clerical attire

The Cassock, the Surplice and the Biretta

The meaning of the Cassock and Surplice

The black Cassock signifies that the priest should always be mourning for the Crucified Christ. The priest should be dead to sin, to the world, and to himself. The cassock is a reminder that the priest should be doing penance for his own sins and those of the world. The cassock also reminds us that the priest’s body should be constantly mortified so that Christ’s life is made manifest to others.

The surplice represents the “new man,” our Lord Jesus Christ. The priest must be like Christ and clothed with His perfection, humility, charity, modesty, purity and all His other virtues. The surplus signifies the ordained minister’s responsibility to be freed from the “slavery” of secular dress.

The Catholic Church demands that her clerics who wear the surplice lead a life in conformity with the life of Christ’s. Unfortunately, there are many priests who live as world lings and view their clerical dress as an obstacle to the very pleasures they renounced at their ordination. Many clerics live with an inordinate love for secular dress and look upon their clerical attire as something to be ashamed of. I am proud to be a priest. I am proud and privileged to be able to wear a cassock.

The meaning of the Biretta

The biretta is simply a cross which the priest wears on his head to show that the cross of Christ is his crown and his glory. Saint Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6, 14).

Priests should take seriously the meaning of the cassock, surplice and the biretta and treat them with fitting reverence. We must pray that all priests have the strength to practice what their clerical state demands of them.

“Let thy priests, O Lord God, put on salvation.” Sacerdotes tui, Domine Deus, induantur salutem.