Alb or cassock and surplice

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CyrilSebastian

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At your church, do the altar boys wear albs at Mass or do the altar boys wear cassocks and surplices?
 
Cassock and surplice. Red cassock for the parish, black in the Ordinariate.
 
My parish (and all the parish around me, unless a seminarian or celebrating the EF) use albs.
 
Territorial parish: alb.

ICRSS: cassock and surplice.

(I state both because I have a foot in each so I consider all churches involved [seven buildings in total] to be “my” church. 👍 …okay, so it’s more like a foot and four toes in one with the remaining toe in the other…)
 
We have a tiered system.

Boys 5 to about 12 wear an alb.

Boys who have learned the Order of Mass, and know each of the jobs well enough to teach, coach and demonstrate, wear cassocks and surplices.

Those are the boys that do almost all of the altar boy training of the younger boys.
 
Our altar boys wear cassock & surplice. We alternate red and black depending on the season or the occasion.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Our altar boys wear cassock & surplice. We alternate red and black depending on the season or the occasion.
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Father, I was never an altarboy but the parish I grew up in used the cassock & surplice and alternated between red and black like your parish. Today, they use nice Albs, which started a few years after they started allowing altar girls. Though my baby sister - who was among the first altar girls at the parish - wore a red cassock & surplice only.

My question: what’s the history of the red cassock and what seasons does your parish (and most others that alternate) use the red cassock? Also, does your parish have altargirls or just altar boys?

God Bless!
 
CyrilSebastian said:
At your church, do the altar boys wear albs at Mass or do the altar boys wear cassocks and surplices?
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They don’t wear either at my parish.

Novice altar servers wear white robes (but they really aren’t albs) and more experienced altar servers wear brown robes similar to those worn by the Franciscans.
 
phil19034 said:
Father, I was never an altarboy but the parish I grew up in used the cassock & surplice and alternated between red and black like your parish. Today, they use nice Albs, which started a few years after they started allowing altar girls. Though my baby sister - who was among the first altar girls at the parish - wore a red cassock & surplice only.

My question: what’s the history of the red cassock and what seasons does your parish (and most others that alternate) use the red cassock? Also, does your parish have altargirls or just altar boys?

God Bless!
Click to expand...
I don’t know the history.

Yes, there is a history (and indeed rules) when it comes to cassocks worn by clerics. Every color and combination (like black with red buttons, etc.) has a meaning.

There are no “rules” on red or black for altar boys. It’s purely a matter for the local pastor to decide. In some places, red is more likely to be used during more festive days or seasons. When I was an altar boy, we wore red on Sundays, black on weekdays. During Lent, we wore black on Sundays. During the Easter Season, we wore only red. I “sort of” keep that in my present parish. I say “sort of” because at the mission they wear only black because I don’t think we should spend mission funds on more than one set of cassocks (we have plenty of more pressing expenses). The main church has both red & black.

I’ve seen some parishes where the more experienced altar boys wear red cassocks and other places where the pattern is reversed (the “apprentices” get the red ones).

Some people think that there are rules, but that’s just their own personal experience. There are no rules beyond parish policy.

I’ve seen altar boy cassocks in red, black, white, blue (light and dark), green, and purple–either in person, or in catalogues.

Only males.
 
The rule in our diocese is that we should wear the alb during altar service. As for the Ministry of Altar Servers in our school, which is under that diocese, we are wearing the cassock or the alb under the surplice. We are to get our alb in months time
 
At my parish the altar boys, or girls, wear an alb with a hood. At a nearby parish the altar boys wear the cassock and surplice. The dress at my parish has the unfortunate effect of reminding me of Star Wars.
 
The parish where I’ve altar served for the past 11 years has been albs, however I think we should go with cassocks.
 
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