DALMATIC, a liturgical vestment of the western church, proper to deacons, as the tunicle (tunicella) is to subdeacons. Dalmatic and tunicle are now, however, practically identical in shape and size; though, strictly, the latter should be somewhat smaller and with narrower arms. In most countries, e.g., Eng land, France, Spain and Germany, dalmatic and tunicle are now no longer tunics, but scapular-like cloaks, with an opening for the head to pass through and square lappets falling f eom the shoulder over the upper part of the arm; in Italy, on the other hand, though open up the side, they still have regular sleeves and are essentially tunics. The most characteristic ornament of the dalmatic and tunicle is the vertical stripes running from the shoul der to the lower hem, these being connected by a cross-band, the position of which differs in various countries.
The dalmatica, which originated (as its name implies) in Dal matia, came into fashion in the Roman world in the 2nd century A.D. It was a loose tunic with very wide sleeves, and was worn over the tunica alba, which was simply a long white shirt, by most of the better class of citizens. According to the Liber pon tificalis (ed. Duchesne, 1. 171) the dalmatic was first introduced as a vestment in public worship by Pope Sylvester I. who ordered it to be worn by the deacons; but Braun (Liturg. Gewandung, p. 25o) thinks that it was probably in use by the Popes themselves as early as the 3rd century, since St. Cyprian (d. 258) is mentioned as wearing it when he went to his death.
If this be so, it was probably given to the Roman deacons to distinguish them from the other clergy and to mark their special relations to the Pope. However this may be, the dalmatic remained for centuries the vestment distinctive of the Pope and his deacons, and (according at least to the view held at Rome) could be worn by other clergy only by special concession of the Pope. The dalmatic was in general use at the beginning of the 9th century, partly as a result of the Carolingian reforms, which established the Roman model in western Europe ; but it continued to be granted by the Popes to distinguish ecclesiastics not other wise entitled to wear it, e.g., to abbots or to the cardinal priests of important cathedrals. Dalmatic and tunicle are never worn by priests, except when officiating as deacons, e.g., as deacon and subdeacon assisting at mass, but both are worn by bishops under the chasuble (never under the cope).
In England at the Reformation the dalmatic or tunicle, though prescribed in the first prayer-book of Edward VI., ultimately shared the fate of the other mass vestments. (See VESTMENTS.) In the eastern churches the only vestment that has any true analogy with the dalmatic is the sakkos. This, which, as a litur gical vestment, first appears in the 12th century as peculiar to patriarchs, is now very similar to the modern dalmatic. Its origin is almost certainly the richly embroidered dalmatic that formed part of the consular insignia, which under the name of sakkos became a robe of state special to the emperors. Braun suggests that its use was granted to the patriarchs, after the com pletion of the schism of east and west, in order "in some sort to give them the character, in outward appearance as well, of Popes of the east." Its use is confined to the Greek rite. In the Greek Melchite churches it is confined to the patriarchs and metropoli tans; in the Russian, Ruthenian and Bulgarian churches it is worn by all bishops. Contrary to the practice of the Latin church, it is not worn under, but has replaced, the phelonion (chasuble).
A silk dalmatic forms one (the undermost) of the English coro nation robes. Its use seems to have been borrowed, not from the robes of the eastern emperors, but from the church, and to sym bolize with the other robes the quasi-sacerdotal character of the kingship (see CORONATION). The magnificent so-called dalmatic of Charlemagne, preserved at Rome (see EMBROIDERY), is really a Greek sakkos.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. See J. Braun, S.J., Die liturgische Gewandung Bibliography. See J. Braun, S.J., Die liturgische Gewandung (1907) , PP. For further references and illustrations see the article VESTMENTS. (W. A. P.)