Maniple (vestment)

The maniple is a liturgical vestment used primarily within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and occasionally by some Anglo-Catholic and Lutheran clergy.

It is still required to be worn by those who, as authorized by Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, use the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal.

[4] Edward McNamara, Professor of Liturgy at Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, has rejected that view: Another reader asked about some vestments no longer in use: "I noticed one who had offered the new rite but wore the maniple. ...

[11] Originally, the maniple was likely a piece of linen which clerics used to wipe their faces and hands, and has been described by some modern commentators as being akin to a handkerchief.

Common symbolic comments refer to the maniple's likeness to the rope by which Christ was led, and the chains which bound his hands.

"[12] This echoes the rhymed vesting prayer the priest says when putting on the maniple: Merear, Domine, portare manipulum fletus et doloris; ut cum exsultatione recipiam mercedem laboris.

[3]In the older forms of a Papal Mass, the Pope wore a special maniple intertwined with red and gold threads, symbolizing the unity of the Eastern and Western rites of the Catholic Church.