Why do Catholic priests wear black?
Exerpts from here: In the Middles Ages, the dress of clergy began to be regulated by canon law with other specific regulations passed by local synods. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) decreed that clerics must wear garments closed in front and free from extravagance as to length, such long flowing capes. Pope Sixtus V in 1589 proscribed penalties for those clerics who did not wear the cassock (officially called in Latin vestis talaris). Pope Urban VIII in 1624 mandated that a cincture should be worn with the cassock and the cloak worn over the cassock be of the same length. During the Pontificate of Clement XI, another decree in 1708 allowed the wearing of a shorter cassock (technically the frock coat, sort of like a Nehru jacket) for travel purposes, especially riding horses. In 1725, Pope Benedict XIII forbade clerics to wear civilian attire. For the United States, the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884) pr
