quzzak<\/em>, meaning \u201cnomad, adventurer.\u201d Nomads and adventurers wore long coats to protect themselves from the biting steppe winds, so it all makes sense. Sort of. <\/p>\nI wish I could explain away my prejudice against the cassock by citing its distant connection to maniacs with forelocks and really sharp swords. But no, when I wrinkle my nose at the sight of a priest or seminarian in full clerical fig, I am acting from a general mistrust of men who overdress for their parts. <\/p>\n
The cassock is an impressive-looking garment, no doubt about it. Nobody can wear one without looking at least a little like Darth Vader. Flattering to the shoulders and tactful to the paunch, it can make a tall man look like a giant. By flapping or swirling, cassocks tend to take up space and call attention to themselves. Once I attended a reception for three newly ordained seminarians to which half the priests of my diocese had shown up in cassocks. When two of these fashion plates walked briskly by me, I found myself leaping \u2014 not stepping, mind you \u2014 out of their way. <\/p>\n
This is remarkable for two reasons: 1) I\u2019m a New Yorker; 2) I wasn\u2019t actually in their way. Something about their carriage commanded a theatrical show of deference, and I maintain that their clothes nourished it. <\/p>\n
Take it from a guy who has, at various points in this life, stomped in 12-hole Doc Martens and sauntered in Tony Soprano-style kidskin duster coats: such a species as get-out-of-my-way exists, and the cassock, or soutane, belongs to it. <\/p>\n
Far from being a secret, this is probably the point of the thing. Nobody\u2019s said so in quite those words; normally, when someone wants to plead for the cassock, he\u2019ll say something like \u201cA priest ought to look like a priest.\u201d Fair enough, but a black Going-My-Way suit fills that bill just fine. Nobody who wears one about town is going to be mistaken for a lawyer or a tennis pro. But saying openly that you want to priests to look like priests and cut imposing figures is a little harder to defend. <\/p>\n
This is why the biretta hasn\u2019t made a bigger comeback (though, to be fair, there have been some feints in that direction). Only a Cardinal Ottaviani type \u2014 that is, a guy with the face of a Renaissance Doge and Ozymandias\u2019 own sneer of cold command \u2014 could look imposing in one. Anyone else would look quaint, or worse, adorable. I haven\u2019t taken any surveys, but I\u2019d bet nobody enters the priesthood hoping to be patted on the head, or the pom-pom <\/p>\n
All this raises the question: Why shouldn\u2019t a priest look imposing? I suppose there is no very good reason. When I thought I might have a vocation, my first choice was the Order of Preachers. The Dominicans\u2019 reputation for fancy brainwork certainly attracted me, but no less did the habits, which when worn with the black cappa, make a man look both dashing and inquisitorial. One evening I stepped out of my church to find four Dominicans, standing in line abreast by the curb. They made a blood-chilling sight; I thought someone was due to be stretched on a rack. If they\u2019d been holding torches or tapers, or better, glowering, I might have fainted. <\/p>\n
But now that I\u2019ve worked out what side of the altar I\u2019m best suited to, I\u2019m started judging sacerdotal garb by entirely different standards. In short, I want to feel confident that the person to whom I\u2019m entrusting a share of my spiritual health is not so vain a jerk as I am. Fairly or not, the cassock all but convinces me the opposite is true. Last year, our parish got a new pastor who turned out to be a tremendously nice guy. Figuring that out took me months \u2014 months! Partly, it was the man\u2019s resemblance to the surly battalion commander in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill<\/i><\/strong><\/a> that retarded my recognition of his good qualities; partly, it was the cassock he wore. <\/p>\nThe two went together perfectly.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This title barely qualifies as a pun. Cassock, the name for the clerical garment with the 33 buttons, may share an etymological root with cossack, the name for the Ukrainian horse-soldiers who took a famously unsportsmanlike approach to warfare. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, cassock comes from the French casaque, meaning long, coat. Casaque, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,197],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholicism","tag-priests"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Thundering Squadron of Cassocks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This title barely qualifies as a pun. Cassock, the name for the clerical garment with the 33 buttons, may share an etymological root with cossack, the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2011\/08\/a-thundering-squadron-of-cassocks-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Thundering Squadron of Cassocks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This title barely qualifies as a pun. 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