Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
In a religious context, a habit refers to the distinctive garment or garments worn by members of religious orders. For Catholic orders, the habit is normally comprised of a tunic, often covered by a scapular and cowl. For women, the veil normally used would be considered a part of the habit. This page explains the components of the habit — tunic, scapular, cowl and veil — what each piece is, and how a distinctive shared dress identifies the members of a religious order.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/habit ). 5/13/05 |
The tunic is the foundation garment: a long, loose robe, usually belted or girded at the waist, reaching toward the ankles. Over the tunic the scapular is worn — a long panel of cloth hanging down the front and back of the body from the shoulders, one of the most recognisable elements of monastic dress. The cowl is a hood-like covering for the head and shoulders, worn up or folded back, and it gives many habits their characteristic silhouette around the neck. For women religious, the veil covers the hair and forms part of the habit, traditionally worn over a coif or wimple that frames the face. Each order combines these standard pieces in its own way, so the components are shared across orders while the complete habit remains distinctive to one order.
That distinctiveness is the habit's purpose as clothing. A habit is not chosen by the individual wearer: it is the dress of the order, received on entering religious life, and worn by all members in a common form. Colour and cut do the identifying — habits in black, white, brown and grey, with differing veils, cowls and cord or leather belts, distinguish one order from another at sight, in the same way a uniform identifies a role. The garments are deliberately plain and durable, made to be worn daily for prayer, work and community life rather than for occasion, and their design changes only slowly, by the order's own decision. Within a clothing glossary, the habit is therefore defined by function as much as by form: it is the set of garments — tunic, scapular, cowl, and for women the veil — by which members of a religious order dress alike and are recognised.
A habit is usually completed by a belt or cord at the waist and, in many orders, by a rosary or cross worn at the side, and the full dress is put on as part of the order's daily routine. People in the first stage of religious life, novices, traditionally receive the habit in a clothing ceremony that marks the formal beginning of that life, which is one reason the garment's name stands for the state it represents. The everyday working form of a habit may be simplified, or protected by an apron for manual work, but its identifying pieces, the tunic, scapular, cowl and veil, remain the same, so the wearer is recognisable in work, in prayer and in public as a member of the same order.
In a religious context, a habit refers to the distinctive garment or garments worn by members of religious orders.
For Catholic orders, the habit is normally comprised of a tunic, often covered by a scapular and cowl.
Yes. For women, the veil normally used would be considered a part of the habit.