Humeral veil

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The humeral veil is one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. It consists of a piece of cloth about 2.75 m long and 90 cm wide draped over the shoulders and down the front, normally of silk or gold. At the ends there are usually pockets in the back for hands to go into so that the wearer can hold items without touching them with his or her hands.^[1] When it was more widely used as part of the Liturgy, before the reforms surrounding Vatican II, the humeral veil normally matched the liturgical colours of the vestments, or otherwise was of white or gold.

It is most often seen during the liturgy of Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The priest or deacon uses it when he holds the monstrance over the people at the benediction part of the rite. The Celebrant covers his hands with the ends of the veil so that his hands do not touch the monstrance, thus symbolizing that it is Jesus present in the Eucharistic species that blesses the people and not the minister.

Until the reform of the minor orders after the Second Vatican Council, it was also used by the subdeacon at High Mass when he carried the chalice, paten, or other sacred vessels since those were to be touched only by the deacon.

The vimpa, similar to a humeral veil, is sometimes used during a Pontifical Mass. Whenever a bishop presides over Mass and uses a mitre and crosier, the altar servers assigned to hold those items for the prelate would cover themselves with the vimpa before holding them, symbolizing that the items do not belong to them.