The Amice - Helmet of Salvation

My black amice with matching black alb.

Clergy vestments are not just a uniform for those who are sanctified (literally, 'sent apart') for pastoral ministry, but they are functional as well. Some ministers have all but forsaken vestments; opining that they smack of Romanism and clericalism and that these separate them from the people. Plus they are uncomfortable and cumbersome. So they have taken to the pulpit wearing secular business attire or even street clothes. Now, doctors wear lab gowns, nurses wear nurse caps, police officers wear badges, military personnel wear uniforms, & c. It cannot be argued that the above professions are displaying their academic pedigree or separating themselves from "ordinary" people.

I once made an argument that what if doctors and nurses spurned their uniforms. Their uniforms are white so they get soiled easily, & c. So they decided wear comfy blue jeans and t-shirts instead. When I am rushed into the emergency room, I don't know who is a doctor or who is a nurse--or who is another patient. Uniforms are there so that people can identify those they can approach for help when they need it. They are utilitarian too: I've always envied the pockets of a nurse's uniform (where the put their scissors, bandages, thermometers, & c.). So when I had a rabbat made, had them made with pockets (where I can put a visitation stole and vial of holy oil).

I am currently assigned to a small mission church somewhere in the boondocks. (Yes, that's an actual English word and it comes from the Tagalog word bundok, 'mountain', but in sense of 'very far away place'.) My church has no water nor electricity, so you can imagine how hot it can get during Sunday service. But when I got ordained, I decided to wear vestments. Others might scorn idea of going through the fuss of vesting for a handful people in a church where there isn't even an electric fan. But since their first ordained pastor (my predecessors were either non-ordained local pastors or a lay minister), I reasoned that I would give them dignity by wearing liturgical vestments.

One day, it was so hot that my vestments got all stained with perspiration. My cousin, another liturgically-minded minister named Pastor Jordan Guerrero, suggested that I wear an amice.

An amice is a rectangular piece of cloth that is worn over the shoulders and tied at the waist. I tried looking for it in Catholic bookstores but all I got was blank stares. (Later, I found out that Roman priests are no longer required to wear  the amice. Just like Protestant ministers, they just wear an alb and a stole; or sometimes with a chausible or a surplice.) Finally, I managed to buy a couple of shawls with tassels. The shawls reminded me of the Jewish prayer shawl, called the tallit.

When wearing my shawl-cum-amice (before services), I first unfurl it to examine the tassels while praying a prayer I composed based on the Jewish berakah (blessing):

Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us by his commandments, and has commanded Israel* regarding tzittzit ('tassels').

Then I put it on my shoulders and use it to cover my head. In the old Roman rite, a priest says,

Impóne, Dómine, cápite meo gáleam salútis, ad expugnándos diabólicos incúrsus.

Place, O Lord, on my head the helmet of salvation, that I may overcome the assaults of the Devil.

The amice is symbolic of the "helmet of salvation" described by St. Paul the Apostle as part of the "armor of God" in Ephesians 6:17, and is thought to protect the believer from the mental assaults of the Devil. Meanwhile, when I cover my head with the amice, I pray,

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has commanded us to put on the full armor (or, panoply) of God, and has given us the helmet of salvation.

The shawl creates a little "closet" where I can shut out distractions (including internal ones) and focus on prayer. And it actually helps while I am getting into a mental state for the service. I am reminded of the words of the Messiah,

"But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees from the hidden place will reward you" (Matthew 6:6).

Putting the amice over the head--like a tallit.

During the time of Jesus, the average Jewish house was a one-room affair, not separated into "rooms" as we think today. This may be the reason why, in Luke 11:5-8, the man cannot immediately to go the door to give his friend some bread: He would need to make his way over his sleeping children, presumably on a mat unfurled on the floor, to get to the main door. So the "room" mentioned in the verse above may be the prayer shawl, the tallit.

Then I would wear my alb over the amice, put on my stole and secure all these with a cincture around my waist, reciting berakhot as I wear each. Finally, I pull the amice down to make a cool-looking hood behind my head.

My amice pulled back after wearing the stole.

What is its utility? To absorb sweat. Instead of making vestments hotter, the amice actually made it cooler. After services, when I would divest myself, I discovered that my undershirt, my polo barong, and my amice may be wet with perspiration but alb would be dry.

Formal and functional. This is why I dress for services.

*I say "Israel" because only Jews are commanded to wear tzittzit (Numbers 15:37-38).