South Korea : 1

The Saint Bede Studio has completed a commission for two sets of vestments for a Latin Mass Community in South Korea. This is the Studio's first work in Asia. The first set is shewn in the adjacent photographs.

This is a Low Mass set in the Saint Philip Neri style of the 16th century. The vestments were made from an English ecclesiastical brocade and ornamented with an Italian damask in colours of wine red and gold. A floral galloon outlines the ornament.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com



Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Tilting at Windmills

"Tilting at Windmills", a phrase that has come to mean attacking imaginary enemies.

This expression is explained at The Phrase Finder:

Tilting is jousting. "Tilting at windmills" derives from Cervantes' Don Quixote - first published in 1604, under the title The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha. The novel recounts the exploits of would-be knight Don Quixote and his loyal servant Sancho Panza who propose to fight injustice through chivalry. It is considered one of the major literary masterpieces and remains a best seller in numerous translations. In the book, which also gives us the adjective quixotic (striving for visionary ideals), the eponymous hero imagines himself to be fighting giants when he attacks windmills.

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.

"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."

"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."

The figurative reference to tilting at windmills came a little later. John Cleveland published The character of a London Diurnall in 1644 (a diurnall was, as you might expect, part-way between a diary or journal):

"The Quixotes of this Age fight with the Wind-mills of their owne Heads."

The full form of the phrase isn't used until towards the end of the 19th century.

Saint Stephen Protomartyr Fifteenth Century

The above painting, dating from around the year 1450, is a reproduction of the left-panel in a diptych, painted by the French Renaissance artist Jean Fouquet and formerly in the Church in Melun (near Paris). It depicts Saint Stephen with the French diplomat Etienne Chevalier.

Saint Stephen is depicted wearing an ample dalmatic made from what appears to be black velvet (but it may be black wool).  It is ornamented with clavi formed from strips of a silk damask of a familiar Renaissance pattern. The dalmatic is extremely simple.

The more ancient form of the amice is also shewn, being very ample and not fitting closely around the neck. To this amice, an apparel is attached made from the same silk damask as the dalmatic's ornament. It was usual in the mediaeval period and beyond for an amice apparel to match the ornament of the vestments. Usual, too, was that the stole and maniple also matched the ornamentation of the vestments, rather than matching the base colour (namely, the liturgical colour of the vestments).

We find the following information at the Web Gallery of Art.

This is the left wing of a diptych, originally located in Melun. The diptych was in the chancel of the Church of Notre-Dame at Melun, south of Paris, from 1461 until about 1775, when the two halves became separated.

Etienne Chevalier, who came from Melun, was French Ambassador to England in 1445 and six years later became Treasurer to Charles VII of France. He presented the diptych (of which this panel forms the left wing), to his native town around 1450; on this wing he had himself painted next to his patron saint, Stephen. The saint is holding a book, on which a jagged stone is lying, as a symbol of his martyrdom. The formal architecture in the background is in the Italian Renaissance style showing pilasters with coloured inlaid marble panels between them. On the wall, receding in perspective, the name Etienne Chevalier is inscribed several times. Originally the donor and the saint were looking towards the Madonna, who occupied the right wing of the diptych; this panel found its way into the Antwerp Museum.

According to a description of the paintings by Denis Godefroy in 1661, the original frames were covered in blue velvet. Round each picture were strands of gold and silver thread, in which the donor's initials were woven in pearls. There were also gilded medallions on which stories of the saints were represented.

Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame de Melun, founded in 1013.

Puginesque Vestments for the Season "Per Annum"

Pictured adjacent is the Saint Giles chasuble, a familar style to readers of this Blog. It is a simplified version of a design by A.W.N. Pugin.  A green brocade (Emerald green on a very dark base colour) is ornamented with a Puginesque braids in red and gold and lined in scarlet-red. The braids were produced exclusively for the Saint Bede Studio.

This chasuble was commissioned by a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Consecration of the Human Race to Mary's Immaculate Heart

In Saint Peter's Square, on Sunday, 13th October, Mass was celebrated by Pope Francis as part of the celebrations marking his Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The renowned Fatima statue was brought to Rome for the occasion and enthroned in a place of honour.

In these photographs, Pope Francis is shewn venerating the statue.

Photographs: Copyright Getty Images.

Pontificalia of the Fourteenth Century

The above painting of Saint Nicholas of Myra was painted by the Florentine artist Pacino di Bonaguida, who worked at the beginning of the Fourteenth century (1302 to before 1340).

The website of the J Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles) tells us that twentieth-century scholars reconstructed Pacino da Bonaguida's career, based upon his only known signed painting: an altarpiece in the Accademia Gallery in Florence. Pacino spent his entire career in Florence, where, in addition to altarpieces, he painted miniatures and decorations for illuminated manuscripts. He is considered the inventor of miniaturism, a style distinguished by a clear organisation of the painting surface into multiple small-scale scenes.

This work, which is painted in an iconographic style, depicts Saint Nicholas as a bishop of the the early Fourteenth century. Visible in the painting are the bishop's chasuble, amice apparel, a liturgical book, gloves, ring, crosier and mitre.

The condition of the above reproduction of Pacino's painting being what it is, it is not possible to determine precisely the colour of the chasuble. Certainly its lining is black, so we are inclined to think this semi-conical chasuble is of black damask, figured with gold quatrefoils. The fabric may, however, be a very dark green. The ornament of the chasuble is quite interesting, since it is a very early example of a woven braid, or at least is depicted as such. We can tell this since at the intersection point of the TAU piece (which rests upon the chest) the designs can be seen quite clearly to be disappearing beneath the horizontal ornament. Were the entire orphrey embroidered, such an arrangement would be avoided. The woven braid itself consists of geometrical patterns, rather than religious figures, and these designs are presented in colours of red, black and gold on a neutral background.

This early example of the TAU ornament is interesting also since it is really in the shape of a Cross " t " rather than " T ". Unlike the presentation of the TAU in later centuries, this decoration has a very short horizontal band. Sitting around the neckline is an amice apparel which, although of a different design, is woven in similar colours to the chasuble orphrey.

The white Episcopal gloves being worn by Saint Nicholas appear to be embroidered with a coat of arms. In his right hand, the Saint is depicted holding a liturgical book, whether it be an Evangelarium or a Sacramentary is unable to be determined.

Upon his head, Saint Nicholas is shewn to be wearing a precious mitre in the eary mediaeval style. It is of white linen or silk and is ornamented in the usual style with the circulus and titulus bands.  These are of embroidered geometric designs upon a gold background.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Botticelli : The Last Communion of Saint Jerome

This painting by the renowned Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is titled The Last Communion of Saint Jerome and was painted around 1495. A priest is shewn with acolytes in a small chapel giving Communion to Saint Jerome. The Altar Cross is decorated with palm branches and a housling cloth is laid on the ground beneath the priest and the saint. It is not clear whether the acolytes are wearing albes or surplices. If they are albes, they are decorated with textile apparels, but neither an amice or a cincture is visible. 

A detail of the painting, depicting the priest's vestments, is shewn below.  

The priest is wearing a linen albe which is decorated with textile apparels of blue damask at the lower edge and at the cuffs. His red chasuble - in the semi-conical form - is ornamented in the Italian manner, namely a column upon the back and a TAU upon the front.  This ornament is made from the same textile as the apparels on the albe. A rather narrow maniple is also shewn.

Botticelli's painting illustrates that in Florence at the end of the 15th century, ample vestments in accordance with ancient traditions were still being used.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Anglican Use Mass

Recently, the Studio completed two chasubles of the Saint Austin design, which we wrote about here . One of these chasubles was commissioned by the Reverend Stephen Hill, a newly-ordained priest of the Anglican-Use Ordinariate in Australia (which is under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Father Hill very kindly sent us this photograph of his offering Mass according to the Ordinariate Use in the Church of Ss Ninian and Chad, in Maylands (a suburb of Perth, Western Australia).

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Priestly Ordinations 2013 : 9

Each year, the Saint Bede Studio has the privilege of preparing sacred vestments for Ordinands. Happily, this year has been no exception. This post concerns a donation of sets of vestments by a priest of the Archdiocese of New York to two newly-ordained priests of the same Archdiocese.

The chasubles (shewn adjacent) were made from a lovely ecclesiastical brocade in straw-gold. Each vestment was ornamented differently, but using braids produced by the Studio based on the designs of AWN Pugin. The vestments were lined in straw-coloured taffeta.

Please pray for all newly-ordained priests.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Chasuble of S' Thomas Becket : 3

Every now and then in the Liturgical Blogdom, interest appears in the famous chasuble of Saint Thomas Becket, preserved at the Sens Cathedral. The Saint Bede Studio is occasionally approached by priests seeking vestments based on the striking design of that ancient chasuble.

A priest from the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey (USA) commissioned the Studio to make a chasuble like the Becket vestments, because of his admiration for Saint Thomas. But, for convenience, he did not want the chasuble in the conical, or bell-shaped form, as the original vestment is.

Instead, the chasuble design was modified to the Saint Martin form.  The result is a surprisingly lightweight chasuble, which is visually similar to the Becket chasuble, without attempting to be an exact replica of it.

The vestments are made from an English silk damask, which is fully lined in blue taffeta. A narrow braid, designed by the Studio in an early mediaeval style, was used to ornament the vestments in the distinctive manner.

Posts describing Saint Thomas' chasuble can be viewed here and here.

From our esteemed customer, Father Daniel O'Mullane of the Diocese of Paterson:

I could not be happier with the Saint Bede Studio's newest creation! As with all of Mr. Sternbeck's work, this chasuble in the style of Saint Thomas Becket's vestments is brilliantly designed and flawlessly made; the Studio's attention to detail apparent in every stitch. The chasuble is visually striking, and will profit our praise of God in the Sacred Liturgy for years to come.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com