cilice
Sign in to saveAlso known as sackcloth, hairshirt
thumb|Mary Magdalene in cilice. Polychrome wood carving by [[Pedro de Mena, Church of San Miguel and San Julian, Valladolid]] A cilice , also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It is used by members of various Christian traditions (including the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Scottish Presbyterian churches) as a self-imposed means of repentance and mortification of the flesh; as an instrument of penance, it is often worn during the Christian penitential season of Lent, especially
Key facts
- Clothing type.name
- Cilice
- Clothing type.image_file
- Christian_Hairshirt.jpg
- Clothing type.caption
- A hairshirt belonging to a Christian, with rosary hanging off a belt loop used to hold the girdle that tightens the garment around the waist
- Clothing type.type
- Undergarment
- Clothing type.material
- Coarse cloth or animal hair
- Clothing type.location
- Cilicia
- Clothing type.introduced
- Post-Exilic period
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Melun Église Saint-Aspais Cilice 353.jpg
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- Commons category
- Cilice
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Article
7 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Use
- In popular culture
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|Mary Magdalene in cilice. Polychrome wood carving by [[Pedro de Mena, Church of San Miguel and San Julian, Valladolid]] A cilice , also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It is used by members of various Christian traditions (including the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Scottish Presbyterian churches) as a self-imposed means of repentance and mortification of the flesh; as an instrument of penance, it is often worn during the Christian penitential season of Lent, especially on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and other Fridays of the Lenten season.
Hairshirt cilices were originally made from coarse animal hair, as an imitation of the garment worn by John the Baptist that was made of camel hair, or sackcloth which, throughout the Bible, was worn by people repenting. Cilices were designed to irritate the skin; other features were added to make cilices more uncomfortable, such as thin wires or twigs. In modern Christian religious circles, cilices are simply any device worn for the same purposes, often taking the form of a hairshirt cilice as well as a (spiked metal) chain cilice.