MANIPLE (manipulum, mappula, fano, sudarium, mantile, manuale, sestace). — A liturgical vestment worn on the left forearm so that two bands hang down on either side, made of the same material as the chasuble. The maniple is proper to all major orders, especially the subdeacon’s, since this order began to be numbered among the major orders (11th–12th centuries). It is used, besides at Mass, only at the Epistle and Gospel, at the blessing of palms, and at the Exultet on Holy Saturday; it is never used with the cope. The bishop places the maniple on the altar after reciting the Confiteor; the priest after the cincture and before the stole; the ministers after the tunicle or dalmatic.
The maniple, of Roman origin, derives from the mappa or mappula, a kind of pocket handkerchief used by Roman nobles on certain ceremonial occasions (high state officials, for example, consuls in full ceremonial dress as seen in consular diptychs), held in the hand as an object of etiquette and purely for ornament. This decorative mappula was derived from the common handkerchief (Amalarius, De eccl. off., II, cap. 24). It is not known precisely when the maniple entered the sacred furnishings. The first notice of the deacon’s maniple is found in the lives of the popes Sylvester I (314–24) and Zosimus (417–18) in the Liber Pontificalis; it is called “pallium linostinum,” a precious fabric of wool or silk on a linen warp, given as an honor to be worn on the left hand. The pope’s maniple appears in the Ordo Romanus I (its delivery serving as a sign to begin the Introit chant); the subdeacon’s maniple in the Ordo Romanus VI; sometimes even the acolytes (Ordo Romanus V) used the maniple, but not in the hand, “in sinistro latere ad cingulum”; and the monks of Cluny on feast days; but later use was reserved to monks of major orders (subdeacons, etc.). The maniple was the prerogative of the Roman clergy, but from St. Gregory the Great, at the insistence of Ravenna, it was granted also to the first deacon of that cathedral. In the 9th century the maniple is found in use everywhere in the West. At Rome it is called mappula, outside Rome “manipule”: this latter name became standard; other names occur: fano (phano-cloth) and mantile in Rabanus Maurus, sudarium in Amalarius, sestace at St. Gall.
to mappula, outside Rome “manipule”: this latter name became standard; other names occur: fano (phano-cloth) and mantile in Rabanus Maurus, sudarium in Amalarius, sestace at St. Gall.
(from The Ministries of the Sacramentary of Ivrea and other War-mondian Codices, ed. L. Magnani, Vatican City, 19th c.)
Maniple — Bishop with maniple. Praeparatio ad missam, ms. commissioned by Bp. Warmund (967–1015) — Ivrea, Capitular Library, cod. IV.
Even after 1100 (v. fresco of the 11th century in S. Clemente, Rome) the maniple was carried in the left hand; toward the 13th century it began to be fastened on the forearm. The maniple retained the ancient handkerchief shape beyond the 9th century; later, folded upon itself, it gradually took the form of a strip or band; by the end of the 14th century the present form had become current. In Amalarius’ time it was made of wool; later silk was used; fringes, sometimes bells, embroidery or gold thread were added to the ends. The rubric of the Missal prescribes only the ornament of a cross in the middle. In the Greek rite there is a vestment corresponding to the maniple, called encheirion, proper only to the bishop, worn on the right side in the cincture, not in or on the hand; later transformed into the rhomboid epigonation (J. Braun [V. BIBLICA.], pp. 550–54).