It consisted of a tunic either short or long, over which was worn the toga which was capable of the same variety of arrangement as the plaid which still survives. Even when the toga was given up by the people generally, on the founding of the Roman Empire, it continued to be used in certain cases.
It was etiquette to wear a toga when dining with the Emperor or going to court; advocates wore it, as did clients when they visited their patrons, and it was also adopted at funerals and when sacrifices were being made.
On the face of it, it would appear likely that those who ministered to the early Christian Church would follow the general custom. Nothing, perhaps, affords better evidence of this having taken place than an illustration which is considered authentic of St. Gregory the Great with his father and mother. As Mr. Marriott[26] points out, if it were not for the Papal pallium—that is to say, the band round his shoulders—on which crosses are embroidered, and the book of the Gospels which he holds in his hand, it would be hard to distinguish which was the bishop and which the senator. (See Figure [128].)
Fig. 128.—St. Gregory the Great with his father Gordianus, who was a senator, on his right, and his mother Sylvia on his left. This shows the similarity between ecclesiastical and civil costume in early times. From an authentic picture (after Marriott).
From this dress it is claimed, by those who have carefully gone into the question, that ecclesiastical vestments have been developed. In connection with this, Mr. Macalister[27] makes the following remarks: “Fashion in dress or ornaments is subject to constant changes, which, though perhaps individually trifling, in time amount to complete revolutions; but the devotees of any religion, true or false, are by nature conservative of its doctrines or observances. At first the early Christians wore the same costume both at worship and at home. Fashion,” Mr. Macalister continues, “would slowly change unchecked from year to year, while ecclesiastical conservatism would retard such changes as far as they concern the dress worn at divine service; small differences would spring into existence between everyday dress and the dress of the worshipper. These differences, at first hardly perceptible, would increase as the process went on, until the two styles of costume became sharply distinguished from one another.” In this connection it will be interesting to mention those vestments which antiquarians have traced to Roman costume.
The albe takes its name from the tunica alba, which was used as a purely secular garment until the ninth century. It was worn by all the ministers and deacons, but as the latter had no vestment above the albe, it came to be the special characteristic of the deacons. Usually, as the name implies, the albe was white, but in this country coloured albes were sometimes used.
We have already seen that the surplice was derived from the albe, and Mr. Marriott has brought forward all the evidence that he can to show that white was the colour of the vestments at the earliest times in the history of the Church. His arguments, however, do not seem to be conclusive, and his inferences do not commend themselves to Mr. Macalister. The latter thinks, however, that the view that white was the colour appropriated in primitive times to the dress of the Christian ministry is preferable to the theory that the early vestments were of the same elaborate description as their mediæval successors. He is of opinion, nevertheless, that the passages upon which Mr. Marriott bases his arguments are quite consistent with a third alternative, namely, that no distinctive vestments were set apart for the exclusive use of the Christian minister during the first four centuries of the Christian era.