kilt trumps accessories?

[Cowher]

Anyway....... I think this (even though it's a piper and drum major) is over done. You can't even tell what they are wearing.




But to take a pic from our own Matthew Newsome. He looks fantastic and is understated but still has more than just a kilt and a shirt.


But maybe it's all about the occasion.

[MacLowlife]

Here on the wrong side of the tracks, we sometimes get some funny notions. Standing around after church one summer sunday, the priest remarked that she would sure like to be able to wear seersucker like all of the men standing with her. You don't have to tell me twice. Since seersucker weather falls in Ordinary Time, I hunted for some green and white, which was not too difficult to find. I turned it over to my favorite Magical Seamstress, aka My mama, and she produced a wonderful seersucker chasuble. The priest is a little shorter than some, so it swallows her a little bit, but she is used to such.

Anybody ever see any tartan vestments? I once heard a piper explain to a group of children in church that God's Tartan looks like a rainbow of faces...

[Cowher]

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

The domestic chaplain at The Lee always wore a Peter of Lee tartan kilt or trews under his vestments during services in the chapel; for the life of me I can't recall him ever wearing "street clothes"; even when out and about it was "dog collar" and kilt, or trews.

[piperdbh]

The domestic chaplain at The Lee ...

Would that have been when my chief's father lived there?

[Ian.MacAllan]

. . . Hmm...what does one wear under a cassock? . . .

The same thing an American, a Canadian, or an Aussie or Kiwi wears under his pants, or an Englishman or Irishman under his trousers (or dare I say it, a Scot under his kilt): whatever he wishes.

.

[OC Richard]

Anybody ever see any tartan vestments?

I've seen loads of tartan stoles over the years. The clergy at the wedding I attended Saturday was wearing one, Black Watch tartan, with gold Celtic crosses embroidered at both ends.

He was also wearing a Black Watch kilt!

Don't know what denomination he was.

I can't ever remember seeing a tartan chasuble, though I have seen chasubles with a vertical strip of tartan down the front and back, forming the decoration which chasubles so often have.

and now for something completely different

[Galician]

Great pic!
Are the cardinal and piper displaying the St. Finian tartan, which was designed by our own Matt Newsome in honor of the papal visit to Scotland last year?

[Geoff Withnell]

You know what? The only accessory that I find to be an absolute must at anything other than the most formal of occasions is a waistcoat. Otherwise, I agree- simple can be very elegant!

<snippage>

I...

The only accessory I find necessary is to have a beautiful woman on my arm. And then if I goof up my outfit, no one notices!

[Galician]

What? No cope for the entrance and Gospel processions?

Good sense when wearing the kilt (or ecclesiastical vesture, for that matter) is important. (The strangest notion I have seen is when a pastor or priest, dressed in a clerical shirt and black pants, puts a cassock on over their clothing as though the cassock were a costume. The clerical shirt and pants are simply the 21st century derivative of the cassock. They are actually getting dressed twice, whether they realize it or not. The cassock, like the kilt, was originally everyday clothing and should be treated as such today. Hmm...what does one wear under a cassock?)

And yes, actually I do have a gold cope. I wore it for Easter. Only. The reason the cassock is generally worn over the other street clothinhg (and you are absolutely right in defining it that way) is so that we can have something comfortable to wear home after the service. Now, in the summer . . . .

Bill Henry makes a valid point about the cassock being everyday clothing – and I would argue that properly speaking, it requires that no clothing be worn underneath.
While many clerics wear their cassocks in church, but not on the street, I recall a rule at our synods that clergy should wear cassocks during synod session – which ought to suggest that they should not wear trousers as well!
On the other hand, a chasuble is not the same as a cassock, and is rarely seen on the streets (except in processions).

Dale, your picture shows that you were very well dressed indeed, and must have put those trouser wearers to shame!
Regards,
Mike

While this is a KILT discussion board, the last comment I'll make on the cassock is that while you are historically correct, appropriate vestiture will depend on climate, custom, denominational practice, and the preferences of the supervising body - be that diocese, presbetery or council.

What I do is to wear it over trousers (or kilt, I suppose) and clerical shirt because that is the practice in my diocese. My cassock requires the shirt because the collar doesn't fit into the cassock, and it is customary in this area. That means that I'm doing what my colleagues do, and we are thereby somewhat uniform.

I would just point out that I am old enough to remember when the clergy and male religious in Italy (and perhaps elsewhere in Europe) were prohibited from wearing trousers under their cassock or habit.

On the other hand, a shirt was always normal attire under the cassock--though not for a religious habit. A neckband would be worn by most men in those centuries in order to prevent wear and tear on the shirt. This is where the "clerical" collar comes from! You can still see it in the different style of collars used by Catholic clergy throughout Europe.

So the modern clerical collar is a vestige of this traditional form of dress. In this, I assume that it probably is related to the ancient use of the leine over which the kilt would be worn.

P.S. A chasuble should never be worn on the street. Strictly speaking, it is worn exclusively for the eucharistic prayer. This is when the cope appears.