Putting on Christ, The Priest’s Clothing and Its Metaphors at the End of the Middle Ages

International audienceIn the medieval Christendom, liturgical vestments are not just attributes for the priestly identity. In direct contact with the celebrant’s body, they were charged with numerous allegorical significations that this article is aimed at studying. The first one associated the priest’s clothing with a moral « rite of passage ». Each vestment symbolized a virtue, thanks to which the priest was supposed to get ready for the mass. In the thirteenth century, emerged a new allegorical system: as symbols of arma Christi, the vestments invited the priest to follow Christ in his Passion. These liturgical garnments were even considered as metaphors for Christ’s flesh. In the very end of the Middle Ages, the celebrant’s clothing was a kind of new embodiment. By putting the liturgical vestments on, the priest was able to transform into the ultimate priest, emphasizing his quasi-demiurgic power and becoming himself one of the most sacred components of the Eucharist ritual