Cassock
cassock
(Italian: casacca, great-coat) A gown or soutane, usually black, the ordinary outer garb of clerics and priests, worn in Catholic countries on the street as well as indoors. It is worn also by boys assisting at ceremonies. Cardinals , bishops , and prelates wear at home a black cassock with red or purple trimmings. The purple cassock is worn in church by bishops and prelates, except on penitential days and a red cassock is worn by cardinals . The pope wears a white cassock.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Cassock
the coat formerly worn by all orders of the clergy in the Roman and English churches; in the Church of Rome it varies in color with the dignity of the wearer. Priests wear black; bishops, purple; cardinals, scarlet; and popes, white. In the Church of England, black is worn by all the three orders of the clergy, and the garment is of cloth or silk, with plain sleeves like a coat, made to fit close to the body, and tied round the middle with a girdle. It is worn under the gown or surplice. The cassock was not originally appropriated to the clergy: the word is used in Shakspeare for a military coat.