Humeral Veil

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This is the name given to a cloth of rectangular shape about 8 ft. long and 1 1/2 ft. wide. The "Cæremoniale Romanum (l. I, c. x, n. 5) requires that it should be of silk. The edges are usually fringed, while a cross, with the name"Jesus", or some other representation adorns the centre. Humeral veils for use on festivals are often richlyembroidered. To prevent too rapid wearing out by usage, pockets or flaps (wings) are provided well under the lower edges, towards the ends. These are then used instead of the veil itself to hold the object which is to be covered by the latter. Flaps (wings) are not advisable; but there can be no serious objection to pockets. The humeral veil is worn so as to cover the back and shoulders — hence its name — and its two ends hang down in front. To prevent its falling from the shoulders, it is fastened across the breast with clasps or ribbons attached to the border. The humeral veil is used:

In processions of theBlessed Sacrament, and at Benediction given with theostensorium, only the hands are placed under the humeral veil; in other cases it covers thesacred vessel which contains the Host. In the cases mentioned under the third heading the humeral veil must always be white. No specific colour is prescribed in the case: of the mitre-bearer but the veil worn by thesubdeacon who bears thepaten must be of the same colour as the other vestments. There is no black humeral veil, for the reason that at Masses for the dead, as well as onGood Friday, thepaten remains on the altar.

History

It is impossible to determine when theRoman Ritual first prescribed the use of the humeral veil on the occasions mentioned above under (3). It was probably towards the close of theMiddle Ages. The custom is first alluded to in "Ordo Rom. XV" (c. lxxvii). In many places outside ofRome the humeral veil was not adopted for the aforesaid functions until very recent times. It was prescribed inMilan, bySt. Charles Borromeo, for processions of theBlessed Sacrament and for carryingHoly Viaticum to the sick. Its use at high Mass dates back as far at least as the eighth century, for it was mentioned, under the name ofsindon, in the oldest Roman Ordo. It undoubtedly goes back to a more remote antiquity. But, in those days, it was not thesubdeacon who held thepaten with it; this office was performed by anacolyte. Moreover, not only this particularacolyte, but allacolytes who had charge ofsacred vessels wore the humeral veil. That of the paten-bearer was distinguished by a cross. One may find an interesting reproduction ofacolytes withalb and humeral veil (sindon) in a ninth century miniature of a sacramentary (reproduced in Braun, Die liturgische Gewandung p. 62), in theseminary ofAutun sometime in the eleventh century the custom was inaugurated of having thepaten borne, no longer by anacolyte, but by thesubdeacon; this was especially the case atRome. Thesubdeacon then had no humeral veil, but rather held thepaten with the pall (mappula, palla, sudarium), the forerunner of ourchalice veil, the ends of which were thrown over the right shoulder. Thus it is prescribed by Ordo Rom. XIV (c. liii), and so it may be seen in various reproductions. Theacolyte continued, even in the laterMiddle Ages, to use a humeral veil (palliolum, sindon, mantellum) when carrying thepaten, and the present Roman custom, according to which thesubdeacon is vested in the humeral veil when holding thepaten, originated at the close of theMiddle Ages. It was slow in finding its way into use outside ofRome, and was not adopted in certain countries (France,Germany) until the nineteenth century. The veil used by the mitre-bearer is mentioned as far back as Ordo Rom. XIV (c. xlviii).

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