Editing Cope (section)

==History==
[[Image:Koorkap kaproen.jpg|thumb|15th-century cope from [[Saint Bavo Cathedral]], [[Ghent]]]]
There has been little change in the character of the cope since it was first worn by the [[clergy]]. It was made of a semicircular piece of [[silk]] or other material, its shape distinguishing it from the [[chasuble]], which had straight edges sewn together in front. Both garments are similar in form and origin to the Orthodox [[phelonion]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Riefstahl |first=Rudolf M. |date=December 1932 |title=Greek Orthodox Vestments and Ecclesiastical Fabrics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3050837 |journal=[[The Art Bulletin]] |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=359–373 |doi=10.2307/3050837 |jstor=3050837|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=cathenCope>{{Citation | last =Thurston | first =Herbert | contribution =Cope | year =1908 | title =The Catholic Encyclopedia | volume =IV | place=New York | publisher =Robert Appleton Company | url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04351a.htm | access-date =2007-07-26}} {{PD-inline}}</ref>

Modern copes no longer have a hood. Some early examples feature a triangular hood, which was intended to protect the head during processions, but over time the hood it came to represented by a shield-shaped piece of embroidery that sometimes adorned with a fringe or [[tassel]]. Early chasubles depicted in 8th- and 9th-century drawings, have a primitive style of hood, suggesting that the cope and the chasuble had a common origin.<ref name=cathenCope/>

The earliest mentions of a {{lang|la|cappa}} is by the [[Gallo-Roman]] historian [[St. Gregory of Tours]], and in the {{lang|la|Miracula}} of [[St Fursey]], when a hooded cloak is described. A letter written in 787 by the [[Benedictine]] abbot of [[Monte Cassino]], [[Theodemar of Monte Cassino|Theodemar]], in answer to a question by [[Charlemagne]], King of the [[Franks]], about [[monk]]s' clothing.<ref>See ''[[Mon. Germ. Hist.]]'': "Epist. Carol.", II, 512.</ref> establishes that what in Gaul was styled ''cuculla'' ([[cowl]]) was known to the Cassinese monks as ''cappa''. Moreover, the word occurs more than once in [[Alcuin]]'s correspondence, apparently as denoting a garment for everyday wear. When Alcuin twice observes about a ''casula'' which was sent him, that he meant to wear it always at [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]], this suggests that such garments at this date were not distinctively liturgical owing to anything in their material or construction, but that they were set aside for the use of the altar at the choice of the owner, who might equally well have used them as part of his ordinary attire. In the case of the chasuble the process of liturgical specialization was completed at a comparatively early date, and before the end of the ninth century the maker of a ''casula'' probably knew quite well in most cases whether he intended his handiwork for a Mass vestment or for an everyday outer garment. But in the case of a ''cappa'' or cope, this period of specialization seems to have been delayed until much later. The two hundred ''cappae'' or copes which appear in a [[Saint-Riquier]] inventory in the year 801, a number increased to 377 by the year 831, were thought to be mere cloaks, for the most part of rude material and destined for common wear. It may be that their use [[Choir dress|in choir]] was believed to add to the decorum and solemnity of the [[Liturgy of the Hours|Divine Office]], especially in the winter season. In 831 one of the Saint-Riquier copes is specially mentioned as being of chestnut colour and embroidered with gold. This, no doubt, implies use by a dignitary, but it does not prove that it was as yet regarded as a sacred vestment. In fact, according to the conclusions of [[Edmund Bishop]], who was the first to sift the evidence thoroughly, it was not until the twelfth century that the cope, made of rich material, was in general use in the ceremonies of the Church, at which time it had come to be regarded as the special vestment of cantors.<ref>Bishop, Edmund, ''[[Dublin Review (Catholic periodical)|Dublin Review]]'', January 1897.</ref> Still, an ornamental cope was even then considered a vestment that might be used by any member of the clergy from the highest to the lowest, in fact even by one who was only about to be [[tonsure]]d.<ref name=cathenCope/>

Amongst monks it was the practice to vest the whole community, except the celebrant and the sacred ministers who assisted the celebrant, in copes at [[Solemn Mass|High Mass]] on the greatest festivals, whereas on feasts of somewhat lower grade, the community were usually vested in [[alb]]s. Surviving inventories show that the Netherlands, France, and Germany had taken the lead in this movement. For example, already in 870, the [[Abbey]] of [[Saint Trond]] lists "thirty-three precious copes of silk" as against only twelve chasubles, and it was clearly the [[Cluny Abbey|Cluny]] practice in the latter part of the tenth century to vest all the monks in copes during high Mass on the great feasts, though in England the regulations of Saint [[Dunstan]] and [[Æthelwold of Winchester|Saint Aethelwold]] show no signs of any such observance. The custom spread to the secular [[Canon (priest)|canons]] of such [[cathedral]]s as [[Rouen]], and [[Cantor (church)|cantor]]s nearly everywhere used copes of silk as their own peculiar adornment in the exercise of their functions.<ref name=cathenCope/>

Meanwhile, the old {{lang|la|cappa nigra}} ("black cape"), or {{lang|la|cappa choralis}}, a choir cape of black material, open or partly open in front, and commonly provided with a functioning hood, still continued in use. While the cope was a liturgical vestment, made of rich, colorful fabric and often highly decorated, the {{lang|la|cappa nigra}} was a practical garment, made of heavy plain black wool and designed to provide warmth in cold weather. Whereas the cope's hood had long since become a non-functional decorative item, the hood of the {{lang|la|cappa nigra}} remained functional. The {{lang|la|cappa nigra}} was worn at the [Divine Office by the clergy of cathedral and [[collegiate church]]es and also by many religious, as, for example, it is retained by the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] during the winter months down to the present day. No doubt the "copes" of the [[friar]]s, to which so many references in the [[John Wycliffe|Wycliffite]] literature and in the writings of [[Chaucer]] and [[William Langland|Langland]] are found, designate their open mantles, which were part of their full dress, though not always black in colour. On the other hand, it is worth a note that the ''cappa clausa'', or close cope, was simply a cope or cape sewn up in front for common outdoor use. "The wearing of this", says Bishop,<ref>Bishop, ''loc. cit.'', p. 24.</ref> "instead of the ''cappa scissa'', the same cope not sewn up, is again and again enjoined on the clergy by [[synod]]s and [[statute]]s during the late [[Middle Ages]]."