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Thursday, June 17, 2021

WHEN BEAUTY AND EXTRAVAGANCE COLLIDE AND THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL SEE THE EXTRAVAGANT BEAUTY WILL BE THE CELEBRANT HIMSELF AND OTHERS CLOSEST TO THE ALTAR

 I am not opposed to beauty in our liturgies and churches. But in some cases the beauty can be accomplished in other ways and not in an expensive, extravagant way. I think this chalice pall is absolutely beautiful, but how much did it cost? Was the cost commensurate with the benefit of the beauty and could a similar beautiful pall have been manufactured for a fraction of the cost?

Just wondering.

Chalice pall for the installation of His Eminence Jose Fuerte Cardinal Advincula, 33rd Archbishop of Manila. Spanish gold and silver thread embroidery with hammered silver details and semi-precious stones set in gold-plated silver :






11 comments:

ByzRus said...

If sponsored by a patron, it is their money to spend as they wish. The craftsman have to make a living otherwise, there are no more craftsman.

The alternative is oxidation:

http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2021/06/o-my-need-i-say-more.html

tjv3 said...

Father, Forget not the poverty of Judas. Moreover, the pall might be expensive, but it also provides an income for the artists who cannot exercise and perfect their skills without compensation. Nor those who produce the materials. I would proffer that the best of the best grain Abel offered to the Lord was not enjoyed by anyone. In a similar manner, the quality of liturgical items is an act of love toward our Divine Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament and an act of homage from the donor/purchasers. The fact that its beauty may provide joy and pleasure to the celebrant and other sacred ministers is a derivative joy.

William said...

Don't knock it, Father; "a thing of beauty is a joy forever."

Anonymous said...

God sees it

Anonymous said...

I think it needs 14 MORE semi-precious stones so that we can support MORE semi-precious stone miners and jewellers. Why be so dismissive toward the hard labor of those workers and craftsmen?

And certainly the "gold- plated silver" settings MUST be replaced by pure gold or, better, platinum settings so that we can support MORE gold miners and jewellers. Surely supporting the livelihood more miners and jewellers is a good thing, no?

Our Divine Lord would be THRILLED if the same pattern were mirrored on the opposite side! Think of the JOY He will experience seeing semi-precious stones in PURE gold settings as His "roof" when He is present under the form of wine in the chalice.

Anonymous said...

Spanish Catholic heritage plus an historically exhuberantly Catholic people willing to spare no expense despite their poverty. No suprise at all. The only suprise to me their worshippers did not burn down more modernist churches erected there.

They are fragmenting there as well, came across an ultra trad group website from there the other day claiming the only authentic Mass is the 1570 as the Pope had put in writing that this form was perpetual from that date forward. Popes had routinely abolished prior acts through entire Church history , so I wonder what they make of that, or the validity of Masses celebrated before 1570.

Anonymous said...

That is a fairly inexpensive item, semi-precious stones and gold plated silver settings and various threads with super-fine wire braided into them. A couple of hundred dollars here in materials, less there, plus some loving craftsmanship.

Baronius Press uses (among others) the Phillipines for printing some of their leather bound and guilded texts such as The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Challoner Vulgate Bibles and the 1960 Missal and keeping many very affordable.

The Phillipines can produce some very good things without breaking the bank, including sacramentals.

Anonymous said...

I’ll agree that 90% of the beauty comes from artistry and 10% from materials. I doubt those are genuine rubies and the article mentions gold-plating.

Anonymous said...

Rubies are precious stones, the article says semi-precious and does not even specify natural stones.

Likely manmade colored zirconium, essentially hardened glass. Again, this is not a costly item, the item is simply made to be pretty, same as ancient items encrusted with far ruder various stones often not even cut.

rcg said...

Properly. Ared for, the treasure of the people can be stored in precious artifacts that may be sold if needed during hard times. The same goes for the real estate. To maintain them as things of beauty seems like an appropriate act of gratitude to God.

John Nolan said...

Chalice palls are decidedly untrendy and somehow against the spirit of Vatican II. Modernist priests shun them. Yet they have only one function - to stop impurities falling into the chalice. About thirty years ago I witnessed a priest spend several minutes extracting a fly from the Precious Blood. It could have been amusing were it not for the fact that it was easily preventable.