Achimere (/ˈtʃɪmər/CHIM-ər or/tʃɪˈmɪər/chim-EER) is agarment primarily worn byAnglicanbishops inchoir dress, and, formally as part ofacademic dress.
A descendant of a riding cloak, the chimere resembles anacademic gown but without sleeves, and is usually made of scarlet or black cloth. In modern English use the garment is worn as part of the ceremonial dress of Anglican bishops. It is a long sleeveless gown of silk or satin, open down the front, gathered in at the back between the shoulders, and with slits for the arms. It is worn over therochet, colored either black or scarlet[1] (a combination referred to as "convocation robes").
The chimere is worn by the bishops of theAnglican Communion as a component of theirchoir habit. It is traditionally coloured either scarlet or black, although some bishops have innovated a purple chimere. The wrist-bands of the bishop'srochet typically match the colour of the chimere. The garment has also been adopted and reappropriated inAfrican-American Pentecostal circles, primarily throughJ. Delano Ellis of thePentecostal Churches of Christ who taught that it was an ancient prophetic mantle;[2] in Africa, there have been accounts of other Pentecostals reappropriating Anglican vestments.[3]
For Anglican bishops, the chimere is part of their formal vesture in choir dress: typically, the chimere would be worn over a purplecassock and the rochet and would be accompanied by a black scarf known as atippet, with an optionalacademic hood. The chimere may be worn when vested in thecope, but not necessarily. Due toliturgical changes in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it is no longer common for the chimere to be worn when celebrating theEucharist, though the practice is still kept by somelow-church bishops.
Traditionally, the red chimere was worn only by bishops holding the degree ofDoctor of Divinity and the black chimere by the others.[4][failed verification] This did not matter for many years, as formerly all bishops were conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon consecrated. When this practice ceased, the distinction was largely ignored, as in recent times many bishops regularly wear the red chimere, regardless of academic status.[citation needed]
On the analogy of theCatholicmantelletta, certain Anglicanprelates have from sometimes appeared in purple chimeres. An influential article on chimeres and their colours by The Rev. N. F. Robinson at the end of the 19th century urged the retention of the garment,[5] especially the black chimere.[6]
In some churches, the lead singer of the choir is permitted to wear a chimere. It is also a traditional part of the vestments of averger.
The word (Old French:chamarre; Modern French:simarre; Italian:zimarra; cf. Spanishzamarra, 'sheepskin coat') derives from theLatinchimera orchimaera, possibly derived ultimately fromAncient Greekχειμέριος,cheimérios ('wintry'),[1] originally referred to a winter overcoat (cf. the cognate mythological monsterChimaera).
Its secular precursor was worn also by theRoman Senators, and is still worn by some university professors.
The origin of the chimere has been the subject of much debate; the view of it as a modification of thecope has been discarded, and it is practically proved to be derived from the mediaevaltabard (tabardum,taberda orcollobium), an upper garment worn in civil life by all classes of people both in England and abroad. It has therefore a common origin with certain items ofacademic dress.[1]
The word chimere, which first appeared in England in the 14th century, was sometimes applied not only to the tabard worn over the rochet, but to the sleeved cassock worn under it.Richard le Scrope (Archbishop of York, died 1405) is described as wearing on his way to execution a blue chimere with sleeves. However, the word properly applies to the sleeveless tabard which tended to supersede, from the 15th century onwards, the inconvenientcappa clausa (a long, closed cloak with a slit in front for the arms) as the out-of-doors upper garment of bishops. These chimeres, the colors of which (murrey, scarlet, green, etc.) may have denoted academic rank, were part of the civil dress of prelates. Thus, in the inventory of Walter Skirlawe,Bishop of Durham (1405–1406), eight chimeres of various colors are mentioned, including two for riding (pro equitatura). The chimere was, moreover, a cold weather garment, and In summer was replaced by thetippet.[1]
By a late abuse, the sleeves of the rochet were, from motives of convenience, sometimes attached to the chimere.[1]
The Anglicanrubric for the consecration of a bishop directs the newly consecrated prelate, hitherto vested in rochet, to put on the rest of the episcopal habit, i.e. the chimere. The garment has thus become in theChurch of England symbolic of the episcopal office, and is in effect a liturgicalvestment. This direction was added to theBook of Common Prayer in 1662, and there is proof the development of the chimere into at least a choir vestment was subsequent to theReformation.John Foxe, indeed, mentions that Hooper at his consecration wore a long scarlet "chymere" down to the foot (Acts and Mon., ed. 1563, p. 1051), a source of trouble to himself and of scandal to other extreme reformers; but that this was no more than the full civil dress of a bishop is proved by the fact that Archbishop Parker at his consecration woresurplice and tippet, and only wore the chimere once the service was over, for leaving. This civil character of the garment still survives alongside the other; the full dress of an Anglican prelate at important civil functions (e.g. in parliament, or at court) is still the rochet and chimere.[1]
TheEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition spoke of the zimarra orsimarre as the equivalent on theEuropean continent of the chimere and indicated that the English word was derived, through Old French, from the Italian termzimarra. It cited ecclesiologists as defining the zimarra as a kind ofsoutane (cassock), from which it was distinguished by having a small cape and short, open arms (manches-fausses) reaching to the middle of the upper arm and decorated with buttons. The sameecclesiologists identified the zimarra with theepitogium, which was described as “the uppermost garment of the clergy, worn over the soutane, instead of themantellum.” In France and Germany, it was fitted more or less to the figure; in Italy it was wider and fell down straight in front. Unlike the chimere, it was not associated with any particular rank of clergy nor was universally used by them. As late as the middle of the 18th century, the zimarra was still in common use as an out-of-doorsovercoat, but after that it was in Italy associated with certain members of the clergy, senators of the city of Rome (before theunification of Italy) and university professors. In 1910, at the time of composition of the Encyclopædia Britannica article,PopeBenedict XV wore a black zimarra lined with white, and sometimes ornamented with white binding and gold tassels.[5]
In theCatholic Church, the zimarra was never a liturgical vestment nor part of choir dress. It was more or less a loose cloak clergymen sometimes used as part of mere everyday civilian dress. InItalian, the termzimarra is generally used not of a close-fitting garment, such as thecassock, but of a loose over-garment, similar to the fur-linedSchaube used in northern Europe.[7] Images of the zimarra as worn by women can be seen at Dressing the Italian Way[8] and The Italian Showcase.[9]
While the wordchimere is derived from the Italian wordzimarra,[10] the Catholic ecclesiastical garment most like the loose-fitting chimere is themantelletta,[5] whose use bycardinals andbishops was abolished by the 1969Instruction on the Dress, Titles and Coats-of-Arms of Cardinals, Bishops and Lesser Prelates.[11] The same document also abolished themantelletta for lesser prelates in general, maintaining it only for a limited number of officials of theRoman Curia.
As an item ofacademic dress, a slightly modified version of the chimere is, for instance, prescribed at theUniversity of Oxford for doctors inConvocation Dress—and as such it is referred to as theConvocation Habit. The differences are that the chimere is worn open and the Convocation Habit is worn closed with two large buttons.
If an Anglican bishop is part of the "platform party" at a commencement (that is, the speaker, or is giving the invocation or benediction) he may wear the rochet and chimere with the appropriate hood and academic cap.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Phillips, Walter Alison (1911). "Chimere". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 164–165.