subdeacons had begun to wear the tunicle by the sixth century, but
Pope Gregory I made them return to the use of thechasuble . They began to use the tunicle again in the ninth century, a time when it was also worn byacolyte s, a custom that was widespread until the lateMiddle Ages , and can still occasionally be found in someAnglican Churches for acolytes andcrucifer . In some places outside of Rome subdeacons continued to wear the tunicle even between the sixth and the ninth centuries. The ceremony by which the bishop put a tunicle on a subdeacon whom he ordained began in the twelfth century, but did not become common until the fourteenth.Roman
deacon s once wore the tunicle under the dalmatic, and the tunicle was part of the liturgical vestments of other dignataries also. In the twelfth century it became customary forbishop s to wear both a tunicle and a dalmatic as part of their pontifical vestments. Previously they had worn one or the other. Earlier editions of the Caeremoniale Episcoporum made the wearing of both obligatory atPontifical High Mass , but the present edition speaks only of the dalmatic.External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15087a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Tunic]
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