Cowl

Drawing showing a cowl-wearing monk

A cowl is an item of clothing consisting of a long, hooded garment with wide sleeves, often worn by monks. It was developed during the Early Middle Ages. The term may have originally referred to the hooded portion of a cloak, though contemporary usage refers to an entire closed garment. A cowl is traditionally bestowed upon the monk at the time of making a solemn or lifetime profession. Today, it is worn primarily by most Catholic and Anglican monks when participating in liturgical services.

Description

Developed during the Early Middle Ages, the cowl became the formal garment for those in monastic life. Both St. Jerome and John Cassian refer to it as part of a monk's dress. In modern times, it is worn over the habit during liturgical services. Originally, cowl may have referred simply to the hooded portion of a cloak. In contemporary usage, however, it is distinguished from a cloak or cape (cappa) by the fact that it refers to an entire closed garment consisting of a long, hooded garment with wide sleeves.

Religious usage

The cowl is traditionally bestowed upon the monk at the time of making solemn, or lifetime, profession. Prior to their solemn vows, the monks still in training wear a hooded cloak. The cowl is generally worn in conformity with the color of the monk's tunic; other groups which follow the Rule of St. Benedict, e.g., the Camaldolese wearing white. (The Camaldolese of Monte Corona, however, always wear a cloak instead of a cowl.)

Today, cowls are primarily worn by Catholic and Anglican monks when participating in liturgical services.

• Among the Benedictines, in choir, at chapter, and at certain other ceremonial times, a long full gown with large flowing sleeves, called a cowl, is worn over the ordinary habit. Black has been the prevailing color, hence the term black monk has come to signify a Benedictine. Previous generations had lengthened the garment until it reached to the heels, and Saint Benedict issued a rule restricting its length to two cubits.
• Similarly, the Cistercians are known as the White Monks, in reference to the color of the cuculla, the term for the white choir robe worn over their habits.
• "The Carthusian wears the ordinary monastic habit in white serge, but the scapular which is joined by bands at the side and has the hood attached to it, is known as the "cowl". The long flowing garment with wide sleeves, which usually bears this name, is used only by the deacon at high Mass."
• While not cowls in the monastic sense, the mendicant Orders have retained the use of a cappa (cape) as part of their habit. In their case, however, it is a regular part of their religious habit and worn by all members of the Order, both as street dress and in church.
• The Carmelites wear a white cape, although their tunic and scapular are brown, from which they were known in medieval England as the Whitefriars.
• Dominicans wear a black cape over a white habit—hence, their ancient nickname of Blackfriars.
• Both the cowl and the cape, though without a hood, are also worn by the nuns associated to each Order, in the same manner.
• Among the Eastern Christians (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic), the monastic hood developed into the koukoulion worn by monks of the Great Schema, the highest degree of monasticism in the Eastern Church. Currently, the koukoulion is of two types: one is similar to the hood still worn by some Western monastic orders, the other takes the form of a stiff rounded hat (like a bowler hat without a rim) to which is attached an epanokalimavkion (veil with lappets). The koukoulion is usually embroidered with crosses and the Instruments of the Passion. The koukoulion is also worn by the Patriarchs of some of the autocephalous Orthodox churches.

See also

• Burqa
• Chador
• Hoodie
• Koukoulion

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Cowl — (koukoulion, cucullus, cuculla, cucullio. -- Ducange, "Gloss.", s.v.).

A hood worn in many religious orders. The name was originally used for a kind of bag in which grocers sold their wares (ibid.), then for an article of dress that was like it in shape. The lacerna or byrrhus (our cope), the usual cloak for outdoor wear until far into the Middle Ages, had a cowl fixed behind, that could be drawn over the head. So also had the poenula (chasuble -- Wilpert, "Gewandung der Christen", pp. 13, 45, etc.; Braun, "Liturg. Gewandung", pp. 240, 348). Juvenal (VI, 118) and Martial (XI, 98) refer to the cucullus of the lacerna. Sozomen says that monks covered their heads with a hood called cucullus (H.E., III, xiii), and Palladius disciples of Pachomius (Hist. Laus., XIII). Both St. Jerome (Ep. xxii, ad Eustochium) and Cassian (De habitu mon., I, iv) refer to it as part of a monkUs dress. St. Benedict ordered two kinds of cowls for his monks, a warm one for winter and a light one for summer (Regula S. Ben., lv). The cowl became a great cloak with a hood. Benedict of Anagni forbade his monks to wear one that came below the knees (Ardo, Vita Ben. Anian., xl). The Benedictines, Cistercians, and all the old monastic orders now use the cowl, a great mantle with a good that can be thrown back over the shoulders, as a ceremonial dress for choir; the Franciscans have a smaller hood fixed to their habit; canons wear it on their mozzetta, and bishops and cardinals on the cappa. With the Augustinians and Servites it is still a separate hood not attached to anything. Ducange (S.v.) says the name is a diminutive of casula -- "quasi minor cella". A cowl fixed to a cloak is still commonly worn in Tyrol, parts of Austria and Hungary, etc. Cucullata congregatio occurs occasionally as a general name for monastic orders (Ducange). The colour of the cowl is that of the habit, black among Benedictines, white with the Cistercians, etc.