L casula. Vestment in the liturgical color of the day and worn by the priest over the alb, at Mass. The prototype was a secular upper garment worn by the ancient Greeks and Romans, which was originally wide and bell-shaped with an opening for the head. The Gothic chasuble was also wide and fell in folds from the shoulders to the arms. The Baroque chasuble was straight, flat, and short.

Chas"u*ble (?), n. [F. chasuble, LL. casubula, cassibula, casula, a hooded garment, covering the person like a little house; cf. It. casupola, casipola, cottage, dim of L. casa cottage.] Eccl.

The outer vestment worn by the priest in saying Mass, consisting, in the Roman Catholic Church, of a broad, flat, back piece, and a narrower front piece, the two connected over the shoulders only. The back has usually a large cross, the front an upright bar or pillar, designed to be emblematical of Christ's sufferings. In the Greek Church the chasuble is a large round mantle.

[Written also chasible, and chesible.]

 

© Webster 1913.

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