The Duke of Edinburgh

Of your charity, please pray for the soul of His late Royal Highness, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who departed this life peacefully at Windsor 9th April 2021, aged 99.  Euge serve bone.

 

Paschal Greetings 2021

To all readers of this blog and to customers and friends of the Saint Bede Studio, may many Graces be yours on the Day of our Lord's Resurrection.

On Easter Day 2021, the Shadow of the Cross looms large across a world still stricken with plague.  But in these fearful moments, we look again to the optimistic Christian message that God has overcome Death - and all the awfulness, frailties, discord and disappointments of this earthly life - and loves each and every poor sinner. 

Christ is Risen !

Holy Saturday

On this Holy Saturday, as the Church mourns the Death of our Redeemer, we are pleased to present this set of black vestments, completed recently for a returning customer.

These vestments - in the Gothic Revival style - were made from a black brocade, lined in red taffeta and ornamented with two of the Saint Bede Studio's unique braids.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

An Australian Bishop's Letter for Good Friday

If there is one thing more obvious than another in the vocation to which the Almighty has called us Christians, it is its absolute claim over all that man has and is - the entireness of the change by which the Christian has become a new creature, and which old things are passed away, and all things are become new.  Hence, indifference is amongst its deadliest enemies or, rather, it is a foe which bears within itself the concentrated mischief of all others.  Open sin degrades and makes miserable the sinner, but it leaves his with his eyes in some degree open, if it be only to see his own nakedness. ...

The first and the greatest of all commandments – the first of the two on which hang all the law and Prophets, runs thus: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.”  Recall to memory the terms which are used by the inspired writers of the New Testament, in order to describe true nature of the life which is to be led by the disciples of Christ : it is a pilgrimage, a race, warfare demanding watchfulness, and endurance, and stout heartedness.  The merchant of our blessed Lord’s parable, having found the one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all that he had, bought it.  If Christian men would be indeed followers of Him whose name they bear, they are warned of the cost as earnestly as they are lovingly invited; they are to take their Cross daily; they are to stand prepared to give up all that is dearest in human life, and that life itself also, when their Master’s call is heard.  The same voice which is ever crying throughout the world “Come to me all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you,” utters also the warning exhortation “You cannot serve God and Mammon” : the same Good Shepherd who gathers the lambs in his arms, and seeks out with so loving a perseverance the wandering sheep, has Himself told us of the day when He will say to those who - at the appointed hour, shall have no oil in their lamps -  “I know you not.”

¶

There is a fearful error, Dearly Beloved, against which no warnings of mine can be too solemn and importunate.  It is the error of supposing the Christian life to be a thing of negatives, as if all you had to hope and strive for were the avoiding of flagrant transgression of the penal laws of God.  What an unworthy distortion of Christian thought, and yet how many seem to adopt and live in this distortion !  You are “to cease to do evil” certainly, but it is that you may “learn to do well” and these two things are as inseparable in practice as they are in precept.  What is the main character of the spirit taught by the Church and by the Holy Scriptures?  Is it not the filial temper of love and self-sacrifice, and devout imitation of our Lord, in very contra-distinction to the grudging, reluctant, sluggish, lukewarm temper of the slave who fulfils an unloved service under constraint and fear of punishment? Think too, again, of that revelation which our Saviour has graciously made to us of the manner in which the last judgement will be conducted.  How much it declares, and how much it implies…. The blessed are blessed for what they have done; the cursed are cursed for what they have left undone.  Most merciful and dread lesson!  Let us take it to heart.

What we have said, Dearly Beloved, and what we have suggested, is enough to guide your thoughts in the direction in which we would in this season have you employ your self-examination.  What is the remedy … if you discover that practical indifference has fastened upon yourselves, or upon any you love and care for?  This one thing; recurrence to one of the first statements of your catechism - man was created in order to know God and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him in the next.  Enter into the depths of this truth and when you are in some tolerable measure permeated by a sense of what it implies, then look at this world, at its utmost good and evil in such a light.  Or listen to these words of eternal wisdom: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his own soul?”  

Better still to go to the foot of the Cross; spend these few days of the penitential season in the slight self-denial that is required of you, strengthen your heart and purge your soul by the spiritual exercises of the Church, and then look up into the face of the Crucified, and see whether you can find any excuse for indifference.  Never did Christian man, as he stood upon Calvary and contemplated its spectacle, think of half measures.  Truly and wholly, in the church and in the world, in prosperity and adversity, “I am yours and yours only, My Lord and my God.”  May this be in all your hearts; and make the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen.

Excerpts from the Lenten Pastoral Letter for 1860 of Archbishop John Bede Polding OSB, as contained in the anthology The Eye of Faith.  Archbishop Polding was Australia's first Catholic bishop and his holy life has long been considered to be saintly.

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NOTES

The Eye of Faith was printed by the Lowden Publishing Co., Kilmore Victoria in 1977.  The editors were Gregory Haines, Sister Mary Gregory Foster and Frank Brophy.  Special contribution to the volume were made by Professor Timothy Suttor and James Cardinal Freeman.

AMDG

On the Feast of the Annunciation

On the Feast of the Annunciation, we are pleased to present this set of Marian vestments, recently completed for a returning customer in New Jersey (USA).

This a variant on the Studio's Maria Regina chasuble.  Most of our commissions for the Maria Regina vestments are prepared in the stylised Gothic Revival form.  

This commission, however, took the form of a more ample chasuble and the ground fabric was a lovely shade of cream dupion silk.  As we normally do, the vestments were lined in Royal Blue taffeta.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Violet vestments

In this post, we feature a set of vestments made in our range of economy vestments.  This particular style is called Saint Anselm and they were made for a returning customer from the Archdiocese of Anchorage (USA).

The vestments are made from a lovely shade of violet dupion silk and ornamented with a column, back and front, formed from the Studio's unique braids.  The chasuble is unlined, but faced around the neckline to make it sturdy and comfortable to wear.  Other accessories of the set were fully lined.

These vestments were specially designed for use during Masses for the Dead.  They are equally suitable, however, during the Season of Lent.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

The Memoriale Rituum (re-posted)

The following is a translation of the Preface to a small liturgical book from times past titled the Memoriale Rituum  :

A Particular Congregation for determining certain matters concerning the Sacred Visitation of the parochial Churches in Rome was held by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XIII. on 4th December 1724.

The visible signs of religion and piety are rites and holy ceremonies by which the minds of the faithful are drawn to the contemplation of spiritual things.

His Holiness in the aforesaid Congregation confirmed a Decree ordering this Memoriale Rituum to be printed and to be observed by Rectors, in order that uniformity and exactness might be secured in the smaller parochial Churches in Rome, and at the same time to guard against omissions - by reasons of the fewness of clergy or insufficient knowledge of ceremonies - of those ceremonies by which our Holy Mother the Church brings to our remembrance the most noteworthy of [being] the mysteries of the Passion.

The Memoriale combines exactness of rites with a very small number of servers. *  Generally three are sufficient, four being seldom necessary.  It is the duty of the parish Priest to give timely instruction to these servers, in order that that they may act quickly, but with attention, and so prevent aimless wandering to and fro.

He will teach them also those Psalms, Antiphons and Hymns which are to be recited or chanted in procession, endeavouring to obtain vocal uniformity; hence for greater convenience these Antiphons, etc., are inserted in the Memoriale, each in its own proper place, so that one and the same book contains directions as to what is to be done and also those Hymns, etc., which are to be recited.

Six functions occur in the course of each year are here set out :

Part I       The Blessings of Candles on the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Part II      The Blessing of Ashes at the Beginning of Lent.
Part III     Palm Sunday.
Part IV    Thursday, the Day of the Lord's Supper.
Part V      The Friday of the Passover.
Part VI     Holy Saturday.  

From these it will not be difficult to deduce a method for carrying out similar functions, so that in all things and at all times due regard for the sacred ceremonies may always be apparent.

* In the Latin, the term presumes the servers are clerics.

Only 150 years after the publication of the Missale Romanum by Pope S' Pius V, this interesting document describes the state of the Sacred Liturgy in the churches of the City of Rome.  It would seem that, although the Rites of Holy Week - and other important Feasts of the Year to which were attached particular rites - were detailed in full in the Missale Romanum, the observance of these Days had generally degenerated and required a reform.

What was intended as a Ritual guide to be observed only in the city of Rome, came to be used world-wide.  It was especially important for missionary countries and rural churches which had but one priest and a small group of altar servers.  This was a provision for smaller churches which did not have the means to celebrate these Rites in their fuller solemnity.  It was a small book obviously intended to be hand held by the celebrant and his ministers.  The Memoriale Rituum was published in several editions and in translations, the last being published by the Holy See in 1950.

Noteworthy in this ritual guide is that, although it was preferred that the Rites would be sung, it was nevertheless permitted that they be read (either in part or entirely) or sung recta tono with some inflections. The Memoriale Rituum does not seem to envisage any choir chanting the rites - for example, the hymns, antiphons, psalms, but that they be chanted by the Celebrant and his ministers.

In the midst of the fashionable pre-occupation amongst Traditionalists at present with the use of the pre-1955 Rites of Holy Week, it is important to remember that the rites detailed in the Memoriale Rituum were the usual observance of Holy Week throughout the entire Church.  In greater churches, monasteries &c., the more solemn celebration of these rites, as detailed in the editions of the Missale Romanum would - of course - have been observed.

When the reformed rites of Holy Week were first celebrated in 1956, the rites as detailed in the Memoriale Rituum were suppressed.  Furthermore, the Restored Rites of 1956 allowed for a solemn or simple celebration of Holy Week, but they were always to be sung : there was no permission for a form of Holy Week which was read.

Laetare Sunday 2021

For an esteemed American customer, the Saint Bede Studio recently completed this distinctive set of Rose vestments.  The set was completed in the Saint Philip Neri style, being the Studio's interpretation of the 16th century form of the chasuble.

These vestments were made from a beautiful silk damask with a lighter rose figured ornament on a ground of green-gold.  The lining of taffeta was selected to match the colour of the damask ground-colour.

Because of the particular characteristics of this damask, a simple ornament was chosen, being an outlining braid arranged in the Roman manner.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Purple vestments in the Season of Lent

The Studio recently completed this set of purple vestments (shewn in the adjacent image) which forms part of a benefaction to the Church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Lewisham (Archdiocese of Sydney).  

This historic church underwent a comprehensive restoration and refurbishment 2016 - 2017, for which the Saint Bede Studio was a consultant.

These attractive vestments - intended for the Season of Lent - were made from a lovely ecclesiastical brocade in fuchsia-purple and were lined in a  crimson-red taffeta. The chasuble is in the Studio's Saint Benet style, being a variant of the Gothic Revival form. The ornament is formed from one of the Studio's braids re-worked from the designs of AWN Pugin by the Studio, in colours of blue and gold upon red.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

View of the High Altar of the Church of Saint Thomas
of Canterbury, Lewisham (Australia).
Ornamental work on the sanctuary wall was designed by
The Saint Bede Studio as part of the restoration works
on the church.
Image : The Saint Bede Studio.

Saint Philip Neri vestments

In this post, we are pleased to describe a set of vestments in the style of Saint Philip Neri, which was commissioned by a returning customer from the  USA.

These vestments were made from a silk lampas in a rich and darker shade of red and ornamented with a brocade in crimson-red and straw-gold.  A braid outlines the ornament front and back.  The lining of these vestments was formed from a bronze-shade of taffeta.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : This page.