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Surplice
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[[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") is a non-liturgical [[vestment]] used by in traditional Western worship. The surplice has the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton material. It continues in use by various Christian communions of the West (particularly the [[Church of Rome|Roman Catholic Church]]), Lutheran churches of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and as well as in the Anglican Communion. The Orthodox Church does not use a surplice or any analogous garment's [[Western Rite]].
The surplice descended from the Greek alb, which it replaced in the North before Rome's schism from Orthodoxy. Eventually it was adopted elsewhere in the West. In recent years, the alb has been introduced in the West.
==Ornamentation==
The surplice apparently seldom received rich ornamentation. In pictures and sculpture from the Middle Ages it appears as a garment hanging in many folds, but otherwise plain throughout. There is a surplice at Neustift near Brixen in the Tyrol that dates back to the twelfth (or, at least, to the thirteenth) century; it is the only medieval surplice that we possess. This surplice shows geometrical ornaments in white linen embroidery on the shoulders, breast, back, and below the shoulders, where, as in the albs of the same date, large full gores have been inserted in the body of the garment.
==External link==
*[[Wikipedia:Surplice]]
[[Category:Vestments]]
[[Category:Western Rite]]