Sunday, January 6, 2013
HOW SHOCKING AT A PAPAL MASS IN THE ROMAN RITE, ROMAN CHASUBLES!
Of course those who despise Pope Benedict's signature leadership in the reform of the reform in continuity will be seething to see the following, which has become the new normal at many papal Masses: 1. The return of the glorious fannon and 2. The use of Roman Chasubles at a Papal Roman Liturgy, How novel! And of the five bishops ordained at this Epiphany Mass this morning with St. Joseph Church Choir and our parochial vicar, Fr. Dawid Kwiatkowski and choir director, Nelda Chapman and assistant organist Harold McManus present, the Holy Father ordained his personal secretary too, picture below. Please note that the new bishop is also wearing the deacon dalmatic under the Roman Chasuble, called the fiddle back in this country, although our fiddlebacks are not as full as the true Roman Chasuble:
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6 comments:
Yes, I'm sure the usual suspects will be aghast, screeching some incoherent gobbledygook about the poor and the oppressed and how the fanon takes food out of their mouths or something. I say good on PBXVI.
Apart from any consideration of history or aesthetics, Roman chasubles are simply cooler (less hot) than other styles. I almost always find it uncomfortably hot in the sanctuary, and so prefer these. I once heard a very young O.F. altar server refer to them as "short sleeved", and so this is now my own name for them: short sleeve chasubles.
At the First Mass of Christmas the HF was wearing a tall, ornate and very 'Roman' mitre. The lappets were embroidered with his own coat of arms. Do pontiffs personalize existing mitres by changing the lappets?
Also if the cope he was wearing at Vespers had been a teeny bit longer it would have been a mantum. I wonder what will be next - sedia gestatoria? Flabella? Tiara? One can but live in hope.
Maybe I have bad taste but I just like the more precise look of the Roman chasuble (in a similar, but unrelated way, I also like the more precise look of late-nineteenth and early twentieth century starched detachable shirt collars and straw boater and homburg hats--I will be watching "Downton Abbey" in just a few minutes).
Back to the main point, though (Roman chasubles, that is) I also like how well a cross fits on the back of them (perfect for ad orientem Masses!).
John Nolan, the Holy Father wore the same mitre at Epiphany Mass as he did at the First Mass of Christmas. It is a Pp. BXVI original, given to him a few years ago.
To your question as to whether pontiffs personalize existing liturgical implements, my experience is that, no, they do not change any embroidery on vestments. Notice that on all of the vintage vestments HH wears, none of the arms are his.
On the other hand, it seems the arms on the mini-throne (as opposed to the Golden Monster used for some occasions) are routinely changed out. The mini-throne--used for most Papal Masses--has two shields, one on either side. This throne, at least a century old, has the current Pope's arms on a golden plate placed upon these shields. As a result, the Papal Arms (of Pope Benedict) on this throne have the traditional tiara rather than the untraditional mitre. I hope that, for the next pope, the tiara will be restored properly to the arms. Pope Benedict seems to be the first in the history of the Papacy to use a mitre on his arms; how silly of Abp. Marini, who was certainly in charge of this.
Joseph Johnson, as a matter of practice I usually prefer real examples of Roman chasubles to real examples of Gothic chasubles. However, a well-done Gothic chasuble in either a very light or very heavy fabric (this preserves beautiful folds) is truly sublime.
For all your Papal vestment discussion needs see here:
http://theratzingerforum.yuku.com/topic/510/Papal-clothing-and-liturgical-practices?page=140#.UOrykHfNlNG
Please note that the thread is mostly posted upon by a woman called Benodette, a real fan of Abp. Marini. :/
Benodette is not woman, but a jesuit roman catholic priest who resides in London and attends papal ceremonies as a concelebrating priest. He is a big fan of Pope Francis I.
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