CINGULUM. - From the profane use of a belt to keep the tunic fixed around the hips, the sacred vestment arose in the form of a cord, with two tassels at the ends, which serves to gird the alb. The first mentions of the cingolo are found in a letter of Pope Celestine in 430 to the bishops of Narbonne and Vienne in Gaul. Then the monks, mindful of the word of the Lord: "let your loins be girded," considered the ungirt tunic incompatible with their state, and thus helped to generalize the use of the cingolo.

From the simple leather or rope belt of the monks, the liturgy passed to the sash of silk richly adorned with precious stones and gold studs, especially during the Middle Ages. Then there was a return to primitive simplicity, and once the sash was eliminated the cord was taken up again. The Church has determined neither the form nor the color of the cingolo; therefore they may be made of silk, linen, wool, cotton; their color may always be white or similar to that of the vestments. Its symbolic meaning varies according to the authors, but nearly all agree in considering it the symbol of chastity, as indicated by the liturgical prayer that the priest must recite as he girds it.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: J. Braun, Die liturgische Gesandung im Occident und Orient, Freiburg im Br. 1907, pp. 102-13; id., I paramenti sacri, Italian trans., Turin 1924, pp. 77-84.

Enrico Dante

@incollection{ec3_cingolo, author = {Dante, Enrico}, title = {Cingolo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1678}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/cingolo} }

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Cingulum

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