Paenula
The paenula or casula was a cloak worn by the Romans, akin to the poncho. The paenula was usually closed in the front but, occasionally, could be left with an open front; it could be also made with shorter sides to increase mobility for the arms. This was originally worn only by slaves, soldiers and people of low degree; in the 3rd century, however, it was adopted by fashionable people as a convenient riding or travelling cloak, and finally, by the sumptuary law of 382 it was prescribed as the proper everyday dress of senators, instead of the military chlamys. Thereafter, the toga was reserved for state occasions.
According to early Christian leader Tertullian, pagans customarily took off their paenula when praying to their gods, and he criticised any Christian who also took off their paenula when praying, calling it "superstition."