capuche
{{short description|Hood worn by many Catholic monks}}
A Capuche (also almuce{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhTqAAAAMAAJ&q=Capuche| title=Augustine in Iconography: History and Legend |author1=Joseph C. Schnaubelt |author2=Frederick Van Fleteren |publisher=Peter Lang Publishing |date=1 Jan 1999 |page=404| isbn=9780820422916}}) is a friar's cowl, a long, pointed hood which was typically worn by the Franciscan, Capuchin, Augustinian, Carmelite, or Cistercian monks.
The name, which is now the French word for "hood", is of Middle French origin, derived from the Italian word cappuccio and the Late Latin word cappa, meaning cloak.{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capuche|title=Capuche|publisher=Merriam Webster's|accessdate=9 August 2019}} The Capuchins in turn were named after the capuche,Abraham Rees, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj9RAAAAcAAJ&q=Capuche&pg=PP512dq=Capuchehl=ensa=Xved The Cyclopaedia; Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences], Volume 6, p.512.{{cite book|author=Janet Mayo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZsuAQAAIAAJ&q=Capuche|title=A History of Ecclesiastical Dress|publisher=Holmes & Meier Publishers|year=1984|page=138|isbn = 9780841909830}} a name which Richard Viladesau states was a tribute to the Camaldolese monks who gave early refuge to Matteo da Bascio, founder of the Capuchin Franciscans in the 1520s.{{Cite book|author=Richard Viladesau|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBM3JV2W7X4C&dq=Capuche&pg=PR167|title=The Triumph of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|page=167|isbn = 978-0-19-988737-8}}
An elongated hood worn by friars was originally denoted as a symbol of punishment or shame.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Ngd1U5tG4EC&q=Capuche|title=Round Table of Franciscan Research, Volumes 13-14|publisher=Capuchin Seminary of St. Anthony|year=1947|pages=172–76}} Indeed, there are testaments of the capuche being given to paupers or thrown into fires during the time of Francis of Assisi.{{cite book|author1=Regis J. Armstrong |author2=J. A. Wayne Hellmann |author3=William J. Short |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gczMBquvS_UC&q=Capuche|title=Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume 2|publisher=New City Press|year=2000|pages=47, 799|isbn = 9781565481138}} In Medieval Spain, Muslims were forced to wear bright yellow capuches with a blue moon on the right shoulder and to live in enclosures (morerías) to chasten them for not being Christian.{{cite book|author= Joseph F. O'Callaghan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVMJAgAAQBAJ&dq=Capuche&pg=PT807|title=A History of Medieval Spain|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2013|page=807|isbn = 9780801468711}}
The negative connotation associated with capuches appears to have been rescinded under St Bonaventure, who served as Minister General from 1257 to 1274. Bonaventure paid scrupulous attention to the uniforms of friars, issuing a decree which made friars more discernible from the Umbrian peasants. Bonaventure's decree made it obligatory for the backs of capuches to be pointed and rounded at the front, with a round cowl marginally large enough to cover the head. His reform concerning capuches effectively removed the stigma which had been attached to them among Franciscans.
A black capuche was typically worn daily while a white one was much fuller and often reserved for ceremonial occasions.{{cite book |author1=Stephen J. Gendzier |author2=Denis Diderot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dV4QAQAAIAAJ&q=Capuche|title=Denis Diderot's The Encyclopedia: selections|publisher=Harper Torchbooks|year= 1967 |pages=78–82}} Capuchin friars once were grey but later a brown cloak with capuche and sandals had become the norm.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eMzvussbYOEC&q=Capuche |title=Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Volume 36|publisher=Peabody Museum|year= 1949|page=98}} The Cistercians wore a close-fitting cuculla talare with a capuche worn over the tunic. The Caeremoniae of Bursfelde in the latter half of the fifteenth century issued two different tunics, a scapular with a capuche for work purposes and a floccus, a sleeveless cuculla worn at night.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-FCAQAAMAAJ&q=Capuche |title=The American Benedictine Review, Volume 53, Issue 3|publisher=American Benedictine Review, Incorporated|year=2002|pages=257–8}}