Seminarian Choir Dress

[KevinPenkalski]

Hey, so I’m a recently accepted seminarian for my diocese. Now, I have been immersing myself in the Liturgical changes coming this Advent, and I have been looking at the different vestments, and choir dresses for priests, bishops, and seminarians. Now my question:

Regarding to the Fascia, I’ve found conflicting sources saying it’s only for major seminarians (I’m going to a College Seminary in the Fall, so I’m a minor) and others say that the fascia can be worn by any seminarian in the setting of the Liturgy. So which is true?

Thanks all and God bless.

Kevin

 

[Joannm]

Hey, so I’m a recently accepted seminarian for my diocese. Now, I have been immersing myself in the Liturgical changes coming this Advent, and I have been looking at the different vestments, and choir dresses for priests, bishops, and seminarians. Now my question:

Regarding to the Fascia, I’ve found conflicting sources saying it’s only for major seminarians (I’m going to a College Seminary in the Fall, so I’m a minor) and others say that the fascia can be worn by any seminarian in the setting of the Liturgy. So which is true?

Thanks all and God bless.

Kevin

I don’t mean to sound rude or offensive, but I don’t understand why seminarians are so concerned about what they wear, especially one just beginning in a college seminary. You wear what the rector of the seminary says you can wear. This is a time to focus on studies not dress.

I know quite a lot of seminary professors and I have heard quite a few say that if their students spend more time thinking of their studies rather than on cassocks, birettas, future priestly vestments and old style clothing, they would get much higher grades. In fact, one seminary prof told me that during alley meetings all the guys talk about were clothes, the best place to buy best vestments, and what kind of vestments they were going to buy. They didn’t even know if they were going to be ordained but they focus on what they will wear when ordained.

I hope you make it through to ordination, but I also hope that you don’t let obsession with clothing distract you from your studies. It doesn’t make you a better priest if you dress overly traditional. One of my closest priest friends is the most conservative priest you would come across. While he doesn’t celebrate the EF I am sure he will one of these days, but his clothes and vestments are simple and show his simplicity and humility. The most “traditional” he wears is choir dress, cassock and surplice, and cope when required by the celebration. His vestments are basically unadorned or simple banding, not expensive and do not put the attention on what he is wearing instead of the focus being on what he is doing and saying.

 

[KevinPenkalski]

I guess I let the excitement get to me. I know that I am supposed to be there to learn…and discern (rhyme not intended), and I’m glad that you, for lack of a better term, splashed cold water on me. Forgive my imprudence.

 

[JVSantos]

I guess I let the excitement get to me. I know that I am supposed to be there to learn…and discern (rhyme not intended), and I’m glad that you, for lack of a better term, splashed cold water on me. Forgive my imprudence.

There’s nothing wrong with getting excited. You’ll be just fine, thank you for answering the call.

 

[MiserereMeiDeus]

While I don’t know the answer to your question, thank you for answering God’s call.

 

[malphono]

I guess I let the excitement get to me. I know that I am supposed to be there to learn…and discern (rhyme not intended), and I’m glad that you, for lack of a better term, splashed cold water on me. Forgive my imprudence.

Really, there’s nothing wrong with being concerned with “details” or whatever one wants to call them, as long as it doesn’t become an obsession. Of course, the first order of business for a seminarian is study, but if all one does is study (as in the “required curriculum”), one will never come to appreciate and/or understand a great many aspects of traditional observance.

In specific to the fascia, I don’t recall the particular rules, but from what I do recall, (and IIRC), it is not generally worn by seminarians (or even priests, except for Canon Lawyers). That said, however, a variation of it is used by certain seminarians in Rome and also by those (individual seculars as well as certain religious congregations) who have adopted the “semi-Jesuit” style (wraparound) cassock instead of the Roman-style (button-front) cassock. In those latter cases, it’s narrower than a real fascia, and is really a type of belt intended to keep the cassock closed and in place.

Sorry for the unsolicited :twocents:

 

[TheMc]

Seminarians in my diocese, with a very conservative bishop who’s definitely “in the know”, all wear faccia when they wear their cassocks, definitely in the liturgy, but often at other times too, such as formal dinners, or the like. I’m not sure where this permission would be given, but I would ask your vocations director or bishop.

 

[ElToro]

I don’t mean to sound rude or offensive, but I don’t understand why seminarians are so concerned about what they wear, especially one just beginning in a college seminary. You wear what the rector of the seminary says you can wear. This is a time to focus on studies not dress.

I know quite a lot of seminary professors and I have heard quite a few say that if their students spend more time thinking of their studies rather than on cassocks, birettas, future priestly vestments and old style clothing, they would get much higher grades. In fact, one seminary prof told me that during alley meetings all the guys talk about were clothes, the best place to buy best vestments, and what kind of vestments they were going to buy. They didn’t even know if they were going to be ordained but they focus on what they will wear when ordained.

I hope you make it through to ordination, but I also hope that you don’t let obsession with clothing distract you from your studies. It doesn’t make you a better priest if you dress overly traditional. One of my closest priest friends is the most conservative priest you would come across. While he doesn’t celebrate the EF I am sure he will one of these days, but his clothes and vestments are simple and show his simplicity and humility. The most “traditional” he wears is choir dress, cassock and surplice, and cope when required by the celebration. His vestments are basically unadorned or simple banding, not expensive and do not put the attention on what he is wearing instead of the focus being on what he is doing and saying.

Your posting is excellent. I know a priest who is now 86. He has been in the system since the days of JUNIOR seminary. When he entered college seminary they were specifically told not to buy a bunch of priestly because things change and people leave. The preoccupation you speak of sounds potentially serious. Are men entering the priesthood in order to be clerical models? No, of course not but even the thought is concerning.

 

[KevinPenkalski]

I want to thank you all. I was talking with one of the seminarians today, not about this, but about the life as a seminarian in general. He brought up how some seminarians do become so enthralled in the “glitz and glamour” of the “life” and those people normally drop (he said about 1/2). He really showed me in a real way how this can be destructive. I would just ask for you guys to continue to pray for me.

Kevin