There has
been 394 years of disciplinary changes to ecclesiastical dress since Urban
VIII. The most recent legislation before Paul VI's SRC Decree of Oct. 30, 1970,
which abolished the formal fascia but not all use of the fascia altogether and
didn't intend to prohibit the fascia for those who deserve to wear it, is
Nainfa and Fr. Henry McCLoud. Nainfa and Fr. McCLoud do not mention the use of
the fascia by the ordinary secular clergy at all except by irremovable pastors
and rectors of seminaries - "By a
decree of Urban VIII, in 1624, the cassock was to be bound with a sash, but in
the course of time this rule has fallen into disuse, although some of the
orders and congregations (not secular clergy) still observe this law…The sash
when worn by prelates is a sign of dignity; when worn by SOME members of the
clergy it denotes jurisdiction"…Outside of the Pope, Cardinals,
Archbishops & Bishops, Canons, Domestic Prelates, Monsignori de Mantellone,
only, "as a sign of ordinary jurisdiction, irremovable pastors and rectors
of seminaries as a sign of authority may
wear a black sash of plain silk with black fringes." However, James
Charles Noonan says, "sadly, by abolishing the formal fascia, which had
existed for nearly three hundred years, the clergy wrongly assumed that the
fascia itself was abolished for all but the prelature."
But, between Fr.
McCloud and Mr. Noonan, I would go with Fr. McCloud who was considered an
expert and his book on ecclesiastical dress is considered one of the go to
classics. Given that the fascia didn't have to be worn within the rectory or
church unless some formal event dictated otherwise, most priests wouldn't wear
it unless they had to show their jurisdiction, dignity, or livery for some
occasion. Nainfa concurs with Fr. McCloud almost word for word and Nainfa had
for his source Barbier de Montault the
19th century expert on Roman School liturgy, ecclesiastical dress, and court
protocol par excellence. One should read
the chapters on the fascia by Montault, Nainfa and Mcloud, and Noonan's Chapter
18 in his book, "The Church Visible" to see the full development of
this. At some point between Urban VIII and Paul VI you have Nainfa and McCLoud
insinuating that it became ordinary practice that simple clergy including
secular parish priests didn't wear a fascia as an ordinary part of dress unless
they were irremovable pastors or the rectors of seminaries. In between Ubran
VIII and Paul VI you also have the abolition of abito
corto which transformed into abito piano
which regularized the wearing of the cassock outside of church property and the
rectory. This also might have added to the confusion of clerics since they were
not used to wearing the fascia outside of church with abito corto anyways.
Also, the last legislation on the books
about the cassock, is a Constitution from the Roman Synod by John XXIII in 1961, which dictated that
the greca or ferraiolo must be worn over the cassock when out and about outside. However, in the summertime the fascia may be worn in place of the greca or ferraiolo. Some say he
did this out of silent protest and respect to the abolition of abito corto. Leo XIII before he was Pope,
continued wearing abito corto even
though abito piano was well established.
All this might have influenced the use and non-use of the fascia. All this might have influenced
the perception that the fascia could be worn at all times because over the course of time the allowance of the fascia in the summertime to cover the cassock became misunderstood and/or forgotten. There's also more rules to what the cassock
can consist of for ordinary priests than just silk buttons. But, in addition to
this, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei has never made it formally clear,
amongst the trad orders who use 1962 Missal, which parts of 1917 code to use
and which of 1983 code to use. But from the questions they receive and the ones
which they have answered - priests in the groups under the PCED must conform to
the ecclesiastical dress laws enforced during the 62 Missal and earlier.
In the
liturgy a different fascia is worn which is wider in width and has fiocchi at
the end instead of fringes. Nainfa and Fr. McCloud, in their books on
ecclesiastical dress, insinuate that it was repealed by universal disuse
outside of religious orders, congregations, and irremovable pastors and rectors
of seminaries. I have an interesting group photo from 1875 when St. Pius X was
spiritual director and confessor at the seminary. The group photo was of the
Ordinary, Rector and the staff of ten priests including Fr. Sarto (Pius X). The
ordinary and rector had fascias and out of the ten priests, only two were a
wearing a fascia and one of them was Fr. Sarto. This photo would indeed confirm to some extent what Nainfa and McCloud teach in their manuals on clerical costume.
Fascia with fiocchi (worn during liturgy)
Fascia with fringe (worn outside of liturgy)
