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Chasuble (Chesible, or Chesuble).

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Chateau (or Chasteau in Ital. Castello), Guillaume

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Chasuble (Chesible, Or Chesuble).

We give additional particulars respecting this important clerical garment: laymen as ecclesiastics in very early ages; but in later times its use has been confined exclusively to bishops and priests, and it has become -the distinctive official. vestment of the holy eucharist. Its primitive form was perfectly round, with an aperture in the centre for the head, and this we find figured in the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold (Fig. 1). If intended for use in processions, a hood was sometimes affixed to the back; for at that period the chasuble was not restricted to the ministry of the altar. There is another form of this vestment, too, almost circular, which appears to be the oldest in existence, figured in the mosaic of St. Vitaliss' Church, at Ravenna, the date of which is A.D. 547.. In England its shape continued to be nearly circular for about six centuries after the mission of Augustine (Fig. 2). A chasuble discovered about thirty years ago in a whlled-up aumbry at Waterford, in' Ireland, is also of this form. When a change was made, the only alteration seems to have been that two opposite parts of the circumference were made to dome to a point.

This form was in use for many ages, and is that frequently represented on memorial brasses; but, - for about three hundred years before the Reformation, the chasuble was likewise made in the shape of a vesica piscis, and the ornaments with which it was then decorated became far more elaborate, and consequently richer and more beautiful. This shape must likewise be very old, for it is figured on the recently discovered frescos at, St. Clement's, Rome, where the wearer, with outstretched arms, is giving the pax. Another shape differing from those depicted in the other illustrations, is that of the ancient and precious vestment of St. Thomas of Canterbury, still preserved at the cathedral of Sens (Fig. 3). It has the Y-cross both before and behind. The aperture for the head is almost square, and the sides are unusually long and deep. The chasuble of St. Boniface, apostle of Germany, preserved at Mayence, is also very like that of St. Thomas. The chasuble was usually made of silk, satin, velvet, or damask, though sometimes of inferior materials.

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