to the end of
the 8th century: a _pluviale_ is mentioned in the foundation charter of
the monastery of Obona in Spain. Before this the so-called _cappa
choralis_, a black, bell-shaped, hooded vestment with no liturgical
significance, had been worn by the secular and regular clergy at choir
services, processions, &c. This was in its origin identical with the
chasuble (q.v.), and if, as Father Braun seems to prove, the cope
developed out of this, cope and chasuble have a common source.[1] Father
Braun cites numerous inventories and the like to show that the cope
(_pluviale_) was originally no more than a more elaborate _cappa_ worn
on high festivals or other ceremonial occasions, sometimes by the whole
religious community, sometimes--if the stock were limited--by those,
e.g. the cantors, &c., who were most conspicuous in the ceremony. In the
10th century, partly under the influence of the wealthy and
splendour-loving community of Cluny, the use of the cope became very
widespread; in the 11th century it was universally worn, though the
rules for its ritual use had not yet been fixed. It was at this time,
however, _par excellence_ the vestment proper to the cantors,
choirmaster and singers, whose duty it was to sing the _invitatorium_,
_responses_, &c., at office, and the _introitus_, _graduale_, &c., at
Mass. This use survived in the ritual of the pre-Reformation Church in
England, and has been introduced in certain Anglican churches, e.g. St
Mary Magdalen's, Munster Square, in London.

By the beginning of the 13th century the liturgical use of the cope had
become finally fixed, and the rules for this use included by Pope Pius
V. in the Roman Missal and by Clement VIII. in the _Pontificale_ and
_Caeremoniale_ were consequently not new, but in accordance with ancient
and universal custom. The substitution of the cope for the chasuble in
many of the functions for which the latter had been formerly used was
primarily due to the comparative convenience of a vestment opened at the
front, and so leaving the arms free. A natural conservatism preserved
the chasuble, which by the 9th century had acquired a symbolical
significance, as the vestment proper to the celebration of Mass; but the
cope took its place in lesser functions, i.e. the censing of the altar
during the Magnificat and at Mattins (whence the German name
_Rauchmantel_, smoke-mantel), processions, solemn consecrations, and as
the dress of bishops attending synods.