The vocabulary of vesture is old, and much of it is Latin, which makes it easy for a newly ordained deacon or a new sacristan to feel they are the only person in the room who does not know what a burse is. This glossary explains each garment plainly: what it is, who wears it, and when.
Eucharistic vestments
Alb
A plain full-length white tunic with long sleeves, worn over the cassock and under the chasuble or dalmatic, gathered at the waist with a cincture. Its name is simply the Latin for “white”. A cassock-alb combines the two into a single garment. See albs and surplices.
Amice
A rectangle of white linen with two long tapes, worn around the neck and shoulders beneath the alb. It covers ordinary clothing at the neckline and, historically, protected the vestments from perspiration.
Chasuble
The outermost vestment worn by a priest or bishop at the Eucharist, put on over the alb and stole. It descends from the Roman travelling cloak and has no sleeves — it hangs from the shoulders in soft folds. The Gothic or conical cut is full and falls over the arms; the Roman or “fiddleback” cut is narrower and stiffened. See chasubles.
Cincture
The cord or woven band tied at the waist over the alb. Usually white, sometimes in the colour of the season.
Dalmatic
The proper eucharistic vestment of the deacon: a T-shaped tunic with wide, open, elbow-length sleeves and two vertical bands, called clavi, running down the front and back. The tunicle is its equivalent for the subdeacon, traditionally slightly plainer. See dalmatics and tunicles.
Maniple
A narrow band worn over the left forearm. It fell out of general use in the Roman Rite after the Second Vatican Council but is still worn where the older form of the Mass is celebrated.
Stole
The mark of ordained ministry, and the one vestment no ordained person is without. A priest or bishop wears it around the neck with both ends hanging in front; a deacon wears it over the left shoulder, fastened at the right hip. See clergy stoles.
Choir dress and processional vesture
Cassock
The long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe that is the basic dress of clergy, servers and choristers. The Roman cassock is single-breasted with a full row of buttons from collar to hem; the Anglican cassock is double-breasted and fastens at the shoulder and side. See cassocks.
Cope
A long semicircular ceremonial cloak, open at the front and fastened across the chest by a clasp called a morse, with a flat decorative hood panel at the back. It is worn for processions, solemn Evensong, Benediction, ordinations and other services outside the Eucharist. See copes.
Surplice and cotta
A white garment with wide open sleeves, worn over a cassock for the choir offices. The surplice is the longer, fuller form, reaching somewhere between the knee and mid-calf; the cotta is shorter and more gathered, ending around the hip.
Tippet
A broad black scarf worn over the surplice by Anglican clergy at the offices. It is not a stole and is not a eucharistic vestment; it is choir dress. Also called a preaching scarf.
Rochet and chimere
Anglican episcopal choir dress: the rochet is a white garment with full gathered sleeves, worn over the cassock, and the chimere is the sleeveless scarlet or black gown worn over it.
Geneva gown
A full black academic-style preaching gown with wide sleeves, used in the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions and by some Lutheran and Methodist ministers, usually with a stole or preaching scarf.
Humeral veil
A long rectangular shawl worn over the shoulders and used to cover the hands when carrying the monstrance or ciborium, so that the vessel is not touched directly.
Episcopal vesture
Mitre
The tall folding headdress of a bishop, with two pointed peaks and two ribbons, called infulae, hanging at the back. A simplex mitre is plain white; a pretiosa is decorated for solemn occasions.
Mozzetta
A short elbow-length cape, buttoned at the front, worn over the rochet by bishops and certain other prelates.
Pallium
A narrow band of white wool marked with crosses, worn over the chasuble by the Pope and by metropolitan archbishops as a sign of their office.
Altar textiles
Burse and chalice veil
The burse is a stiff square pocket that holds the folded corporal; the chalice veil covers the chalice and paten before and after the Eucharist. Both are made in the colour of the day, usually to match the chasuble.
Frontal and superfrontal
The frontal is the panel of cloth covering the front of the altar; the superfrontal is the narrower band hanging above it. A Laudian or full frontal covers the altar on all sides like a fitted cloth.
Pulpit and lectern falls
Small hanging panels on the pulpit and lectern, changed with the season. Together with the frontal they are called paraments. See altar hangings and paraments.
Funeral pall
A large cloth laid over the coffin at a funeral, usually white, marking the baptismal garment of the person who has died.
Construction terms
Orphrey
The decorative band applied to a chasuble, cope or dalmatic — typically running down the centre, or in a Y or cross shape. It is where most of the embroidery on a vestment lives.
Galloon
The narrow woven braid, usually gold or silver, used to edge orphreys and hems.
Goldwork
Hand embroidery worked with metal thread laid on the surface of the fabric and couched down with fine silk, rather than passed through it. It is the traditional technique for the finest vestment embroidery.
Damask and brocade
Both are figured woven cloths. In damask the pattern is formed by the weave itself, in a single colour, and is reversible. In brocade extra weft threads — often metallic — are woven in to raise the pattern, so the reverse side is not finished.
Not sure which colour a garment should be? See the liturgical colour guide. Ready to order? Start with how to measure for vestments.