Liturgical Vestments And The Priest Role

The purpose of the research was to examine the dynamic nature of a specific role, that of the Catholic priest, and to identify associations between clothing change and role change. Propositions concerning change in role clarity and role character provided the conceptual framework. Chasubles that had been custom designed at St. Francis Convent, Hankinson, North Dakota, were the data for the research. Diversity and type of vestment design were analyzed for 650 chasubles produced during three decades. The decades of the 1950s through the 1970s were associated with changes in the priest role, the liturgy, and priest‐laity relations. Standard deviations, a measure of diversity based on the Pearson chi square, means, and frequencies were used to describe the data. Vestments from the 1960s, when the priest role was unclear, were more diverse in percent of area covered by embellishment, number of motifs per garment, and design organi zation than were vestments from the 1950s or 1970s. Lower percentages of em bellishment, fewer motifs per garment, and simpler design organization on 1970s than 1950s chasubles were considered symbolic of change in priest‐laity relations. Questions are raised for future cross‐role research.