RT Article
T1 Putting on Christ: The Priest’s Clothing and Its Metaphors at the End of the Middle Ages (1250–1500)
JF Religion and the arts
VO 24
IS 5
SP 491
OP 516
A1 Glodt, Julie
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2020
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1748250248
AB Abstract In medieval Christendom, liturgical vestments were not just attributes for priestly identity. In direct contact with the celebrant’s body, they were charged with numerous allegorical significations that this article is aimed at studying. The first one associated the priest’s clothing with a moral “rite of passage.” Each vestment symbolized a virtue, thanks to which the priest was supposed to get ready for the Mass. A new allegorical system emerged in the thirteenth century: as symbols of arma Christi , the vestments invited the priest to follow Christ in his Passion. These liturgical garments were even considered as metaphors for Christ’s flesh. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the celebrant’s clothing was a kind of new embodiment. By putting the liturgical vestments on, the priest was able to transform into the ultimate priest with a new emphasis on his quasi-demiurgic power; as such the priest became one of the most sacred components of the ritual of the Eucharist.
K1 Middle Ages
K1 Ritual
K1 Eucharist
K1 Priest
K1 liturgical vestments
DO 10.1163/15685292-02405002