DALTON
609
DALTON
■orm. After this, in the Italian remains, the vestment
s shorter and the sleeves narrower although the
traces of the change are at first only here and there
loticeable. As early as the ninth centiiry the short-
niing of the vestment and the narrowing of the sleeves
lad begun in Northern countries, but up to the
Avclfth century no important modification had taken
)lace. In the thirteenth century the length of the
lalmatic was still about 51-55 inches. In Italy this
iicasurcment w;is maintained during the fourteenth
■entury; in the sixteenth century the dalmatic, even
n Italy, was usually only about 47i inches long. In
he seventeenth centviry its length everywhere was
)nly a little more than 43^ inches; in the eighteenth
- entury it was only 39J inches, and at times about
i5J inches. The shortening of the vestment could lardly go further; and, as its length decreased, the ileeves became correspondingly narrower. To facili-
- ate the putting on of the dalmatic slits were made in
,he sides of the vestment in the pre-Carlovingian era, md in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries regularly ihaped openings were often substituted for the slits, n the latter part of the Middle Ages, especially in the ifteenth century, the sides were very commonly >pen((l as far as the sleeves, unless the dalmatic was vidcned below by the insertion of a gore. Now and hen, in the fifteenth centurj', the sleeves appear to lave been opened for the sake of convenience, but his custom was not general imtil the sixteenth and
- eventeenth centuries and then it was not observed in
taly, where, in accordance with the Roman usage, he sleeves were always closed.
Originally the dalmatic was made of linen or wool, )Ut when silk became more common and less expen- ive, the dalmatic was also made of silk. From about he twelfth century, judging from the inventories, the vestment seems to have been made almost altogether )f silk, although up to modern times there were also laltn;itics made of fine woollen material. Until after lie tenth century the dalmatic was always white, ■"rom this time on coloured dalmatics are moreoften oimd, especially outside of Italy, in countries where lid traditions were not so firmly rooted. Coloured lalmatics were the rule when, about 1200, it was deter- nined what colours should be recognized as liturgical md in consequence their use was definitely regulated. Ls soon as certain colours were prescribed for the chas- ible it must have seemed only proper to employ the ame for the outer vestment of the deacon. The orna- nentation of the dalmatic at first consisted of two larrow stripes, called dain, which went in a straight ine down the front and back, and of a narrow band on he hem of the sleeves. In the beginning the stripes i-ere more purple than red in shade. In the old repre- cntations fringe is found on the dalmatic as earlj' as the eventh century; at times it was placetl on the sleeves, it ot her times along the openings on the sides. About he ninth century the curious custom arose of setting ufts of red fringe on the clari and on the bands of the leevcs; this usage was kept up until the thirteenth ientury, but it was more common in N'orthcrn coun- ries than in Italy. In the later medieval period there vas great diversity in the ornamentation of the dal- natic, and very often it receiveil no ornamentation at ill. In Italy it was customary to set a costly, and iften rirhly enibroideretl, band (nurifrisiuDi, piirurii, Imhriii) above the lower hem on the back and front of he vestment and also above the sleeves; at times larrow vertical bands were added to this adornment. !n France and flennany the preference was to orna- nent the two sides of the vestment with broad and 'leg:intly embroidered bands which were united on he brea.st and back by cross-bands. Occasionally he dalmatic was entirely covered with embroidered igures. A fine specimen of such decoration is pre- lerved in the imperial tre.'is\ir>- at Vienna. This dal- natic is completely covered with a costly omamenta- IV.— 39
tion consisting of human figures very artistically exe-
cuted in fifteenth-century Burgundian embroidery
and was one of the rich Mass- vestments of the Order of
the Golden Fleece.
Origin and Symbolism. — The dalmatic was taken from a garment of the same name, which originated, to judge from the designation, in Dalmatia, and which came into common use at Rome probably in the course of the second century. But it was only the garment as such, and not the ornamental bands, that Rome imported, for the clavi were an old Roman adornment of the tunic. The secular dalmatic is often mentioned by writers and is frequently seen in the pic- torial remains of the later imperial epoch, e. g. in the so-called consular diptychs. It was part of the cloth- ing of the higher classes; consequently it is not sur- prising that it was taken into ecclesiastical use and afterwards became a liturgical vestment. The earliest syml^olical interpretations of the dalmatic occur at the beginning of the ninth century, in the writings of Rabanus (Hrabanus) Maurus and Amalarius ot Metz. On account of the cruciform shape and the red orna- mental stripes, Rabanus Maurus regarded it as sym- bolical of the sufferings of Christ and said that the vestment admonished the servant of the altar to offer himself as an acceptable sacrifice to God. Amalarius saw in the white colour a symbol of purity of soul, and in the red stripes the emblem of love for one's neigh- bour. What in later times was said of the symbolism of the dalmatic is hardly more than a repetition of the words of Rabanus and Amalarius.
In the Oriental rites deacons do not wear a dal- matic; while instead of the chasuble the bishops wear an outer vestment called the sacccs, which is sunilar to the dalmatic. The saccus came into use in the elev- enth century.
Dalmatic in England. — The English inventories fre- quently give the dalmatic the same name as that of the wearer: thus (15.39. Ludlow Priory. Salop.): "A chasabull and ij decons of whyte nedell work for lent." According to the old English Consuetudinary of Sarum (Salisbury) (ch. xcvi) the acolytes, thuri- fers, etc. of the great cathedrals and minsters wore dalmatics in their ministrations. At York Minster they had sets of four tunicles pro thuribulnriis et chor- istis (for the thurifers antl chanters) in each of the four colours, white, red, blue, and green (York Fabric Rolls, pp. 228, 233-1). The dalmatic is still worn by the sovereigns of England at their coronation as a supertunic, surcoat, or colodium. (For the use of the dalmatic in England consult Rock, "Ages of Faith".) Bock, Gcschichle drr Ufurgischen Oewdnder (Bonn, 1860), II, 83-100; MAnmoTT, Vesliarium Chrhlianum (London. ISliS;, IiitKiiliirnoii, Iv-lx; HoHACLT DE Fleury, La Messe (Paris, isss, ri. 1,K illustrated), VII, 71-109; Dk Linah, Ancirns ,;te- m.nl, „.. rl..l,ii,z in lici'ue de I'arl chniien (1st series. I'liris, 1m;i|', .-,(-,1 77, tiL'T-.W; Wii.i'ekt. Di. r,,u;ind,m,i ,1, r .r/.u
Chnslrn (ColuLn,.-, l->:is , jO, .IC, 10; K m KiM^ ,, ;,■.,./-
Enri/k., s. v. A7. - \'i.:< ■ . /' ' ' ' ■ ' "i
Occidrnt mul ( h ;■ i i," ' m ■ 1 1- r. i , I ' i' i, ■ i , '.' > ', I r.
Christian Arl a<. ! 1 , K.i ■■!.•■: , i I r,,,, :, ,.,, I'.iii ; \lv.M,,iin. Ecclesiastical Vcslnunls (Loniion, ISUti).
Joseph Braun.
Dalton, John, Irish author and translator from Spanish and German, b. in 1814 ; d. at Maddermarket, Norwich, 15 February, 1874. He spent his early yeara at Coventry, England, and was educated at Sedgley Park School. He then proceeded to Oscott College, where he was ordained priest in 1837. After serving some time on the mission at Northampton (where he established large schools), he laboured at Norwich for three years, and subsequently built a handsome church at Lynn. During his residence in Lynn he published his best-known book, an English transla- tion of "Tlie Life of St. Teresa, written by herself", showing a perfect mastery of the Spanish language. Father Dalton m.ide an oxh.austive .study of the life and works of St. Teresa, and caused her wTitings to
