[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Seventeenth Century Coronation Cope at
Westminster Abbey.]

It is clear from this that the cope, though a liturgical, was never a
sacerdotal vestment. If it was worn by priests, it could also be worn by
laymen, and it was never worn by priests in their sacerdotal, i.e. their
sacrificial, capacity. For this reason it was not rejected with the
"Mass vestments" by the English Church at the Reformation, in spite of
the fact that it was in no ecclesiastical sense "primitive." By the
First Prayer-book of Edward VI., which represented a compromise, it was
directed to be worn as an alternative to the "vestment" (i.e. chasuble)
at the celebration of the Communion; this at least seems the plain
meaning of the words "vestment or cope," though they have been otherwise
interpreted. In the Second Prayer-book vestment and cope alike
disappear; but a cope was worn by the prelate who consecrated Archbishop
Parker, and by the "gentlemen" as well as the priests of Queen
Elizabeth's chapel; and, finally, by the 24th canon (of 1603) a "decent
cope" was prescribed for the "principal minister" at the celebration of
Holy Communion in cathedral churches as well as for the "gospeller and
epistler." Except at royal coronations, however, the use of the cope,
even in cathedrals, had practically ceased in England before the ritual
revival of the 19th century restored its popularity. The disuse implied
no doctrinal change; the main motive was that the stiff vestment, high
in the neck, was incompatible with a full-bottomed wig. Scarlet copes
with white fur hoods have been in continuous use on ceremonial occasions
in the universities, and are worn by bishops at the opening of
parliament.

The Papal mantum.

With the liturgical cope may be classed the red mantle (_mantum_), which
from the 11th century to the close of the middle ages formed, with the
tiara, the special symbol of the papal dignity. The _immantatio_ was the
solemn investiture of the new pope immediately after his election, by
means of the _cappa rubea_, with the papal powers. This ceremony was of
great importance. In the contested election of 1159, for instance,
though a majority of the cardinals had elected Cardinal Roland
(Alexander III.), the defeated candidate Cardinal Octavian (Victor IV.),
while his rival was modestly hesitating to accept the honour, seized the
_pluviale_ and put it on his own shoulders hastily, upside down; and it
was on this ground th