A couple of weeks ago during our RCIA sessions a question came up as to why priests wear the color black. It’s a seemingly simple question, but one that gets right to the nut of why so many other seemingly simple questions about the Church aren’t clear – they simply have a long and involved pedigree and even then have disparate applications at times. It’s a sure recipe for confusion. So … to set it at rights, I’m going to lay out what I’ve been able to dig up so far on this seemingly simple question.
First, let us remember that not all priests wear black. Priests who are members of religious orders wear, naturally, the habit of their order. Priests in countries nearer the equator wear lighter gray and sometimes white because it is simply irresponsible to ask them to wear black in such conditions. So already we run into the realization that wearing black is not a universal norm. But then, why most priests in the US and Europe wear black? That’s where it gets more complicated.
In the earliest times of the Church no specifically clerical garb was worn. I think it’s safe to assume this was at least partly due to the facts that 1) being a Christian was frequently a very dangerous lifestyle and so self-identifying like this would be tantamount to suicide and 2) there was no, at that time, pressing need to alter their standard wear. It should be recalled that the early priesthood was heavily based on the Levitical priesthood inherited from the Jewish tradition by the early Church, and standard (non-liturgical) wear for them was not, I believe, identifiably different from that of others. That point I’m quite open to correction on.
As time went on we also see cases where liturgical garb such as the chasuble or dalmatic was worn outside of the liturgy. The next major development was the Synod of Braga in 572 which required clerics to wear different clothes when they went out. From this time forward the standard wear of priests worked its way as does any fashion, following somewhat with the times. The style of the cassock developed over several centuries, remaining similar to but different from that of the gentry classes.
Finally in the 17th and 18th centuries priestly garb was standardized. The color of the cassock was aligned with the hierarchy of the clergy: cardinals wore scarlet red, bishops amaranth red and priests black. Until the reign of Pope Pius V the popes wore the same red as the rest of the cardinals; as Pius V was a Dominican Friar prior to becoming Pope he continued to wear his white habit and his successors have each continued that tradition.
So now we know roughly when the colors were set, but the real question was why? First, priestly garb is intended to be distinctive – to remind both those around the priest and the priest himself that this is a person set aside for the Lord. Second, the color has a theology behind it.
The color black symbolizes first of all death, a dying to the world, which is part of what a priest takes on himself when he is ordained. The worries, cares and opportunities of the life of a lay person are set aside and he takes up the worries, cares and opportunities proper only to a priest. Further, that death is a reminder of the Sacrifice which they re-present each day in Mass, doing so as alter Christus and participating in a special way in that Sacrifice. It is a reminder to the priest that he dies to the world each day and immerses in eternity. Second, the color black is a reminder that they are to give up the glamor, honor and entertainment of this world in preference for the life yet to come. Finally, the color black also is a sign of authority, such as when a judge wears his black robes in court – this black symbolizes the authority a priest has by virtue of his ordination and incardination.
So, which came first, the color or the theology? My take after digging around in this for a while is that the theology that a priest should be distinct and also display a reminder of his office has been around for a long time, and the tying of that theology to the color black happened only later. But then, much theology does not come to a full understanding all at once and is worked through only slowly. Could it change some day? Certainly. Do I see where it could go from here? I can’t say that I do, but the ability to see the future is a gift I have not been given.
Should anyone else have a better explanation of this, or any corrections to be made, please leave me a note. I’d like to make sure I get this right since it’s getting told to new generations of RCIA participants each year.
