Cope
A cope (Latin: pluviale ("rain coat") or cappa ("cape")) is a liturgical long mantle or cloak, open at the front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp.
[2] The earliest mentions of a cappa is by the Gallo-Roman historian St. Gregory of Tours, and in the Miracula of St Fursey, when a hooded cloak is described.
A letter written in 787 by the Benedictine abbot of Monte Cassino, Theodemar, in answer to a question by Charlemagne, King of the Franks, about monks' clothing.
When Alcuin twice observes about a casula which was sent him, that he meant to wear it always at Mass, this suggests that such garments at this date were not distinctively liturgical owing to anything in their material or construction, but that they were set aside for the use of the altar at the choice of the owner, who might equally well have used them as part of his ordinary attire.
In fact, according to the conclusions of Edmund Bishop, who was the first to sift the evidence thoroughly, it was not until the twelfth century that the cope, made of rich material, was in general use in the ceremonies of the Church, at which time it had come to be regarded as the special vestment of cantors.
The custom spread to the secular canons of such cathedrals as Rouen, and cantors nearly everywhere used copes of silk as their own peculiar adornment in the exercise of their functions.
The cappa nigra was worn at the [Divine Office by the clergy of cathedral and collegiate churches and also by many religious, as, for example, it is retained by the Dominicans during the winter months down to the present day.
No doubt the "copes" of the friars, to which so many references in the Wycliffite literature and in the writings of Chaucer and Langland are found, designate their open mantles, which were part of their full dress, though not always black in colour.
"The wearing of this", says Bishop,[5] "instead of the cappa scissa, the same cope not sewn up, is again and again enjoined on the clergy by synods and statutes during the late Middle Ages."
The Cæremoniale Episcoporum envisages its use by a bishop if presiding at but not celebrating Mass, for the Liturgy of the Hours, for processions, at the special ceremonies on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Lenten gatherings modelled on the "stations" in Rome, Palm Sunday and Corpus Christi.
The bishop may use a cope when celebrating outside of Mass the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, matrimony, penance in solemn form, ordination (if not concelebrating), and anointing of the sick.
Owing to its ample dimensions and unvarying shape, ancient copes have been preserved in proportionately greater numbers than other vestments and provide the finest surviving specimens of medieval embroidery.
The brooch or clasp, meant to fasten the cope in front, and variously called morse, pectoral, bottone, etc., was an object often in the highest degree precious and costly.
[2] The cappa magna ("great cape") is a voluminous mantle with a long train, proper to cardinals, bishops, and other honorary prelates.
The motu proprio Valde solliciti[6] of 30 November 1952 decreed that the train of the cappa magna should be shortened by about half, from 15 to 7 metres (49 to 23 ft).
[7] The 1969 "Instruction on the Dress, Titles and Coats-of-arms of Cardinals, Bishops and Lesser Prelates" laid down that:[8] The cappa magna, always without ermine, is no longer obligatory; it can be used only outside of Rome, in circumstances of very special solemnity.It is hardly ever used, except in celebrations according to pre-1969 liturgical books, as when deacons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest were ordained in 2009.
Queen Elizabeth II presented a set of ornate copes to the Canons of Westminster Abbey as a coronation gift.
[12] As part of academic dress, the University of Cambridge uses a cope known as a cappa clausa, made of scarlet superfine cloth with the cowl lined and the cape opening edged with white fur.
