CATHOLIC VESTMENTS: Papal and general

What an excellent idea, Mary! I love to examine the embroidery and craftsmanship of vestments, especially the papal ones.

I'm sure he'll wear pink on Laetare Sunday, but will he have those cope bearers holding it up so we can't see the stitching so well?

What do people think about cope bearers anyway? I think this is something that Guido Marini came up with, a nod to tradition. But is it something we appreciate?

Wulfrune: I quite like the cope bearers. They make the liturgies look more formal. I think it's taking a while for Papa to get used to them, though. On one occasion recently - it was Vespers, but I can't remember which one, may have been First of Advent - Papa set out to walk down the aisle at the end, forgetting that the procession of the cross goes first. I think he was put off by the newness of having cope bearers.

I do like the larger number of candles on the altar, the crucifix in the middle and the extra candle next to the crucifix - I know this isn't about vestments, but it all goes together doesn't it.

It is going to take me a long time to get used to the higher mitre!!! He wore a white one today at Santa Sabina. I DO like the different shade of purple the vestments were made of today, including the cope he wore at the first ceremony.

I must admit I don't like this 'new' practice of cope bearers a lot. It makes Papa look too grand and unapproachable. And it takes away a lot of the pleasure of admiring the beautiful vestments because you just can't see the details anymore. Neither do I appreciate the tall mitres much that Papa has taken to wearing recently. All this of course is my personal opinion and taste.

This photo was on one of the news sites tonight. The tall mitre I'm afraid I can't like! Looking more carefully at the cope bearers, I'm beginning to see one definite problem - one of them tends to pull the cope out of alignment from the clasp, which creates a less than elegant effect. I noticed it at another liturgy - I'll look for the photo.
I'm sure that last year, for the same procession to Santa Sabina, Papa just wore his cassock, surplice and lovely red velvet "winter" mozzetta, with stole, of course. I was in Bavaria last year for Ash Wednesday, so didn't see it - perhaps it was 2006. But I do have the photos.
I still like that darker purple and think the embroidery [if it is embroidery] is lovely. But it's all rather much for a procession down the street.

The vestments are a very dark purple, almost funereal, which does emphasise the significance of "to dust you will return" on Ash Wednesday. I think the fabric is a kind of heavy damask though the crosses on the stole are probably embroidered. The lining matches very well, doesn't it? I note that the cope bearers are usually evenly matched in height (like carriage horses, ha!) but still one seems to grasp more tightly than the other, causing that gorgeous clasp to go askew.

I'll bet you, one of these days, we're going to see Papa go one way and the cope bearers go the other! Wonder who'll win?

I don't much like the cope bearers myself. It seems to restrict Papa so much - what about those times when he's processing in or out and he suddenly sees a bambino? Those cope bearers are goign to have to move fast ... if not, they're going to pull the cope right off of him.

I too, would like a better view of the cope - I loved the processional dalmatics and cope. Beautiful design and depth of color. Even if it's just a short procession, we should put the best vest forward...

I posted this first in POPE-POURRI because of its nature as news.

At thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/
one contributor posted several video-caps
of the Ash Wednesday rites on the Aventine yesterday
with the headline
The Return of the Roman Chasuble to Papal Liturgies
posted by Gregor Kollmorgen

This is one of the sceeenshots he posted to make his point:


One of the pictures shows the classic 'shield-shaped' back of the cope
that the Pope wore for the penitential procession to Santa Sabina:



Whereupon, NLM's chief blogger Shawn Tribe added the following very informative post:

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Following up Gregor's images, I thought I would share a couple of more images from today's papal Mass with a little historical comparison.



The style of the chasuble seems to fit the guidelines issued by St. Charles Borromeo, with the sleeves not being as long as the full flowing form, but not as short as the more typical baroque form of the Roman chasuble. What the Pope was wearing today is very much akin to what we have seen St. Ignatius or Loyola or St. Philip Neri pictured in (above).




Other features of the Mass:
"Benedictine" altar arrangement.
7th candle.
Cardinal Deacons.

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I have not yet seen an article identifying the two Cardinal Deacons,
and I will post the names as soon as I get them.

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Some time in 2005, I discovered the blog DAPPLED THINGS by Fr. Jim Tucker, who was posting, among other things, very authoritative information on liturgical matters, including Church vestments. And I remember e-mailing him after he did a post on 'Roman chasubles', also called 'fiddleback chasubles' - the classic chasuble form used before the poncho-like chasubles of the Novus Ordo.

So I went back today to his files to get these two pictures - one of JP-II in a rare picture of him as Pope wearing a Roman chasuble (as well as a vestment called the 'fanon', the striped cloth around his shoulder, which he used a number of times, but which we have yet to see Pope Benedict use), and the other of Cardinal Ratzinger on one of the occasions when he celebrated the Tridentine Mass and, of course, the Roman chasuble that goes with it.




Here is the link to Fr. Jim's archives with photos and information about liturgical vestments.
dappledphotos.blogspot.com/

Fr. Jim stopped his main blog last December, but said he would carry on with the photoblog part of it.

Have a look at Teresa's article on Benedict In The News about the vestments selected for Palm Sunday. These are to be from a design of the time of Leo X, which was in the pre-Tridentine period. I am very excited about this development and look forward avidly to Palm Sunday. If you have EWTN the Mass will be shown live on that channel - so do watch it!

Damian Thompson's Telegraph blog "Holy Smoke" has an interesting comment on the "new" vestments. Damian is rock solid orthodox Catholic. Many of the comments on his blog and particularly about this item, are cynical to put it mildly. But, balancing those, are plenty of comments in favour. I, personally, think that it's up to our Papa what he does about vestments. He is, after all, the Pope! I don't know why people should get themselves agitated about any innovations either in the vestments or in the number of candlesticks on the altar or on the selection of the papal throne. He is returning to the great ceremonial of previous pontifcates. I think he decided, when he was elected, that, since he HAD been called by the Holy Spirit [against his personal wishes and with, perhaps, a little sadness] he would really take this great responsibility with absolute seriousness. This he has done so far, in his teachings and in his demeanour. Notice how he now distances himself from people just a little bit - he no longer walks down the central aisle of the Paul VI Hall before the Wednesday audience. When he used to do this he was crowded from all sides by people pushing to shake his hand or just to touch him, by babies being handed to him and then passes back to their parents. I remember seeing this on EWTN and, at times, we lost sight of him in the melee.

I am looking forward to the traditional and beautiful papal ceremonies during Holy Week and Easter.

By the way, please could we have comments on vestments etc. here, because this thread was started for that purpose.
Luff und choy! Mary xxx

Criticism of the newly-commissioned vestments centres around several issues, namely:

- the cost; the finest, specially woven fabrics and all the added details do not come cheap

- the message; are we in danger of seeing the Vatican liturgies turn into a historical theme park, as one blogger put it, which distracts from 21st century worship?

- the relevance; using the heraldic symbols of past popes, such as Paul VI and Leo X would seem a bit strange. In the case of Leo X, he wasn't a very effective pope and not someone widely celebrated today.

- the taste; some people find the more ornate vestments a bit over the top, for instance, the sight of Benedict XVI in gold sitting on the gold throne. There is also the question of the cope-bearers, and whether our pope, who is of a more diminutive frame, looks swamped in all that finery.

All these points are worth considering because they each have some merit.

It must be borne in mind that the Holy Father's vestments should be of fine quality; he is on the world stage and papal Masses are often broadcast to millions. God is worthy of the very best, why stint on worship? The vestments aren't the Pope's 'own' anyway. They belong to the Church and intended for use many times. Benedict has appeared in old or historic vestments, all of which had been gathering dust for decades. Can we blame him if he doesn't wish to reprise the 'Las Vegas' purple lurex, or the 'Vegas' shiny cope, from a more recent era? We haven't heard any bleating about new modern vestments, some of which were also, no doubt, expensive to produce.

And let us not get onto the question of the millions wasted on unwanted 're-ordering' of beautiful churches, some of which is now being carefully undone, at further expense.

Why are so many people afraid of the past? Anything that was in general use before the Second Vatican Council (or more exactly, the Consilium which was set up in its aftermath which was really responsible for the liberal agenda of change) seems to frighten some people. However, the Catholic Church has a 2000 year-old tradition and cannot 'change'. It develops, much as a sapling becomes a venerable oak tree - it's still the same tree, but at a later stage of development. All talk of 'changes' in the church are not authentically Catholic. The Mass is the Mass, whether Novus Ordo with modern music, or Tridentine with Gregorian Chant (which is of course considerably older). The present Pope has a strong sense of history and historical continuity. That seems to me a very Catholic thing. Saying the Mass in vestments of historical design isn't a religious branch of the SCA in action, it is a nod to a living tradition.

I suspect that incorporating the arms of previous popes into the vestments is a similar nod to continuity. The heraldic device of Leo X being used on the new vestments isn't exact; it contains the shield of Benedict XVI. Perhaps Pope Benedict is looking beyond his own papacy - vestments with his unique coat of arms would look antique on a later pope. The point about Leo X is not whether he was holy or not, but that he was a successor of Peter. The Papacy is bigger than even the holiest pope. People have an issue with looking back further than AD 1962; many people thought that when Albino Luciani broke with tradition by choosing the name John Paul that this was great - he was in solidarity with the two previous 'Vatican II' popes. Benedict chooses to remember that the Church existed for 1950 years before that.

I think that as far as taste and personal preference goes, there is no winning here. One can make a case for saying that the Pope sometimes looks swamped by his vestments, they seem to be wearing him. Again, this isn't a runway, and he isn't setting out to 'look cool' - I suspect he enjoys wearing the more elaborate vestments. He is on record as saying he loves Baroque architecture, so he probably loves fancy and ornate.

Of course we are seeing the hand of Guido Marini in a lot of this. However, I do not believe he is acting over the Pope's head and without consulting him. The current style reflects Benedict's thinking, and we can expect that liturgy will as well. I wonder what forgotten musical gems will be revived?

I, too, believe that Mons. Guido Marini would not be doing what he is doing with regard to liturgical vestments and ceremony, in general, without having cleared it first with the Holy Father.

Perhaps we will get an explanation of the Leo X reproductions before Palm Sunday, in the form of an Osservatore Romano article or a Vatican Radio interview, as Mons. Guido has previously - except with the Ash Wednesday garments, about which, strangely, there was no pre- or post-event note.

I agree that the argument about the cost of Papal vestments is absurd. The Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica have a budget for such things, regardless of what kind of garments are ordered. I doubt that ordering reproductions of historic vestments would cost significantly more than ordering 'contemporary' vestments in equally ornate materials. And that Pietro Siffi, a respected Catholic who has made a name writing books about liturgy (or reproducing old ones), would gouge the Vatican for the vestments that his Tridentinum produces.

The cope bearers are not an affectation, as they are not merely cope-bearers but deacons who are prescribed to assist the Pope according to never-abrogated-but-largely-ignored liturgical rubrics for Pontifical liturgical ceremonies. That is why, on certain solemn occasions such as Christmas Day or Ash Wednesday mass, as we saw recently, the deacons are cardinal-deacons no less.

And holding up the cope as they move in step with the Pope, alongside him, is one of their functions - a practical one, Fr. Longenecker has explained, in view of the considerable weight of a fully-lined cope - which by its nature is voluminous - added on to the chasuble and dalmatic and inner garments that the Pope is already wearing, especially since Papino is 80 and not a football behemoth!

As for personal taste, Wulfrune is right. The Pope is Bavarian - he has a taste for the baroque and the rococo in his genes. In the case of liturgical vestments, Benedict is upholding continuity-with-tradition which also happens to coincide with his personal preferences - not for his person, but for his office as Pope.

Let us not forget the five-year-old child whose sight of Cardinal Faulhaber in liturgical attire led him to announce he wanted to be a cardinal when he grew up!


Meanwhile, I urge you to go to
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/
today, which has has this invaluably informative article with great illustrative photographs on 'Styles and tradition in the chasuble of the Roman Rite' by Michael Sternbeck of the Saint Bede Studio
New South Wales, Australia

A must-read/must-see.

I agree that cost has nothing to do with the return to traditional attire; it's all "ad maiorem Dei gloriam" and no expense should be spared. We are not puritans. The Catholic Church is glorious in all its aspects. The vestments at the Mariazell Mass in Austria [which some people so disliked], must have cost a great deal too. I liked the colour scheme, believe it or not, and I did find a scarf in exactly that design and those colours - quite by chance.

Personally I don't like the taller mitres, but we can't all be pleased all of the time!

I'd really like to know why the Leo X vestment design was chosen. Hope we find out soon. And, yes, I'm convinced that the choices had nothing to do with Guido Marini. Papa may have discussed all this with him, but in the end, it's what the Pope wants that wins. Thanks for your detailed analysis, Wulfrune. I really appreciated all that, because I haven't had time to read all the Papal news in the past few days.

As for personal taste, Wulfrune is right. The Pope is Bavarian - he has a taste for the baroque and the rococo in his genes. In the case of liturgical vestments, Benedict is upholding continuity-with-tradition which also happens to coincide with his personal preferences - not for his person, but for his office as Pope. Well said, Teresa! That's exactly what it's all about!

I don't like the tall mitres either. I think Papa looks much better in a shorter one since he is somewhat short himself. In fact, I think mitres in general are rather odd looking. I also don't like the addition of cope bearers. It seems a bit too regal. We are rather protestantized in the southern USA, more accustomed to simpler vestments and plain church interiors.

[One benefit of the tall mitre is that our Pope can perhaps be more easily spotted among crowds of people as he enters or leaves a church.]


Anyway, I wanted to link to a wonderful article on Rorate Caeli about the development of the chasuble from the early designs, based originally on a Roman garment to keep out the bad weather (but worn everyday by poorer people), through the more ornate Counter Reformation chasubles right up to the present day. It shows how the familiar modern ample chasuble is in keeping with earlier traditions.

Styles and Traditions of Chasubles

Here is a wonderful chasuble illustrated that had me floating heavenwards and back.



The date is early 20th Century, but I'm not so sure of the Art Nouveau attribution because the motifs on the braiding puts me in mind of the era around the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb when art and design went mad for ancient Egyptian motifs. This chasuble would seem to have more than a whiff of this - check the neckline, the bird with outstretched wings and the lotus flowers.... all look like adapted symbols from this non-Judeo-Christian culture, but which I feel blend perfectly here. The bird now represents the Holy Spirit, or perhaps the soul of the deceased ascending heavenward (one hopes) and the flowers are an elegant design. If the Celtic monks could 'Christianise' the lattice work patterns of the pagan cultures, familiar to us in the Book of Kells, then why not have something as lovely as this chasuble incorporating nature motifs from an earlier culture? Just a thought, and as we don't have a date for this chasuble, I might be wrong.

Enjoy the article!

I certainly hope people look at the article. It's the same one I provided the link to and called a 'must-see, miust-read' in my. February 28 post above.

This was the only photo I could find of Papa arriving at Santa Maria Liberatrice, Rome, to celebrate Mass on February 24th. Sorry about the marks all over it! It shows him wearing his previous style of chasuble - the brighter purple with gold embroidery on the front and on the borders. It seems to me that he's doing this with vestments - varying the style between what we have been used to and the more traditional style - just as he's done with with the liturgy: the Extra Ordinary Rite and the Ordinary Rite can now be alternated. They have equal status.

Wulfrune and Teresa: That article you both linked is excellent and well worth saving. I love the illustrations. There is a great deal about the history of Catholic vestments that I would love to learn, in the same way that I'm interested in the history of the Mass.

Papa celebrated Mass at the little church of Saint Lawrence in Piscibus on March 9th. We can hardly see him in this photo, but I thought I'd post it to show the sweet little rounded altar and the Saint Francis crucifix above.

I don't think he celebrated a public Mass on Laetare Sunday, so there was no chance to see the pink vestments. We had a visiting priest that Sunday and he wore the ordinary purple Gothic chasuble. Our priest's "wardrobe" consists of a set of these and I'm fairly certain there isn't a rose-coloured one for the two Sundays when wearing this colour is likely.

Teresa has posted a lovely set of photos from this morning's Mass on the News about Benedict thread. I liked the cope - the colour of Papa's cope and of the dalmatics worn by the two cardinal deacons who were the cope bearers was a sort of slightly orange scarlet, which, to me had a Medieval tinge - that was just my impression.
I didn't like the clasp - I never have liked that one with the three bosses that stick out. I just don't think it's elegant enough for our Papa.
I loved all the lace!
The lining of Papa's cope was a deep rose colour, which did not clash - again, that's my opinion.
His chasuble for the Mass was plain scarlet with gold border and was beautiful in its simplicity - he looked magnificent and, dare I say it, his wonderful head of white hair set it off perfectly.

He used a different papal cross and staff, which was surprising, to me at least, as I had never thought of any other than the one which John Paul used and which, I believe, dates to Paul VI. Correct me if I'm wrong. Was this gold cross old or new? It looked older and I thought it was beautiful. I have a tiny version of his usual cross, to wear as a pendant. Now I do want a replica of today's cross!!!!!

More comments on the vestments and the liturgy, please!
The entire Mass today was overwhelmingly magnificent - ad maiorem Dei gloriam!!!!!!

Just looked at the photos from today's Palm Sunday liturgy. Oh my, that cope!! You gotta hand it to our Papa, he looks so solemn and dignified, every inch a Pope. Yes that clasp is a bit odd, isn't it? Like a sombrero with three beehives on it.

The dalmatics were a rust colour, and are maybe not new? Fr Z thinks they have the arms of St Pius X, but looking at his photos, I don't think this can be right.

The papal staff is identified by Fr Silvester on his blog as previously used by Pius XII and John XXIII. I must say I thought at first it doubled as a monstrance, but a close up shows the details in the central circle.



Beautiful, isn't it??

Posted earlier in POPE-POURRI:

Some additional pictures from the Palm Sunday Mass to make a few points about the Papal vestments today. I found these particular shots, though not the best possible, most illustrative of the papal vestments today - and that of his deacons. We will probably get better full shots as well as detail in the next few days. (Also a couple of photos showing off the Novus Ordo chasuble worn by the Pope.)

It was previously announced that the Pope's Palm Sunday vestments, particularly, the cope, would be modelled after the vestments worn by the Medici Pope Leo X on his installation as Pope in 1513.

Here is the item from Il Giornale di Toscana translated and posted on Feb. 26 in NEW ABOUT BENEDICT:

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VATICAN CITY - On Palm Sunday, March 16, Benedict XVI will wear liturgical vestments that reproduce the fabric and the Medici coat of arms of Pope Leo X.

It is a rose silk damask with gold thread, brocaded with the heraldic symbols of the Medici who ruled Florence for centuries - three rings with a diamond point that are concentric and inscribed within a two-lobed leaf.

Giovanni de Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, became Pope Leo X on March 11, 1513.

The initiative follows the execution for the Office of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies of the Ash Wednesday vestments worn by Benedict XVI, by the company Tridentinum of Ferrara, under lay liturgist Pietro Siffi, who proposed the concept. The Palm Sunday vestments would recreate the vestments worn by Leo X upon his accession to the Papacy.

The Ash Wednesday vestments were a violet brocade with the heraldic emblems of Pope Paul VI Borghese.

Siffi's project aims at a revaluation of some Roman liturgical vestments which have been practically forgotten.

The Palm Sunday ensemble will include chasuble, dalmatic, cope and other accessories carrying the Medici motifs. Corresponding vestments will be prepared for the deacons who will assist the Pope.

The original installation vestments of Leo X are in the custody of the Servants of Mary friars in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in Florence.

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Today, it was obvious that the cope matched the color described in the press release, but I could not figure out if the ornate design was indeed the Medici cost of arms or other Medici heraldic motifs.

I had assumed that the article was right about its description of the Medici motif - but when I checked today, I found nothing that resembles what the article describes - "three rings with a diamond point that are concentric and inscribed within a two-lobed leaf", although the description might refer to the motif in the upper right-hand panel of the photo below.

I certainly cannot see it in the ornate gold-embroidered border design [orphrey] in the Pope's cope today, nor even the floral motif strewn across the rest of the cope. [It makes sense to concentrate all the heavy ornateness in the orphrey, and leave the rest of the garment with minimal clutter. The Pope's stole and the deacon's dalmatics are also 'cool' - as is the use of different shades of red.]

All references I could find today show and describe the Medici coat of arms to be red balls on a gold shield. The other motifs shown in the panel are supposedly also associated with the Medicis, but even Leo X's papal coat of arms only adds the triple tiara and St. Peter's keys to the family emblem (left panel in photo below).


















On the subject of the Cardinal Deacons, I finally found some information as to when cardinal-deacons were last asked to carry out one of their obvious functions as cardinal-deacons - before Mons. Guido Marini restored the practice of having two cardinal-deacons assisting the Holy Father during a Papal Mass.

A reader of the NLM blog wrote, at least insofar as cardinal-attendants:

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"I have some old video tapes of Pius XI (1922-1939), Ven. Pius XII (1939-1958, Bl. John XXIII (1958-1963), and the first 2-3 years of Paul VI (1963-1978) which all show either priest attendants, or Cardinal attendants holding the sides of the Papal cope....and in the cases of the really long copes that even Benedict XVI has not restored (yet), there were Papal MC's walking behind with the train."

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A reader of Father Z's blog provided the following information last December, shortly after we first saw two cardinal-deacons assisting Pope Benedict XVI at the Mass for the imposition of rings that followed the November consistory:

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"When the Pope celebrates a Solemn Papal Mass, the honorary deacons are REQUIRED to be Cardinal Deacons (something that was retained in Papal Liturgies following the reforms, then fell out of use, but has now been brought back by the new Marini, thankfully), and the archpriest is REQUIRED to be a Cardinal Bishop. The Cardinal Deacons wear dalmatics, and the Cardinal Bishop wears a cope. They all wear white miters."

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In the case of the Pope, there is an equally important historico-traditional reason for being attended by two 'honorary deacons'. Such deacons are required whenever a Bishop celebrates High Mass in his diocese - and the Pope is the Bishop of Rome celebrating Mass in his diocese, when he is in Rome.

The cardinal deacons are not there for show: they do perform the liturgical function of regular deacons assisting at liturgy, starting with assisting the principal Mass celebrant - in this case, the Pope - during the ritual (it is a ritual, complete with a prayer for every item of clothing that is donned) of putting on his liturgical vestments (and when he takes them off). And they are supposed to walk alongside the Pope, as they hold up the sides of the papal cope, just as Cardinals Martino and Grocholewski did today.

In a post on DAPPLED THINGS last December, Fr. Jim Tucker said this about the Cardinal Deacons:

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On very solemn occasions, the Pope is accompanied by two Cardinals who belong to the rank of Cardinal Deacons. They vest in the full dalmatic (generally worn over their scarlet choir cassock, with the knee-length rochet, and amice around the neck) and make use of the white-damask mitre (the mitra simplex).

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In fact, he posts a series of pictures dating back to Pius XII where the two Cardinal-Deacons always stand out because of their white miters. He posts this picture of Pope Benedict from the Vespers last New Year's Eve, with the caption below it:


"Pope Benedict XVI, assisted by two deacons. The Pope wears a cope of Blessed John XXIII (notice the coat of arms on the orphrey) and a precious mitre that belonged to John Paul I. The deacons, vested in dalmatics, hold the cope open in the traditional fashion, which makes it easier for the Pope to walk. Beneath the cope you can easily see the pectoral cross, stole, alb, and cincture."


And to complete this post, something I noted in my original post in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:

Fr. Guy Selvester on his blog www.shoutsinthepiazza.blogspot.com/
has identified the pastoral staff [baculus pastoralis is the Latin term] topped by a Cross used by the Holy Father today as a historic one that was used by other Popes:



The Papal staff with the stylized Crucifix that we have been used to was designed for Paul VI by a contemporary sculptor. All the Popes after him chose to keep the design. I think the use of the traditional Cross today is another token of continuity with tradition, and that the Pope will continue to use the contemporary staff regularly.

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Wulfrune - The clasp used by the Pope is another one of those accessories that have been used by other Popes. I can't find it now, but some time last year, I posted a historical note about it from the New Liturgical Movement blog. The three 'protrusions' from it are miniature 'replicas' of the papal tiara.