Rochet

Rochet (Low Lat. rochettus; Old High Ger. roch, 'coat'; Ger. rock), a fine linen or lawn vestment proper to bishops and abbots, and worn also by canons of certain privileged chapters, and some other dignitaries. It is of the form of a surplice, but with sleeves fastened at the wrist; these formerly fitted more tightly to the arm than do the 'balloon sleeves' still commonly worn by Anglican bishops. In the Latin Church its use is very ancient. Formerly it appears to have been worn by clerics serving mass and by priests baptising, because it left their arms free (Lyndwood, quoted by Du Cange); but those priests who are privileged to wear the rochet are now commanded to regard it as a choir vestment, and are strictly forbidden to use it in the administration of the sacraments. In the First Prayer-book of Edward VI. the rochet was ordered to be worn by bishops at all public ministrations, and beside—i.e. over it—a surplice or alb. It is prescribed in the present Book of Common Prayer as part of the episcopal habit. The old 18th-century Anglican fashion of fastening the sleeves of the rochet to the chimere—leaving the rochet itself sleeveless—is almost gone out.