The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 29, no. 7 (March, 1971)

2. Christ and Apostles. Early Christian, mid-IV
century. Fresco. Catacomb of St. Domitilla,
Rome. Photograph: Hirmer Fotoarchiv, Munich
WVith the possible exception of armor, church
vestments preserve the most accurate and complete
record of the wearing apparel of the Middle Ages.
It is surprising how little is known of secular dress,
especially in the earlier centuries. The best sources,
works of art that depict actual people rather than
biblical or saintly personages, are so generalized
that a detailed idea of the costumes worn is all but
impossible to determine. Refinements of garments,
such as ornament, trimmings, or seamings, are
rarely shown, and yet the fragments still preserved
of sumptuous fabrics imported into Europe from
the Near East lead to the supposition that the noble
class, at least, was richly attired. Ecclesiastical vestments,
on the contrary, are depicted frequently and
in considerable detail in works of art even from the
beginning of the Middle Ages.
Preserved examples of pontificals themselves--
from as early as the twelfth century-are not
uncommon. The reasons for their preservation
are threefold. First, they were not worn out
(the fate of secular clothing) because they were
used only for ritual functions and at other times
were stored in special chests and cupboards in the
sacristy of the church, together with the liturgical
vessels and like them restricted to the celebration of
the mass. Second, because of their sacerdotal nature
and because of the richness of the fabrics and
embroidery lavished upon them, these objects were
passed down from generation to generation of
clerics, as indicated in the will of St. Caesarius,
Bishop of Aries, who died in 542. Third, burial customs
of medieval times permitted the regular clergy
to be interred in clerical dress rather than the
shroud common to the laity. Excavated tombs have
yielded numerous fragments and articles of ecclesiastical
garb. Thus a sizable body of material
exists for the study of the history and development
of church vestments. This, in addition to information
gleaned from texts of medieval writers, church
inventories, and papal documents, permits us to
draw conclusions not only as to the development
but also as to the reasons that lie behind this development.
For the early Christian period (the "primitive period,"
up to about 400, in Wharton Marriott's widely
accepted three-part classification of vestments), historians
have much less to rely on, and some of that
is conflicting. Most scholars, following the ninthcentury
writer Rabanus Maurus, believe that during
the early years of Christianity no differentiation was
made between the dress of a priest and that of a
layman. Indeed, it seems highly unlikely that such
a small and poor sect without even a formal building
in which to worship would attempt to make such
distinctions in matters of dress.
On the other hand, it seems improbable that
Silvester, as the bishop of Rome who consecrated
such an impressive building as Old Saint Peter's in
327, would not himself have been distinguished by
the wearing of special apparel. Support for this contradiction
of Maurus's view can be found in two
early Christian documents: according to the medieval
writer Walafrid Strabo, Pope Stephen I (253-
257) directed that priests should not employ their
sacred vestments in the ordinary usage of daily life;
and Silvester (pope between 314 and 336) ordained
that deacons should wear the dalmatica (probably
the tunica dalmatica, a long-sleeved, close-fitting
garment of the time) in church rather than the
colobium, a short-sleeved garment, and that their
left hand should be covered with a cloth.
Works of art during the first four centuries confuse
rather than illuminate the problem, since most
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