Literary notes about Vestment (AI summary)
In literature, the term "vestment" is employed with rich symbolic and ceremonial nuances. For instance, Maupassant portrays it as an object of aesthetic and emotional import through its carefully pleated folds [1], while in an epic context, its silver-tinselled appearance conjures images of mythic and otherworldly attire [2]. Stevenson extends the metaphor by likening the vestment to a veil of flesh susceptible to the caprices of nature, underscoring its temporal and almost fragile quality [3]. Meanwhile, in historical and ecclesiastical writings, authors consistently define vestments as the sacred garments worn by priests and kings, as well as academicians [4] [5][6][7], highlighting not only their functional role in ritual but also their symbolic weight—with specific materials like linen being integral to their meaning [8][9]. This breadth of usage reflects the word’s capacity to bridge everyday materiality and lofty spiritual or cultural ideals across genres and epochs.
- The carpenter, so disturbed that he had not two ideas in his head, watched him as he put on the white vestment with its pleated folds.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - his vestment silver-tinselled.
— from Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete - Certain agents I found to have the power to shake and to pluck back that fleshly vestment, even as a wind might toss the curtains of a pavilion.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Albe , sb. a vestment worn by priests, and by some kings; NED.—Church Lat.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - He was the first officiating minister we ever saw wearing the academical hood over the ordinary vestment.
— from Toronto of Old by Henry Scadding - The purple vestment, broidered with gold
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus - Church Lat. casibula , casubula (OF. chasuble ); from casula , a sacerdotal vestment, from Lat.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, could be substituted without entirely destroying the symbolism of the vestment.
— from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey - Over this he wore a linen vestment, made of fine flax doubled: it is called Chethone, and denotes linen, for we call linen by the name of Chethone.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus
