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{{Short description|Long, wide sleeved tunic worn by deacons}}
[[File:Deacon_dalmatic_20100418.jpg|thumb|upright|A Roman Catholic deacon wearing a dalmatic and a [[biretta]] during a service in the [[Preconciliar rites after the Second Vatican Council|Traditional Latin Rite]]]]
[[Image:Dalmatiek.jpg|thumb|upright|Ornately embroidered dalmatic (shown from the back with a collarin)]]
The '''dalmatic''' is a long, wide-sleeved [[tunic]], which serves as a liturgical [[vestment]] in the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Lutheran]], [[Anglican]], [[United Methodist]], and some other churches. When used, it is the proper vestment of a [[deacon]] at [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]], [[Holy Communion]] or other services such as [[baptism]] or [[marriage]] held in the context of a [[Eucharistic]] service. Although infrequent, it may also be worn by [[bishop]]s above the [[alb]] and below the [[chasuble]], and is then referred to as '''pontifical dalmatic'''.

Like the chasuble worn by priests and bishops, it is an outer vestment and is supposed to match the [[liturgical colors|liturgical colour]] of the day. The dalmatic is often made of the same material and decoration as a chasuble, so as to form a matching pair. Traditional [[Solemn Mass]] vestment sets include matching chasuble, dalmatic, and [[tunicle]].

== History ==
In the [[Roman Empire]], the dalmatic was an amply sleeved [[tunic]] (from [[Dalmatia]]) with wide stripes ''(clavi)'' that were sometimes worked with elaborate designs. Dalmatics had become typical attire for upper-class women in the latter part of the 3rd century AD. They are pictured in a few funerary portraits on shrouds from [[Antinoopolis]] in [[Roman Egypt]].<ref>Susan Walker, ''Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits in Roman Egypt'' (Taylor & Francis, 2000), pp. 25, 36.</ref> Literary sources record dalmatics as imperial gifts to individuals.<ref>Walker, ''Ancient Faces,'' p. 92.</ref>

It was a normal item of clothing at the time when ecclesiastical clothes began to develop separately around the fourth century, worn over a longer tunic by the upper classes, and as the longest part of the dress of men of lower rank.

The dalmatic was a garment of [[Byzantine dress]], and was adopted by Emperor [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]] of the [[Russian Empire]] as a coronation and liturgical vestment. In [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] [[icon]]s of [[Jesus Christ]] as [[monarch|King]] and Great [[wiktionary:High Priest|High Priest]] he is shown in a dalmatic.<ref>Uspenskii, B. A., ''Tsar' i Patriarkh: kharizma vlasti v Rossii'', Moscow, Shkola "Iazyki russkoi kul'tury," 1998, 176.</ref>

== Roman Church ==
[[Image:Dalmatic.jpg|thumb|upright|Roman Catholic deacon wearing a dalmatic]]

The dalmatic is a robe with wide sleeves; it reaches to at least the knees or lower. In 18th-century vestment fashion, it is customary to slit the under side of the sleeves so that the dalmatic becomes a mantle like a [[scapular]] with an opening for the head and two square pieces of the material falling from the shoulder over the upper arm. Modern dalmatics tend to be longer and have closed sleeves, with the sides being open below the sleeve. The distinctive ornamentation of the vestment consists of two vertical stripes running from the shoulder to the hem; according to Roman usage these stripes are narrow and sometimes united at the bottom by two narrow cross-stripes. Outside of Rome the vertical stripes are quite broad and the cross-piece is on the upper part of the garment. At a [[Pontifical High Mass]], a dalmatic (usually made of lighter material) is worn under the chasuble by the bishop; this is called a ''pontifical dalmatic''. At solemn papal liturgical occasions, the Pope is assisted by two [[Cardinal (Catholicism)#Cardinal deacon|cardinal-deacons]] each vested in a dalmatic and wearing a ''mitra simplex'' (simple white [[mitre]]).

In the Roman Catholic Church, the [[subdeacon]]s wore a vestment called the [[tunicle]], which was originally distinct from a dalmatic, but by the 17th century the two had become identical, though a tunicle was often less ornamented than a dalmatic, the main difference often being only one horizontal stripe versus the two becoming a deacon's vestment. Additionally, unlike deacons, subdeacons do not wear a [[Stole (vestment)|stole]] under their tunicle. Today, the tunicle is rare in the Roman Catholic Church as only certain authorized clerical societies (such as the [[Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter]]) have subdeacons.

Traditionally the dalmatic was not used in the [[Roman Rite]] by deacons during [[Lent]]. In its place, depending on the point in the liturgy, was worn either a folded [[chasuble]] or what was called a broad [[Stole (vestment)|stole]], which represented a rolled-up chasuble. This tradition went back to a time at which the dalmatic was still considered an essential secular garment and thus not appropriate to be worn during the penitential season of Lent.

<gallery>
Image:Dalamatikroemisch.jpg|Dalmatic Roman usage (with its closed sleeves)
Image:Dalmatic Diacon 20070517.JPG|Baroque dalmatic (with slit, flap-like sleeves common for dalmatics worn outside Italy)
File:Museummanaoagffjf.JPG|[[Cope|Capa pluvial]] (cope) and ornately embroidered dalmatic pairs (late 1800s, early 1900s, [[Our Lady of Manaoag]] museum, [[Philippines]])
</gallery>

== Eastern tradition ==
[[Image:Placing Gospel Book onto Antimension at end of Liturgy.jpeg|thumb|upright|Orthodox bishop wearing a ''[[sakkos]]'']]
In the [[Byzantine Rite]] the ''[[sakkos]]'', which is elaborately decorated and amply cut, usually worn by the bishops as an outer vestment in place of a presbyter's ''[[phelonion]]'' and which, like the ''phelonion'', corresponds to the western [[chasuble]] and [[cope]], is derived from Byzantine imperial dress, and hence is identical in origin to the Western dalmatic.

In all [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern rites]] the ''[[sticharion]]'' (which is analogous to the Western [[alb]]), of the ornate sort worn by deacons and lower clergy, is sometimes referred to as a dalmatic.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Dalmatic | volume= 7 |last=Phillips|first=Walter Alison |author-link=Walter Alison Phillips| pages = 776&ndash;777 |short= 1}}
{{CE1913|first=Joseph |last= Braun|wstitle=Dalmatic|volume=4|short= 1}}


{{CatholicMass|collapsed}}
{{Lutheran Divine Service}}


[[Category:Methodism]]
[[Category:Anglican vestments]]
[[Category:Eastern Christian vestments]]
[[Category:Lutheran vestments]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic vestments]]
[[Category:History of clothing]]
[[Category:History of Western fashion]]
[[Category:History of fashion]]
[[Category:Robes and cloaks]]
[[Category:Byzantine clothing]]