Can You Order a “Monk’s Habit” at Starbucks?

If you were asked to name a dog breed identified with monks, you could name the Bloodhound, Tibetan Mastiff, Lhasa Apso, and Tibetan Spaniel, and be correct on all of them. You’d also be accurate by adding the Saint Bernard because of its famous association with the Great St. Bernard Hospice in the Swiss Alps. Artwork like the one above reinforces the breed’s storied history with the Augustinian order, the primary caretakers of the hospice who developed the famous Saint Bernard dog breeding program.

But if you were asked to name a dog breed associated with a “monk’s habit,” what would you say then?

We feel compelled to inflict upon you some trivia you might not know about what monks wear.

Spinone Italiano, monk's habit, color, cappuccino, Capuchin Friars

A monk’s robe is also known as a “habit,” a term that symbolically demonstrates a brother’s habitual practice of living according to religious rules and customs, a visible symbol of the commitment to one’s spiritual vocation.  Over time, it came to be the name for a nun or monk’s “uniform.”  There is, however, meaning to each element of the robe often seen as a form of spiritual protection and readiness to “do battle for Christ” in a spiritual sense.  The hood represents protection from worldly distractions, a reminder of the monk’s commitment to resist temptation and evil. It’s shapeless form is a renunciation of vanity, while locally-sourced fabric – often rough and scratchy –  reinforces the monk’s poverty and detachment from worldly goods.

The scapular, that long piece of cloth worn over the shoulders, represents the yoke of Christ and readiness for service. The “cincture” (or belt which you can’t see in the photo) symbolizes chastity and self-discipline. Even the color of the habit carries meaning. The Carthusians (known as “white monks”) wear undyed white wool which represents purity and glory. All-black habits which can signify repentance and humility, and these are traditionally worn by Benedictines.

As for the brown seen in the adjacent photo?

It is commonly known as “Monk’s Habit” brown,  a rich, earthy brown worn mostly by Capuchin Friars. As word-of-mouth stories go, the origin of the robe goes back to the 1500s when certain members broke away from the Franciscan order. The common brown fabric used to make their robes was donated by local residents, in part to minimize the dust left from a friar’s time sleeping on dirt floors. The color was also meant to show a different kind of connection to the earth while displaying a lack of vanity because really, who looks good in that shade of brown?

A Spinone Italiano, that’s who.

The breed looks so good in this color that “monk’s habit” is stated to be “the most desired color of brown (a chestnut, or “monk’s habit” brown) in the AKC breed standard.  Other shades of brown are also quite acceptable, and we note that the AKC doesn’t list monk’s habit as one of the colors by which a pup can be registered. Those colors are white, orange roan, white and orange, and brown roan.

We can’t conclude without throwing a little more trivia at you. While you can’t ask for a “Monk’s habit”at Starbucks, you most certainly can order a “cappuccino,” and according to one source (Bob Hambly’s Colour Studies),  the hot beverage got its name from the color of capuchin monkeys who got their name from the monastic brotherhood because the monkeys appeared to be wearing a brownish cap.

Image: Spinone Italiano by nemoris/iStock

 

 

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