Biretta

Biretta (from Latin biretum ) (also beret ) is a headwear Christian minister.

Roman Catholic Church

The biretta Roman Catholic clergyman in Germany and the Netherlands four - three in all other countries - horns, and in most cases a tassel. When biretta with three horns, the horn missing left.

The color of the biretta indicates the rank of the wearer. Priests and deacons wear a black biretta with black tassel. A black biretta with a purple tassel wear the Pontifical honorary prelates, and in many dioceses the dean. Only bishops and canons excellent cathedral chapter and Apostolic Proto notaries carry a purple biretta with a purple tassel. The biretta of the cardinals is scarlet, has no tassel and also in Germany only three horns. The Pope does not wear biretta.

Regular priests, especially canons, either wear the black biretta of the simple priest or a biretta, that the color of their Habits equivalent (eg Premonstratensian: white). The monks of the monastic orders carry, apart from the abbots, however, not a biretta.

The biretta heard only in a broad sense to the liturgical garb of the clergy when he wears cassock, surplice and stole. In worship the biretta is worn as a head covering when the priest went or sitting, never standing up. Before the altar, it is always taken. Since the Second Vatican Council, clergy are not required to wear a biretta.

From the shape of the Birettes also the name for the spindle tree derives, wearing a Central European shrub, the fruit in the form of a biretta.

Evangelical Church

In the Protestant churches, the term is, however, " beret ". It is always black and is considered part of the official dress ( gown ). It is worn only outdoors together with the robe, that is usually only in the cemetery. The shapes vary greatly; the most widely used is the so-called Luther- Beret, a flat, soft, round cap of velvet and without tassel. Other forms are: with button or tassel, four -, six- or eight-sided, soft falling or ( much like a biretta ) stiff standing.