Dalmatic

The dalmatic is a long, wide-sleeved tunic, which serves as a liturgical vestment in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, United Methodist, and some other churches.

In the Roman Empire, the dalmatic was an amply sleeved tunic (from Dalmatia) with wide stripes (clavi) that were sometimes worked with elaborate designs.

In 18th-century vestment fashion, it is customary to slit the under side of the sleeves so that the dalmatic becomes a mantle like a scapular with an opening for the head and two square pieces of the material falling from the shoulder over the upper arm.

At solemn papal liturgical occasions the Pope is assisted by two cardinal-deacons each vested in a dalmatic and wearing a mitra simplex (simple white mitre).

Today, the tunicle is rare in the Roman Catholic Church as only certain authorized clerical societies (such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) have subdeacons.

In all Eastern rites the sticharion (which is analogous to the Western alb), of the ornate sort worn by deacons and lower clergy, is sometimes referred to as a dalmatic.