cassock, long garment worn by Roman Catholic and other clergy both as ordinary dress and under liturgical garments. The cassock, with button closure, has long sleeves and fits the body closely. In the Roman Catholic church the colour and trim vary with the ecclesiastical rank of the wearer: the pope wears plain white, cardinals black with scarlet trim, archbishops and bishops black with red trim, and lesser clergy plain black. In choir and church ceremonies the pope wears a white silk cassock; cardinals wear scarlet, except in penitential seasons when they wear purple; and lesser clergy wear plain black.
The cassock, though part of the canonical costume of the clergy, is not a liturgical vestment. It was originally the out-of-doors and domestic dress of European laity as well as clergy, and its survival among the latter when the secular fashions had changed is merely the outcome of ecclesiastical conservatism. In mild weather it was the outer garment; in cold weather it was worn under the tabard (a tunic with or without short sleeves) or chimere (a loose, sleeveless gown); sometimes in the Middle Ages the name chimere was given to it as well as to the sleeveless upper robe. In winter the cassock was often lined with furs varying in costliness with the rank of the wearer, and its colour also varied in the Middle Ages with ecclesiastical or academic status.
In the Roman Catholic church the cassock was traditionally worn by the clergy whenever they appeared, both in ordinary life (except in Protestant countries) and under their vestments in church. In the Church of England the cassock, which with the gown is prescribed by a canon of 1604 as the canonical dress of the clergy, has been worn by the clergy since the Reformation. It has long ceased, however, to be the everyday walking dress of either Catholic or Anglican clergy and is now usually worn only in church, at home, or more rarely within the precincts of their own parishes.
In the Eastern church the cassock’s equivalent is called a rhason.