BIRETTA, a cap worn by the Catholic clergy. It is square and stiff, being made of a framework of cardboard covered with cloth or silk; on the top, along the sutures of the stuff, are three or four raised, board-like, arched ridges, at the junction of which in the centre is a knob or tassel. Its colour varies with the rank of the wearer, that of the pope being white, of the cardinals red, of bishops purple, and of the lower clergy black. It is not in the strictest sense a liturgical head-dress, its use not being confined to liturgical functions.
Though the form of the biretta, devised in the 17th century, is peculiar to the Roman Church, it is but a variant of the original biretum, "barret cap," which developed in various countries into head-coverings of different shapes and significance. When the word biretum first appeared in the 13th century, it practically meant no more than "cap," and was used as a synonym of pileus, the skull-cap used by the clergy, as a protection against cold. With the extension of its use, the custom grew up (c. 1300) of investing clerks with the biretum as the symbol of the transfer of a benefice, a custom which survives, in Roman Catholic countries, in the delivery of the red biretta (zucchetto) by the head of the State to newly created cardinals, who afterwards go to Rome to receive the red hat.
This use of the biretum as a symbol of office or dignity was not confined to the clergy. It was worn by all persons of standing, e.g., barons, judges, and doctors and masters of the universities. The "cap of maintenance" or "cap of estate," still borne before the British sovereign on State occasions, is a barret-cap of the type of the 14th and 15th centuries; it is of crimson velvet, turned up with ermine. By the 16th century the barret-cap in various forms had become the common head-gear of all people of substance. By the 17th century it had given place in ordinary civil life to the brimmed hat; but in various shapes it still sur vives as official head-gear in many European countries : the barett, worn by the Lutheran clergy, by German lawyers, and by the deans and rectors of the universities, the barrette of French judges and barristers, the "black cap" of the English judge, and the "college cap" familiar in English and American universities, and vulgarly known as the "mortar-board." The ecclesiastical developments of the biretum are not with out interest and significance. Originally this had been a round cap, slightly bulging out at the top, and ornamented with a knob. By the 16th century, both in England and on the continent, a tendency had begun to emphasize the ridges of the sutures and thus produce a square shape. Henceforth the evolution followed different lines. In England, in the r 7th century, the square flat top began to be enlarged, forming a rim of thick stuff projecting beyond the close-fitting cap. This was the "square cap" de nounced by the Puritans as a symbol of high church Erastianism. With the triumph of high church principles at the Restoration, a loyal clergy desired to emphasize this squareness, and the con sequent exaggeration of the square top of the cap necessitated a further stiffening. In the r 8th century, accordingly, the top began to be made of a board of wood or card covered with cloth, the close-fitting cap proper retired farther from the edges, the knob developed into a tassel, and the evolution of the modern "college cap" was complete.
On the continent, meanwhile, in the Roman Catholic Church, the biretum had also developed into its present form, and by a very similar process. At the beginning of the r 7th century card board was introduced to stiffen the sides of the cap and emphasize the squareness, and the form of the biretta, as described above, became fixed.
The use of the Roman biretta has been introduced by a certain number of the clergy into the Anglican Church. There is no historical justification for this ; for though both college cap and biretta are developed from the same "square cap," the biretta in its actual shape is strictly associated with the post-Reformation Roman Church, and its actual ceremonial use is of late growth.