mantelletta

thumb|A Catholic cleric wearing a mantelletta over his cassock A mantelletta, Italian diminutive of Latin mantellum 'mantle', is a sleeveless, knee-length, vest-like garment, open in front, with slits instead of sleeves on the sides, fastened at the neck. It was for a period of time even more common than the mozzetta.

==History== thumb|A cardinal wearing a cassock, [[rochet, a mantelletta and a mozzetta]] The mantelletta is probably connected with the mantellum of the cardinals in the "Ordo" of Gregory X (1271–1276) and with the mantellum of the prelates in the "Ordo" of Petrus Amelius (d. 1401), which was a vestment similar to a scapular. Before 1969, it was worn instead of the mozzetta over the rochet by any bishop outside his place of jurisdiction. A symbol of prelacy, but also of limitation, it was therefore always worn by auxiliary bishops (who were never in their own dioceses), by a metropolitan archbishop only when outside of his province, and by a bishop only when outside of his diocese. Within their own areas of jurisdiction they wore the mozzetta instead. The mantelletta was also worn by cardinals (who wore it under the mozzetta) only when in the city of Rome, as a symbol of the cardinal's rank throughout the church (hence they wore only the mozzetta even outside their own dioceses), but in deference to the pope's authority when in his home diocese (thus the only place where they wore the mantelletta).