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Christianity during the Roman Empire era
Christianity during the Roman Empire era
Impact of Christian persecution
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VESTMENTS IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
An important aspect of the Catholic Church is its vestments. The Church is always beautifully decorated and holy people beautifully dressed. These decorations have changed very much since the beginning of time. Although we don’t always realize it, there is much symbolism in the colors that priests, bishops, cardinals and even the Pope wears. There are also strict guidelines that these people must follow when dressing. This paper will tell of the history of this clothing.
EARLY CHRISTIANS
To study the history of the Church in the first century, we have to rely on the writings of the Early Christians, mainly the New Testament. At this time, Christians were waiting for the second coming of Christ, which they expected very soon. Since they thought that Christ would come again in their lifetime, they didn’t feel the need to really formalize their religion or create any clothing that was specifically Christian. In 64 in Rome, St. Peter and St. Paul were executed. Right after the executions of these men, Nero began to execute other Christians. At this time it would have been dangerous for Christians to wear distinctive clothing. As these persecutions began, people began to realize that the Church would outlast the lives of the men who had actually known Jesus Christ. After these persecutions ended, there was peace until 95 when Diocletian, a ruler, began taking action against the aristocratic Christians in Rome. In Asia at the same time there were persecutions of both Jews and Christians.
After this, a few general Christians adopted a few general styles of clothing. First was the tunic, worn by St. Augustine. This came out of Rome and was an indoor garment. During worship, it was required that it was clean and white, which may be why Christians shied away from the traditional Roman wool tunic. Wool fades to yellow after time so Christians began wearing linen tunics because the more linen is washed, the whiter it becomes. It has been said that St. Peter wore a pallium with his tunic. It was wrapped around the body in a simple way. It was a plain garment, except that it had embroidery in each of it’s four corners. Apparently Jesus and His apostles had also worn palliums and so they became part of the ornamental dress of Christians. Christians also wore the paenula. It was a hooded garment and was worn by Christians in worship starting in the second century.
Long before the early 19th century, the idea of ceremony-specific clothing, particularly for a one-time event, was beyond the financial means of the vast majority of the population. People tended to wear their most fashionable garments, with no real consideration of one-time use or symbolism of color or style.
Clothing style is dictated by three particular interests. First is popular fashion, which was most influenced by either the church or the rulers, as styles were copied from the ruling class, and, as they grew more and more extreme, criticized by the ecclesiastical element. Second is commercial interests. The strong merchant class will always know how to push the richest and most expensive materials into the mode. And thirdly is personal artistic expression. Fashion is dictated by many factors such as geography, time, and social and ethical standards. But superseding these is the influence of strong personalities, the brave people who will don the unthinkable, and in doing so, create the latest trend. Personal expression and creativity will only be found in the bravest, and usuall...
The most bizarre aspect after walking into the Jewish service was the clothing being worn by most individuals. Most individuals were wearing a scarf-type piece of clothing as well as little round hats on their he...
Roman men generally wore two garments, the tunica and the toga. The tunica was a short woolen under garment with short sleeves It was originally worn mainly by the working class plebes, freedmen and slaves, though its function as an undergarment for any class of people is attested. Tunic was made from white wool or expensive linen, while the poor would wear whatever fabric was readily available. A belt would be worn around the waist of the tunica to hold the waist of the garment snug, giving the impression of a two piece garment. As time passed and Roman societal tradition shifted and absorbed new cultures, these rules were relaxed. The more comfortable tunic, covered by a cloak called the lacerna, became commonplace in all facets of society.
The clothing of the Middle Ages, like everything else was decided by the pyramid of power. The pyramid of power was the Middle Ages Feudal System. Medieval clothes provided information about the rank of the person wearing them. From the 11th through the 14th centuries, medieval clothing assorted according to the social standing of the people. The clothing worn by nobility and upper classes was clearly different than that of the lower class. Medieval clothes provided information about the status of the person wearing them. The clothing and fashion during the medieval era of the Middle Ages was conquered and highly influenced by the Kings and Queens of the era. Only the wealthy could dress in fashionable clothes.
The clothing that the people of this time wore is very different from today. The people who lived in this time were very conservative in what they wore and how they acted. They were mostly very religious and that also played a huge role in their daily lives. They believed that god judged everything they did so they tried to live life by the bible. Men and women dressed very differently from what they do now. For example men had four essential articles of cloths. The first piece was a shirt or as they called a “camicia”. If you were rich you never just wore the camicia alone because that meant you were just a poor working class man. The second piece of clothing was a “doublet” which is a small jacket that had no sleeves. They would also wear a skirt and knee high socks and a jacket that went down to their knees. The women also wore many layers of clothing. They wore many dresses and they were very big and colorful. They wore shoes that were very weird they were just like high heels today but looked very different. The women would wear a dress that reached to the ground and they wore an outer jacket that was of equal length. The quality of the garment and what it was made of would determine the lady’s social class. The people back the...
As the seventeenth century began the Catholic Church was having a hard time bringing back the people who were swept away by the protestant reformation. The conflict between the protestant had a big influence on art. (Baroque Art) The church decided to appeal to the human emotion and feeling. They did so by introducing a style called Baroque. Baroque was first developed in Rome and it was dedicated to furthering the aims of Counter Reformation. Baroque was first used in Italy than later spread to the north. In this paper I will argue that the Italian Baroque pieces were more detailed and captured the personality of the figure, in contrast and comparison to Northern Baroque pieces that aimed to produce a sense of excitement and to move viewers in an emotional sense leaving them in awe. I will prove this by talking about the different artwork and pieces of Italian Baroque art versus Northern Baroque Art.
The materials used durring the Elizabethan era for the noble chidlren provided instant imformaton about the status of the person wearing them. As for noble children, those wearing fabrics that were expensive, or wearing colors that were the darkest or the brightest, they and their family were well respected. Noble chidlren wore clothing made of velvet's, furs, silk, lace, cottons and taffeta. These fabrics were usually imported from Italy or brought back from returning knights returning from the crusades. Color as well played an important part in an childs outfit.The same way fabric was imported so was color. The colors worn by the noble chidlren were: purple, gold, silver, crimson or scarlet, indigo blue and white. The clothes went through a complicated dying process and the range of colors were used for producing expensive clothes."The brightest or darkest colors were, the more expenisve to produce therfore it was limited to higher status children"(wilson). The reason beings so, was the colors, especially birghtest and darkest, were seen to be very rich and high power, therfore, being a noble child these colors were offered to you. There is also symbolic meaning behind the colors, which is why there were ruules to be made only allowing the certain classes to wear them. "The meaning behind colors symbolized events which occured in hstory, many of which dadted back" (Knight 100). Some of the color's meaning were related to biblical events, and religion was a very important thing.
Clothing in the Bible has usually been regarded as less important when determining significance in scripture. Not to say that it is of utmost importance, but it does serve as a visual aid God uses to point people towards Himself. In fact, clothing as a symbol has never been new, since clothing has been used as a symbol consciously and unconsciously, to represent religion, class, occupation, or for practical use, such as warmth for the winter. Commonly, clothing has been used as a means to an end, whether it is to be warm, to perform some kind of ritual, to show off wealth and power, or to simply be presentable in everyday life. Clothing could also be used distinctly as a work of art. Clothing is going to have symbol, whether it is meant to or not. The question is, how exactly is the symbol of clothing portrayed in the Bible? The symbolism of clothing in the Old Testament overall represents God’s mercy to his people, Israel in His promise to always be their God. I would love to go through the whole narrative of scripture from beginning to end, but for the sake of time and our brains, Genesis is a plausible and sensible place to start, since the Judea-Christian story begins there.
you wore a bit more colorful clothes that kept a simple design. The common puritan woman does
During the ancient Roman time period, clothing was crucial in citizens’ status of either emperor, wealthy, middle class, poor, or slave. The emperor would have worn the toga trabea, which was, “formal differences in togas which denoted social rank” (Roman Dress). The emperor himself would wear a toga with a purple stripe to show his status. As emperor, he would also wear the latus clavus, tunica palmata, and the toga palmata. For wealthy citizens, “It was simply deemed improper for such a Roman citizen of note (wealth) to be seen in public without his toga” (Roman Dress). The wealthy class had so much money that the style toga they wore was from the best material and richly embroidered. Since politicians were wealthy they would run for office so they would whiten the toga with chalk in order to stand out. This is why some are known as candidates or ‘the white ones’. As middle class, “anyone who did not want to be seen as a slave or a workman in Rome had to be seen in a toga” (Roman Dress). The middle class had more money so they were able to buy nice togas and tunics that promoted them as middle class citizens. These people would normally wear the toga vivilis, toga pura or toga libera. Basically, “the toga was a large blanket, draped over the body, leaving one arm free” (Roman Dress). Because only citizens of Rome were able to wear the toga, the poor were the lowest class to wear them. The poor class may have been able to wear the toga but the material was not as white and of cheap wool. “For sl...
To speak of the development of the Roman Catholic Church, is as if to retell the entire story of creation, all the way from Genesis to present day, and even into the future; because “Ecclesia semper reformanda est” or “the Church is always reforming itself” and, “Every valley must be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” Therefore, it is best to look at a certain point in the life of this particular religion, which, since “the Church is always reforming itself”, is not yet complete. The life of the Church is not a dull, repetitive life; but a fascinating, sustained life; one that is similar to the history of a rightful country which is in eternal war with an undying, persistent enemy who delights in masking its abhorrent profile with anything that might block its path. And yet, the battle is not direct in any manner, rather it is in indirect dueling where the greater success lies.
There are many types of different clothing in Religion. Clothing represents special significance in different religions. In this paper I would like to point out the differences between clothing in the different religions.
Dress and fashion can be used not only to symbolize culture, religion or spirituality, but it can also be used as a tool of oppression as well as liberation. For many people, dress is an expression of personality, faith, choice and identity. It can also deeply affect one’s spiritual self and help connect the wearer to her inward self. Marco Pallis describes the significance and meaningfulness between dress and spiritual identity and how, according to him, clothing ranks among the most important but least analyzed sites of colonization. He is particularly interested analysing clothing as a component of spirituality. He writes that ‘of the many things a person puts to use in the pursuit of her earthly vocation there are none, perhaps, which are so intimately bound up with her whole personality as the clothes she wears (Pallis, p.9). The first thing that Pallis notes is how clothing greatly modifies the appearance of a person and even his/her facial
The conclusion of this essay on Victorian era clothing was that it was first styled by Queen Victoria, and then was influenced by the Garibaldi family in the 1863 where the look of the outfit was modified into much more comfortable ones where shirts had been introduced that was accompanied by Basque that will give a jacket effect to the dresses. Women of this era should wear the appropriate dresses for some specific occasions. The layers of the dresses used was the same but the difference was just how the outside dress was styled.