Rochet (Camisia, Alba Romana, Succa, Saroth, Sarcotium, Sarcos, Rocchettum, Diminutive of Late Latin Roccus "Garment")

ROCCHETTO (camisia, alba romana, succa, saroth, sarcotium, sarcos, rocchettum, diminutive of the Late Latin roccus "garment"). - It is a white linen vestment worn by the pope, cardinals, bishops, and prelates as a badge of their dignity.

It is a shortened form of the alb, with long, narrow sleeves adorned with lace overlaid on white, red, or purple silk, unlike the surplice (cotta), which has wide, short sleeves. The rocchetto is not worn alone, but with the mozzetta, the mantelletta, or the cape in choir, in processions, during sermons, etc. For the celebration of Mass and the administration of the Sacraments, it is necessary to wear the alb or the surplice over the rocchetto.

The first mention of a camisia et cingulum, worn before putting on the proper alb, is found in the Ordo Romanus VIII, I, 1 and II, 2, 4 of the 9th century (M. Andrieu, Les Ordines Romani, II, Louvain 1948, pp. 310-17, 321). It was customary among the Franks to wear an intermediate garment between secular and sacred attire ("une sorte d'écran"), a sleeve, to cover secular clothing; as early as the 7th century, pseudo-Germanus (Ep., II) also mentions the manicae of the Gallican liturgy ne appareat vile vestimentum (M. Andrieu, loc. cit., 313 n. 1). Gallican or Frankish usage spread everywhere; in England (can. 46), under Edgar (d. 975), it was sanctioned by the Synods of Trier in 1238 and Cologne in 1260 (can. 7). This shirt was worn by all clerics, even by bell-ringers. In Rome, the rocchetto came into use with the reception of the Germanic Missal and Pontifical, but it soon became a prerogative of the higher clergy; already the Fourth Lateran Council (of 1215) recommended that secular bishops wear superindumenta linea even outside the church; the newly elected pope (cf. Ordo Gregorii X [1271-76]: M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical, II, Vatican City 1940, p. 527; Ordo Romanus XIII, 3 and XIV, 10: PL 78, 1106 and 1127) wore this garment. The rocchetto is presented to the new bishop, if he is in Rome, by the pope himself (Caerem. episc., I, I, cap. 1, n. 2). In the Middle Ages, until the 13th century, the rocchetto was an unadorned tunic reaching down to the heels and tied with a belt; from the 14th and 15th centuries it began to be shortened, reaching just above the knees by the 16th-17th centuries while omitting the belt, and then in the 18th century it came to barely cover the hips, though it was richly adorned with lace or pleats. The name rocchetto occurs in Rome as early as the 14th century.