AMITTO. – A sacred garment of cloth (approximately 0.70 × 0.80 m), to be placed around the neck and shoulders, furnished with tapes for tying its ends over the chest. Authors are not in agreement concerning its origins. Some, from the Greek name anabolaio or anabolio, by which it is designated in the Ordines Romani from the eighth to the twelfth century, maintain that it derives from the scapular with which monks tightened the tunic around the body in order to have free use of their arms. Others, however, have wished to identify it with the focale, pallium orarium, or sudarium of the Romans, a kind of scarf worn around the dalmatica (v.), to protect oneself from cold or sweat. On Trajan’s Column in Rome, one can see Roman soldiers sent to Germany wearing such a scarf around their necks. Amalarius calls it a. (from amicire), because it was wrapped around the neck and shoulders. Around the tenth century, it began also to be placed over the head, like a hood. This custom lasted throughout the Middle Ages and, in some churches, especially in France, even into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This hood was decorated with gold embroidery or precious stones and was placed on the head like a helmet. Then, in time, it returned to its ancient simplicity.
According to current prescriptions, it must be made of cloth, linen, or hemp; it must have, at the top or in the middle, a clearly visible cross, which the priest kisses before using it; and it must be blessed by the bishop or by one who has the faculty to do so. It is put on before the alb; but in Rome, formerly, it was placed over II. This custom is still preserved in the Ambrosian and Lugdunese rites; and also in the Roman rite, in some cases, the a. is placed over the cotta or the rochet. The a. symbolizes the fortitude with which one must fight the devil. Especially beautiful in this regard is the prayer the priest recites when putting it on: Impone, Domine, capiti meo galeam salutis ad expugnandos diabolicos incursus.