Cassock Propaganda

28 Responses to Cassock Propaganda

1. alex says:

   15 March 2009 at 10:33 AM

   Oh how all seminarians should look and so few do
2. Dr. Eric says:

   15 March 2009 at 10:43 AM

   Those aren’t Europeans! I love to see Catholics from the rest of the world. I pray for the spread of the Gospel to all people!
3. TJM says:

   15 March 2009 at 11:20 AM

   Splendid photo. Deo Gratias, Tom
4. Franzjosf says:

   15 March 2009 at 11:23 AM

   Do these guys revert to a regular black cassock wants they graduate or do they retain the rite of this cassock for the rest of their lives?
5. Shane O'Neill says:

   15 March 2009 at 11:25 AM

   Revert to a roman cassock. All the Roman colleges have their own distinctive cassocks, though almost all have fallen into disuse since VII.
6. Paul Knight says:

   15 March 2009 at 2:03 PM

   Impressive!
7. Sieber says:

   15 March 2009 at 2:30 PM

   Trying to remember….wasn’t the cassock of the Pontifical North American College of the same style, but with different piping/sash….perhaps blue? Has that “fallen from favor?’

   Anyone…anyone.
8. a different Julie says:

   15 March 2009 at 2:31 PM

   There are photos from the Scots college somewhere online…
9. Josephus muris saliensis says:

   15 March 2009 at 2:47 PM

   The boys of the NAM served Mass for the Sovereign Pontiff in their blue piped cassocks with red fascias some time last year, splendid!
10. Art says:

    15 March 2009 at 2:55 PM

    The cassocks looks very much like a black chinese chang-sam with red trim. I wonder if any alterations were needed besides the colour?
11. Mitchell NY says:

    15 March 2009 at 4:13 PM

    I wish all seminarians looked like this. It is a perfect illustration of how clergy are expected to look in the eyes of lay people. Men of God should look different from lay people and it adds to the aire of respect we have for our Priests. I know people will say it makes no difference what a Priest is wearing and how good they are as a Priest but for me it helps to establish their roles and mine which certainly differ…What I think many Priest fail to realize, maybe because we do not tell them, but we love the look and clerical garb. There are untold millions Isuppose who prefer them to dress traditionally and different from us, but it the modernist with the open, upfront agendas…Most of us are just in the backround and do not agree with their thoughts..They just get the ear of the Priest more often as they tend to be the outspoken ones….
12. Don Vicente says:

    15 March 2009 at 4:29 PM

    The official cassock of the Pontifical North American College has a red sash, red piping and several blue buttons near the top. (Get it? With the collar, it’s red white and blue.) It is still used (usually under a surplice) by Masters of Ceremonies at the NAC in liturgical functions. I remember thinking that the MC at a NAC Mass was the youngest monsignor I had ever met until it was explained to me. Shane is correct, after ordination, all Roman seminarians went to the standard black cassock. (Just like the West Point cadets go to regular Army uniforms when they are commissioned.)
13. Central Valley says:

    15 March 2009 at 4:46 PM

    If only this was a common sight in american seminaries and parishes.
14. Fr K says:

    15 March 2009 at 5:25 PM

    As a former student at Propaganda College I would like to share some interesting information about the College Cassock. It was designed by St John Leonardi when the College was founded to educate priests for the Missions, hence its name. The red sash and piping symoblise the real possibility in those days, and probably even today of facing martyrdom on the missions; the five red buttons on the sleeves and the breast represent the five wounds of Christ and the the three red buttons on the collar the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. At one time, I believe,I am not sure if it still applies, former students had the privilege of being buried in their College Cassock. Propaganda is the only college in Rome to still retain the use of the cassock for everyday wear, not just for liturgical functions. Students are also given a Cappa Nigra of heavy wool when they arrive at the College and it comes in very handy during the cold, damp Roman winter.
15. ssoldie says:

    15 March 2009 at 5:31 PM

    I had to go to Rome to see the cassocks worn on the streets and how wonderful it was, Just like “The Scarlet And The Black” movie and the best part you knew who to ask certain Q’s of. To bad it was also ‘surpressed’, or was it? just askin
16. Shane O'Neill says:

    15 March 2009 at 6:22 PM

    ssoldie: “I had to go to Rome to see the cassocks worn on the streets and how wonderful it was”

    You went all the way to Rome just to see cassocks being worn on the street? Talk about curiosity!…
17. Christophorus says:

    15 March 2009 at 6:57 PM

    Interestingly, the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus Ohio also wore these cassocks. The College was, then, directly under the Propaganda.
18. trespinos says:

    15 March 2009 at 7:08 PM

    And, if memory serves, the Teutonic College students were distinguished by cassocks the color of boiled lobsters, no?
19. TMG says:

    15 March 2009 at 7:12 PM

    A priest in a cassock is a powerful way to visually proclaim the Roman Catholic Faith. When I recently accompanied a priest to a local store who was wearing a cassock, it was really something to see people’s reactions. Instant respect.
20. Dino says:

    15 March 2009 at 8:39 PM

    My first reaction was that this was a lot of very young monsignors. I wish all clergy, religious and seminarians would return to their distinctive clothing.
21. Nick says:

    15 March 2009 at 11:45 PM

    Is it just me, or does the name “Propaganda College” sound weird?
22. Peter says:

    16 March 2009 at 4:09 AM

    The Roman seminaries’ cassocks: http://zadokromanus.blogspot.com/2005/02/lost-feature-of-ecclesiastical-rome.html
23. Marc says:

    16 March 2009 at 5:44 AM

    Some Pictures of different Roman seminaries’ cassocks (including Scots and German): http://romanmiscellany.blogspot.com/2006/12/roman-dress.html
24. irishgirl says:

    16 March 2009 at 9:57 AM

    What a cool picture!

    Yeah-I wish all seminarians and priests dressed like this!
25. frv says:

    16 March 2009 at 10:14 AM

    A correction to one description of the North American College house cassock given above: it is a double-breasted black cassock, with blue piping and buttons, a crimson sash, and pendant strings. While it is sadly not currently worn to classes at the Universities, it continues to be worn on different occasions within the life of the College. There were about ten new ones made around five years ago.
26. Mark R says:

    16 March 2009 at 1:39 PM

    I think the Russicum seminarians wear a plain black Russian style podriasnik.
    The Ukrainian College wears a cassock like the Propaganda, but where it is black it is the blue of the Ukrainian flag and where red, yellow instead. Blech!
27. Fr K says:

    16 March 2009 at 5:42 PM

    Nick,

    As I pointed out in my comment, Propaganda Fide was founded as a missionary college for the training of missionaries back in the seventeenth century to meet the need of the great missionary expansion in the New World and the Far East. Propaganda Fide is simply Latin for the Propagation of the Faith, or ‘for the spreading of the faith.’ It is only in recent times the word ‘propaganda’ has taken on sinister overtones, especially by one Josef Goebbels, minister of progaganda for the Nazi regime. The devil delights in inverting that which is good and holy for his own nefarious means: in this case the proclamation of the truth to become the dissemination of death dealing lies. In the 1960s the Congregation of Propaganda Fide changed its name to the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, but the College, the Urbanum, named after Pope Urban VIII has remained in popular nomenclature, Collegio Urbanum de Propaganda Fide, or ‘Prop’ for short. I dare say there are those who think the new name of the Congregation is still a bridge too far! [South Brisbane, et al, perhaps?]
28. Fr K says:

    16 March 2009 at 5:54 PM

    Fr Z

    Thanks for this post and the links – it took me on a pleasant trip down memory lane, as I am sure it did for others.

    God bless

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