&c.; at the end of the ordination Mass the vestment is
unrolled. The chasuble or _planeta_ (as it is called in the Roman
missal), according to the prevailing model in the Roman Catholic Church,
is a scapular-like cloak, with a hole in the middle for the head,
falling down over breast and back, and leaving the arms uncovered at the
sides. Its shape and size, however, differ considerably in various
countries (see fig. 1), while some churches--e.g. those of certain
monastic orders--have retained or reverted to the earlier "Gothic" forms
to be described later. According to the decisions of the Congregation of
Rites chasubles must not be of linen, cotton or woollen stuffs, but of
silk; though a mixture of wool (or linen and cotton) and silk is allowed
if the silk completely cover the other material on the outer side; spun
glass thread, as a substitute for gold or silver thread, is also
forbidden, owing to the possible danger to the priest's health through
broken fragments falling into the chalice.

[Illustration: From Braun's _Liturgische Gewandung_, by permission of
the publisher, B. Herder.

FIG. 1.--Comparative shape and size of Chasubles as now in use in
various countries.

a, b, German. c, Roman. d, Spanish.]

The chasuble, like the kindred vestments (the [Greek: phelonion], &c.)
in the Eastern Churches, is derived from the Roman _paenula_ or
_planeta_, a cloak worn by all classes and both sexes in the
Graeco-Roman world (see VESTMENTS). Though early used in the celebration
of the liturgy it had for several centuries no specifically liturgical
character, the first clear instances of its ritual use being in a letter
of St Germanus of Paris (d. 576), and the next in the twenty-eighth
canon of the Council of Toledo (633). Much later than this, however, it
was still an article of everyday clerical dress, and as such was
prescribed by the German council convened by Carloman and presided over
by St Boniface in 742. Amalarius of Metz, in his _De ecclesiasticis
officiis_ (ii. 19), tells us in 816 that the _casula_ is the _generale
indumentum sacrorum ducum_ and "is proper generally to all the clergy."
It was not until the 11th century, when the cope (q.v.) had become
established as a liturgical vestment, that the chasuble began to be
reserved as special to the sacrifice of the Mass. As illustrating this
process Father Braun (p. 170) cites an interesting correspondence
between Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury and John of Av