HAIRSHIRT. - A rough cloth, woven from goat or camel hair. It was called cilicium by the Latins because it came especially from Cilicia, on whose mountains grazed numerous flocks of long-haired goats; it was used to make coarse garments, blankets, and tents.
In Sacred Scripture the cilice or sackcloth (Heb. laq, Gk. ἀσπύς) generally designates a garment of such cloth, which was put on as a sign of mourning or penance (cf. Gen. 37:34; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 2:30; Jer. 4:8; 6:26 etc.). It was the ordinary dress of the prophets, preachers of penance (Is. 20:2; 2 Kings 1:8; Mt. 3:4). Along with the cilice, ashes were also used to sprinkle the head; hence the biblical expression: "to do penance in sackcloth and ashes" (Mt. 11:21). As an instrument of penance, the cilice worn on the bare skin has always been used in Christian asceticism. St. Augustine (Symbol. ad catechum., 1: PL 40, 660 ff.) attests to us that even catechumens prepared for Baptism by wearing the cilice. Famous in this regard in hagiography are the Constantinopolitan anchorite St. Theodore, called Trichinas (v.) or "the hairy" because of the harsh cilice garment he wore, and the Camaldolese hermit St. Dominic Loricatus (v.), so called from the coat of mail he wore on his flesh.
In its simplest form the cilice is reduced to a band of rough cloth, woven from hair or horsehair, or to a belt composed of rings or links of iron wire with protruding points (v. CATENELLE), for tightening the waist, arms, and legs.
Bibliography3 works
Giacinto del S.mo Crocifisso