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A [[Image:Death of St Bede.jpg|thumb|270px|''The Death of St. [[Bede]]'', the monastic clergy are wearing (long) surplices over their [[cowl]]s]]The '''surplice''' (Late Latin ''superpelliceum'', from ''super'' (, "over) " and ''pellis'' (, "fur"); Spanish ''sobrepellice''; French ''surplis''; German ''Chorrock'') comprises is a [[liturgy|non-liturgical]] [[vestment]] of the Christian Churchused by in traditional Western worship. It The surplice has the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton material, with wide or moderately wide . It continues in use by various Christian communions of the West (particularly the [[sleeveRoman Catholic Church]]s), reaching — according to the Roman use — barely to the hips and elsewhere as well as in the Orthodox Church of Rome to the knee. It usually features lace decoration, but in modern times — in Germany at least — it may also have embroidered bordures's [[Western Rite]].

The surplice descended from ==History==It was originally a long garment with open sleeves reaching nearly to the Greek [[alb]]ground, which as it replaced remains in the North before Anglican and other English traditions. In the Roman Catholic tradition after the [[Church of Rome|Romeschism]]'s schism from Orthodoxy. Eventually and after the Middle Ages , it was adopted elsewhere in became shorter (barely to the Westhips), had closed sleeves, square shoulders and often features lace decoration. In recent yearsSometimes the Roman Catholic-style surplice is referred to with the Medieval Latin term ''cotta'' [meaning 'cut-off' in Italian], as it is derived from the cut-off alb has been introduced in the West.

The surplice originally reached to descended from the feetGreek alb, but as early as the 13th century it began to shorten, though as late as the 15th century which it still fell to the middle of the shin, and only replaced in the 17th and 18th centuries did it become considerably shorter. In several localities it underwent more drastic modifications in the course of time, which led to the appearance of various subsidiary forms alongside the original type. For example:* the sleeveless surplice, which featured holes at the sides to put the arms through* the surplice with slit-up arms or lappels (so-called "wings") instead of sleeves* the surplice with not only the sleeves but the body of the garment itself slit up the sides, precisely like the modern [[dalmatic]]* a sort of surplice in the form of a bell-shaped mantle, with a hole for the head, which necessitated the arms sticking out under the hemNorth before Rome's schism from Orthodoxy.

The first two of these forms developed very early; and, in spite of their prohibition by [[synod]]s here and there (for example that of Liège ''circa'' 1287), they survive in various places to the present day. The latter two only appeared after the close of the middle ages: the first of them in South Germany], the second more especially in Venetia, where numerous pictorial records attest its use. As a rule, however, only the lower clergy wore these subsidiary forms of surplice. They came about partly under the influence of secular fashions, but more particularly for convenience.==Ornamentation==The surplice belongs to the ''vestes sacrae'', though it requires no [[benediction]]. All [[clergy|cleric]]s may wear it, even those who have only apparently seldom received the [[tonsure]], the [[bishop]] himself vesting with it those whom he has newly tonsured. It has very varied use in divine service. It is worn in [[choir]] at the solemn [[office]]s; it forms the official sacral dress of the lower clergy in their liturgical functions; the priest wears it when administering the [[sacrament]]s, undertaking benedictions, and the like — the use of the [[alb]] being nowadays almost exclusively confined to the [[mass]] and functions connected with thisrich ornamentation. In general such use, in all main particulars, became the custom as early as the 14th century. Lack of exact information obscures the older history of the surplice. Its name derives, as Durandus pictures and Gerland also affirm, sculpture from the fact that its wearers formerly put Middle Ages it on over the fur garments formerly worn in church and at divine service appears as a protection against the cold. Some scholars trace the use of the surplice at least as far back as the 5th century, citing the evidence of the garments worn by the two clerics garment hanging in attendance on Bishop Maximian represented in the mosaics of S. Vitale at [[Ravenna (Italy)|Ravenna]]; in this casemany folds, however, confusing the [[dalmatic]] with the surplicebut otherwise plain throughout. In all probability the surplice forms no more than an expansion of the ordinary liturgical alb, due to the necessity for wearing it over thick furs. The first documents to mention the surplice date from the 11th century: There is a canon of the synod of Coyaca in Spain (1050); and an ordinance of King Edward the Confessor. Rome knew the surplice at least as early as the 12th century. It probably originated outside Rome, and was imported thence into the Roman use. Originally only a choir vestment and peculiar to lower clergy, it gradually — certainly no later than the 13th century — replaced the alb as the vestment proper to the administering of the sacraments and other sacerdotal functions. The Oriental rites lack a surplice and any analogous vestment. Outside the Church of Rome in the [[Western world|West]] the surplice has continued in regular use only in the [[Lutheran]] churches of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Neustift near Brixen in the [[Anglican Communion]]. ==Anglicanism==The second Anglican [[Book of Common Prayer |Prayer Book]], Tyrol that of Edward VI in 1552, prescribed dates back to the surplice as, with the [[tippet]] twelfth (or the academical [[hood]], the sole vestment of the [[Religious minister|minister]] of the church at "all times of their ministration"least, the [[rochet]] being practically regarded as to the episcopal surplice. The more extreme Reformers furiously assailed its use, but in spite of their efforts, Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity (1559thirteenth) retained the garment, and the advertisements and injunctions issued under her authority enforced its use, though they ordered the destruction of the "massing vestments" &mdashcentury; [[chasuble]]s, albs, [[stole]]s and the like.  The surplice has since remained, with the exception of the [[cope]], the sole vestment authorised by law for the ministers, other than bishops, of the Church of England (for the question of the vestments prescribed by the "[[Ornaments Rubric]]" see [[vestment]]). And apart from [[clerk]]s in [[Holy Orders]], all the "ministers" (including vicars-choral and choristers) of cathedral and collegiate churches, as well as the fellows and scholars of [[college]]s in [[chapel]] have worn surplices since the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]]. The clergy (at least its more dignified members) have employed as a distinctive mark the tippet or scarf above mentioned, a broad band of black silk worn stole-wise, but not to be confused with the [[stole]], since it has no liturgical significance and originally formed a mere part of is the clerical outdoor dress. Formerly the clergy only wore the medieval surplice when conducting the service, and exchanged it during the sermon for the "black gown", i.e. either a Geneva gown or the [[gown]] of an academical degreethat we possess. This custom has, however, as a result of the [[High Church]] movement, become almost completely obsolete. The "black gown", considered wrongly as the ensign of [[Low Church]] views, survives in comparatively few of even evangelical churches; however, preachers of university sermons retained the custom of wearing the gown of their degree. The traditional form of the surplice shows geometrical ornaments in white linen embroidery on the Church of England survived from pre-Reformation times: a wide-sleevedshoulders, very fullbreast, plainback, white linen [[tunic]], pleated from and below the [[yoke]]shoulders, and reaching almostwhere, or quite, to as in the feet. Towards the end albs of the 17th centurysame date, when large wigs came into fashion, it became convenient to full gores have surplices constructed gown-wise, open down been inserted in the front and buttoned at the neck, a fashion which still partially survives, notably at body of the universities. In general, however, the tendency followed continental influence, and curtailed the surplice's proportions. The ample vestment with beautiful falling folds has thus in many churches given place to a scanty, unpleated garment scarce reaching to the knee. In the more "extreme" churches the surplices frankly imitate the Roman [[cotta]].