Dominican Habit
Of all the things marking the life of a Dominican friar, perhaps the most visible is the Dominican habit.
A “habit” is a distinctive type of clothing worn by various religious communities in the Catholic Church. Like many other religious orders, our habit is a symbol of our spirituality, our way of life, and a significant sacramental in our living of the consecrated life in the Catholic Church.
Pope St. John Paul the Great expressed the basic idea behind the wearing of a religious habit in his 1996 apostolic exhortation, Vita consecrata: §25 …
The Church must always seek to make her presence visible in everyday life, especially in contemporary culture, which is often very secularized and yet sensitive to the language of signs.
In this regard the Church has a right to expect a significant contribution from consecrated persons, called as they are in every situation to bear clear witness that they belong to Christ.
Since the habit is a sign of consecration, poverty and membership in a particular Religious family, I join the Fathers of the Synod in strongly recommending to men and women religious that they wear their proper habit, suitably adapted to the conditions of time and place. …
Put simply, by wearing a habit, consecrated religious are able to visibly express to themselves and to others the fact that they give their lives totally to Christ.
The habit also serves the purpose of identifying to what community or order a consecrated religious belongs, as well as to supplement their lives of poverty (having only one outfit theoretically makes our wardrobe budget much lighter).
Historically, the wearing of habits happened rather early. The use of ascetical (that is, basic and austere) clothing was already practiced in Judaism, and it carried over into Christianity. As monastic life (the foundation of all other forms of religious life in the Church) became more stabilized, so too did particular styles of dress associated with that life.
Among male religious in the Western Church, a common form began to emerge which derived its origin in late Roman robes. The Dominican habit is a variation on this theme, and as such it has many similarities with other religious orders in the West. Like all habits, the Dominican habit probably took its final shape over time; yet, our tradition has a unique “legend” dating back to the foundation of our Order regarding our habit:
The story is related by the hand of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, the first master of the Order after St. Dominic. According to Bl. Jordan, there was a canonist by the name of Reginald who was inspired by St. Dominic’s preaching and sought to join the Order. Unfortunately, he came down with a serious illness and was left bed-stricken. Asking for St. Dominic’s prayers, the canonist reported later experiencing a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the vision, Our Lady healed Reginald of his illness, and also revealed to him the signature piece of the Dominican habit: the scapular.
Prior to this, the early followers of St. Dominic wore the Augustinian habit of the canons regulars of Osma, which did not have a scapular (a uniquely monastic garment, by that point). Reginald reported this vision to St. Dominic, who, in turn, adopted the new habit for his nascent Order of Preachers. Reginald himself joined the Order shortly thereafter, and he is known as Bl. Reginald of Orleans, and considered one of the key players in the early history of the Order.
While we cannot be certain of the veracity of this legend handed on to us by Bl. Jordan, what is clear is that the scapular continues to hold both pride of place and Marian significance to all Dominicans.
The habit is placed under the section on ‘Regular Observance’ in the current Constitutions, and it is described thus: “The habit of the Order comprises a white tunic, scapular and capuce, together with a black cappa and capuce, a leather belt and a rosary” (§50). An appendix (3) then details tailoring instructions on the length of the habit and the proportions of each part of the habit in relation to the others.
The appendix, however, does not detail the textile to be used, nor details like how the cappa is fastened, nor the type and color of one’s shoes, nor the color of the Rosary or even how many decades it should have. So, these matters are left to one’s personal preference.
It may be necessary to explain the terms used by the Constitutions.
The tunic is a long ankle-length garment, with long sleeves that can be simply folded up, or have buttons to hold those folds in place.
The scapular is a long piece of cloth with a hole cut in the middle for the head; the cloth then hangs over the shoulders and covers the front and back of the tunic. It should be about a hand’s width from the bottom of the tunic, and wide enough to cover the “juncture of the sleeves with the tunic”.
The capuce is a hood attached to a circular piece of cloth that falls over the shoulders and comes down to a point in the small of the back. This hood used to be simply attached to the scapular (like a Carthusian’s habit) but at some point, it became detached from the scapular and evolved into a rather elegant shoulder-cape with hood.
The black cappa, from which we get the name Black Friars, is just a large cape that covers most of the white habit. It was worn for warmth and when traveling. This too had a hood that became detached, resulting in a black capuce.
The entire Dominican habit thus has five items of clothing, plus a leather belt and the Rosary.
Naturally, the habit plays a large part in our daily lives as Dominican friars. Customarily, the habit is received by novices in a special ceremony called the “rite of vestition.” Sometimes this rite marks the beginning of the novitiate, and it consists in the local superior clothing the kneeling postulant in the habit.
Once all the parts of the habit have been donned, the novice is raised up by the superior clothed in the holy habit of St. Dominic.
The habit also plays an important role in our first profession rite, when novices make their first vows in the Order. During this rite, after the vows have been made to the superior, the latter blesses the habit with holy water as the newly professed hold their scapulars out for the blessing. This rite of blessing is often repeated when brothers receive new habits.
Some wonder if it is ever awkward to wear the habit. The answer to the question is a definite “yes.” Most of us are used to wearing form-fitting clothing in the modern style, and so robes tend to take some getting used to.
The flip side of this, however, is that, over time, each friar becomes more comfortable with wearing the habit. We also develop certain “skill-sets” that allow us to, say, avoid getting food on our sleeves when reaching for a glass at dinner, or to avoid tripping on the scapular when climbing stairs.
Another aspect I can personally attest to is that the habit is usually quite comfortable, and after a while, one forgets that one is wearing it. As its name suggests, the habit becomes a part of one’s daily life; a fact which is exactly the point.
This is because the holy habit of St. Dominic is a gift made by our holy father to his sons and daughters. It is, as Bl. Jordan recounts, a gift of Our Lady. It makes physically manifest our commitment to follow Christ the Preacher in the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
It stands as a reminder of who we are, whom we serve, and what we are called to do and be. As such, it is a precious treasure of the Order. So, the Dominican historian, William Hinnebusch says that “its cloth, color, and cut expressed the poverty, chastity, and obedience [the friar] had promised”.
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