Alb

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A deacon wearing an alb and cincture wth a purple stole.
A deacon wearing an alb and cincture wth a purple stole.

The alb, one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and many Protestant churches, is an ample garment of white linen coming down to the ankles and usually girded with a cincture. It is simply the long linen tunic used by the Romans of old. It is the oldest liturgical vestment, and was adopted very early by Christians, and especially by the clergy for the Eucharistic liturgy. Nowadays, the alb is the common vestment for all ministers at Mass, both clerics and laypersons, and is worn over street clothes or the cassock and under any other special garments, such as the stole, dalmatic or chasuble. If the alb does not completely cover the Roman collar or the street clothes of a lay person, an amice is then required to be worn underneath the alb. Otherwise the amice is optional. The shortening of the alb for use outside a church has given rise to the surplice and its cousin the rochet worn by canons and bishops. Post Tridentine albs often were made with lace. Since then, this detail has fallen out of style, except in parts of the Anglo-Catholic movement and some Roman Catholic parishes. In many Anglican parishes, the alb is decorated with apparels. In most High Anglican churches the Alb is an undergarment worn under the vestments. In some lower and broad Anglican Churches the Alb is considered everyday wear.

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.