WHY POPES WEAR WHITE SOUTANE

 WHY THE POPES WEAR WHITE SOUTANE

When one goes to the Vatican, one can quickly observe that it is only the Pope that wears white soutane. The cassock, also called a soutane, can be worn by all clerics, but the papal one is white. Before the election of Pope Pius V, all clergy wears black soutane. 

Pope Pius V was a Dominican Friar. When he was elected Pope, he continued to wear his Dominican Habit, which is white in colour. He wanted to keep the tradition going. And so ever since then, it has remained white for the Popes.

Pope Pius V, OP was an Italian, born on 17 January 1504 and died on May 1 1572. His name was Antonio Ghislieri; and from 1518, he was called Michele Ghislieri. He became Pope on 7 January 1566 and died on May 1 1572. He is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman Rite within the Latin Church, known as Tridentine mass. 

He implemented the sweeping reforms mandated by the Council of Trent. He promoted seminaries for the education of priests. He published a universal Roman rite of the Breviary (in 1568) and Missal (Tridentine rite in 1570) while preserving those rites with a 200 or more year history. Notable among such is the Dominican rite, still sometimes celebrated by priests of the Order.  He also fought vehemently among ecclesial circles against Nepotism and Absenteeism. In 1567, he declared his Dominican brother, Saint Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church and established his feast day as equal to those of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church: Saints. Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome and Gregory.

His greatest contribution to Western civilization, however, was the halting of the invasion of Europe by the Ottoman Empire. Seeing the threat posed by the Turks, Pius sought to unite the Catholics nations in an alliance named the Holy League. He was only able to unite Venice, Rome and Spain against the Eastern menace. These three powers assembled a fleet of about 200 ships to meet Turkish fleet of 300 ships. Supported by a rosary crusade as well as other spiritual aids, the Christian fleet met the Turks at Leponto on October 7, 1571 under the command of Don Juan of Austria. The Christian fleet won the battle, which began the slow decline of the Ottoman Empire. 

The pope was given a vision of the victory the exact hour that it occurred. As a result, he instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victories that was ultimately changed to Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7th) or Rosary Sunday (the first Sunday in October).

Pope Saint Pius V died a few months after the victory at Leponto, on May 1, 1572. His feast day is April 30. His undying fidelity to the Church and her faith and his constant zeal are certainly inspirational.  

NOTE

The colour of soutane for all clergy in the Roman Catholic Church is black. For those in Sahara and Sub-Sahara deserts, their bishops conferences approve the wearing white soutane because of weather issue. But when one goes to Rome, he changes to black soutane; except those belonging to Religious Orders and Societies of Apostolic Life.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Why is it that the popes cassock is white while the clothes of other clergymen are usually black?

Answer: The custom of popes wearing white cassocks dates to Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican Friar who chose to continue wearing the Dominican white habit as pope. Successive popes continued the custom, and it is now the traditional color of the popes clothing.

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa

July 24 2024

utaziprince@yahoo.com