Albs: The alb (from the Latin Albus, meaning white), one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches, is an ample white garment coming down to the ankles and is usually girdled with a cincture (a type of belt, sometimes of rope similar to the type used with monk garments).
Ancient Mediterranean clothing that one "puts on" was called an indumenta and identified as an alb derived from the old Roman tunica. In the beginning the Romans disdained sleeves but in the third century the emperor Aurelian broke down this resistance by presenting the sleeved tunic to his friends. This modification completed the basic form of today's liturgical alb. With renewed practice of con-celebration and a greater differentiation of ministries in liturgy since Vatican II, the alb has developed toward two separate styles: (1) the wider, traditional undergarment, gathered at the waist with a cincture, to be worn beneath the dalmatic, chasuble or cope by the clergy during the Eucharistic Celebration; and (2) the heavier, more elegant outer garment, without cincture but hanging in straight vertical folds, with full sleeves and a close-fitting collar. This version of the alb is to be worn as an external garment.
Altar server albs are white garments worn by those serving the liturgical celebrant during the Eucharistic Celebration.