What is a chasuble?
A chasuble is a robe-like outer-garment garment worn by Catholic priests. These garments are also worn by leaders of Christian denominations when performing liturgical duties. When attending mass, the congregations sees the chasuble that priest wear. The colors of the chasuble change with the occasion or season.
Chasuble Called in Latin casula planeta or pænula, and in early Gallic sources amphibalus, the chasuble is the principal and most conspicuous Mass vestment, covering all the rest. Nearly all ecclesiologists are now agreed that liturgical costume was simply an adaptation of the secular attire commonly worn throughout the Roman Empire in the early Christian centuries. The priest in discharging his sacred functions at the altar was dressed as in civil life, but the custom probably grew up of reserving for this purpose garments that were newer and cleaner than those used in his daily avocations, and out of this gradually developed the conception of a special liturgical attire. In any case the chasuble in particular seems to have been identical with the ordinary outer garment of the lower orders. It consisted of a square or circular piece of cloth in the centre of which a hole was made; through this the head was passed. With the arms hanging down, this rude garment covered the whole figure.
