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Harvard College
Library

FBOH TUB BEQUEST OF

JOHN HARVEY TREAT

«•♦.*♦♦♦■♦♦■♦■♦♦■♦*♦♦♦■*.)►

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CHURCH VESTMENTS:

THEIR

©liatn, ?ftst, airti ©rnamtnt

PRACTICALLY ILLUSTRATED.

BY ANASTASIA DOLBY,

AUTKORESS OF "CHURCH EMBROIDERY. ANCIENT AND MODERN,"

LATE EMBROIDERKSS TO THE QUEEN.

CHAPMAN

£ O N D O N :
k HALL, 193. P

ICC AD ILLY.

1 868.

Vl ^"\ S'.<. 'vr.'<f<, S*

;' ^ JilN 2/ 1918*' ")

'^/uLa>(r <y^

<.!«

LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREKT

AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

-•o*-

The favourable reception given to my Work on " Church
" Embroidery " has induced me to publish this volume.

The practical directions conveyed in the former book are as
applicable to the ornamentation of the priestly dress as they are
to the enrichment of the Sanctuary, and are based upon prin-
ciples of experience, which require to be but once laid down to
serve for ever. It may therefore, justly, be supposed, that upon
the actual manipulation of Ecclesiastical Needlework I have no
longer a cause for writing.

Still, as a vestment-maker, I observe an undoubted demand
for special instruction concerning just forms, correct designs,
and fitting materials for the robes appointed to be worn by the
Ministers of the Catholic Church in the discharge of their holy
functions.

The practical knowledge of sacerdotal vesture brought to bear
in the following pages may be conscientiously dated from the
period when the late A. W. Pugin commenced his laudable raid
against the incongruous and undignified array of the Christian
priesthood of the past, and first half of the present, century.

At a very early age I became a subscriber to his rules for the
revival of true beauty in sacred art, and day by day am more
convinced that, in the main, those principles are right.

\\\

Ipteface.

From this admission, an advocacy for the strictly Gothic in
Church designs may be inferred. Such is not quite the case,
although the supposed prejudice might be well justified in the
fact, that the Early Mediaeval Period, in which is comprehended
the pure Gothic style, was that when symmetrical forms in rich
decoration came the nearest in sacred, as in secular, art to human
ideas of perfection.

In this, as in my former work, nothing in the way of research
has been spared for the elucidation of my subject. Where I
have needed liturgical and archaeological assistance from living
celebrities, I have stood within the boundary of my own province
to ask their aid, and in every instance have been kindly and
generously enlightened.

My husband has again devoted much valuable time and
energy to the illustration of my treatise. We have gone through
it together, literally hand in hand, that it might be brought forth
in some degree worthily, and with credit to the faith we have
striven to honour.

A. D.

HigJbgatey 1868.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction — Origin, Use, and Ornament of Church Vestments i

II.
The Amice— The Alb— The (iirdle • 26

III.

The Chasuble — Its changes of Form, since its Origin, explained —
Various Ways of Ornamenting the Vestment described and Illus-
trated ............ 4^

IV.

Different Materials of which a Chasuble may, and may not, be made —

General Directions for making-up Vestments .... 68

The Dalmatic of the Deacon — Tunicle of the Sub-Deacon ... 78

VI.

The Sacrificial Stole— The Maniple— The Stolone— The Confessional

Stole— The Baptismal Stole— The Preaching Stole ... 86

VII.
The Cope— The Hood— The Orphreys— The Morse . .101

VIII.
The Offertory Veil— The Chalice Veil— The Burse ....

Contents.

The Suq)licc — The Cotta 12

The Sacred Linen of the* Altar — Cori)oral-Clotlis — Palls — Purificators —

Lavabor-towels .12

XI.
The Canon's Cope — The Furred Amys 13

XII.

The Mitre— The Rochet— The Subcingulum— The Gremiale— The
Cappa Magna — ^The Mozetta — The Buskins — The Sandals — The
Gloves . . . . . . n

XIII.

The Pallium — ^The Fanon it

XIV.
The Cassock— The Biretta— The Roman Colhr 17

XV.
Proper Colours for the Sacred Vestments 17

XVI.

Embroidery Stitches of the Anglo-Saxon and Early Mediaeval Periods —

Illustrated by 12 Engraved Examples 17

XVII.
The Vestment-maker's Charge to the Sacristan 18

XVIII.
Frontispiece, of Pontifical High Mass, described 10

C&eir Drigin, Ose, anD ©tnament.

•' red chesable of cloth of gold, with branches of gold, and the
orphrcys of green cloth, witli two tunacles and three albes,"etc.
And one from the Duchess of Lancaster, as— "A chesable of
red bawdkin, with orphreys of gold with leopards, powdered
with black trefoils, with two tunacles and three albes of the
same suit, with all their apparels." While still further is the
liberal hand commemorated by — " Twenty fair copes,
every one of which had wheels of silver in the hoods. And a
chesable of red velvet with Catherine wheels of gold, with
two tunacles and three albes, with all the apparels of the
same suit."

Some very chaste examples of ancient English vestments
[ist in the possession of diiFerent members of our Catholic
nobility and gentry ; but, with few exceptions, these old sacred
robes are now jealously kept from exhibition, with reverence, and
a sort of atoning care for the neglect and ill-usage of three long
centuries of scorn and condemnation. In the Great Exhibition
of 1862 some of these were shown; one of them a cope of
fourteenth-century work, belonging to Mount St. Mary's,
Chesterfield, which Dr. Rock thus described: —

"No. 3,002, A very rich crimson velvet cope, of great beauty
as a specimen of English needlework embroidered in gold, with
subjects much after the fashion of the Syon vestment, and
most admirably executed, but without any heraldry about it.
One striking peculiarity is, that the angels carry stars in their
hands or lying on their laps. This incident refers to the
subject figured in the centre part on the back- — the coming to
Bethlehem of the three wise men, wearing crowns of kings, the
" foremost of whom is pointing with his outstretched right
hand up to the leading star a Uttle way off, above them. From
some remnants it would seem that once certain parts of this

•5

Cliutc!) JHestments.

" cope were thickly studded with seed pearls, and from its profii-
"sion of gold, so unstintedly embroidered all over it, and its
" rich velvet of so deep a pile and ruby tone of colour, it must
" have been a gorgeous vestment in its day.

" As we behold it now, it furnishes us with one out of so many
" sad instances of the vandalism by which thousands of such
"admirable art-works of the English needle have been snatched
"away. The creature who once owned this precious cope cut
" it up piecemeal, and gave parts away. Some of it was ruth-
"lessly employed as the covering for a cushion, and heedlessly
" knocked about. Not long ago a man, the Rev. W. Clifford,
"of wider heart and warmer feelings for his country's medifeval
" productions, sought out with untiring labour, and got together
" as many shreds as possible of this fine old English embroidery ;
"and after great toil joined them as well as might be, tilling up
" the gaps with coloured sketches of the wanting fragments,
" done in excellent taste upon the new linen lining of the restored
" cope."

One other of the ancient vestments in the Exhibition at this
time so impressed us by its beauty and historical associations,
that we must quote it as described by the above accomplished
pen. It was sent from Stonyhurst College : —

" No. 3,005. A" magnificent cope of cloth of gold, figured
" with bold, widely-spreading foliage dotted with small gold
" spots, and ornamented all about with portcullises crowned and
" red roses. The lower hem is bordered with collars of SS
"and portcullises; and no doubt this is one of 'the whole suit
" of vestments and coopies of cloth of gold tissue, wrought
"with our badges of red roses and portcullises, the which we of
"late caused to be made at Florence, in Italy,' which our
" King Henry the Seventh, in his will, bequeathed ' to God and
16

Cfieir ©risin, 0sc, antr ©rnamcnr.

St. peter, and to the abbot and prior and convent of our
"monastery of Westminster,' etc. — Tcsiamenia Velusia, cd.
" Nicolas, t. i., p. 33. Perhaps the design of this cope was
" furnished by Torrigiano, and, through his procurement, the
whole and large set of vestments was woven at Florence. The
orphrey and hood are of poor English embroidery, and
unworthy of the cope, and in all likelihood not the originals.
Florentine tissue of the end of the fifteenth or beginning of
the sixteenth century."

The cope belonging to Sir Robert Throckmorton, also
thibited in 1862, was very fine; it was of purple velvet, pow-
dered with double-headed eagles, beautifully embroidered in
English work of the fifteenth century, with much gold about the
orphrey, the hood, and the morse. Very good photographs of
this cope, and of some other vestments of like beauty, are to be
had at South Kensington.

We have enjoyed the privilege of restoring, or, more properly,
preserving in our time many sacred garments, interesting and
old as some of those just described.

Among them, a chasuble of the fourteenth century, belonging
to Hengrave Hall, where it had been for ages a cherished heir-
loom of one of the oldest and most honourable baronetcies in
■3uffoll^- Lord Petre also possesses a vestment of great antiquity
«nd" beautj', which some fifteen years ago received much of
our care and attention ; — ~ Silvertop, Esq., of Minster Acres,
mother.

We could name many others which have an equal claim upon
lur veneration ; but without descriptions, for which we have not
ipace, a mere enumeration of all the ancient vestments wc liave
{tad the happiness to pass our working fingers over, would be
luding ourselves, and bringing no profit to our readers.

Hist of 3IUu0tratton0.

PACK
I02

1 06
114
118
121
122

'^ Design for Orphrey of Cope

J Two Designs for Hoods of Cope

J Two Designs, suitable either for the Chasuble or the Hood of Cope
-A Practical Illustrations of the Chalice- Veil, and Burse
'i Figure of Thurifer in Surplice, from Matthew Paris

V True Form of the Surplice

4 Examples of different Vestments, on Figures from Queen Mary's Psalter 124

V Acolytes in Surplices, from Queen Mary's Psalter . .128

/Figure of Canon in Rochet, from Molinet 144

/Examples of the Crimped and Crochet Cotta 146

V Designs of Crosses for Stoles, and " Gammadion " Stole -152

/ Borders for Albs 158

' Various Ancient Examples of the Mitre, and Sandals .162
^ The Fanon, Pallium, and Mozetta . 170

Examples of Anglo-Saxon and Mediaeval Embroidery Stitches . 177 — 185

via

CHURCH VESTMENTS.

"And Ihou shall make holy
"gnrments for Aaron thy brn-
" iher far glory and for beauly.

"Anil thou -ihait speak imio
"-all [hat are wisc-beanni, whom
" I have filled with the spirit of
" wisdom, that they may make
" Aaron's garmenls lo cunscctale
" biro, ihai he may miiiialer untu
" me in the priest's office.

" And these are the ^rment-.
"which they iihall make; ii
" tircBslplate, and ancplioil, and
"a robcj and a bmidcred coal,
" a mitre, and a ginJle."

EsuDUS, ih. xxviii.,
tfr. *, 3. 4-

THHIS emphatic and
-*- direct command
of God for the apparel-
ling of His ministers,
in a manner which
should not only dis-
inguish but consecrate them for His service in the Tabernacle,
lould be precedent enough for any amount of zeal manifested

Cburcb Clestmcnts.

ill promoting the enrichment uf the sacred garments of the
Priesthood, which by the Divine and undeviating Word was
established as " a statute for ever."

The ceremonial of the priestly dress so clearly enjoined for
the Church of the Law is nowhere abrogated in the Gospel, and
if, as true believers, we accept what St. John beheld in his vision
of the Church in Heaven, as the type of that which should
glorify the worship of the Almighty Father in His Church upon
earth, we, who find our vocation in working vestments for the
servants of the Lord, aliould hold ourselves bound to favour no
sacerdotal garment, or decoration thereupon, which is not espe-
cially produced for, and, as far as piety and human means can
qualify it, regally worthy of, the solenm services of the King of
Kings.

It would be as presumptuous as futile to attempt to say or
suggest anything original on correct Sacerdotal Vestiue.

Were we aught else greater than needleworkers, we could not
take upon ourselves to teach the present generation how to
make exterior things, appertaining to the worship of the true
God, grander, more solemn, and more worthy of the Divine
Majesty, than the inspired early followers of the faith made them.

We all know that from the first Christian days especial gar-
ments were set apart for the sacred rites of the Altar, and that
for some timt they continued to be worn secular in shape and
ornamentation, principally that the observation of heathen perse-
cutors might be avoided. The forms which nov; distinguish the
robes of the Roman priesthood must of necessity have had their
origin in the ordinary dress of the people among whom the pri-
mitive Christians lived and walked ; but we have no difficulty in
believing that, after such garments had been once consecrated
to the service of the Holy Eucharist, they were kept exclusive

Cbcit ©rigin, a30C, anD ©rnament.

■for the like sacred usage. Equally sure may we be that the
^vicissitudes of fashion, whatever they may have done in trans-
forming the costume of the laity, were allowed to have no
materia] effect on that of the sacerdotal community. Every
good authority which we can bring to bear upon the subject
agrees in assuring us that the main features of Ecclesiastical
dress have remained unaltered from the first, and, with few
exceptions, as we recognise them in the Roman Catholic Church
of the present day. Before proceeding further, we would observe,
that after comparing all the gleanings we have made in ancient
isacerdotal lore from different popular sources with the writings
of Dr. Daniel Rock, we are bound to admit that we can say
nothing relevant to our subject, and historically correct, that he
"has not already said in one or other of his works, which literally
embody, in a terse and truthful form, every interesting chronicle
of every reliable authority that has gone before.

If therefore, during the progress of our work, we may lay our-
selves open to the charge of slanshness by quoting precedents
;moFC freely from the learned divine we have cited than from any
Other archaeological historian, we must claim to shield ourselves
!by our plea of conscientiousness alone.

From the end of the sixth century may be dated the exclusive
adoption by the Church, of robes identical in form with those
ordinarily worn by people of condition in Rome in the infant
days of Christianity. Still, long prior tq the above, we gather
ijnuch from the historian Anastasius respecting the beauty and
costliness of the Holy Vestments, from the Emperor Aurelian,
iA.D. 275, downwards to the period when the great Constantine
inrolled himself beneath the Christian banner, and the minis-
ering servants of the Holy Altar, emboldened by his zeal and
iphcld by his power, enriciied in every possible way the sacrtd

n
^

C6utc& i[le0tments.

garments of their office, the greater to honour and glorify the
Lord of All.

According to Dr. Rock, the glory of the sacred ritual which
shone forth after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine
must have been sublime as it was dazzling. We quote from
" Hierurgia:" — -

" From the moment that Constantine declared . himself a
" Christian, the ceremonies of religion were performed with
" splendour, and regal magnificence shone throughout the
" sacred ritual. Before this period, the garments of the priest-
" hood at the altar, though not always, were more frequently
" composed of the less expensive materials, and decorated merely
" with a scarlet stripe, which was then denominated * Latus-
" clavus.' This was now exchanged for a vesture, the same
" indeed in form, but manufactured of the richest stuffs.

" The sacred habit presented by Constantine to Macarius, the
" bishop of Jerusalem, to be employed by that prelate in admi-
" nistering the sacrament of baptism, was made of cloth of gold,
" as we gather from the testimony of Theodorefus."— ///*(, lib.
ii. c. 21.

It was now, too, that the strips of cloth called " clavi," which
hitherto had been used for ornamenting the priestly dress, in
accordance with its secular type, began to be exchanged for
bands of costlier material — orphreys— to correspond with the
greater splendour of the fabric of the robe.

Here we must pause to remark upon a peculiarity with refer-
ence to the colour of those bands denominated "clavi," which
distinguished, in the way of ornament, the dresses of the Roman
people before, and long after, the coming of the Saviour. We
speak of the so-called purple — under which denomination came
blood-red, crimson, scarlet, and, without doubt, the shade we now

C&rir Dcigtn, Qsc, anD fiDtnament.

tiesignate as rose-purple. A very interesting record relating to the
ancient imperial purple is embodied thus : — Three hundred and
thirty-one years before Christ, Alexander possessing himself of
ihe city of Susa, with all its riches, took from it five thousand
|iiintals of the highly-prized Hermione purple, which, although
Itored there for one hundred and ninety years, was without a
blemish when it fell into the conqueror's hands. The value of
this wonderful colour was equivalent to one hundred crowns
, pound; and, as a quintal was 112 lbs., we may estimate the
imount of wealth contained in this dye alone, as something
icarcely short of the fabulous.

Among the ancients, we find Greeks, as well as Romans,
holding the Tyrian purple in hke esteem. Homer fails not to
%e\\ us that Andromache wrought in her lofty chamber on a
cloth of resplendent purple hue at the moment when mournful
cries apprised her of the death of Hector. And the Roman
Tarquin received from the Etruscans a purple tunic enriched
with gold, and a mantle of purple and other colours.

* It was a custom," says Dr. Rock, "which universally pre-
^ vailed amongst the ancient Romans, to ornament every gar-
"ment with stripes of cloth and fringes of a purple colour. The
"stripes were called ' Latus-clavus' if broad, and 'Augustus-
"clavus' if narrow. 'The breadth of this ornament was com-
**men3urate with the rank and dignity of the wearer."

Anastasius enlightens us as to the splendour of the Church
in Rome from the most remote times to the ninth century ;
but beyond this, for faithful and impartial records of the fitting
nagnificence of sacred vesture during the early and pure-minded
lays of Christianity, we may all, whether or not we are interested
1 the present vexed question of Ritualism, be grateful to Dug-
ale. That voluminous chronicler, in his " Monasticon," carries

Cbutcg Vestments.

us on through the Church in our own land to that epoch^the
middle of the sixteenth century, when the glory of the Lord,
and honour to His name, were sacrificed to the ambition and
avarice of men; and priests and people, whether of just or of
erring lives, were alike, only to be tolerated, when seen farthest
away from the true worship of their fathers.

The coldest Puritan might shudder, as he follows the chroni-
cler, at the thought of tlie manner in which we all know
thousands of those precious garments consecrated to the
service of the ^Vlmighty, and fragrant with the incense offered
to His throne, were cither destroyed, or, what was worse, dese-
crated by the secular and debased uses to which they were put.

These are truths which should be palpable to all. The
records we have searched are accessible to all ; and they who
read them may perhaps find their store of knowledge profitably-
increased on many things, which may be of greater importance
to some minds than the revival of a taste for sacred needlework.
As for ourselves, we have already intimated in our former book
that our love for Church Embroidery is greater than our ability
or desire for disputation.

We hold our subject in such respect as to deem it fully
worthy of more than the life's study we have hitherto made it,
and are too grateful to be able to handle it without the necessity
for moving one step beyond our womanly province.

It is impossible to close our eyes to the fact that purity of taste
in Ecclesiastical ornament was- in its decadence long before Henry
the Eighth came to the throne. Evidences of the sacrifice of
the pious spirit which breathed through the sacred designs of
previous times, to secular sentiment and worldly display, are
visible prior to the close of the fifteenth century. Up to
the time of Henry the Sixth, religious art may be said to have

C&eir ©tigin, fflsc, anD ©tnamcnt.

ivanccd, with the age, in beauty and pious sentiment, till it had
.ttained a point of grandeur and exclusive excellence in the
ipresentation and construction of sacred objects, from which no
:ep but one of retrogression could well be taken.

During this golden age of artistic merit, the cathedrals of
"ork, Westminster, Durham, and many others, were added to,
.nd embellished with a dazzling splendour, which no amount of
realth, unaided by the pious motive power that originated
hese wondrous structures, could ever again restore.

The Percy shrine at Beverley, that peerless work of sacred art,
'as raised under the inspiration of those days ; and, battered and
jutilated as it has been, is still worthy of a pilgrimage from far-
iff lands to see.

When we call to mind how Oliver Cromwell did his best to

lestroy and utterly annihilate every beauteous thing belonging

:o the ancient Church, which had escaped the covetous eye

Henry the Eighth, the wonder is, that so much has been left

wonder at.

Let us give honour where honour is due. In nearly every

rner throughout our land there still exists some touching

igment of a tale told in stone long ages ago, which few of us
might read unassisted by those keys, both of the pen and
pencil, which the toilers who have gone before laboured so
assiduously to leave to us ere the ravages of time should com-
iletc the work of obliteration, so cruelly commenced by man, on

lose nobly sculptured pages.

In like manner do those glorious manuscripts and chronicles

,ble us to trace with accuracy, and to our edification, the

lious origin and history of many a venerable monument in

lowed needlework, which we find faded, transformed, and

:en misappropriated.

Cducct Qegtments.

" cope were thickly studded with seed pearls, and from its profu-
" sion of gold, so unstintedly embroidered all over it, and its
" rich velvet of so deep a pile and ruby tone of colour, it must
" have been a gorgeous vestment in its day.

" As we behold it now, it furnishes us with one out of so many
" sad instances of the vandalism by which thousands of such
" admirable art-works of the English needle have been snatched
" away. The creature who once owned this precious cope cut
" it up piecemeal, and gave parts away. Some of it was ruth-
" tessly employed as the covering for a cushion, and heedlessly
"knocked about. Not long ago a man, the Rev. W. Clifford,
"of wider heart and warmer feelings for his country's mediasval
" productions, sought out with untiring labour, and got together
" as many shreds as possible of this fine old English embroidery ;
"and after great toil joined them as well as might be, filling up
" the gaps with coloured sketches of the wanting fragments,
" done in excellent taste upon the new linen lining of the restored
" cope."

"No. 3,005. A" magnificent cope of cloth of gold, figured
"with bold, widely-spreading foliage dotted with small gold
" spots, and ornamented all about with portcullises crowned and
" red roses. The lower hem is bordered with collars of SS
"and portcullises; and no doubt this is one of ' the whole suit
" of vestments and coopies of cloth of gold tissue, wrought
"with our badges of red roses and portcullises, the which we of
" late caused to be made at Florence, in Italy,' which our
" King Henry the Seventh, in his will, bequeathed * to God and

Cfteir ©tiffin, Ose, anD ©rnamcnt.

**St. Peter, and to the abbot and prior and convent of our
** monastery of Westminster,' etc. — Testamenta Vetusta, ed.
" Nicolas, t. i., p. 33. Perhaps the design of this cope was
" furnished by Torrigiano, and, through his procurement, the
•* whole and large set of vestments was woven at Florence. The
" orphrey and hood are of poor English embroidery, and
** unworthy of the cope, and in all likelihood not the originals.
" Florentine tissue of the end of the fifteenth or beginning of
** the sixteenth century."

The cope belonging to Sir Robert Throckmorton, also
exhibited in 1 862, was very fine : it was of purple velvet, pow-
dered with double-headed eagles, beautifully embroidered in
English work of the fifteenth century, with much gold about the
orphrey, the hood, and the morse. Very good photographs of
this cope, and of some other vestments of like beauty, are to be
had at South Kensington.

We have enjoyed the privilege of restoring, or, more properly,
preserving in our time many sacred garments, interesting and
old as some of those just described.

Among them, a chasuble of the fourteenth century, belonging
to Hengrave Hall, where it had been for ages a cherished heir-
loom of one of the oldest and most honourable baronetcies in
Suffolk. Lord Petre also possesses a vestment of great antiquity
and* beauty, which some fifteen years ago received much of

our care and attention ; Silvertop, Esq., of Minster Acres,

another.

We could name many others which have an equal claim upon

our veneration ; but without descriptions, for which we have not

space, a mere enumeration of all the ancient vestments we have

had the happiness to pass our working fingers over, would he

lauding ourselves, and bringing no profit to our readers.

D ,7

Cf)urcf) Oe0tment9.

One of these fine old records in needlework must not,
however, be passed over. It consisted of some vestments which
were submitted to us a few years since by J. Baker Gabb, Esq.,
of Abergavenny. They were brought from the old religious
house of Perthlr, where, in the most retired part of Monmouth-
shire, the English Franciscans preserved in penal times many
most curious relics of better days.

They are said, with some degree of probability, to have been
used originally in the very ancient parish church of St. John, at
Abergavenny, now no longer a church, but the grammar-school
of the town.

The most curious of these ancient embroidered robes is a
chasuble of mixed work of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
turies ; probably effected, when the embroidery was transferred
from its primitive ground, by the indiscriminate use of the
needlework of two vestments of different periods, with a view
to making one chasuble superlatively rich in ornament ; or
possibly commenced in one generation, and carried through
some others to its completion, as was most common in mediaeval
times, when a piece of church-work was always in hand by some
member, or members, of nearly every family.

If the task was left undone when its originators were called
away, it was piously proceeded with by the next branch, who
again might not be spared to its accomplishment. Still, a suc-
ceeding member would take it up, and so on to its consummation.

In this manner we can as well account for a mixture of styles
in sacred needlework, as we can for the like in fine architectural
structures, which are so rarely found to have been begun and
finished in one man s generation.

On the vestment in question, the fourteenth century is illus-
trated by a powdering of cherubs on wheels, lily-pots, and fleur-

Cfteir ©rigin, Mse, ann ©rnamcnt.

de-lis. The fifteenth century is evidenced by the wide Latin
cross, displaying the Crucifixion, with angels receiving the
blood, from the arms and side of our Lord, in chalices.

Beneath the Calvary are canopied figures, as upon the pillar in
front, which is also powdered by Ely flowers, gracefully en-
riched by scrolls of gold. Its ground is crimson velvet, now
somewhat faded, to which it has evidently been transferred a
century or more ago, and the lovely work most cruelly mal-
treated in the process.

The original design had, doubtless, been spread over a full
and majestic chasuble, but it is cut up on all sides to accommo-
date it to the miserably narrow shape of the eighteenth century,
upon which it comes before us. The mischievous scissors have
gone hissing, as though very Pagans had guided them, through
every symbol dear to Christian eyes, and have even cut the lower
canopied figure of the dorsal cross in half, to make the work fit
nicely round the stunted garment of this epoch of ugliness.*

The embroidery had been tolerably well preserved, and simply
required mending here and there ; in other respects it remains
as when we first saw it, and as shown on Plates 12 and 13.

The work upon another of these chasubles is altogether of the
fifteenth century, and a fine example of its time. The ground,
upon which we found it, had been a superb crimson and gold
brocade velvet, the pile of which crumbled under the touch,

* •* When the ancient cathedral church of Waterford was demolished for the purpose of
•'erecting the present wretched pile of building, a complete set of cloth-of-gold vestments
*• were discovered, of the most exquisite design and enrichments. These were given to the
** Catholic bishop and clergy of the time, and being in a sufficient state of preservation for
••tise, they actually cut the chasubles to the modem French form, and sliced out whole
** images from the needlework orphreys. One set of these vestments in their present dis-
•* figured state were presented by the Earl of Shrewsbury to St. Mary's College, Oscott, and
•* present, among the other ecclesiastical antiquities, a striking evidence of ancient excellence
*« and modem degeneracy." — Pugin^ 1844.

Ctutc!) Ucstments.

sent to the monks in the shape of "money, wheat,oxen,hogs, etc ;"'
and that " even JuUana, a poor woman of Weston, gave a large
" quantity of wound thread to sew the vestments of the monks."
However trifling such a record as the latter may appear to
some, we are disposed to regard it as a striking proof of the
reverence in whicli such things were generally held in these
early simple-minded times, when a laic, whose poverty was great
enough to be remarked, tendered what, from her, must have
been so munificent an offering, for the seemly keeping of the
dress of the priestly office.

To enumerate a tithe of the vestiary splendour which comes
before us relating to Croyland would leave us no room for a
glance at some of the marvels of sacerdotal grandeur contained
in the vestments of different progressive periods belonging to
other churches.

Yet, ere we leave our much-loved Croyland Abbey, we are
impelled to remark on the gift of Lawrence Chateres, the
cook, of — " The black vestment wrought scripturis aureis," for
officiating in at funerals, " valued at 26/.," which was an enor-
mous sum in those days. And again, our attention is called to
the gift of Brother Richard Woxbridge, of —

"The purple vestment sprinkled with gold flowers, two copes,
" and a chasuble with tunics ;" and to that of the good Abbat
Upton, who, early in the fifteenth century, among other sacred
and costly things, bestowed on his church—^

"A red cope ornamented with gold and jewels, commonly called
' Ibi et Ubi,' valued at 100 marks ; a vestment ornamented with
the arms of England and France quarterly, with copes of the
same workmanship, which also cost 100 marks ; and silk em-
broidered with falcons of gold, enough to make seven copes,
which Abbat John Lytlington, his successor, made up."

Cbcir ©tiffin, Clse, anD ©rnament.

Finally, it would be an injustice to this same Abbat Lytlington
were we to dismiss Croyland without mention of his emulation of
Richard Upton in exemplary benefactions to the monastery.
He gave to it no fewer than nine copes of cloth of gold, embroi-
dered in curious /eat/u:r-vio\]!i, and valued at 240/, ; besides a
suit of vestments of red and gold, consisting of three copes, with
a chesible and three tunics, which cost 160/. These two sums
being equivalent to 6000/. in money of the present day.

Every page which we have turned in research for our subject
has kept us lingering over it with as much reverence for, as inte-
rest in, the people who, whatever might sometimes have been their
shortcomings as men to men, through those troubled ages of per-
secution, invasion, bloodshed, and every species of fearful worldly
warfare, from the apostolic times to far into the sixteenth century,
persistently and undeviatingly observed all the solemnities due
to God and our blessed Redeemer in the ser\-ices of the Church ;
land contributed to, and maintained in becoming splendour,
every appointment of the sacred office of the Holy Eucharist, as
\ first and last duty and privilege of the Christian profession.

Cheering, too, is it to find, that whether of the priesthood or
of the world, that man who was esteemed most excellent in other
relations of life, was ever the one to busy himself most about things
meet and magnificent for the worship of God in His Church.

Of such, may we suppose, was Garinus, Abbat of St. Alban's,
who, when all the chalices in England were called for to ransom
King Richard the First from the Germans, redeemed those
belonging to his monastery by the ready payment of 200
narks.* He also gave to the abbey that wonderful purple cha-
vble, so richly ornamented with figures of birds, and embroi-
lery in fine pearls, that no just value could be set upon it.

Cburcb Vestments.

It was this good man too, who, dying late in the twelfth
century, left loo marks for the renewal of the front of the
church. One of his successors, Thomas de la Mare, in the
middle of tlie fourteenth century, was even more munificent
in his gifts to tlie abbey. It is said that he spent enormously
on sacred plate and vestments, and that three mitres alone cost
him loo/.

Then we read of Godfrey de Croyland, who gave to Gauce-
linus, one of the cardinals who rested at Peterborough, on his
return from his mission of peace to the Scots on the part of
King Edward, " a cope of gold cloth richly embroidered, and
" purchased at too marks sterling."

By the records of Wells Cathedral, the foundation of which
was almost coes^al with Glastonbury Abbey, we are informed of
great gifts bequeathed to it in the fifteenth century by Bishop
Beckington ; including four very costly vestments, 400/. to buy
copes, a bishop's chair with cushions, and other ornaments. The
adjacent abbey of Bath was also worthily remembered in his
will ; for, besides much valuable plate, he left to it thirty copes
and other vestments.

The sacred robes contained in Old St. Paul's in the thirteenth
century were as rich as they were numerous. In the inventory
of the contents of the treasury in this church, made a.d. 1295,
Dugdale signalizes, among other treasures —

" Nine mitres, some of them set with precious stones.

" Nine pairs of rich sandals.

" Eight croziers.

" Ten rich cushions.

" One hundred copes, most or all of them of the most costly
" silks, many embroidered, and many of cloth of gold and tissue
" besides most curious needlework and imagery.

Cfieir SDrigm, Oge. anD €)cnament.

"Eighteen amices; axid one hundred vestments or chasubles,
with proportionate stoles, maniples, tunicks, dalmaticks, albes,
corporals, canopies, etc."

We contemplate with natural wonder the profusion and cost-
liness of the vestments alone, after the manner just described,
belonging to our principal cathedrals and churches, when that
most dread, victorious, sovereign lord, King Henry the Eighth '
issued his royal order for the surrender of their sacred effects to
Jlis impious will.

No true Christian at any period could wish to realize the cruel
acts of demolition committed in Christian temples in that thirty-
first year of that most dread king's reign. It is enough to know
that nothing was held too sacred for his unworthy grasp. The
golden chalice was profanely snatched from the hands of the
priest officiating before God's holy altar, robbed of its jewels,
and then melted down to be converted into coin. Costly mitres
by the hundred were broken up for the sake of the pearls and
precious stones that garnished them ; and the hallowed robes of
the Eucharistic sacrifice were rent by lawless hands, and their
beautiful needlework designs defaced and mutilated, that the rare
Stuffs used in their formation might be turned into money, to
satisfy the lust of one unjust man's avarice.

After reading the inventories taken in 1539 of the sacerdotal
possessions of the monasteries in England, we find ourselves
ready to search everywhere, with the hope of meeting with the
■merest shred by which we may recognise some one or other of
the sumptuous robes enumerated in those richly-filled lists.

Such as were comprised in that gift of Cardinal Beaufort, to
Winchester, of the "cope of needlework, wrought with gold and
pearls ;" and the " one chysible, two tymasyles, and parel of y'
albcs of y" same work ;" or but one of those coundess suits of

Cfmccb iHestments.

" chcsible, tunicles, copes, albes, and stoles," described so fully in
the account of Peterborough.

Then again, from those copious lists of Lincoln Abbey, what
might it not serve us, could we but see, even in a faded and
tattered condition, but one of those " six copes of red velvet —
" one suit — broidered with angels, with the Scripture, ' Da glo-
" riam Deo,' with orphreys of needlework; of the which four
*' had four Evangelists in the morses, and the fifth a Lamb in
" the morse, and the sixth a white rose and an image in the
" morse." Or the " cop'e of red velvet, broidered with flowers
" and angels of gold, and two of them having this Scripture,
" ' Sanctus ;' in the morse, a tower ; in the hood, the Salutation
" of Our Lady."

We have sat picturing to ourselves the great beauty of that
gift of its sometime treasurer to Lincoln of the "white cloth
" chasuble, broidered with images and angels in gold, which had
" the Trinity worked in the back, with the Holy Ghost repre-
" sented in pearl, and divers pearls in other images." The Eucha-
ristic garment, the chasuble, is here clearly distinguished in
richness from the dalmatics, or lunacies, as they are set down ;
for they are described as "of the same suit, without pearlsT It
is also worthy of note that such gifts almost invariably included,
as we find it here, the whole suit of robes for the three officiating
priests at the grand mass, viz. : the chasuble, two dalmatics,
three albes, and three amices, with corresponding stoles and
maniples.

Of the many munificent offerings of entire suits of vestments
to Lincoln's wealthy wardrobe, we have singled out the following,
as instancing the thought and means bestowed on the ministers
of the altar by noble ladies of bygone times.

A gift of the Countess of Westmoreland is recorded as — " A

Cbeir £Drigm, Use, ann ©rnamcnt.

' red chesable of cloth of gold, with branches of gold, and the
)rphreys of green cloth, with two tunacles and three albes," etc.
And one from the Duchess of Lancaster, a3^"A chesable of
' red bawdkin, with orphreys of gold with leopards, powdered
' with black trefoils, with two tunacles and three albes of the
' same suit, with all their apparels." While still further is the
same liberal hand commemorated by — " Twenty fair copes,

* ever)' one of which had wheels of silver in the hoods. And a

* chesable of red velvet with Catherine wheels of gold, with

* two tunacles and three albes, with all the apparels of the
•• same suit."

Some very chaste examples of ancient English vestments
bxist in the possession of different members of our Catholic
pobility and gentry ; but, with few exceptions, these old sacred
robes are now jealously kept from exhibition, with reverence, and
. sort of atoning care for the neglect and ill-usage of three long
snturies of scorn and condemnation. In the Great Exhibition
1862 some of these were shown; one of them a cope of
fourteenth-century work, belonging to Mount St. Mary's,
Chesterfield, which Dr. Rock thus ilescribed: — -

"No. 3,002. A very rich crimson velvet cope, of great beauty

"* as a specimen of English needlework embroidered in gold, with

ubjects much after the fashion of the Syon vestment, and

* most admirably executed, but without any heraldry about it.
"•One striking peculiarity is, that the angels carry stars in their
" hands or lying on their laps. This incident refers to the
" subject figured in the centre part on the back — the coming to
*• Bethlehem of the three wise men, wearing crowns of kings, the
" foremost of whom is pointing with his outstretched right

* hand up to the leading star a little way off, above them. From
'some remnants it would seem that once certain parts of this

Cburcfj Qestments.

Therefore, honoured alike be the memory of hislorian and
artist, who, in spite of a wicked king's avarice and a misguided
Puritan's destroying hand, have secured to us yet records enough
of art in the true religion of the past to educate our eyes, and
enlarge our minds beyond the presumptuous belief that white-
washed walls and robeless priests do well enough for the worship of
the Creator, while His creatures raise for themselves luxurious
palaces, and adorned in costly garments and priceless jewels, are
content to live only in their own glorification. Too often " from
"this want of faith in things of God's appointment, are we only
" capable of receiving such as please our ears, through some idol
" man." And not unfrequently lacking charity, in every Christian
phase, even to the bestowal of the cup of cold water in His name.

As, after the so-called Reformation, everything which could
remind the people of the grand old Ritual of the past was
sedulously swept away, it is not remarkable that those of the
present day, who advocate the restoration of the Sacerdotal
Vesture of the early and incorrupt Church, should desire to
take their precedents from a period long anterior to the
" second year of King Edward the Sixth."

In the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts we find beautifully illumin-
ated drawings of sacerdotal costume of a very early date in
England; but little is to be discovered in writing respecting the
'just/ifrms of the sacred vestments prior to the Norman Conquest;
although, long before then, frequent mention is made of costly
gifts to difterent churches, including chasubles, copes, stoles,
albs, and the like.

As, for instance, King Ina, a.d. 708, who rebuilt Glastonbury
Abbey, loaded it with sumptuous sacred things.

Dugdalc tells us : — " The old abbey church, which he had
" new built, he caused to be re-consecrated, and dedicated it to

Cfieir Dtigin, Use, ans SDcnament.

" God, in honour of Christ, and the Apostles Peter and Paul.
" One of the cliSpels (supposed to be St. Joseph's) he garnished
*' over with gold and silver, and gave to it ornaments and vessels
" of gold and silver. The gold plate of the gift amounted to
" 333 Ihs. weight, the silver to 2835 lbs. weight, besides the gold
" and precious gems embroidered in the celebrating vestments,
" according to the account that Speed gives us of this bene-
" taction ; but, according to the relation that Stowc and the
" English martirologe give of it, it came to a great deal more."

Again, it 13 recorded of Egelric, elected abbat of Croyland
in the year 984, that "He gave numerous vestments to the office
" of the sacrist, viz. : to every altar in the church two chasubles,
" one for Sundays, and another richer ; to the choir twenty-four
" copes, six white, six red, six green, and six black ;" besides
clothing " the whole convent every year with gowns, every
" second year with hoods, and every third year with frocks, at
" liis own expense."

" The doomed and often suffering, but always magnificent
" Croyland Abbey," must have been greatly enriched by vest-
ments. King Canute, on his return from Rome, a.u. 1032, was
met at Sandwich by Abbat Brithmcr of Croyland, who presented
him with two palfreys, upon which the king gave the abbat a
vestment of silk, interwoven with eagles of gold.

Meet cause must it have been for gratulation when, upon
the destruction of the abbey by fire in 1091, the contents of the
sacred wardrobe, owing to the double stone roof of the vestry,
were found uninjured. Notwithstanding this valuable salvage,
the calamity was one to be for ever universally deplored ; for
not only did all the old charters of the Mercian kings perish in
the conflagration, but hundreds of other important historical
tlocuments as well. On this sad occasion we read of relief being

Cfiutcl) Oestmcnts.

sent to the monks in the shape of "iTioney,wIieat,oxen,hogs, etc ;"
and that " even Juliana, a poor woman of Weston, gave a large
" quantity of wound thread to sew the vestments of the monks."

However trifling such a record as the latter may appear to
some, we are disposed to regard it as a striking proof of the
reverence in which such things were generally held in tliese
early simple-minded times, when a laic, whose poverty was great
enough to be remarked, tendered what, from her, must have
been so munificent an offering, for the seemly keeping of the
dress of the priestly office.

"The purple vestment sprinkled with gold flowers, two copes,
" and a chasuble with tunics;" and to that of the good Abbat
Upton, who, early in the fifteenth century, among other sacred
and costly things, bestowed on his church—^

"A red cope ornamented with gold and jewels, commonly called
" ' IbietUbi,' valued at 100 marks; a vestment ornamented with
" the arms of England and France quarterly, with copes of the
" same workmanship, which also cost 100 marks ; and silk em-
" broidered with falcons of gold, enough to make seven copes,
" which Abbat John Lytlington, his successor, made up."

Cbeir ©riffin, CJse, anD ©rnament.

Finally, it would be an injustice lo this same Abbat Lytlington
were we to dismiss Croyland without mention of his emulation ot
Richard Upton in exemplary benefactions to the monastery.
He gave to it no fewer than nine copes of cloth of gold, embroi-
dered in curious /eai/ter-vioT\ and valued at 240/. ; besides a
suit of vestments of red and gold, consisting of three copes, with
a chesible and three tunics, which cost 160/. These two sums
being equivalent to 6000/. in money of the present day.

Every page which we have turned in research for our subject
has kept us lingering over it with as much reverence for, as inte-
rest in, the people who, whatever might sometimes have been their
shortcomings as men to men, through those troubled ages of per-
secution, invasion, bloodshed, and every species of fearful worldly
warfare, from the apostolic times to far into the sixteenth century,
persistently and undeviatingly observed all the solemnities due
to God and our blessed Redeemer in the services of the Church ;
and contributed to, and maintained in becoming splendour,
every appointment of the sacred office of the Holy Eucharist, as
a first and last duty and privilege of the Christian profession.

Cheering, too, is it to find, that whether of the priesthood or
of the world, that man who was esteemed most excellent in other
relations of yfe, was ever the one to busy himself most about things
meet and magnificent for the worship of God in His Church.

Of such, may wc suppose, was Garinus, Abbat of St. Alban's,
who, wlien all the chalices in England were called for to ransom
King Richard the First from the Germans, redeemed those
belonging to his monastery by the ready payment of 200
marks.* He also gave to the abbey tliat wonderful purple cha-
suble, so richly ornamented with figures of birds, and embroi-
der)' in fine pearls, that no just value could be set upon it.

• An ..lil Englisli c^.in— 13J. ■)-/, iledinj;.

ffiburtf) acBtmcnis.

It was this good man too, who, dying late in the twelfth
century, left loo marks for the renewal of the front of the
church. One of his successors, Thomas de la Mare, in the
middle of the fourteenth century, was even more munificent
in his gifts to the abbey. It is said that he spent enormously
on sacred plate and vestments, and that three mitres alone cost
him I go/.

By the records of Wells Cathedral, the foundation of which
was almost coeval with Glastonbury Abbey, we are informed of
great gifts bequeathed to it in the fifteenth century by Bishop
Beckington ; including four very costly vestments, 400/. to buy
copes, a bishop's chair with cushions, and other ornaments. The
adjacent abbey of Bath was also worthily remembered in his
will ; for, besides much valuable plate, he left to it thirty copes
and other vestments.

" Nine mitres, some of them set with precious stones.

" Nine pairs of rich sandals.

" Eight croziers.

" Ten rich cushions.

" One hundred copes, most or all of them of the most costly
" silks, many embroidered, and many of cloth of gold and tissue,
" besides most curious needlework and imagery.

C6eir ©tiffin, fllse. anD ©cnament.

"Eighteen amices; and one hundred vestments or chasubles,

with proportionate stoles, maniples, tunicks, dalmaticks, albes,

corporals, canopies, etc."

We contemplate with natural wonder the profusion and cost-
^nes9 of the vestments alone, after the manner just described,
belonging to our principal cathedrals and churches, when that

most dread, victorious, sovereign lord, King Henry the Eighth ''
issued his royal order for the surrender of their sacred effects to
his impious will.

No true Christian at any period could wish to realize the cruel
^acts of demolition committed in Christian temples in that thirty-
iirst year of that most dread king's reign. It is enough to know
that nothing was held too sacred for his unworthy grasp. The
golden chalice was profanely snatched from the hands of the
priest officiating before God's holy altar, robbed of its jewels,
and then melted down to be converted into coin. Costly mitres
by the hundred were broken up for the sake of the pearls and
precious stones that garnished them ; and the hallowed robes of
the Eucharistic sacrifice were rent by lawless hands, and their
beautiful needlework designs defaced and mutilated, that the rare
StufTs used in their formation might be turned into money, to
satisfy the lust of one unjust man's avarice.

After reading the inventories taken in 1539 of the sacerdotal
possessions of the monasteries in England, we find ourselves
ready to search everywhere, with the hope of meeting with the
merest shred by which we may recognise some one or other of
tlic sumptuous robes enumerated in those richly-filled lists.

Such as were comprised in that gift of Cardinal Beaufort, to
Winchester, of the "cope of needlework, wrought with gold and

pearls ;" and the " one chysible, two tymasyles, and parel of y"

albes of y' same work ;" or but one of those countless suits of

dbutcb tiestmmts.

us on through the Cliurch in our own land to that epoch — the
middle of the sixteenth century, when the glory of the Lord,
and honour to His name, were sacrificed to the ambition and
avarice of men ; and priests and people, whether of just or of
erring lives, were alike, only to be tolerated, wl*en seen farthest
away from the true worship of their fathers.

The coldest Puritan might shudder, as he follows the chroni-
cler, at the thought of the manner in which we all know
thousands of those precious garments consecrated to the
service of the Almighty, and fragrant with the incense offered
to His throne, were either destroyed, or, what was worse, dese-
crated by the secular and debased uses to which they were put.

These are truths which should be palpable to all. The
records we have searched are accessible to all ; and they who
read them may perha]3s find their store of knowledge profitably
increased on many things, which may be of greater importance
to some minds tlian tlie revival of a taste for sacred needlework.
As for ourselves, we have already intimated in our former book
that our love for Cliurch Embroidery is greater than our ability
or desire for disputation.

We hold our subject in such respect as to deem it fully
worthy of more tlian the life's study we have hitherto made it,
and are too grateful to be able to handle it without the necessity
for moving one step beyond our womanly province.

It is impossible to close our eyes to the fact that purity of taste
in Ecclesiastical ornament was- in its decadence long before Henry
the Eighth came to the throne. Evidences of the sacrifice of
the pious spirit which breathed through the sacred designs of
previous times, to secular sentimenr and worldly display, are
visible prior to the close of the fifteenth centurj'. Up to
the time of Henry the Sixth, religious art may be said to have

Cfjeir ©rigin, Clsc, anD ©rnamcnt.

aiivanced, with the age, in beauty and pious sentiment, till it had

attained a point of grandeur and exclusive exceliencc in the

representation and construction of sacred objects, from whicli no

itep but one of retrogression could well be taken.

During this golden age of artistic merit, the cathedrals of

ork, Westminster, Durham, and many others, were added to,

,nd embellished with a dazzling splendour, which no amount of

'calth, unaided by the pious motive power that originated

[these wondrous structures, could ever again restore.

The Percy shrine at Beverley, that peerless work of sacred art,
fas raised under the inspiration of those days ; and, battered and
[mutilated as it has been, is still worthy of a pilgrimage from far-
off lands to see.

When we call to mind how OUver Cromwell did his best to

destroy and utterly annihilate every beauteous thing belonging

:o the ancient Church, which had escaped the covetous eye

if Henry the Eighth, the wonder is, that so much has been left

wonder at.

Let us give honour where honour is due. In nearly every
;orner tlirougliout our land there still exists some touching
agment of a tale told in stone long ages ago, which few of us
light read unassisted by those keys, both of the pen and
ncil, which the toilers who have gone before laboured so
assiduously to leave to us ere the ravages of time should com-
plete the work of obliteration, so cruelly commenced by man, on
those nobly sculptured pages.

In like manner do those glorious manuscripts and chronicles
lie us to trace with accuracy, and to our editication, the
ijous origin and history of many a venerable monument in
Iiallnwed needlework, which we find faded, transformed, and
often misappropriated.

those

Knabl

^*pJOUf

€bmcb Itestments.

Therefore, honoured alike be the memory of historian and
artist, who, in spite of a wicked king's avarice and a misguided
Puritan's destroying hand, have secured to us yet records enough
of art in the true rehgion of the past to educate our eyes, and
enlarge our minds beyond the presumptuous belief that white-
washed walls and robeless priests do well enough for the worship of
the Creator, while His creatures raise for themselves luxurious
palaces, and adorned in costly garments and priceless jewels, are
content to live only in their own glorification. Too often " from
"this want of faith in things of God's appointment, are we only
"capable of receiving such as please our ears, through some idol
" man." And not unfrcquemly lacking charity, in every Christian
phase, even to the bestowal of the cup of cold water in His name.

As, after the so-called Reformation, everything which could
remind the people of the grand old Ritual of the past was
sedulously swept away, it is not remarkable that those of the
present day, who advocate the restoration of the Sacerdotal
Vesture of the early and incorrupt Church, should desire to
take their precedents from a period long anttrior to the
" second year of King Edward the Sixth."

In the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts we find beautifully illumin-
ated drawings of sacerdotal costume of a very early date in
England ; but little is to be discovered in writing respecting the
'just/orms of the sacred vestments prior to the Norman Conquest;
although, long before then, frequent mention is made of costly
gifts to different churches, including chasubles, copes, stoles,
albs, and the like.

As, for instance, King Ina, a.d. 708, who rebuilt Glastonbury
Abbey, loaded it with sumptuous sacred things.

Dugdale tells us : — " The old abbey church, which he had
" new built, he caused to be re-consecrated, and dedicated it to

Cdeir ©tiffin, a3se, ann SDrnament.

'** God, in honour of Christ, and the Apostles Peter and Paul.
** One of the chapels (supposed to be St. Joseph's) he garnished
aver with gold and silver, and gave to it ornaments and vessels
'* of gold and silver. The gold plate of the gift amounted to

* 333 lbs. weight, the silver to 2835 lbs. weight, besides the gold

* and precious gems embroidered in the celebraling vestments,

* according to the account that Speed gives us of this bene-

* faction; but, according to the relation that Stowe and the
"English martirologe give of it, it came to a great deal more,"

Again, it is recorded of Egelric, elected abbat of Croyland
in the year 984, that " He gave numerous vestments to the office

* of the sacrist, viz. : to every aitar in the church two chasubles,
*• one for Sundays, and another richer; to the choir twenty-four

' copes, six white, six red, six green, and six black ;" besides
clothing " the whole convent every year with gowns, every
** second year with hoods, and every third year with frocks, at

* his own expense."
" The doomed and often suffering, but always magnificent

** Croyland Abbey," must have been greatly enriched by vest-
ments. King Canute, on his return from Rome, a.d. 1032, was
met at Sandwich by Abbat Brithmcr of Croyland, who presented
him with two palfreys, upon which the king gave the abbat a
vestment of silk, interwoven with eagles of gold.

Meet cause must it have been for gratulation when, upon
the destruction of the abbey by fire in 1091, the contents of the
.sacred wardrobe, owing to the double stone roof of the vestry,
were found uninjured. Notwithstanding this valuable salvage,
the calamity was one to be for ever universally deplored ; for
not only did all the old charters of the Mercian kings perish in
rhe conflagration, but hundreds of other important historical
iocumcnts as well. On this sad occasion we read of relief being

Cburcti Ilcstments.

I
I

sent to the monks in the shape of "money,wheat,oxen,hogs, etc ;"
and that " even Juliana, a poor woman of Weston, gave a large
" quantity of wound thread to sew the vestments of the monks."
However trifling such a record as the latter may appear to
some, we are disposed to regard it as a striking proof of the
reverence in which such things were generally held in these
early simple-minded times, when a laic, whose poverty was great
enough to be remarked, tendered wliat, from her, must have
been so munificent an offering, for the seemly keeping of the
dress of the priestly office.

"A red cope ornamented with gold and jewels, commonly called
' Ibi et Ubi," valued at 100 marks ; a vestment ornamented with
the arms of England and France quarterly, with copes of the
same workmanship, which also cost 100 marks ; and silk em-
' broidered with falcons of gold, enough to make seven copes,
hich Abbat John Lytlington, his successor, made up."

Cbeir ©tiffin, ajsc, ano ©rnament.

Finally, it would be an injustice to this same Abbat Lytlington
were we to dismrss Croyland without mention of his emulation ot
Richard Upton in exemplary benefactions to the monastery.
iH« gave to it no fewer tlian nine copes of cloth of gold, embroi-
dered in curious /t-a/Zit-r-v/oTk, and valued at 140/. ; besides a
Suit of vestments of red and gold, consisting of three copes, with
, cliesiblc and three tunics, which cost 160/. These two sums
being equivalent to 6000/, in money of the present day.

Every page which we have turned in research for our subject
has kept us lingering over it with as much reverence for, as inte-
rest in, the people who, whatever might sometimes have been their
shortcomings as men to men, through those troubled ages of per-
secution, invasion, bloodshed, and every species of fearful worldly
warfare, from the apostolic times to far into the sixteenth century,
persistently and undeviatingly observed all the solemnities due
to God and our blessed Redeemer in the services of the Church ;
and contributed to, and maintained in becoming splendour,
every appointment of the sacred office of the Holy Eucharist, as
a first and last duty and privilege of the Christian profession.

Cheering, too, is it to find, that whether of the priesthood or
of the world, that man who was esteemed most excellent in other
fclarions of life, was ever the one to busy himself most about things
meet and magnificent for the worship of God in His Church.

Of such, may we suppose, was Garinus, Abbat of St. Alban's,
who, when all the chalices in England were called for to ransom
King Richard the First from the Germans, redeemed those
telonging to his monastery by the ready payment of aoo
narks.* He also gave to the abbey that wonderful purple cha-
able, so richly ornamented witli figures of birds, and embroi-
Icry in fine pearls, that no just value could be set upon it.

* An "III Etigliili Clin — ly. trf «l<;rlm(;.

€burcb Oestments.

It was this good man too, who, dying late in the twelfth
century, left loo marks for the renewal of the front of the
church. One of liis successors, Thomas de la Mare, in the
middle of the fourteenth century, was even more munificent
in liis gifts to the abbey. It is said that he spent enormously
on sacred plate and vestments, and that three mitres alone cost
him loo/.

By the records of Wells Cathedral, the foundation of which
was almost coeval with Glastonbury Abbey, we are informed of
great gifts bequeathed to it in the fifteenth century by Bishop
Beckington ; including four very cosdy vestments, 400/. to buy
copes, a bishop's chair with cushions, and other ornaments. The
adjacent abbey of Bath was also worthily remembered in his
will; for, besides much valuable plate, he left to it thirty copes
and other vestments.

" Nine mitres, some of them set with precious stones.

" Nine pairs of rich sandals,

" Eight croziers.

" Ten rich cushions.

" One hundred copes, most or all of them of the most costly
" silks, many embroidered, and many of cloth of gold and tissue
" besides most curious needlework and imagery.

iiHi

Cbcir ©tiffin, fllse. anD ©tnament.

" Eighteen amices ; and oitc hundred veshnents or chasubles,

with proportionate stoles, maniples, tunicks, datmaticks, albes,

corporals, canopies, etc."

We contemplate with natural wonder the profusion and cost-
liness of the vestments alone, after the manner just described,
belonging to our principal cathedrals and churches, when that
" most dread, victorious, sovereign lord, King Henry the Eighth''
issued his royal order for the surrender of their sacred effects to
his impious will.

No true Christian at any period could wish to realize the cruel
acts of demolition committed in Christian temples in that thirty-
first year of that most dread king's reign. It is enough to know
that nothing was held too sacred for his unworthy grasp. The
golden chalice was profanely snatched from the hands of the
priest officiating before God's holy altar, robbed of its jewels,
and then melted down to be converted into coin. Costly mitres
by the hundred were broken up for the sake of the pearls and
precious stones that garnished them j and the hallowed robes of
the Eucharistic sacrifice were rent by lawless hands, and their
beautiful needlework designs defaced and mutilated, that the rare
stuffs used in their formation might be turned into money, to
satisfy the lust of one unjust man's avarice.

After reading the inventories taken in 1539 of the sacerdotal
possessions of the monasteries in England, we find ourselves
ready to search everywhere, with the hope of meeting with the
merest shred by which we may recognise some one or other of
the sumptuous robes enumerated in those richly-filled lists.

Such as were comprised in that gift of Cardinal Beaufort, to
Winchester, of the "cope of needlework, wrought with gold and

pearls;" and the "one chysible, two tymasyles, and parel of y'

albcs of y* same work;" or but one of those countless suits of

Cbutcd Uesmmte.

" cliesible, tunicles, copes, albes, and stoles," described so fully in
the account of Peterborough.

Tlien again, from those copious lists of Lincoln Abbey, what
might it not serve us, could we but see, even in a faded and
tattered condition, but one of those " six copes of red velvet —
" one suit — broidered with angels, with the Scripture, ' Da gio-
" riam Deo,' with orphreys of needlework ; of the which four
" had four Evangelists in the morses, and the fifth a Lamb in
" the morse, and the sixth a white rose and an image in the
" morse." Or the " cop'e of red velvet, broidered with flowers
" and angels of gold, and two of them having this Scripture,
" ' Sanctls ;' in the morse, a tower ; in the hood, the Salutation
" of Our Lady."

We have sat picturing to ourselves the great beauty of that
gift of its sometime treasurer to Lincoln of the "white cloth
" chasuble, broidered with images and angels in gold, which had
" the Trinity worked in the back, with the Holy Ghost repre-
" sented in pearl, and divers pearls in other images." Tlie Eucha-
ristic garment, the chasuble, is here clearly distinguished in
richness from the dalmatics, or tunacles, as they are set down ;
for they are described as "of the same suit, without pearlsT It
is also worthy of note that such gifts almost invariably included,
as we find it here, tlie whole suit of robes for the three officiating
priests at the grand mass, viz. : the chasuble, two dalmatics,
three albes, and three amices, with corresponding stoles and
maniples.

A gift of the Countess of Westmoreland is recorded as — " A

Cfjeir SDrigin, Ose, anD ©tnamcnt.

** red chesable of cloth of gold, with branches of gold, and the

'** orphreys of green cloth, with two tunacles and three albes " etc.

And one from the Duchess of Lancaster, as^"A chesable of

red bawdkin, with orphreys of gold with leopards, powdered

with black trefoils, with two tunacles and three albes of the

same suit, with all their apparels." While still furtlier is the

same liberal hand commemorated by — " Twenty fair copes,

** every one of which had wheels of silver in the hoods. And a

" chesable of red velvet with Catherine wheels of gold, with

** two tunacles and three albes, with all the apparels of the

** same suit."

Some very chaste examples of ancient English vestments
exist in the possession of different members of our Catholic
nobility and gentry ; but, with few exceptions, these old sacred
robes are now jealously kept from exhibition, with reverence, and
a sort of atoning care for the neglect and ill-usage of three long
.centuries of scorn and condemnation. In the Great Exhibition
(rf 1862 some of these were shown; one of them a cope of
fourteenth-century work, belonging to Mount St. Mary's,
Chesterfield, whicli Dr. Rock thus described :—

" No. 3,002. A very rich crimson velvet cope, of great beauty
"as a specimen of English needlework embroidered in gold, with
** subjects much after the fashion of the Syon vestment, and
" most admirably executed, but without any heraldry about it.
**One striking peculiarity is, that the angels carry stars in their
•* hands or lying on their laps. This incident refers to the
"subject figured in the centre part on the back — the coming to
** Bethlehem of the three wise men, wearing crowns of kings, the
'** foremost of whom is pointing with his outstretched right
■"hand up to the leading star a little way off, above them. From
'*• some remnants it would seem that once certain parts of this

Cbutcti illestnicnts.

" As we behold it now, it furnishes us with one out of so many
"sad instances of the vandalism by which thousands of such
"admirable art-works of the English needle have been snatched
"away. The creature who once owned this precious cope cut
" it up piecemeal, and gave parts away. Some of it was ruth-
"lessly employed as the covering for a cushion, and heedlessly
" knocked about. Not long ago a man, the Rev. W. Clifford,
"of wider heart and warmer feelings for his country's mediieval
" productions, sought out with untiring labour, and got together
" as many shreds as possible of this fine old English embroidery ;
"and after great toil joined them as well as might be, filling up
" the gaps with coloured sketches of the wanting fragments,
" done in excellent taste upon the new linen lining of the restored
" cope."

" No. 3,00 j. A' magnificent cope of cloth of gold, figured
" with bold, widely-spreading foliage dotted with small gold
" spots, and ornamented all about with portcullises crowned and
"red roses. The lower hem is bordered with collars of SS
"and portcullises; and no doubt this is one of 'the whole suit
" of vestments and coopies of cloth of gold tissue, wrought
"with our badges of red roses and portcullises, the which we of
"late caused to be made at Florence, in Italy,' which our
" King Henry the Seventh, in his will, bequeathed ' to God and

Cbeit ©tiffin, a3sc, anD ©rnamcnt.

St. Peter, and to the abbot and prior and convent of our

monastery of Westminster,' etc. — Tcstanmita Vettisla, ed.

Nicolas, t. i,, p. 2i7i' Perhaps the design of this cope was

furnished by Torrigiano, and, through his procurement, the
** whole and large set of vestments was woven at Florence. The
"orphrey and hood are of poor English embroidery, and

unworthy of the cope, and in all likelihood not the originals.

Florentine tissue of the end of the fifteenth or beginning of
** the sixteenth century."

The cope belonging to Sir Robert Throckmorton, also
exhibited in 1862, was very fine : it was of purple velvet, pow-
dered with double-headed eagles, beautifully embroidered in
Enghsh work of the fifteenth century, with much gold about the
orphrey, the hood, and the morse. Very good photographs of
this cope, and of some other vestments of like beauty, are to be
had at South Kensington.

We have enjoyed the privilege of restoring, or, more properly,
preserving in our time many sacred garments, interesting and
old as some of those just described.

id" beauty, which some fifteen years ago received much of

ir care and attention ; Silvertop, Esq., of Minster Acres,

mother.

We could name many others which have an equal claim upon
lur veneration ; but without descriptions, for which we have not
pace, a mere enumeration of all the ancient vestments we have
liad the happiness to pass our working fingers over, would be

,uding ourselves, and bringing no profit to our readers.

Cfturcb aestments.

One of these tine uld records in needlework must not,
Iiowever, be passed over. It consisted of some vestments which
were submitted to us a few years since by J. Baker Gabb, Esq.,
of Abergavenny. They were brouglit from the old religious
house of Perthir, where, iii the most retired part of Monmouth-
shire, the English Franciscans preserved in penal times many
most curious relics of better days.

They are said, with some degree of probability, to have been
used originally in the very ancient parish church of St. John, at
Abergavenny, now no longer a church, but the grammar-school
of the town.

The most curious of these ancient embroidered robes is a
chasuble of mixed work of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
turies ; probably effected, wlien the embroidery was transferred
from its primitive ground, by the indiscriminate use of the
needlework of two vestments of different periods, with a view
to making one chasuble superlatively rich in ornament ; or
possibly commenced in one generation, and carried through
some others to its completion, as was most common in meditcval
times, when a piece of church-work was always in hand by some
member, or members, of nearly every family.

If the task was left undone when its originators were called
away, it was piously proceeded with by tlie next branch, who
again might not be spared to its accomplishment. Still, a suc-
ceeding member would take it up, and so on to its consummation.

On the vestment in question, the fourteenth century is illus-
trated by a powdering of cherubs on wheels, lilj-pots, and fleur-

Cfieir ©rigin, Qse, anB ©mamcnt.

ide-lis. The fifteenth century is evidenced by the wide Latin
■cross, displaying the Crucifixion, with angels receiving the
blood, from the arms and side of our Lord, in chalices.

Beneath the Calvary are canopied figures, as upon the pillar in
front, which is also powdered bj- Ely flowers, gracefully en-
riched by scrolls of gold. Its ground is crimson velvet, now
somewhat faded, to which it has evidently been transferred a
century or more ago, and the lovely work most cruelly mal-
treated in the process.

The original design had, doubtless, been spread over a full
and majestic chasuble, but it is cut up on all sides to accommo-
date it to the miserably narrow shape of the eighteenth century,
upon which it comes before us. The mischievous scissors have
gone hissing, as though very Pagans had guided them, through
every symbol dear to Christian eyes, and have even cut the lower
canopied figure of the dorsal cross in half, to make the work fit
rticety round the stunted garment of this epoch of ugliness.*

The embroidery had been tolerably well preserved, and simply
required mending here and there; in other respects it remains
OS when we first saw it, and as shown on Plates \ i and 13,

The work upon another of these chasubles is altogether of the
fifteenth century, and a fine example of its time. The ground,
Upon which wc found it, had been a superb crimson and gold
ijrocade velvet, the pile of which crumbled under the touch.

When ihc ancient calhedral church ot Waterford wns demolished for the purpose of

ting ihe present wrctcheil pile of building, a complete fxX. of cloth-or-golii vestmenls

> discovered, of the most exquisite dc^gn and enrichments. Th<se were given to t?ie

CnboUc bishop and cler^ nf the time, and being in a sufficient stale nf pre»[va(ion for

llirjr actually cut llie chuublet to the muderti French form, and sliced out whole

es froin ihe needlework orphreys. One set of these vestmenls in Iheir present dis-

od itale wetc pTrsenled by the Earl of Shrewsbury 1o St. Mary's College, Uicoll, anil

preiwnt, among Ihe nther ecclesiastical antiquiliei, a sinking evidence of ancient excellence

degeneracy." — /higin, 1844,

Ct)e aib.

that the white linen alb was never relinquished for the costly
coloured robe of that name, but worn beneath the latter. We
have no written authority for this conclusion ; but in old manu-
scripts discover figures clothed in apparelled albs, and above
them coloured garments, which are certainly neither tunicles nor
dalmatics. For not only do they take the form of the white
alb, but we know that, from the subject of the picture, the
figures could only be vested in albs.

The alb, " the closely-fitting fine white lawn garment, reaching
" from the neck to the feet, and confined by a girdle," is faith-
fully pictured on Plate 2, in the procession of St. Alban's
shrine, copied from the original of Matthew Paris in the Cot-
tonian library. These figures show the alb ii> its most simple
and beautiful form, and as we would like to see it worn by every
priest at the present day. Even the very earliest kind of orna-
mentation of the alb, the border around the bottom, is absent
from these; and yet how graceful and dignified they are, and
how literally they resemble what we can imagine was suggested
to the first Christians, as the raiment worn by the seven angels of
the Apocalypse, who " came out of the temple clothed in pure

and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden

girdles."

Anciently it was the custom of the Christian Church to so-
lemnize the holy rite of Baptism on the eve of Easter-day, when
to each of the newly baptized was given a pure white robe, to be
worn through the eight following days. The Easter week was
called Alba^ and the Octave of Easter-day, when the baptized
put oflT their white dresses, was called " Dominica in albis de-
** positis."

The first coloured decoration of the alb was carried all round
the lower part of the robe, and consisted of bands or stripes of

^^ 35

C&utcl) CJestmcnts.

scarlet, which were often made of silk with fringes of gold.
Anastasius the librarian enumerates several albs of this enriched
character which, among other gifts, were offered by the King of
the Saxons to the church of St. Peter at Rome. Figs, i and 4, on
Plate 9, show the most primitive form of the border round the
alb ; while fig. 3, on the same Plate, and fig. i, on Plate 8, illus-
trate the next stage in the adornment of the originally plain white
garment.* The square-sided pieces of rich stuffs called apparels
placed before and behind at the lower part of the alb, and upon
the sleeves, were not brought into use until that period in the
thirteenth century when ornament of all kinds began to be
lavishly bestowed upon every exalted object, whether sacred
profane.

These apparels of the priest's alb were either formed of the same
gorgeous material as the chasuble; or they were beautifully
embroidered in geometrical figures and scrolls on costly gold
fabrics ; or they were figured in rare needlework with holy
subjects, graphically descriptive of the high festival upon which
the particular alb was to be expressly worn.

Latterly, the practice has become general of forming the
apparels of the alb of rich silk lace, woven for the purpose.
There being no arbitrary rule for the dimensions of these
woven apparels, they are made of various sizes and widths, but
always of an oblong shaj)e.

Fourteen inches by 8 arc good medium proportions for the
skirt apparels, and 6 inches by 4 for those of the wrist. Occa-
sionally we have seen an apparel on the breast of the robe,

• When Adelinade licUmoDl ivcnl with [lie wife of the Conqueror lo visit the abbcfof
St. Kvroul, she presenled lo the church ".in alb richly .idomed with orfrais." The chro-
nicler, Vitalis, further says, thai tiiis gannenl wns especinlly worn by the priest at llic colebta-
tion of (he Mass.

C&e aib.

an addition by some believed to be essential to complete the
figure of the five wounds of our Lord, asserted as originally
symbolized by the apparels on the alb.

This tradition may, or may not, be accepted. It is rendered
doubtful to us by the fact that an apparel was at one time sewn
on the upper part of the back of the garment, as well as upon
the breast ; thus showing six separate pieces, and greatly con-
fusing the beautiful idea of the figure of theyfrv sacred wounds.

In most churches at this moment, the alb apparels are not in
general use, but are reserved for the enrichment of the garment
on great festivals. As was very much the custom in ancient
times.

Whether the alb has apparels or not, it is now nearly always
worn by every priest, who ignores the transparent lace border,
ornamented by a border of chain-stitch or other cottonl em-
broiderj', worked all round the bottom of the skirt, and ^bout
the wrists. '

These borders are wrought either in red cotton or in red and
blue mixed through the pattern, and sometimes, but rarely, in
white cotton only.

The origin of coloured chain-stitch on the alb may perhaps be
traced to the custom of embroidering the under linen garments
of the people of rank in the middle ages with delicate borders of
colour. The cambric shirt of the youthful Prince Arthur, eldest
son of Henry the Seventh, is one among the many unique relics
of antiquity belonging to Sir Edward Gage of Hengravc. This
truly historical treasure, is in a most perfect condition, and exqui-
sitely worked in a marvellously cunning stitch, and elegant
pattern, with fine dark-blue silk down each seam, and about the
neck and shoulders. The little collar, aliout i inches wide, is a
gem in design and needlecraft.

€t\iut filestmcnts.

The alb bordered, or more properly Hoimced, with transparent
lace is a Hbel on rhe pure white robe of the primitive Christians.
Even though the costliest lace be used for its adornment, yet is
it deficient in the sacred simplicity of character of the original
garment. But when we see those deep borders of flimsy mere-
tricious manufacture, which many of us would disdain for
window curtains, hanging about the feet of the ministers at
God's altar, we fain would ask for means large enough, and
liands numerous enough, to offer an alb made after the only
true model to every priest who might be willing to accept it.

The magnificent alb of Point d'Alen^on, presented to Pope
Pius the Ninth by Eugenie, Empress of the French, is said to
be the wonder of the age in lace. Not only is the pattern
exquisitely beautiful, but it is the finest specimen of Point
D'Alenqon ever made in one piece. Its cost, as may be sup-
posed, was enormous.

The pious spirit that prompted such a gift cannot be over-
estimated, for we all know that Eugenie is good as she is great ;
but with all reverence for the recipient, and admiration for the
donor, we cannot forbear thinking that a fine lawn alb, worked
by her own kind hands, would have found as much favour in the
eyes of his Holiness as the costly robe of Point D'Alentjon,
which the mere wealth of any other empress might buy.

A curious alb in the South Kensington Museum is minutely
described, as follows, by Dr. Rock, in his Catalogue of "Textile
" Fabrics," already mentioned, page 29, as in course of publica-
tion : —

"8710

" Alb of white linen appareled at the cuffs, and before and
" behind at the feet, with crimson and gold stuff figured with
" animals and floriations of the looms of Palermo. Sicilian,

^H "' shape
^H collai

" fourteenth century. 5 feet 7 inches long, 4 feet across the
" shoulders, whhout the sleeves.

" For those curious in liturgical appliances, this fine alb of the
" medieval period will be a valuable object of study, though
" perhaps not for imitation in tlie way in wluch it is widened at
" the waist. Its large opening at the neck — i foot 44 inches —
" is somewhat scalloped, but without any slit down the front, or
" gatherings, or band. On each shoulder, running down i foot
" 3y inches, is a narrow piece of crochet-work inscribed in red
" letters with the names 'Jesus,' ' Maria.' The full sleeves, from
" I foot 6 inches wide, are gradually narrowed to 6^ inches at
'* the end of the apparels at the cuffs, which are 4 inches deep,
" atjd edged with green hnen tape. At the waist, where it is
" 3 feet 10 inches, it is made, by means of gatherings upon a
" gusset embroidered with a cross-crosslet in red thread, to widen
" itself into 6 feet, or 12 feet all round. Down the middle,
" before and behind, as far as the apparels, is let in a narrow
'* piece of crochet-work hke that upon the shoulders, but unin-
" scribed. The two apparels at the feet — one before, the other
'* behind — vary in their dimensions ; one measuring i foot i inch
" by I foot 1 3 inches ; the other, which is made up of fragments,
" I foot by 111 inches. Very elaborate and freely designed is
" the heraldic pattern on the rich stuff which forms the apparels.
" The ground is of silk, now faded, but once a bright crimson,
" or a t\e\fl g^u/es : the figures, all in gold or or, are an eagle in
" demi-vol, langued, with a ducal crown, not upon, but over its
" head; above this is a mass of clouds with pencils of sun-rays
" darting from beneath them all around ; higher up again, a
" collared hart lodged, with its park set between two large bell-
shaped, seeded, drooping flowers, beneath each of which is a dog
collared and courant. P'or English antiquaries, it may be

Cf)utc{) 9Iedtment0*

" interesting to know, that upon the mantle and kirtle in the
" monumental effigy of King Richard the Second, in Westminster
" Abbey, the hart as well as the cloud with rays are both figured
" as the pattern on those royal garments, and well shown in the
" valuable, but unfinished, * Monumental Effigies of Great
" Britain,' by the late brothers Hollis.

" This alb is figured, but not well with regard to the apparels,
" by Dr. Bock, in his * Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewander
" des Mittelalters,' 4 Lieferung, pi. iii. fig. i.**

We have been at some pains to secure for our book the
model of an alb which comes as nearly as possible to the old
form we love so well. On Plate 3 it is shown. The officiating
priests at the altar in the frontispiece exhibit it to advantage
beneath the sacrificial robes. Subjoined are the dimensions of
the correct plain lawn alb for a figure of middle height and
ordinary proportions : —

10 ft. wide, and made, without gores or slope of
any kind from top to bottom, of four breadths
of fine lawn of 30 in. wide.

Length behind when made ....

Length before .....

Depth of shoulder band ....

Width of same .....

Length of sleeve, outside of arm ,

Width of sleeve at wrist, folded in two, w/ien
made ......

Width of sleeve half way up . , .

Width of sleeve at top ....

Sleeve gussett 5^ in. square, wlie7i made.

Length of neck-band ....

Width of same .....

4 ft. 9 in.
4 ft. 5 in.
8^ in.
li in.
2ft. i^ in.

6^ in.
9^ in.
II in.

2 ft. 2j in.
li in.

THE CORREiJT ALB

Cbe aid*

Opening down front, which is a simple slit
with a narrow hem down one side, and one

rather wider to lap over on the other . . 13^ in.

Hem of skirt and of wrist .... i J in. wide.

Needlework border, above hem of skirt . . \ * a

' ( wide.

„ „ above hem of sleeve . i^ to 3 in.

Plate 35 suggests designs for borders in chain-stitch for albs.

Cbittc!) aicstments.

THE GIRDLE.

' I *HE Girdle is used by every priest to confine his alb. In
^ ancient times it was not only as "the curious girdle of
" the ephod" made of "gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet,
" and fine twined linen," but was often richly embroidered, and
embellished with precious stones.

Originally, the girdle was not formed as now of a twisted cord,
but resembled in make and ornamentation the flat and somewhat
broad belts or zones with which we are so familiar in illustra-
tions of regally-arrayed figures of the middle ages, only that the
latter hung down in two long ends in front of the wearer, while
that of the priest terminated in front by the hook or the clasp
which fastened it about the waist. The will of the Conquerors
wife contains the following bequest: —

" I give to the abbey of the Holy Trinity my tunic worked at
" Winchester by Alderet's wife, and the mantle embroidered
"with gold, which is in my chamber, to make a cope. Of my
" two golden girdles, I give that which is ornamented with
" emblems for the purpose of suspending the lamp before the
"great altar."

In various parts of holy writ the use of the girdle is indicated
and enjoined. The Eternal Father deigned to signalize, over and
over again, the girdle which was to be made for Aaron, " to

C5e ^^irnie.

" minister unto Him in the priest's office." The prophet Isaiah^
in his foreshadowng of the ^Messiah, speaks of that y-ightcons-
n€5S2iiiA faithfulness^ which shall be \ht gird/t of His loins.

Our blessed Lord himself exhorts His disciples to " let their
" loins be girded about, and their lights burning T and St. Paul,
in his Epistle to the Ephesians, bids them stand in " the whole
" armour of God, ha\'ing their loins girt about with truth.*'

It is this girdle, witli all its glorious precedents and attributes,
which the holy Church, in her desire to perpetuate the use of
all things that have a sacred import, orders to be worn at this
day, the same as in the beginning, as a part of the sacerdotal
garments in which every priest of the altar must be vested before
he can officiate at the solemn sen-ice of the Mass.

Dr. Rock, in speaking of the girdle, says : — " Ver}' appropri-
ately is it made a portion of the ceremonial attire belonging to
the sanctuar}% and is eloquently emblematical of that chastity
" and unsullied purity with which both priest and people should
anxiously endeavour to array themselves before they dare to
pass the threshold of a temple sacred to the Lord of spotless
" holiness ; * Gird,' says the minister, as he binds it on, * gird my
" reins, O Lord, with the girdle of purity ; extinguish in my
" heart the fire of concupiscence ; and may the flames of thy
** holy love consume every earthly affi^ction, everything therein
" that is unworthy of thee.' "

Although a girdle of silk, of the colour of the day, is admis-
sible, and in some places such is always used by the bishop, yet
that which is in general use is white. It should never be made
of .anything inferior to linen thread, and should measure from
1 2 to 2 inches in circumference.

Its tassels may be 6 inches deep, inclusive of the top ; its cord,
4 yards long.

G 41

Cbutct) Oe0tment0*

The best girdles are those, at present made in some convents,*
of plaited or twined linen tape, with tassels formed of the purest
linen thread. The tops of these tassels should be made soft, of
the solid flaxen material : upon no account must they be worked
over a wooden mould.

* At the Franciscan convent at Taunton these girdles are made to perfection, as also arc
rochets, albs, surplices, amices, etc.

Cbe C&asufile.

THE CHASUBLE.

' I "HE following are tlie different terms by which the sacrificial
•^ robe has been called since its origin.

Panula, from the covering or cloak of ihat name in use
among the Romans when Christianity was in its infancy.
Planeta, from the Greek, signifying vastness in a circular form.
Ciiasitble, from the Latin casitla, meaning a little hut ; and
appHed to the garment, from the figure being entirely enveloped
by it, as in a house or dwelhng.

The word C/wsiiU; or Chysible, as we find it indiscriminately
written in the middle ages, is of course synonymous with
ChasttbUy the now generally accepted term for the sacred
vestment.

Nothing positive is known concerning the garment worn by
the apostles and their priestly successors, in the performance of
the Eucharistic service, during the first days of the Christian dis-
pensation. For although the cloak of St. Paul, which he left at
Troas with Carpus, is surmised by some writers to have been
the holy vestment, yet there is no direct authority for regarding
this as anything more than a mere probability.

The paenula was a garment of a simple circular shape, with a

piece cut out of the centre to allow the head to pass through,

id was made large enough to fall about in soft rich folds, while

Cburcb Vestments.

it nearly enveloped the person of the wearer. Its use in Rome
succeeded that of the toga, and from its amplitude and encom-
passing form, it was doubtless one of-the most chaste, and unas-
suming inappearancf, of the secular robes of the period. Hence,
we may understand why the early Christians adopted it as best
fitted to be worn during their sacred offices ; regarding it, at one
and the same time, as symbolical in its roundness and fulness of
the never-ending joys of the faithful followers of the Saviour, and
the plenitude of the love of the Eternal Father.

Dr. Rock, in his " Ciuirch of our Fathers," beautifully
expresses the symbolism of the primitive chasuble, when he
writes of it as " a speaking emblem of unity in faith, being un-
" divided at the sides, and of charity, that far-reaching love for
" God and man shown by a holy life; the uppermost vestment
" of bishop and of priest, so large, so wide, and spreading itself
" all about the wearer, aptly did it betoken that virtue which,
" above all others, should ever shine out through all the actions
" of the good and worthy churchman."

It will at once be seen on Plate 4 how completely the figure
within the circular chasuble was confined, and hidden as it were,
until the arms were raised in sacred action, when the robe,
turned up in massive folds over the shoulders, as shown on the
same Plate, and the rest of the dress arranged itself naturally
about the person of the priest, in a stately and majestic manner,
such as few modern vestments can bring to our minds.

When the chasuble was worn thus large, the deacon held up
its side, during the elevation, and other solemn parts of the
service, to relieve the arms of tlie celebrant ; and thus, an act,
which was at one time really one of necessity, is now, owing to
the curtailed dimensions of the vestment, practised as a mere
symbol of an old usage. In former times, too, the celebrant

C5e €bMuh\t.

allowed the chasuble to cover him entirely, keeping his hands
beneath its enveloping folds during the Confiteor ; after which
the assistant priests raised the sides of the vestment, and affixed
the maniple to the left arm.

Some of the ancient chasubles must have been of great size,
judging from such accounts as that of the Dipt}xh Chasuble of
the church of St. ApoUinaris, in the city of Ravenna, which
commemorated in needlework thirty-five bishops of the church
of Verona, with the archangels Michael and Gabriel, besides
other saints. The length of this vestment behind was 6 feet
8 inches, while the front measured 6 feet.*

In the early days of the Church, another kind of chasuble was
in simultaneous use with the ordinary Eucharistic robe of that
name, and from which it differed but in one particular, viz.,
that it was /looded, and appointed to be worn only during solemn
processions in the open air.

We can trace this custom of wearing the hooded chasuble in
England no farther than the seventh centur}. Probably, its use
may have continued later, although we have no records left to
prove the fact ; for it was certainly not relinquished in France
till the close of the ninth centur\-.

The late A. W. Pugin, in his " Glossarj^ of Architecture,*"
published in 1844, gave us a standard for the shape and size of
the principal Eucharistic vestments, which ever since has been
more or less adhered to in the exercise of true taste in sacerdotal
ornament.

* " Respecting the ancient restment at Ravenna, of which only a few fragments riow
•• renmin, its texture of silver and silk is of a later introduction into the manufaciurc of
*' Church vestments than that of gold. Salmasius says that silver tissue was nm ma/lc, or
•• used in churches, till the times of the last Byzantine emperor-. TIjc chr)'v>cUv<: of this
•• vestment is, howc%'er, of gold embroidery ; and the work sucH as niu^-t ha\c r«.-v:rn!;I<:'!
•* solid gold, whidi appears to be the general character c/thc old chr>'vx,lavc."— //^ /K /'//.//«,
1844.

Cburtb iacstmentis.

This standard was suggested by Dr. Daniel Rock : the
chasuble delineated should have Seen an exact copy of one of the
fourteenth century, which the Doctor met with in the Treasury
of the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle.*

He relates how, upon his return to England, he had a purple
silk chasuble made after tliis fine old model, and ornamented in
like manner by an orphrey of pearls ; and also had the apparels
for alb and amice wrought with white silk on a purple ground
to match the chasuble, copying the design for these apparels from
the grave brass in Westminster Abbey, of Waldeby, Archbishop
of York,

These vestments were lent to Mr. Pugin, who had counter-
parts of them made, which were again imitated and brought into
use throughout the Midland district; and until now, we were
assured that it was from these the dimensions of chasuble, etc.,
represented as examples of the true old form, on Plate 2 of his
beautiful Glossary, were actually taken.

Even the original of the chasuble above mentioned is of a date
long subsequent to that when the perfectly circular vestment was
worn; but it is certainly of a form equally fine, and near enough
to the ancient outline to be as distinguished for its sacred
purpose.

From the earliest days of the Christian priesthood till now, the
chasuble has been the especial robe given to the servants of the
Lord at their ordination. And no true Catholic priest, we arc
authorized to say, has ever yet dared to celebrate the Holy Mass

• We have but recently exnmineil ihi* ve-slnicnl, nnd are lliererore in a position to say,
confidently, thai it differs material))' from the chasuble of the Pugin Blandanl. The former,
measuring fiom the neck, being 33 inches deep al ihc shoulder ; the lalter, barely 20 indies.
Although the proportions laid down by I'vigin conslilute a fine symmetrical shape, yet we
prefer its prototype, as shown, Plate 14, for ils amplitude, wliich invesli the j>arnieul with
sa much more dignity.

CfjE CftasiitJle.

divested of this garment, consecrated for liis highest office in the
Church. So far back as the year 606, we arc informed from tlie
Life of St. Austin, written by Gosselinus, that " St. Augustine, the

* apostle of England, at the ordination of his beloved scholar

* (S. Livinus), presented him with a tender pledge and memorial
** of his affection, viz., a purple chasuble, a presage of his
" glorious martyrdom, bordered with gold and jewels, emblems
" of Saints' virtues." — Pugin.

It is probable that the slight alterations effected in the chasuble
from its first adoption by the priesthood to the fifteenth century
were mainly owing to the progressive changes which took place
1 architectural detail.

If we accept this hypothesis, we have but to refer, first to
manuscripts, and then to the effigies on still existing old monu-
ments in our different cathedrals and churches, to be enabled to
trace the melting away, as it were, of the round arch of the
planeta of the early Roman Christians, to the elegant lines which
are presented to us in the favoured vesica piscis shape of the old
Eucharistic vestment of Aix-Ia-Chapelle.

The late A.W. Pugin, while speaking of the vesica form of
the chasuble of the middle ages, suggests that, "this shape may
*' have been partially selected in reference to its symbolical signi-
" fication of our Lord's mystical name." This conjecture is quite
as reasonable as, and perhaps more consistent than, our own
supposition ; still, we may not be far wrong in concluding, that
to reverence for a pious tradition, combined with that true taste
for the beautiful, in ecclesiastical design, which certainly had
attained its climax in the fourteenth century, may be ascribed
the elegant and symmetrical outline of the purely Gothic
chasuble.

In the "Church of our Fathers," Dr. Rock gives engravings

Cburcg Vestments.

of two bishops of Ravenna, from mosaics of the sixth century,
considering these " the earliest work of art in which the sacrificial
" chasuble is unmistakably shown." These figures are exhibited
on Plate 5.

The next link, in evidence of the continued dignified shape of
the sacred robe, may be seen on Plate 6. The sketch is from
the original of Matthew Paris, as instanced by Strutt, who thus
explains the subject : " Offa the Second having sent a message
" to the Pope for leave to transfer the bishopric of Canterbury
" to Lichfield {in his own dominions), Eadulphus is made the
" first archbishop."

Dr. Rock supposes the old Nnrman chasuble of St. Regnobert
at Bayeux to be exactly the same as that worn by the Anglo-
Saxon priests, and decidedly the type of the earliest continental
chasuble. As a confirmation of this, he gives an illustration of
the chasuble of St. Thomas of Canterbury, at Sens, borrowed
from " Shaw's Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages."

This vestment, shown on Plate 7, exhibits a most perfect
exemplification of the "flower."

St. Thomas of Canterbury's chasuble is described as 3 feet
10 inches deep; its shape formed from the half of a perfect
circle, folded to bring the two even sides together, which were
sewn up to the top of the breast, and then sloped gradually round
to the back of the neck. So that there should be no other seam
but that down the front, and no opening but that to pass the
head through. A piece is also cut away at the bottom of the
front, diminishing from a inches deep at the seam to a mere
shaving towards the sides ; causing the vestment to be, most
properly, somewhat shorter before, than behind.

Owing to the fulness of this robe of circular form, it was
necessarily drawn up in folds, when the arms otthe wearer were
48

Jf"''

€bc Cbasutile.

aised, from its lower extremity to the shoulders, leaving the
lUrface of the stuff, around and about the neck, comparatively
smooth and plain. To our minds, this was the original
cause for the vestment being embroidered over the breast
and upper part of the back with the ornament called the
" flower ;" and may also have been the primary reason for the
loose pendent orphrey observable in some of the oldest foreign
examples of vestment adornment.

It has been suggested that the loose orphrey may have existed
apart from the chasuble, for the purpose of being readily shifted
or changed. Perhaps so. Still, we cannot resist inclining to the
notion that the orphrey was left unattached, save to the upper
part of the vestment, that the ornamental work upon it might
lose none of its value in effect ; while, on the other hand, if fixed
to the robe, it would be puckered up when the arms were
elevated, and most of its richness concealed.

The orphrey, from " aurifrigium," indicative of beauty and
splendour, took the place, as we have already said, of the bands
called c/am\ used for decorating the ordinary dresses of the
ancient Romans. And, as thus the claims of the people was
in course of time abandoned by the Christian priesthood for the
more distinguishing orphrey, so, again, the latter began to take
other forms of arrangement on the vestment.

The earliest deviation from the straight band was what we now
term the Y cross. And here again was the fitting opportunity
for displaying the most elaborate needlework for the perfection
of the " flower," within the fork of the Y. as illustrated on Plate 7.
Dr. Rock, in alluding to the Anglo-Saxon chasuble, and "its
" curious and richly-embroidered ornament called the * flower,' "
writes so picturesquely about it that we must follow him word
for word.

Cburcb aicstments.

He says, "The most beautiful and rarest stuffs were sought
" after to make this vestment, and often was it ornamented in a
" way which for some hundreds of years has ceased to be
"generally followed. This pecuhar adornment, or 'flower,' as
" they called it, consisted of a mass of rich golden needlework,
" which spread itself in broad thick branches, sometimes before,
" all over the breast, and always behind upon the higher part of
" the back and about the shoulders of the chasuble, while all
" around its neck ran a broad band of gold studded with jewels."

Among Carter's specimens of English Ecclesiastical Costume,
published in Fosbroke's "British Monachism," there is a careful
sketch from the sculpture of a bishop, exquisitely vested, found
in Peterborough Cathedral. The date is supposed to be very early
in the twelfth century. The chasuble is adorned with the
" flower," rising and expanding from the waist to the collar, in
richly embroidered foliage ; while down the front is a straight
unfigured orphrey, exemplifying the " Tau" or X cross on the
breast of the figure. This orphrey being wholly attached to
the robe, is partly drawn up with it, owing to the position of
the hands, one of which holds the pastoral staff, the other a
closed book.

The alb is represented as richly ornamented with a flowing
pattern, arranged in vertical bands of some inches deep, up the
lower part of the skirt. It is impossible to conceive anything
more ecclesiastically chaste and dignified than the apparel of this
figure. A representation of it is gr\-en on Plate 8.

On the same page, in the above work, Mr. Carter shows the
Y cross in an inverted form, on the sacred garment, as discovered
on the monument of a priest in Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire,
surmising it to be coeval with the before-named effigy. Wc
believe it to be a degree nearer to Anglo-Saxon times than that.

C&e Cbasuble,

From the rigidly plain form of the robes, and the total absence
of ornament, excepting the inverted cross, through every portion
of them, we presume to date this figure as early as the eleventh
century. This will also be found on Plate 8.

Very few examples of the vestment enriched by the beauteous
embroidery of the " flower," are to be met with after the close
of the twelfth century.

About this period we begin to find the Y cross formed of
orphrcys of rare needlework ; gorgeous in colour, and massive,
with inserted plates of gold and silver enamelled. A border of
the like work is carried all around the chasuble, and its collar,
or orphrey of amice, rendered even more conspicuous, "for
•* glory and for beauty," than heretofore, by elaborate embroidery,
mysteriously wrought to dispute effects of light and shade, with
the gold- and precious stones, so regally bestowed about it-
Alb, dalmatic, stole, maniple, and cope, are made to match
with the Eucharistic robe in luxuriant adornment, and from this
time for nearly three centuries, did this splendour in sacerdotal
dress continue with unabated brilliancy.

The straight Latin cross on the back of the chasuble did not
fully obtain in England till late in tlie fourteenth century.
Then, on its somewhat wide orphreys, figures of saints were
worked in a less conventional manner, and holy symbols were
also represented in a more literal sense than formerly. Sacred
embroidery, too, following closely on the footsteps of drawing
and painting, became finer and more studied in execution, as
the subjects it was employed upon were brought nearer to
Nature, and consequently required more delicate handling for
their just development.

Holy and solemn as the Latin cross is in itself, and in other
positions, we are bold enough to say that, in a spiritual sense, we

Cgurcf) Utstmtnts.

consider it less refined, as a figure extending over the vestment,
than the more mysterious symbol of the old Y shape.

It is not for us, liowever, to give examples for the adornment
of the chasuble to the exclusion of the plain cross. Highly
esteemed and indisputable authorities on the principles of taste
in sacred art have shown as much favour to the use of the
straight cross on the sacrificial garment as to that of the older
form ; and we, undoubtedly, shall do our duty best to our
readers by assisting them to represent in all ways the unique
symbol of our redemption, which can never be too often before
our eyes.

This application of the Latin cross may account in a great
degree for the curtailment of the ample proportions of the
chasuble; for although the front of the vestment had been
much lessened in the twelfth century, as instanced on Plate 9,
yet the back, as these and other figures show, remained full and
uncut for a far longer period ; even until the Y cross had
begun to fall into disuse.*

One beautiful figure of the fruitfulness of the cross of sal-
vation was at one time rejiresented in a richly embroidered tree,
springing from tlie lowermost border of the deep back of the
chasuble, and rearing itself with many spreading branches, over
the shoulders, to the collar. This design is occasionally, though
not frequently, found on the vestment of the period of transition,
particularly abroad, from the Y orphreys to the bold Latin
cross.

* The malerial point in which the Pugin chsEuble differs in conslniction from tlie more
primitive vestmenf, which it was intended to figure, is in being mi on thi diral mm of
the matecinl, at the shoulders, and joined up afterwards. By ihis expedient the length of the
robe is not curlaited, while its circumference is narrowed, that it may sit about the neck and
over the back wlthaut folds ; an esKntisl circumstance, we own, where the prindpal adoni.
niciit of the chasuble is comprised in the form of a large Lnlin cross,

CHASUBLE OF 5' THOMAS OF CANTERBURY
Pzeseryed at Sens

€be CtMsutile.

A modem writer has piously and apdy said, speaking of the
adornment of the chasuble, with the device which figured the
cross as a blossoming tree : " The cross once a mark of shame
is now a symbol of glorj', its lifeless arms have blossomed
abundantly and brought forth the fruit of our salvation."
The human representation of the Saviour upon the Cross
was not favoured till long after the Lamb had been accepted
and used as the type of every Divine attribute of our slain Re-
deemer. At first, only the sacred bust was introduced, either
above or below the cross, on the centre of which was the Agnus
Dei. Then the entire figure of our Lord was shown, draped in
the long Byzantine robe, by some called the seamless shirt, but
not fixed upon the cross. Aften^ards, from the t\%elfth to the
fourteenth centur}% the figure appears as on Plate i o, clothed ^^ith
a kind of tunic, and nailed by four nails to the cross, but withal,
wearing an aspect of dignified majesty and spiritual repose.
Finally, the crucified body was portrayed in its most real-
istic and thrilling form, nailed by three nails to the cross,
crowned with thorns, the head depressed, a human expression of
agony in the features, and with blood flo\ving from the wounds.
Whether this positive delineation of the Holy Passion be as
solemn, or as dignified, as when symbolized according to the
manner affected by the first Christians, is a matter of grave con-
sideration, even of doubt, with many enlightened and right-
minded Catholics of our own day.

On Plate 1 1 we have illustrated a fourteenth-centun* chasuble,
adorned with the Y cross, richly embroidered, after the taste of
the time. The figure is sketched from the beautiful brass in
the abbey church of St. Albans. It is supposed to be the
effigy of the handsome and generous Thomas de la Marc,
thirtieth abbat, elected a.d. 1350.

Cbuccb Beetmmte.

Plates 12 and 13, represent the chasuble work of the fifteenth,
and, beginning of, the sixteenth centuries. In these examples
will be recognized tlie old Monmouthshire vestment already
described, page 18.

Having glanced at the different kinds of needlework adorn-
ment bestowed upon the chasuble from its first adoption, by the
Christian priesthood, to the sixteenth century, we find one other
ornament which we have left yet unmentioned, and which,
although not belonging to Embroidery, yet seems to come
within our province of observation.

It is the "Rational," a description of large brooch, fastened
upon the breast of the chasuble near to the collar, and in most
instances which have come before us, worn where no other
embellishment appears on the front of the vestment.

On the figure of St. Peter, Plate 8, the rational is distinctly
shown. This beautiful statue was sketched for us from the
wonderful north porch of Chartres Cathedral, and is, therefore,
either of the twelfth or very early in the thirteenth century.

Dr. Rock observes that the "rational" was to be seen as late
as the fourteenth century, and " fashioned in all shapes, at one
" time round, at another a trefoil or a quatrefoil, but more
" generally an oblong square. Seldom was it wrought of any
" baser metal than beaten gold, or silver gilt, studded with
" precious stones, and as it was worn in imitation, so it had
" given to it the name of the Ancient Jewish Rational."

The same learned author has a "rational" in his possession,
which was supposed to be the only one known in England, when
he published tlie following account of it in 1849: —

" It is of gilt copper mounted on wood, so as to make it very
" light. Its shape a quatrefoil, in each foliation of which
" there is, in high rehef, a bust of an apostle ; in the middle

Cbe Ciiasuiiie.

u
ii
u
it.
u
u
u
u

sits an angel, with the legend ' Matheus/ It seems to have
been fastened to the chasuble by means of a long pin like a
brooch. Its date is early in the thirteenth centun' ; and it
measures six inches in length, by just as many in breadth,
and is three-quarters of an inch in thickness. The custom of
wearing the * rational' lasted, it would seem, longer on the
Continent than here, and proofs of its use, even until a late
period, may be traced in France and the Low Countries.''
Thus far, all the illustrations we have given of the chasuble,
and its enriching accessories, are, ^^-ith the trifling variations we
have named, in strict accordance ^-ith the ancient t) pical form ;
and, therefore, as meet for imitation in the Catholic ritual of
to-day, as they were twelve hundred years ago.

On Plate 14 is exhibited a fac-simile of the holy vestment at
Aix-la-Chapelle, carefully sketched from the original copy of which
Dr. Rock possessed himself. The crosses and circles, which
comprise its decoration, are formed of pearls, and have a most
chaste effect on the violet silk ground. We have selected this,
under authority, as a standard for the correct shape, embodying,
as it does, much of the dignity of the round primitive chasuble,
without its cumbersomeness, and enough of the old Gothic
sacred character to prove its identity- wth the chasuble of remote
Christian times, when, what is learning now, was pious inspi-
ration, and the priestly mission was fulfilled in every way as
though it came direct from God.

The vestment figured on Plate 1 2, is, as we have said, page 1 9,
of the Italian shap)e, which at this moment is more favoured in
Rome than that of the fine old Gothic model.

We are willing to bow with deference to the high authority
by whom these vestments are sanctioned ; but, at the same time,
our belief in the beauty of the ancient form remains unshaken.

m»

Cbuccg JUestments.

The miserable shape of the vestment of the present centur)-, in
France, has only to be seen, by the lover of orthodox things, to
be avoided. It usually takes the wretched form given in outline
on Plate 15, and is either ornamented with needlework of meagre,
half secular, half sacred designs, unmeaning as they are unim-
pressive, or with tawdry orphreys, woven of a spare surface of
silk on thick cotton foundations, which are laid on the vestment
with borderings of tinsel lace. Then, with buckram between.
and a lining of glazed calico, the chasuble is made up to hang
over the iigure of the priest in a commonplace and undignified
manner, calculated to excite in the minds of all, save the truly
pious Catholic, more ridicule than reverence.

How to account for this absence in France of the right spirit
for guidance in ecclesiastical decoration, we are nearly at a loss.
That it once existed there to an inspired degree, will be unde-
niable, so long as such cathedrals as Abbeville, Amiens, Chartres,
Rouen, and a full score more equally fine, have one stone left
upon another to meet the sceptic's eye. It is nevertheless true
of the present, that greatly as our neighbours exceed all other
nations in refined taste, when exercised on secular objects, they
have no speciality for the adornment of sacerdotal or other
Church appointments.

The first French Revolution, which for the time overthreiv all
Christian, for Pagan, institutions, undoubtedly did its work of
perversion within as without the Church, and most likely helped
to cast into the cold shade the beautiful traditions of the primi-
tive faith, which have given to everything used in the solemn
service of God a holy and figurative signification.

Within the last few years, however, we have liad occasion to
note here and there in France that vestments of a better style
are gradually being brought again into use ; a revival which we
55_,

C&e " JTIotoer."

ardently desire to see general throughout a country so singularly
fevourcd by ancient examples of appropriate beauty in Church
work.

We have hinted that it is not our intention to write at large
upon foreign vestments. The two kinds we have touched upon
are so frequently and indiscriminately made, and given by persons
of probably greater piety than taste, in sacred art, to English
priests, that we have deemed it incumbent upon us to point out
their want of affinity with the original type of the sacrificial
garment, which has been so fully recognised here for the last
twenty-five years.

Various ways of ornamenting the Chasuble.
The " Flower."

The first, and undoubtedly the finest, of the old examples for
the adornment of the sacred robe in needlework is that of the
*' flower," for which we present on Plate 1 6, two designs, to be
embroidered either in real gold or rich gold silk. We marvel
that this beautiful ornament has not received as much notice
from other writers on the renval of sacred vestiary splendour,
excepting Canon Rock, as we are disposed to give it.

The costliness of its production has been urged as an excuse
for its non-adoption. We cannot give in our adliesion to this;
for although the " flower," as worked on the vestment of
St. Thomas of Canterbury, was often of naught else but massive
gold embroidery, yet the chasuble of St. Dunstan, figured and
described in the "Church of our Fathers," from an Anglo-Saxon
MS,, was wrought with the "flower" in red needlework only;
and the Saint, who during his life gave so much aid to sacerdotal
ornament, even by drawing and making designs for it himself,
I 57

C&urci) Mcstments.

would surely not have been represented, as bearing upon his own
episcopal dress any decoration which was unorthodox, or less
rich than his compeers in the Church would wear.

A great deal of work is comprised in the "flower," for it
should be of a luxuriant pattern, but not more than, or as much
as, would be spread o.veT the surface of needlework orphreys,
which, z'lWe Plate 17, may be very consistently left witliout orna-
ment, where the " flower" is shown.

The Y cross of a chasuble embroidered with the "flower" in
gold, may be formed of cloth of gold, edged with a narrow
woven lace of a mixture of gold and the colour of the vestment ;
or it may be either of satin or velvet, of the same hue as the
garment, and edged with a narrow gold lace.

The "flower" should present the appearance of having been
wrought upon the actual vestment, although, for the convenience
of the embroiderer, it may be worked upon a separate piece of
silk, and laid down upon the shape of the chasuble afterwards ;
as the humeral, or shoulder orphreys will be placed over, and
conceal, the division necessarily made in the silk. The same
method may be pursued with the embroidery upon the breast,
where, as at the back, the orphreys will cover the join.

Supposing it to be deemed necessary to work the "flower" in
crimson on a white vestment, the orphreys should be of crimson,
and edged with a gold lace to correspond with the embroidery,
which should be slightly raised by string, as directed in " Church
" Embroidery," and edged with gold "pearl-purl."

Only scrollage of the particular character exhibited on Plate 7,
can properly represent the grace of the "flower." Our designs
will be recognised as simple imitations of the old examples of
the ornament, which can neither be improved upon in sacred
refinement, nor augmented in richness of efi^ect.
58

C&e " jriotoer."

f^e do not show separate patterns for the work on the breast
he chasuble, since if will be necessary only to take away a
ion of the device from the upper part of the back, to leave
opening to pass the head through, to perfect the pattern for

front. By reference to Plate 7, this expedient may be
rly comprehended.

'o adorn the breast of the chasuble as well as the back with
" flower " is not imperative ; but, as a rule, the orphrcy should
espond on both sides of the chasuble, should meet at the
e angle on the shoulders, and diverge into the single vertical
d at the centre of the breast, as upon the middle of the bark.
1 ancient times the orphreys were called thus: the front
ical band, the pectoral ; the corresponding one beliind, tiie
'■al ; and those which extended to the shoulders, the /(WTwerflA.
Vhere the "flower" is embroidered upon the vestment, and

orphreys are unfigurec!, a needlework border around the
iuble is a worthy ornamentation. Further on, we will
I simple borders for this purpose. Their execution will
)Iy repay the worker who is bent upon enriching the cliasuble
her utmost. These narrow borders, to be quite correct,
jld be embroidered actually upon the vestment, and it is
ossible to execute them well out of a frame. The only right

to frame such work is the following : —
'he vestment ts to be cut to its right shape, and the pattern of
border drawn upon it. Then a piece of fine firm linen of even
s is to be tightly framed, and a portion of the silk embracing

pattern of the border tacked upon it. When as much as

be conveniently embroidered on this piece of linen is accom-
lied, it should be cut out of the frame, and another piece of
n inserted, and so on, until the whole border is worked.
X iS} now, the almost invariable custom to bind the chasuble

Cburcb 33estment9.

all round with an inch lace harmonizing in colour and pattern
with the wider lace of which the orphreys are frequently made,
or with the shades most prominent in the embroidered decora-
tions of the robe. This fashion, like that of using machine-made
orphreys mstead of those wrought by the hand, is not to be
condemned. A narrow border of needlework around the vest-
ment will greatly enhance its beauty and its grace ; but it is
better to employ an edge of woven lace than to slight or impo-
verish the embellishment of the more important parts of the
sacred garment, that time and materials may be saved for an
embroidered binding. A well-made fringe of an inch and a
quarter deep, embracing the principal colours used in the em-
broidery on the chasuble, and placed against the edging of lace
or needlework, is in correct taste, and will add greatly to the
enrichment of the vestment.

The width of the Y orphrey may vary from three and a half to
five inches, the edging inclusive, to be regulated according to
the richness of the pattern forming the "flower ;" for it must be
borne in mind that a slight flowing design would be, very impro-
perly, cast into shade by wide bands of a definite colour encom-
passing it about, antl vice versd.

This hint belongs to the principles of good taste, which, in
subjects like the present, are more often outraged from want of
thought than from errors of judgment.

Plain orphreys of five inches and less should be attached to
the chasuble by an edge of woven lace, commencing at half an
inch, but never exceeding three-quarters of an inch in width.

The Y Cross.
On Plate 17, we show the Cross enriched, at the jimction of
ii> plain orphreys, by a conventional drawing of the Lamb

Cbe Y Ctoiss.

of God, taken from an example in sculpture of tlie tenth
century.

No more exquisite effect of chaste colouring can be conceived
than this simple arrangement of ornament on the chasuble
suggests.

The vestment should be white; the orphreys, cloth of gold,
woven with the faintest indication of a crimson tracery on its
surface. The Lamb to be embroidered in silver, or in pure
white silk shaded to a pearly grey. Its background a clear,
heavenly blue, diapered by gold tambour thread. Circle of
nimbus, couched in gold. Crosses, white, on a blood-red ground.
Cross borne by Lamb, gold.

Ground of band, describing geometrical figure, gold. Letters,
" Ecce Agnus Dei," silver, edged with dark violet.

Tracery ornament on cuspated divisions of geometrical figure,
dull-red silk. " L H. S.," crimson, edged with silver. Ornament
on each side of "L H. S.," silver. Narrow border of cross, and
edging of chasuble, embroidery, in gold and dull red.

The front orphreys to be formed precisely like the back, but
with the omission of the design from the centre.

The lining to be plain gold-colour silk, or a mixture of crim-
son and gold.

The next example of the Y cross, Plate lo, exhibits the
crucified Saviour from an authority which dates as early as the
twelfth century. The figure is that referred to page 53, as fixed
to the cross by four nails, and vested in a kind of tunic.

Six refined shades of flesh-colour will be required for the
figure of our Lord, and four shades of golden brown for the
hair. Three shades of grey, with vfhite, should be used for the
tunic, and a dull crimson, striped with gold passing, for the
girdle.

Cburcb acstmcnts.

The nails may be shown by a dark-slate shade. The pillar to
be two shades of light, and one of dark, Jtrarm stone colour.
The cords, dark drab, with a much darker shade to mark the
twist. The worker may not require reminding that too much
attention cannot be bestowed on the treatment of this most
sacred figure. It is to such subjects as this that our remarks on
page 17 of" Church Embroidery" directly apply.

The figure, also the piUar and cords, should be worked upon
Unen, and transferred afterwards to the cross. The edging of
the Y orphrey is to be couched in crimson silk, as a ground
to the small crosses, which are to be laid upon it, formed of
two lines of gold " passing," sewn down with orange. The
Y orphrey may be either of cloth of gold, as described for vest-
ment on Plate 17, or it may be of gold, couched quite flat, or
in a raised stitch.

The larger powdering figures on this vestment are to be
worked as follows : —

Large scroll leaves, springing from lower part of pine, two
shades of lilac veined with "passing."

Small leaves above scrolls, dull crimson.

Stem of sprig, rich goM-colour twist silk, couched one thread
at a time with copper bruwii.

Inside of pine, lilac chequered with " passing," stitched down
with lilac sewings of a darker shade.

Outside of pine, very light copper brown, worked in Berlin
silk.

Diverging sprays, orange floss, enriched by " passing," and
spangles.

Small powdering figures, gold, sewn down with dull crimson,
with orange sprays, enriched by spangles.

Edging of chasuble, Ulac and dull red, alternated, worked as a

THCMAoDE LA-MARE 30" ABBOT OF 3' ALBANS
!4CaiL'

©rp&regs

tracery, and edged with one line of coarse gold "passing.**
Figure in centre of each diamond, gold thread. .

This design has been arranged for the green vestment to be
worn on ordinary Sundays and Ferias. The lining is to be either
green, dull red, or gold.

The front of the chasuble is to be powdered with sprigs the
same as the back, and may have a plain straight orphrey up the
centre, or no orphrey at all, according to taste or circumstances.

Orphreys of Woven Lace.

In lieu of needlework, orphreys of woven lace are frequently
used.

During the last twenty-five years the manufacture of this par-
ticular Church lace, as it is called, has been brought to great
perfection. The most finished patterns of any number of colours
are now produced in the loom with such beauty of effect, that
many of them, at a distance of twenty yards, might well pass for
embroidery. Those of English designs and fabrication are the
best, but these are not all of one quality. The inferior kinds are
very flimsy, and apt to be flossy and wear badly, and are little
better than ordinary Orris lace, which the foreign Church laces
so greatly resemble. The firmness or substance of the English
lace is, like the cost, increased with the number of colours used
in the pattern.*

We do not advocate the use of any kind of lace for the adorn-
ment of the chasuble in preference to needlework, which we
consider should never be abandoned while adequate time and
means may be found for its accomplishment.

* A very good lace of cloth of gold is to be had of the regulation width for orphreys.
We have seen some beautiful specimens at Mr. Helbronner's, 265, Regent Street.

Cburcb ^e&tmcnts.

The Latin Cross.

We have so many fine examples, in ancient needlework, still
preserved to us, of the custom of adorning the Latin cross of the
vestment of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with figures of
our Lord and the blessed Saints and Angels, that we dare not pr^
sume to offer any suggestions of our own on this class of sacred
embroidery. All tiue lovers of the art, who are not already familiar
with specimens of this wonderful branch of it, may at once be made
so by referring to Plates 12 and 13, upon which the beautiful
Monmouthshire vestment is shown ; and for further enlight-
enment we recommend them to the South Kensington Museum,
where whole weeks may be spent as moments in acquiring a
knowledge for the painting of sacred subjects in silks and gold,
from those archangels and angels with their attributes, and saints
and martyrs with their symbols, which are all to be found there on
the sacerdotal garments of the above-named period, graphically
represented by the aid of the needle alone ; and with a holy feeling,
and a sublimity, which we moderns cannot imitate too closely.

To Dr. Rock we are indebted for the following richly-expressed
summarj- of the ancient embroideries collected at the Great
Exhibition of 1862 : —

" With regard to the subjects figured in these ecclesiastical
" embroideries, wc may see, at a glance, that the one untiring
" wish of the designer, whatever be tlie period of their execution,
" was to set before the people's eyes and bring to mind, strongly
" and unmistakably, the grand doctrine of the Atonement.
" Whether it be cope, or chasuble, or teredos, or altar frontal,
" this teaching is put forth upon it.

" Beginning with the Incarnation, sometimes we have shown
" us Gabriel speaking his message to the Blessed Virgin Mary,

" with the three-flowered lily standing between them ; or the
" Nati\'ity, with the shepherds or the wise men kneeling in
" adoration, acknowledging the divinity of our Lord even as a
" new-born child ; then some passage from His Passion ; His
" scourging at the pillar or the bearing of His cross, or His being
" crowned with thorns ; always His crucifixion ; often, above, His

upraised person like a king enthroned, and crowning her of
' whom He took flesh ; while everj-where about the vestment arc
" figured apostles, martyrs, and saints, all nimbed with glory, and
" among winged seraphim standing upon wheels, thus signifying
" that heaven is thrown open to fallen but redeemed man, who
" by the atonement wrought for him by our divine Redeemer,
" is made the fe!low-^:ompanion of angels and cherubim,"

Some knowledge of the way of executing the lovely stitchery,
so boimteously bestowed on much of the work thus described,
may be acquired by studying our instructions in the chapter on
sliiches in " Church Embroidery."

Upon the decorated Latin cross, Plate i8, we have not been
able to forbear giving a design for the centre, wherein is intro-
duced the figure of our Lord seated, from Queen Mary's Psalter,
and attended by angels, sketched fi-om the Adoration of the
Blessed Virgin on the glorious tympanum of the western door
of Wells Cathedral.

The ground of this vestment is to be cloth of gold, or a very
rich silk of the old cream-coloured tint; the former material
should be chosen if possible. The cross is to be a mass of
needlework, wrought upon stout linen, and transferred to the
chasuble afterwards. The figure of the Saviour, with the vesica
encompassing it, should be embroidered separately, and attached
to its place upon the cross after the rest of the work is completed.
The angels to be treated in like manner.

K 65

C&urcf) Ocstments.

The nails may be shown by a i)ark-siate shade. The pillar to
be two shades of light, and one of dark, warm stone colour.
The cords, dark drab, with a much darker shade to mark the
twist. The worker may not require reminding that too much
attention cannot be bestowed on the treatment of this most
sacred figure. It is to such subjects as this that our remarks on
page 17 of" Church Embroidery" directly apply.

The figure, also the pillar and cords, should be worked upon
linen, and transferred afterwards to the cross. The edging of
the Y orphrey is to be couched in crimson silk, as a ground
to the small crosses, which are to be laid upon it, formed of
two lines of gold '* passing," sewn down with orange. The
Y orphrey may be either of cloth of gold, as described for vest-
ment on Plate 17, or it may be of golil, couched quite flat, or
in a raised stitch.

The larger powdering figures on this vestment are to be
worked as follows: —

Large scroll leaves, springing from lower part of pine, two
shades of lilac veined with " passing."

Small leaves above scrolls, dull crimson.

Stem of sprig, rich gold-colour twist silk, couched one thread
at a time with copper browii.

Inside of pine, lilac chequered with " passing," stitched down
with lilac sewings of a darker shade.

Outside of pine, very light copper brown, worked in Berlin
silk.

Diverging sprays, orange floss, enriched by "passing," and
spangles.

Small powdering figures, gold, sewn down with dull crimson,
with orange sprays, enriched by spangles.

Edging of chasuble, lilac and dull red, aliernated, worked as a

THOMAS DE LA-MARE iO'v^BBOT OF 3' ALBANS
14Ca\L'

©rpfjreps.

tracery, and edged with one line of coarse gold "passing.*'
Figure in centre of each diamond, gold thread. .

This design has been arranged for the green vestment to be
Avorn on ordinary Sundays and Ferias. The lining is to be either
green, dull red, or gold.

The front of the chasuble is to be powdered with sprigs the
same as the back, and may have a plain straight orphrey up the
centre, or no orphrey at all, according to taste or circumstances.

Orphreys of Woven Lace.

In lieu of needlework, orphreys of woven lace are frequently
used.

• A very good lace of cloth of gold is to be had of the regulation width for orphreys.
We have seen some beautiful specimens at Mr. Helbronner's, 265, Regent Street.

Cburcb acstments.

As apart from figure subjects, those of flowers suitably conven-
tionalized are capable of the sweetest expression of lofty sentiment
in a symbolic form, while affording unlimited scope for richness
of effect and for variation in stitchery, we have taken the lily,
choice emblem of the purity of tlie Blessed Virgin, wherewith to
embellish the vestment to be worn in her honour. See Plate 19.

This chasuble should be made of a rich white silk, and lined
with gold colour.

The monogram, gold bullion.

Lilies, gold, or gold silk.

Leaves, two delicate shades of apple green, veined with gold.

All the stems, the lightest shade of apple green.

Bulbs of lilies, two soft shatles of sea-gceen silk; the darkest
shade to be worked nearest to the stem.

Stamens, gold thread, terminated by a small gold bead.

The form of the Latin cross is to be represented simply by
the narrow border of embroidery, which is to be one inch wide,
and worked in celestial blue Berlin silk, held down by diagonal
stitches of gold passing, couched with orange, and dotted between
with seed pearls.

Border edging the garment, to be worked in the same manner.

Fleur-de-lis, powdering the vestment, to be of white Berlin
silk, finely couched with celestial blue, and edged with gold
" passing," sewn down with orange. Bands across fleur-de-lis,
" passing," raised over two rows of fine string.

We now proceed to remark upon the

Different Materials of which a Chasuble may, and
may not, be made.
Velvets, satins, and silks, either figured or plain, and cloths of
gold and of silver, are the only textiles proper for the sacrificial

< ^

<
u

^acecials for CJiasubles.

robe, which should also invariably be Uned with silk, be it of
ever so thin a quality, in preference to either cotton or woollen
materials of any description.

Fabrics of rich but soft texture should be especially chosen
for tlie chasuble, which, as we have already endeavoured to show,
should enfold the priest with the grace of simpHcity, as on fig. i,
Plate 8, or should invest the wearer with dignified grandeur,
as illustrated on Plate ii, '

Neither of these desirable effects can be produced from
commonplace stiff materials ; such, in fact, as are usually but a
mixture of badly-prepared silk and inferior cotton, wherein the
latter predominates most unfairly. On the other hand, there is
an evil to be guarded against, viz., the use of silks of really
genuine quality, but of so ductile a make that they are apt
to cling about the figure meanly and flimsily, instead of envelop-
ing it in the full massive folds which should dignify and distin-
guish the chasuble for its lofty purpose.

Some Ritualistic clergymen, in their adoption lately of the
sacred vestment, have favoured its construction from plain silks,
or from damasks of the lightest and softest fabrication, assigning
their preference, first, to a determination to copy rigidly only the
earliest examples of silk foundations used in sacerdotal dress;
and, secondly, to the necessity for keeping the priest during the
solemn performance of his oflice as little as possible encumbered
by his robes.

The first of these reasons opens up a wide and vague field for
research, and one likely to prove in the end too unproductive for
our sphere of action. Nevertheless, we believe the period to be
not only very remote, but obscure, from which authorities have
been obtained for some of the poor-looking sarsenet-like vest-
ments of sombre shades which we have occasionally of late been

Cburcb Qlestments.

called upon to see. The second reason has to do with indivi-
dual notions of convenience, such as, so we have been taught, the
devoted minister of the altar, unless enfeebled by age or weakly
from illness, never allows himself to entertain.

Could we possibly obtain clear proofs of the precise nature
of the productions of the silk loom for the Church, when the
very art itself of weaving silk was new in England, we should not
for an instant entertain the thought that silks of this description
only were correct for Ecclesiastical use.

The same argument which has been urged against the
practice of following in precise detail the crude drawings in
Christian art of the ancients will apply to the textile manufac-
tures of primitive times, when we may be sure that the weaver,
like the artist and embroiderer, used all tlic knowledge the age
afforded him to perfect his work, and the more especially
that which he was privileged to produce for the service of God
in His Church.*

The brocaded silks, and the " bawdkin," so often referred to in
old records of sacerdotal adornment, must have been remarkable
for their firm, though soft texture; otherwise, those heavy em-
broideries, with enamels and gold and silver plates, studded with
pearls and precious stones, by which, we are told, the chasuble
was enriched, could never have been supported upon them.

Solitary instances of what has been fitly termed exaggerated
richness are recorded of some of the vestments of media?val

* " As in llie old law so in Ihe new, ibe ministering garments of the priestbood have been
"or tbe best that might lie, aHen of very precious stuiTs, always seemly; the moaucs of
'■ Ravenna alone ore wilncsses lo this in tht siith ecniury, while ihe later oirious ' Libet
" Pantilicalis ' pulicuUriies in one place the hangings for the altar, palerj^um chrysoclavum
" preciossissimum, coopertorium purpureiim cum cmce ; in another, the ' veslis halosaics
" vestis auro lexta habens hislurium Satvatorts ct Aposlolos,' ami other rich lilurgica]
"requisites, brought by the faithful as iheir oiTeiings at the shrine of the apostles in Kimie.*'
—Dr. Rock.
7°

e@aterfals foe Chasubles.

times, such as was the case in the twelfth century with one,
at least, of the chasubles belonging to the cathedral at Mentz,
which was so weighted with splendour that the celebrant was
compelled to exchange it at the offertory for a lighter vestment.
This mistaken excess in sacerdotal adornment rarely, if ever,
occurred in England, where, with few exceptions, before the
sixteenth century, we meet with no sacred decoration which does
not, in a great measure, "owe its chief beauty to its propriety."

That hea\'y gold embroidery raised and tortured into smooth-
ness, till it looks like wood-carving gilt, which within the last
half-century we have too often seen on the robes of priests minis-
tering at English altars, has been wrought abroad, principally in
France and Belgium. It is usually seen mounted on the shape
depicted Plate 15, with which it has a true affinity. And so we
dismiss if, for it is wholly without the grace of sacred needlework.

Figured silks, if employed for the chasuble, should be of small
and unobtrusive patterns, particularly if the orphreys be of
embroidery.

\. powdering, i.e., detached figures placed at regular intervals,
is better than a connected overspreading design called ^diapering,
and whether it be woven in the loom, or wrought by the needle,
will greatly augment the beauty of an embroidered orphrey, as
see Plate 10.

There are few silks which, in the making up for vestments, are
not improved by a lining of thin unbleached calico being placed
between themselves and the inner silk lining. Of this, we will
write more fully further on.

Velvet, although for every purpose considered the richest of
all textile materials, scarcely excepting cloth of gold, yet need
not be esteemed essentially the best for the vestment. A velvet
chasuble suitably ornamented, of the correct ample shape, and no

Ciiutc!) Ilestments.

Other should be sanctioned, is hable to look more costly than
chaste, and more ponderous than graceful. Where a good silk
will gather up in rich folds with the action of the arms, velvet
will draw up stiffly in pleats, and rest upon rather than envelop
the person.

Those truly beautiful velvets, woven in colours, upon which so
many of the sacred embroideries in the South Kensington
Museum are to be found, are North Italian, and most of them of
the fifteenth century.

No modern fabrication, with the like pretence to richness,
could have exceeded these velvets when they first left the loom.
Some of them are woven in large patterns which are literally
weighty to look upon with gold thread; but from the excellence
of the well-spun silk, and the purity, and consequent suppleness
of the metal, the whole fabric is softer, and more inclined to fall
in graceful folds, than many of our brocaded silks.

For copes, tunicles, etc., nothing can surpass the worth of
velvet, but, for the reasons we have named, it is certainly less
desirable for the sacrificial vestment.

Orphreys of velvet for silk vestments are unexceptionable, the
very purpose of the orphrey being fully answered by the supe-
riority of its material to that which it is intended to beautity.

Satin orphreys are also very seemly on silks of dark surfeces.
Not long since, we were shown a chasuble of soft, thick, white
silk, enriched by Y shaped orphrej's of a glowing gold-colour
satin. It was entirely without embroidery, but the effect was
chaste as it was unique, and in every respect orthodox. The
satin was of the tichest quality, and therefore likely to retain its
beauty simultaneously with the silk upon which it was laid ; for
a good satin will neither crease by folding, nor lose its gloss by
wear.

;■■

materials foe Ctiasubtes.

Silks of white ground woi'en with coloured flowers, are not
correct tor a vestment which is to have variegated needlework qn
its orphreys. For such silks the orphreys shoiikl be of plain
material, velvet or otherwise ; and if embroidered, principally
with gold or silver.

Cloth of gold orphreys arc superb upon any fabric, and, hke
satin, will embellish the chasuble suitably where needlework is
unattainable.

Merino, alpaca, or any woollen, not to say inferior, material
whatever, should not be thought of, as fitted for the robe which
for glory and for beauty" should exceed all others.

In tliese days, a minister, however zealous, may be unable to
impress the whole of his congregation at once with the belief
that a special garment should be consecrated for tlie office of the
Holy Eucharist ; but among those who are with him in the desire
to revive the glories of the Christian ritual, there should be as
little difficulty found in raising lo/. for the furtherance of an
object, deemed essential to the service of God, as los, for the
need of man.

It must be a slight privation indeed which an individual, with
the smallest means, has to endure for the sake of the mite offered
among many, for the purchase of a chasuble worthy of the motive
which calls for it.

It is not yet, neither can we suppose that it will ever be, upon
record, that any one was ruined by giving freely in the name of
the Lord : and we still hope to see the day when we may no
longer have to read in Church papers repeated appeals from the
same clergyman for sums wlierewith to buy vestments — sums
which scandalize us by their insignificance ; each being often less
than a middle-class wife or daughter will spend on her second-best
gown.

CljurctJ iUcstments.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS fOR MAKING UP VESTMENTS,

A LL vestments, from the chasuble to the cope, should be
■**■ made up with an inner Hning between the outside material
and the silk lining.

Unbleached calico of a tolerable substance should be used for
this purpose when the silk of the vestment is of a medium
quahtj', but if the outer fabric be verj' stout or rich, the inner
lining may be less firm.* This layer of calico should be cut with
great precision to the size and shape which the vestment is
to be when made, and then tacked evenly upon the superior
or upper silk ; which, if it be for a chasuble that is em-
broidered round the edge, must have three-quarters of an inch
of silk, left beyond the needlework, to be turned over upon the
calico.

The silk lining must also be left with an ample turning, to be
neatly felled down upon its own side.

If the vestment is to have a flat lace binding, or a fringe, or
both, the superior silk should be cut away to the exact edge of
the calico foundation, while the silk lining should still be left with
three-quarters of an inch of silk beyond the edge to be turned
over and tacked down upon the surface of the upper material.
Upon this, the flat lace binding is to be laid. If a fringe is to
go beyond, the binding should not be brought to the extreme

* A good jriconel muslin will be Jouod the n
74

;r lining for such fabrics.

I&otD to mabe Vestments.

edge of the garment, but a space should be left corresponding
with the width of the heading of the fringe, to give the latter
firmness and support.

This method of turning the silk lining over upon the surface
of the superior material should always be adopted for vestments
with woven lace bindings or fringes. It is advisable, not only on
the principle of neatness, but on that of saving, as not a shred of
the upper silk need be left beyond the edge of the calico foun-
dation by this plan; and where the material of the garment is
costly, or, as it sometimes is, scarce, even inches may thus be
taken into consideration at a great advantage.

The chalice-veil, stole, and in short, all the principal articles
of sacerdotal dress, accordingly as they have, or have not, lace
bindings, should be made up upon either one or the other of the
principles above named, and never without an inner lining, be it
ever so thin.

Unbleached calico may be had of many widths and textures.
Those of the most expensive are usually of the closest and
heaviest make ; such are not always the best for inner linings,
which are required only to give firmness to the vestment, with
as little weight as possible. The commoner kinds of this calico
are, again, hkely to be objectionable, on account of a certain un-
evenness consequent to their inferior manufacture. It must
therefore be left to the judgment of the vestment-maker to
choose, a medium quality, likely to answer every desirable end.
Two errors of a directly opposite character are frequently com-
mitted by vestment-makers. The one is the making up of the
thinnest and sometimes the poorest fabrics into garments, without
an inner lining at all; and the other, the adoption of an inner
lining of coarse heavy linen, which weighs down the priest in
wearing it, and instead of imparting greater firmness and richness

Ctiurcli JTiestmentiS.

to the robe, gives it a stiff unrelenting appearance, wluch is unne-
cessary as it is unseemly.

Vestments of velvet need inner lining even more than those of
silk ; for velvet is very apt to fall away, through its own weight,
from a silk lining only ; while it may be held in entire subjection
by a closely-tacked layer of unbleached calico.

Unbleached calico possesses one other eminent advantage
when compared with whitened calicoes, and even with some
linens — lime, or anything else pernicious to gold and evanescent
silk dyes, is not used in its fabrication: it is therefore, obviously,
the fittest and safest of all accessories, of its kind, to use for vest-
ments with embroideries wrought upon them ; which by any evil
influence of an evaporative nature, may be damaged as much
through the wrong side, as though they were brought into im-
mediate contact with it on the right.

The Importance op Tacking-stitches to the
Vestment-maker.

Nothing is more essential to the perfection of vestment-
making than a liberal use of tacking-stitches.

Upon a large table, accessible from all sides, the materials to
be fashioned should be spread and smoothed out ; then first
pinned together, here and there, and finally tacked together by
stitches never more than an inch long ; but they may be less,
according to the size of the article being made. Fine reel cotton,
unglased, and of i>esi quality, should be used for tacking upon
rich silken materials and cloth of gold : but fine sewing silk is
most proper for tacking upon velvet ; as cotton is apt to leave
the mark of every stitch, after it is withdrawn, upon the surface
of Velvet.
75

lt>oto to mafte Vestments.

[

Many persons, who use only the commonest ball cotton for
tacking, would accuse us of most wasteful notions in recommend-
ing best cotton and sewing silk, for tacking-stitches which are
all to be drawn away when the vestment is finished.

As old vestment-makers, we can conscientiously affirm that we
never practised the economy, of using common cotton for
tacking, without finding it false. Inasmuch, as we have had to
endure incalculable chagrin at the disfigurement of lines and
holes, upon the surfece of costly materials, for every twopenny
reel of cotton we have saved.

A needle stouter than necessary for carrying the cotton or silk
freely through the work should not be employed for tacking ; as
it is apt to become a piercer as well as a needle, and, in conse-
quence, to leave a series of small holes permanently made on the
surface of the material, after the threads are removed.

Tacking-stitches, whether of silk or cotton, should never be
dragged out in long lengths. The thread should be cut here
and there at short intervals, and then drawn away.

Cf)urc6 Oestments.

THE DALMATIC OF THE DEACO.V.

' I ""HE robe worn at High Mass by the deacon is called the
■*■ Dalmatic, a name derived from Dalmatia, from whence this
form of garment was first introduced into Rome, where for
a long period it was worn only by the emperors, as a vest of
distinction.

Pope Sylvester, in the reign of Constantine, first gave to the
deacons of the Roman Cliurch the privilege of using the dal-
matic at certain solemn services, an honour which, by succeeding
pontiffs, was from time to time accorded to the other Churches.

In the most primitive Christian times the robe appointed for
the deacon was termed tlie colobium, literally, the closely-fitting
tunic of the better class of citizens in the days of Republican
Rome, and which, subsequently, became the dress of the senator.
From this point the colobium rose to the dignity of a sacerdotal
garment, to be worn by certain ministers at the holy Eucharistic
service.

We know that it was thus adopted at a very early period in
Christian liistory, and that a sacred import was attached to it, for
as we read, and have elsewhere said, Pope Eutychianus, a.d. 275,
forbade the burial of a faithfid martyr, unless wrapped in a
dalmatic robe, or a purple colobium. The former being, doubt-
less, held in respect as a covering of the highest worldly dis-
tinction; the latter, as the especial garb of the true followers of the
78

CiK Dalmadc.

Saviour, which they put on only in His name, and for the righteous
performance of His holy work upon earth, and wearing it, were
summoned to their high office about His throne in heaven.

Following closely the description of the ccJobium as given by
correlative authorities, we arrive at the conclusion that, in shape,
it was neither more nor less than a very scanty dalmatic, with
very short sleeves ; in fact, not unlike what the tunic of the sub-
deacon should be at this day, were the ancient usage stricdy
adhered to.

In the first days of its use, and for centuries after, the dalmatic
was white, ornamented with narrow stripes of scarlet. Fig. i,
Plate 20, is sketched from ** The Church of our Fathers T it is
from a fresco painting of the Roman catacombs, so touchingly
designated, by the author of the above, as " the metropolis of
" Christianity.** In this figure we have a clear illustration of the
garment decorated with the clavL Rg. i, Plate 21, is borrowed
from the same book, and presents another instance of the dress of
the deacon at a very early period. Here, also, the cla\'i is distinctly
marked. The original copy is described as having been taken
" from a very old codex of the Gregorian Sacramentary, belong-
" ing, when Martene saw it, to the cathedral library of Autun."

From the sixth century to the present, the dalmatic, as may
be seen by the figures on both these Hates, has undergone vcr)'
slight changes in its shape ; and as to the form of its decoration,
it can scarcely be said to have altered. For, in the bands of rich
lace, or other material, wth which the deacon*s robe of to-day is
ornamented, we have but the ancient Roman clavi more fully
represented.

The principal change seems to have been in the substitution
of coloured material for the pure white, of which the garment
was originally made: this is supposed to have been effected

Cburcb mmmms.

towards the end of the ninth century, and, by the beginning of
the twelfth, the dalmatic was more or less adorned with costly
materials and needlework, corresponding in splendour, according
to the degree of its wearer, with the holy vestment itself.

About this time the wide horizontal apparels on the breast and
shoulders of the dalmatic began to appear, and a little later, those
similar pieces on the lower part of the vestment were added.
These apparels were made the means of embellishing the
garment with elaborate needlework, and Dr. Rock tells us that
figure subjects were often wrought upon them, "illustrative of
" some great event in the annals of our faith." Often, the most
memorable passages in the glorious life of thnt deacon, and first
martyr, St. Stephen, and the circumstance of his death especially,
were portrayed in these embroideries of the dalmatic.

Sometimes, instead of needlework orphreys, bands of cloth of
gold, powdered with pearls, enriched the robe; and, judging from
the splendour of every other sacerdotal appointment in the
fourteenth century, we may conclude that the deacon's dalmatic .
lacked no distinguishing ornament at that period.

Amongst the group of ecclesiastics, page i, taken from the
exquisitely limned Psalter of Richard the Second, are a deacon
and sub-deacon, correctly robed. In the woodcut, the latter, in
his tunicle, is nearest to us; but as his garment only difi^ers from
that of the deacon in its length, we are enabled to judge, by
comparing this figure, with that of the deacon in our frontispiece,
how, exactly, the most approved dalmatic in present use in the
Catholic Church, corresponds with that of the fourteenth
century.

For many centuries, only the Pope himself could wear the
dalmatic beneath the chasuble ; then, as a great privilege, certain
prelates were permitted to do so ; and finally, the favour was

PUte!9 '

C&e ©almatic.

conceded to all bishops, for the celebration of High Mass. As
see frontispiece. This custom has now endured for ages, and at
the present moment, as probably every one knows, the prelate,
when arrayed for the grand service of the Eucharist, carries
beneath tlie sacrificial vestment, not only the dalmatic of the
deacon, but the tunicle of the sub-deacon as well.

The shape of the dalmatic in France, with its open flapping
sleeves, is entirely wrong, and as ungraceful and unauthorized as
that of the stinted, scooped-out chasuble we have so emphatically
^nored. We need not, therefore, speak further of the French
dalmatic.

The due proportions of a correct dalmatic are given on
Plate 20. The dimensions are calculated for a priest of average
size. In the illustration, the back of the garment is shown:
with the exception of the tassels from the shoulders, the front is
in every respect the same.

The decoration of the dalmatic is usually confined to the
orphreys, which, if not of needlework, may be very properly
made of stripes of some richer material than that of the robe
itself; or of bands of figured lace, which may be had of beautiful
patterns, and suitable widths.

On a plain silk garment, bands of velvet of the same colour,
and edged with narrow woven lace, form very seemly orphrej-s;
or, upon a velvet dalmaric there can, in the absence of embroi-
dery, be no more splendid adornment than cloth of gold orphreys,
whether figured or plain,

Tlie material of the dalmatic need not necessarily be the
same as the chasuble ; on the contrary, although it should un-
mistakably harmonize with that used for the Eucharistic garment,
yet it should be held subordinate in every degree to the vestment
of the celebrant.

Cburcb Vestments.

For instance, if the cross of the chasuble be richly embroidered,
and the ground upon whicii it is laid be powdered with holy
symbols and figures, the dalmatic may also have things of
sacred signification figured upon it ; — or it may be of plain silk,
such as that of the vestment befofe it was sprinkled, and the
stripes, which should embrace the general effect of colour
displayed in the work upon the chasuble, may be actually, ami
with strict propriety, less rich than the orphreys of tiie latter.

The vertical bands of the dalmatic, if of lace, should never be
less than two and a half inches wide; and if formed of velvet, or
other rich plain material, they should not exceed four and a half
inches, including a half-inch lace as a bordering on each side.

Tlie horizontal orphreys may be made of lace of six inches
wide and ten inches long, or their width in velvet, etc., may be
six and a half inches, inclusive of the half-inch lace binding.

To make up the dalmatic the same principles are to be followed
as urged for the chasuble. An inner lining of unbleached calico
should in most cases be used, and the garment always bordered
round with an inch lace, or fringe, or with both, as shown on the
frontispiece. Where lace is employed, fringe may be dispensed
with; but there can be no question as to its enhancement of the
richness of the robe.

' 1 ■

C{)e Cunic.

THE TUNIC, OR TUNICLE, OF THE SUB-DEACON.

TT might seem almost unnecessary to say anything expressly
■*■ in regard to this robe, since it is now, with rare exceptions,
made in every respect the same as the dalmatic,

But, as it did not always bear this exact resemblance to the
deacon s vestment, we are bound to remark upon it.

Like every other article of dress originally adapted to the
Sacred functions of the priesthood, the sub-deacon's vestment
was symbolic, signifying in its curtailed dimensions, as compared
with those of the dalmatic, that the wearer, for the time being,
was of inferior rank to the deacon. It was shorter in the skirt,
and less wide and long in the sleeves than the robe of the latter,
and at first was a perfectly plain garment, without stripe or
decoration whatever upon it, as may be seen on Plate ai, fig. 2.
In the sixth centurj-, the sulvdeacons of the Church wore,
instead of a tunic, a pure white alb, when assisting at the holy
service ; as, in fact, in more primitive times, did all the ministers
of the altar, from the bishop downwards.

We find, that it was not until the dawn of the fourteenth
century that the name o{ iunicle was bestowed on tliis robe of
the Church. Previously, it had in some places been called the
" subtile ;" and, by the Anglo-Saxons, " roc," meaning a coat ;
but, however it may have been named, it had been in use before
the sixth century, when St. Gregory the Great lived, for he is

(Eburcii aemaemi.

mentioned as having deprived sub-deacons of the pri'v'ilege of
wearing it, ordering them, instead, to assume the alb, as worn in
far-off times.

Succeeding pontiffs allowed the use of the tunicle to be
resumed, and so for ages, up to the present, it has been recog-
nised as the correct liturgical robe of the sub-deacon, who at the
celebration of the Mass stands lowest in order of the three
officiating ministers.

Formerly, the dalmatic and tunicle of the bishop, who, as we
have already said, wears both these garments under his chasuble
when he pontificates, were of a heavenly blue,* and of the richest
material, exquisitely ornamented with gold embroidery, in luxu-
riant patterns extending over the breast, back, and shoulders ;
as, also, around the sleeves and edges of the garments.

During the twelfth century, permission was given to ecclesias-
tical assistants of lower degree than sub-deacons to wear the
tunicle. On great solemnities, cross-bearers, thurifers, taper-
bearers, and holy-water carriers, were arrayed in tunicles,

The custom is still followed in many Roman Catholic churches,
more particularly as regards the cross-bearer, whom wc constantly
see at a grand service, heading a procession, beautifully vested
after this manner.

Although the dimensions of the tunicle may continue, -as they
have now almost universally become, identical with those of the
dalmatic, yet we fain would see some of the distinction of olden
times kept between them in the way of ornament. For, as to
the length and width of either garment, as it is worn indiscrimi-
nately by different priests of various heights and proportions, a

■ This colour was to symbolize the Aaronic vesture, commenting upon which our authority
says ;— " Whether the ornomenls as welt as tbe colour peculiar lo the Aaronic tcsIuih vac
" adopted by the Anelo-Saxons, and a row of tiny bells hung oronnd the hem of the bishop's
" purple tunicle in this country, as we know was done abroad, cannot now be ascertained."

CC5

C\3

if'

—J

M 1

•— — I
o

V,- •*

(< — <

?^-

'/■]

-J

r . 1

-^^^

dalmatic of an average size on a tall deacon may scarcely reach
his knees ; he will then look like a sub-deacon ; while, clothed
after the same manner, a sub-deacon of diminutive size may be
made to appear as though he had assumed the deacon's
vestment.

It is certain, then, that if an evident mark of distinction be
considered essential, on either of these robes, to the due observance
of liturgical rectitude, it can only be shown in the decoration.
Acting upon this principle, we have frequently made the tunic
with the vertical stripes behind and before, but without the wide
horizontal bands, which should always characterize the dalmatic.

C!)urc!) tlestments.

IX.

THE SACRIFICIAL STOLE.

' I "HE first name by which this article of sacerdotal dress was
■'■ called, and by which only it was known for centuries, was
" orarium;" by some supposed to have been derived from or<J,
face ; and by others from orare, to pray. Either, or both of
these conclusions are worthy of acceptation, as the origin of the
orarium was a long strip of hnen, not unlike the sacramental
humeral veil which the early Christian worshippers wore around
their necks, to be used, at one time, as a handkerchief for uiping
and covering the face, and at another, during intervals of prayer,
to be spread over the shoulders and about tlie figure.

In many of the paintings of the Roman catacombs the orarium
is seen on the female figure, drawn over the head, and partly
shrouding the same, after the manner in which some of the old
masters loved to drape the head of the blessed Virgin. Fig. i,
Plate 22, is taken from " Hierurgia," where it is tilled thus : " A
" female at prayer, veiled with the stole or orarium. This figure
" is painted on the walls of the fourth chamber in the cemetery
" of Callistus on the Appian Way." The veiling of the female
head at time of prayer was, no doubt, as the author of the above
asserts, in obedience to the injunction of St. Paul, concerning the
devout comportment of women in the presence of God, in His
Church (i Cor. xi. 5).

It was about the eighth century when the old Latin name

C&e Sacrificial Stole.

orarium was exchanged for the Greek word stole, signifying a
cloak or mantle of any description to be worn by either sex, but
especially by women. Like every other distinguishing article of
apparel in the early days of Christian rites, the orarium had its
ornamental stripes and fringes of purple, which were carried
around its edges.

Then, embroidery was bestowed upon it, at first of a simple
character, but afterwards of so elaborate and costly a kind as to
render the orarium unfit for its primitive purpose as a handker-
chief; notwithstanding, it continued to be worn as a part of the
honourable insignia of the priestly office, and the maniple was now
first adopted to answer the useful requirements of the minister.

Subsequently, the maniple was, in its turn, deprived by embel-
lishment of its practical qualities ; but upon this we have to
speak at large, under its own head.

With the increasing ornamentation of the stole, its width
gradually contracted, although it diminished not in length, until
nearly every portion of the plain material was cut away from the
centre, to leave little else but the richly-worked borders, which
originally outlined the wide orarium of linen.

The stole must have been of narrow dimensions at a very early
period, as those figures from mosaics of the sixth century on
Plate 5 will show. And we can clearly judge how very little it
must have varied after its uttermost reduction in width, by com-
paring the examples on Plate 6, and those of the thirteenth
century on Plate ^, with those figures above named.

It would seem almost incredible, had we not so many edifying
prooft that it is a fact, that for twelve hundred years this symbol,
or badge, of the Christian priesthood could have been maintained
of nearly an undeviating form.

In its first stage the narrow stole was of one widtli from end

Cfiurcb Vestments.

to end, as the wider orarium had been ; then it appears to have
slightly expanded at the ends, and thus throughout the Western
Church it has remained up to the present time; for what is
c-allcd the Gothic stole in these days is simply a fac-simile of the
stole on those figures of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
Plate 9.

But there is a stole of a shape upon which we must remark,
with which we meet on many monumental effigies and brasses,
more particularly during the fourteenth century. It is a perfectly
straight, narrow stole, with an oblong square at the ends, like the
top of the Tan cross. Such a stole is figured upon the brass of
Esmond de Burnedish, in Brundish Church, Suffolk, a.d. 1360 ;
also, on that of Peter de Lacy, in Northfleet Church, Kent,

A.D. 1375.

The Council of Laodica;a, a.d. 364, forbade the use of the
stole to lectors and sub-deacons, appointing only priests and
deacons to wear it. Before the dalmatic came to be generally
worn by the deacon, the liturgical dress of this minister was an
alb, often richly worked, of ample dimensions, with a stole, the
distinguishing emblem of his order, hanging from the left
shoulder, as see Plate 22, where a bishop is represented in the act
of blessing, attended by a deacon. These figures were taken for
" Hicrurgia" from an ancient pontifical of the ninth century.
In reference to this Dr. Rock observes :^" This ancient rite is
" noticed, and the reason for it is assigned by the fourth Council
" of Toledo (a.d. 633) : ' Unum igitur orariu^i oportet Levitam
" gestare in sinistro humcro, propter quod orat, id est,
" praedicat." "

By the beginning of the tenth century, all deacons throughout
I the Christian world officiated at the grand celebrarion of the
' Mass, clothed in the dalmatic, with the stole beneath it, still worn

PI ale 22
THE DRARIUM

THE DEACOH'S STOl;f,
5a Cenlury

C&c Sacrificial %to\t.

over the left shoulder, but crossed over the body, behind and
before, to be attached under the right arm. In this manner does
the deacon continue to wear the stole ; while the celebrant, who
until the end of the fourteenth century let his stole hang straight
down as bishops and some members of religious orders do now,
crosses it over his breast, as it was placed at his ordination, and
^ embraces it by the girdle of his alb.

The stole was no longer made of linen after its use was exclu-
sively confined to the priests officiating at the Eucharistic service,
but was formed, as now, of materials to correspond with the
sacrificial vestments with which it was worn.

In the Eastern Churches, the stole is as important a part of the
sacerdotal vestiary as it is with us. The stole of the Greek
priest is worn around the neck; that of the deacon rests over
the left shoul'^er, to hang straight down, until the Communion,
when it is crossed over the breast, and its ends made to encircle
the waist.

The orna nentation of the stole of the Greek deacon is fully
indicative o- the solemnity attached to this portion of the litur-
gical dress by the Greek Church ; it consists of the word
" Holy," inscribed in three different places upon it.

The sacrificial stole of priest and deacon, made after the
approved Gothic model, is 3 yards long,* and, measuring from
the half do2L'nwar(^s — whereby a length of one yard and a hal^
or 54 inches, is described^it is regulated in loidth as follows : —

At the centre, behind, it is 2| inches wide.

At the end of 10 inches, it is 3 inches wide.

At the end of 34 inches, it is 3^ inches wide.

At the end of 44 inches, it is 34 inches wide.

C{)utcb Siestmcnts.

And, for the remaining lo inches, continues to expand from
3^ inches, till it reaches a width of 6 inches at the extreme end.

We may seem to be unduly precise in these directions for the
shape of the stole ; but, as its symmetry depends so much upon
its almost imperceptible increase in width, we cannot believe
that we have wasted a word in explaining the manner of accom-
plishing this nicety of gradation.

There are numerous ways of ornamenting the sacrificial stole ;
but whatever else may be tlie design worked upon it, a cross at
each end, and one in the middle of the back, are strictly required
by the Church.

These crosses may be either simple or florid, wrought only in
gold — for gold is allowed by the Rubric to represent every
colour but black and purple^or with colours reflected from the
needlework of the vestment, mingled with gold.

On Plate 34 we otFer patterns or, more properly, suggestions
for the decoration of the stole, which, by the way, should always
correspond as nearly as possible with the ornamentation on the
other vestments.

The materials of wliich the sacrificial stole is made should be
the same as those of the vestment with which it is to be used.
From one yard and a half of silk, of 24 inches wide, the stoles of
the celebrant and the deacon may be cut, as it is quite admissible,
and usual, to join the stole exactly in the centre of the back,
and to embroider or to transfer the cross over the seam.

The quantity of silk named is calculated for stoles which are
to be bound, as we have described for the chasuble, with lace, and
will not therefore require turnings to be left in the superior
material.

But if it be planned to have a cord edging, the upper silk
must be as wide as the lining, that each may turn inwards to
90

Cbe ^acriOcial ^tole.

make a neat edge for the cord to be sewn along. It is clear then
that a 24-inch silk, or fabric of any kind, will not cut two stoles
of the regulation width, if turnings be required.

This being beyond our control, we can only give hints on the
subject, which may be sometimes acted upon with advantage.

The making up of the stole depends in a great measure upon
its needlework adornment. If only the tlu-ee crosses be worked
upon it, a half-inch border of woven lace will add materially to
its comeliness ; and if it be handsomely embroidered tlie whole
way along, as it frequently is, a simple cord sewn along its edges
will be in the best taste.

The fringe — for the stole should always be fringed at its ends* —
may be from 2 to 3 inches deep. One deeper than tliis is not
advisable, as it is apt to catch awkwardly, and arrest the solemn
movements of the minister, or to get generally disordered and
unseemly looking in a short space of time.

Where gold has been used in the embellishment of the stole,
there is an excuse for a plain gold fringe, which is always a suit-
able appendage; or, the colours in the needlework may be
mixed through the fringe and streaked, as it were, with gold.
According to our theory, as set forth in " Church Embroidery,"
page 167, the last named would be the most correct fringe for a
stole with variegated embroidery enriched by gold, as it would
appear to be, what a fringe originally was — the very fabric itself
frayed out.

Where the three crosses are to be the only adornment of the

* In ancien) times the slote had a row of little lilver or gold bells fnslenei) tloog iu enih.
These appcinlnges, which were called " tintinmbulDm," sDd, Eomctimes. "cunptnula,"
denoted great honour and dij^ily.

In lieu of these little belli, twisted chains of silver and gold, of exquisite workmanship,
with glittering penduils of the some precious metals, were often utached to the old Englislt

Cijurcb Vestments.

stole, there is a much-adopted plan of working them, for transfer,
on velvet pasted upon holland, cutting them out afterwards, and
leaving a mere suspicion of velvet beyond the edging cord.
Tliis expedient answers well, particularly for a simple cross, with
a bold outline, and is commendable for two principal reasons.
The first being, that the rich material of the stole is saved from
risk of damage, should it not be convenient to finish tlie embroi-
dery off at once ; and, the second, that it enables the worker to
dispense with a large frame ; as a frame of 18 inches long will
answer as well for the process of transferring as for the embroi-
dery.

The Roman stole is wider and shorter than that of the old
Gothic tjpe, and joined in the centre by a seam cut on
the cross, as see Plate 34, that it may set smoothly round
the neck. Its usual dimensions are 8 feet 6 inches long by
4^ inches broad, till within 6 inches of the end, where it begins
to expand to a width of 9^ inches at the extreme end. Owing
to tlie extended width of the Roman stole, larger crosses are, very
consistently, usually employed for its embellishment than can be
figured upon the Gothic stole.

Cfie 6@aniple.

THE MANIPLE.

" I ""HE Maniple was first brought into use to take the place of
-*- the stole, the primitive object of which, as a handkerchief,
had been defeated by the elaborate ornamentation expended upon
it by the zealous supporters of the rites of the Church, who
seemed unable to endure the existence of any article appertaining
to the functions of the ministers at the holy altar, that was not
as rich in fabrication as human means could make it.

Originally the maniple was a strip of linen, as the stole had
been, but narrower and shorter, and suspended, as it now is, from
the left arm. In the same manner must table attendants have
carried the napkin in olden times, as instanced from Strutt, on
Plate 33. The figure is taken from a group representing Lot
entertaining tlie uvo angels.

At first, from its use as a handkerchief to wipe the perspiration
from the face and brow of the minister, the sacerdotal maniple
was called " Sudarium." In the "Golden Legend" it is said of
Peter " that he bare alway a ' sudary^ to wipe tlie teerys y' ranne
" fi-om his eyen."

After the maniple had, in course of time, become too orna-
mental for the fulfilment of its first design, it was retained as a
symbol of the sacred calling of the ministry ; and finally, towards
the eighth century, it began to be made of the same material as
tlie sacrificial vestments, and was numbered among them.

C&urcft SlestmcntB.

Even in the sixth century we find that St. Gregory' the Great
was solicited by John, Archbishop of Ravenna, in belialf of his
minor clergj-, for permission to wear, as the clergy then did at
Rome, the maniple while waiting on the Archbishop. His
Holiness granted the favour, but it xvas not to be extended beyond
the first deacons of the Church at Ravenna.

By the ninth century, deacons as well as priests had assumed
the maniple, but it was nigh upon the twelfth century before
sub-deacons received it at their ordination, and were appointed
to use it ever afterwards, as an honourable badge of their
ministerial office, at the solemn service of the High Mass.*

Three maniples, to be worn by the celebrant, deacon, and sub-
deacon, must always be made to complete a ftillset of vestments.
They should be decorated and formed like the stoles in every
way but in length ; they must measure only 44 inches from end
to end.

The Pugin maniple is but 40 inches, and is adopted by many
priests in preference to that of longer dimensions.

The latter is considered to be the most correct by others, who
only favour the oldest examples.

After the maniple is made, it should be folded in half, and
caught together and sewn by the lining, straight across, at a
distance of 6 inches from the centre, to form a loop for the arm
of the priest to pass through. A tab of silk, like the lining,
measuring one by three-quarters of an inch, must also be sewn
inside near the edge, and on a line with the centre cross, that the
maniple may be pinned to the sleeve of the alb, on the upper side
of the arm.

• In the Orienlal Churches, in lieu of ihe maniple, a crimson apparel, which encircles the
ann for some inches, like a cuff, is worn upon each wrist. These apparels are usually deco-
raled with gold embrmdery ; but somelimes, in the Creek Church, Ihcy are figured with the
hurt or our Loril, whith is presented lo be kissed by the faithful, who aiiproach the prelate.
94

eat 1

Clie e^miplt.

A clerk who is not yet in holy orders may sometimes be called
upon to fill the office of sub-deacon ; in such case, it will be
understood that he is not entitled to wear the maniple, as the
privilege can only be enjoyed by those who have been duly
ordained as priests.

The maniple is the first thing put on by the priest robing for
the Mass, upon the removal of his cope, after the return, of the
procession of the Asperges, to the Sanctuary.

The Roman maniple is 36 inches long, the same width as, and
ornamented to correspond with, the stole.

CtiurcE) Ummtnts.

THE STQLOME.

' I "HE Stolone is the wide stole for whicli the deacon exchanges
-'- his folded chasuble during tlie celebration of the Grand
Mass, on most days throughout Lent and Advent, and upon
solemn feasts, such as that of the Purification.

The stolone is of black on Good Friday, and of purple at other
times ; in short, of the same colour and material as the vestments
of the day.

Crosses at the ends, and at the back, generally constitute its
needlework ornamentation. It is usually bordered with a figured
silk lace, and fringed, to correspond with the other sacrificial
garments.

The stolone should be 9 feet long and 10 inches wide, and as
it is worn hke the ordinary stole of the deacon, /. e., over the
left shoulder and attached under the right arm, it should be
caught together by the two edges, at a distance of 27 inches
down, measuring from the cross in the middle of the back.

The deacon exchanges his chasuble for the stolone before the
Gospel, and does not resume the former garment till after the
Elevation, and before the Post-Communion is read.

Clie Confessional %tolt.

XII.

T//£ CONFESSIONAL STOLE.

^ I ^HE Confessional Stole is always of violet, the penitential
■*" colour, figured with simple crosses of gold, or of gold
colour.

It is usuaHy about 2i inches, or seldom more than 3 inches
wide, and, more often than not, is of the same width from end to
end, and 2I yards long.

It may be lined, either with violet, or with gold colour ; the
former is generally preferred.

C6urc& Vestments.

THE BAPTISMAL STOLE.

' I 'WO Stoles, one of purple, the other of white, are required
-*- for the Baprismal Service,

The purple stole is put on by the priest at the beginning of
the ceremony, and worn until the words " Dost thou believe," etc.,
are about to be pronounced, when it is exchanged for the white
stole.

Although sometimes a stole, purple on one side and white
upon the other, is made to answer the purpose of the two distinct
stoles, yet it is a custom only tolerated by the Church where
sheer necessity, arising from lack of means, can be made the
excuse for the expedient.

The violej stole typifies the soul's condition of original sin,
before it is received into the Church of Christ. It may be
decorated only with simple crosses embroidered in gold, or gold
silk, upon the ends and back. On Plate 23 is a florid design
for this stole.

The white stole is assumed as a symbol of the purification of
the soul by the holy rite of Baptism. It may be of very rich
materials and work.

Very elaborate and beautiful designs are frequently worked
on the white baptismal stole, particularly, as is not unusual, when
the parents, or the sponsors of the infant, present the priest with
the stoles for the ceremony.

Clie "Baptismal ^tole.

The baptismal stole is worn pendent, i. e., not crossed upon the
breast, and is best made a full half-yard shorter than the stole
for the Holy Mass.

It may also be wider than the last-mentioned, and if more
than 3 inches wide in the middle, may be joined slantwise like
the Roman stole, in order that it may fit well round the neck.

Only gold, silver, or gold colour, may be used on the white
baptismal stole. Stiver embroidery on the white ground is very
chaste and lovely, and may be used to any extent. There is but
one objection to it — its aptitude to tarnish quickly.

A suitable pattern for the white baptismal stole is given on
Plate 23. It should be lined, and finished off, with fringe at the
ends, and with a cord and tassels to confine it over the breast,
like the preaching stole.

Cbutcb Ilestnunts.

THE PMEACIirNC STOLE.

' I ''HIS Stole, like the vestments of the altar, must be always
-*- of the colour of the day.

It is seldom seen very plainly adorned, having either richly-
ornamented crosses worked at the ends, or an embroidered
pattern spreading all over it, in addition to the three crosses
which must be figured upon every stole.

As the ample and proper surplice is one yard and a quarter
long, the preaching stole, which should not fall below the surplice,
should be two yards and a quarter long, and somewhat wider
than the sacrificial stole. There is no arbitrary rule for the
dimensions of the Gothic preaching stole; those of the Roman
standard are as follows: — ^\ yards long, and 4i inches wide, till
within 8 inches of the bottom ; it then increases gradually to
9 inches across at the extreme lower end.

As it is joined cross-wise in tlie middle of the back, that it
may set easily round the collar, it is necessary to remark that the
measurement of i\ yards must be secured along the outer edge.
By the inner edge, the length of the Roman preaching stole is
2 yards and 3 inches.

The Gothic as well as the Roman stole should have a hand-
some fringe along the ends, and a cord and tassels attached to
each side, to confine it over the breast uf the minister. These
appendages may be either of gold, or of a mixture comprising
the colours in the work and the shade of the ground, enriched
by strands of gold.

PInte 23 Sxliibits a design for a preaching stole.

Cde Cope.

XV.

THE COPE.

'^ I "HE Cappa (or cope, says Honorius, is the proper robe of
-*■ singers, cantorum), which seems to be substituted for

the acintine tunic of the law (pro tunicd acintinA legis), from
whence, as that was adorned with bells, so this with fringes.*
By this robe holy conversation is represented, therefore it is

" used by every order. It has a hood above, which marks the
joy of Heaven. It reaches to the feet, because in good living
we must persevere to the end ; by the fringes the labour is
denoted by which the service of God is consummated. It is

" open before, because eternal life lies open to the ministers of

" Christ who lead a holy life."

The beautiful symbolism conveyed in the above passage has

tempted us to give it as a heading to our chapter on the robe

which is thus so piously eulogized.

But, we have to descend to mere matter-of-fact reasoning for

the origin of the cope, and are thereby brought to believe that,

as its primitive name, pluviale, implies, it was a garment invented

to protect the clergy from inclement weather, in out-of-door

processions.

The precise period of the adoption of this robe is not known,

for early illuminated figures showing its use are rare, and before

the time of Edward the Confessor, we gatlier very little from

* The fringe of the Anglo-Saxon cope was frequently formed of little bells of purest gold.

lOi

Cftutci) Sltstmmts.

he old chronicles, to assist us in lixing the date of its intro-
duction.

In the reign of the king just named, we read of Leofric be-
queathing three copes for the chanters of his Church of Exeter ;
and of Queen Matilda, wife of the Conqueror, leaving by her
will, to the Abbey of the Trinity, at Caen, of which she was the
founder, a richly-worked robe of gold, intended for a co/e, with
two other gorgeous vestments, wrought, as the first named, in
England.

Her husband, who so constantly e\nnced his appreciation of
our native talent for sacerdotal adornment, by seizing every
beautiful vestment he saw in our churches, to bestow it on his
beloved Normandy, sent to St. Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, a most
splendid cope, bordered all around the lower edge by a deep
fi*inge of little tinkling bells, of purest gold.

We are also told that at the close of the eleventh century
Arnulph, prior of Rochester Monastery, " caused to be made the
" principal vestment embroidered with a tree in gold, and the
" best cope, and a covering inlaidwith precious stones." The
chronicler says further, " the cope above mentioned had silver
" bells, and that which is there next to it, called 'a covering in-
" laid with precious stones,' is an albe with tlie amice adorned
" with precious stones."

Then, of our own Anglo-Saxon Margaret, Queen of Scotland,
it is recorded that she caused to be made copes to match in
beauty with the numerous other vestments so thoughtfully pro-
vided by her, for the ser\-ice of the Church she so " delighted
" to honour."

A record now lies before us of an entry extracted from the
Liberate Roll 24, Henry the Third (a.d. 1241). where an item
occurs of 24/. IS. dfy-'paid to Adam de Basinges for a red silk

!-N'TREiJf UKPHHE'i

5YMBDULf.l. DRPHREY FOH. CQ?t

Cfte Cope.

cope given by the king to the Bishop of Hereford, This sum,
according to tlie value of money at that time, is computed at
upwards of 360/, sterling.

It would seem that the vast surface of material presented in
the cope was the happy excuse for covering it with the most
wonderful things in needlework. Whole histories from Holy
Writ, or from the lives of the Saints, have been told over and
over again in embroidery, in numberless different ways, on this
magnificent robe.* We have already described, as see page 15,
some of the most remarkable of the examples left to us of these
achievements, and could yet fill a larger volume than we dare
allow ourselves to devote, even to the whole of the sacred vest-
ments, in mere descriptions oi copes alone, that we have seen and
read about.

For, of all the garments belonging to the clerical offices of
the ancient Christian Church, none are perhaps better known, or
have held their original position of dignity under greater favour,
through all the various doctrinal changes of the Protestant era,
than the cope.

For centuries it has been the robe worn by sovereigns at their
coronarion, and in it, likewise, does the archbishop and his
assistant prelates vest themselves for their part in the same
solemn ceremony, •

In Durham Cathedral, copes continued to be used up to a
period in the last century when the mere mention of amice, alb,
or chasuble, would have called forth the indignation, if not the
severest admonition, of the whole community of the Established
Church.

Of all our grand cathedrals, in old Catholic times, none were

Cburcf) Vestments.

richer in copes than Durham, for every one of its monks could
walk in procession clad in a costly cope; while that worn by the
prior was of cloth of gold, and so weighted with splendour that,
whenever he put it on, those who were his train-bearers, on other
occasions, had to support this massive robe on every side.

It was, no doubt, in such churches as this that the custom
was followed "of spreading a wide linen cloth in ihe middle of
" the choir floor, and heaping it with a pile of copes to be worn
" at the dinne service. By this method these garments could he
" easily got at just before the clergj' had to walk forth in pro-
" cession, and as easily put off afterwards."

Tlie cojie has always been the processional, as the chasuble the
sacrificial, robe of the priest, and is thus set down in the Salis-
bury Use.

Formerly, " in collegiate and cathedral churches, and wealthier
" religious houses, the canons, the monks and friars, and as
" many as possible of the elder clergy, were arrayed in silken
" copes at the principal services on each Sunday and hoHday,
" marked for walking in any kind of solemn procession.

"For like reason, the ' rectores chori,' or rulers of the choir,
"who on account of their oflice had to be so often moving to
" and fro as they led the singing, not only bore richly-ornamented
" staves in their hands, but fpom the Anglo-Saxon and all through
" the English period, were vested too in copes, the most beautifiil
" which tlieir churches happened to possess."

That which is called the liood of the cope, and which for ages
has been nothing else but an ornamental ap]}endage, was originally-
a real coveting for the head, to be worn up nr down, at the option
of the wearer, according to the weather.

Before the close of the Anglo-Saxon period, the first object of

the hood as an appurtenance of utility began to be disregarded;

104

€te 0OOD of Cope.

and flat pieces of enriched embroidery were often substituted for
the former head-covering. It is said, that even sheets of thin
solid gold, suspended from the bark of the robe by delicate
golden hooks and chains, took the place of the hood even before
William of Normandy's time. These gorgeous appendages are
supposed to have been the "taisselli," of which this king, in his
great love for Anglo-Saxon works of value, took iiii from the
poor monks of Ely.

After the Normans came, the actual hood of service was
entirely abandoned for the flat piece of ornamental needlework
whicli, at this moment, we designate the hood of the cope.

These so-called hoods have always been made to vie with the
orphreys in beauty of design and wealth of materials. Upon the
hood has generally been figured, by the most skilled hands,
subjects of holy events marking the particular high festivals of
the Church, and, in medieval times, some copes had many such
hoods, to be used according to the feast in commemoration.

In the old inventories it is singularly interesting to note the
descriptions of many of these sacred pictures in needle-paint tng.
We have only space to quote a few of the most curious from
the Lincoln account : —

" A cope of red cloth of gold, having in the hood the Majesty,"

" A red cope of cloth of gold, with costly orphreys, with the
" scripture of St. Katherine in tlie hood, the tomb springing oil ;*
" in the morse, an angel bearing a crown ; of the gift of
" Mr. John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cardinal
" of Anastasis."

"A cope of red velvet, broidered with archangels and stars of
" gold," and " an image of the crucifix in the hood."

" From Ihe lumbs of many of Ihe ^\\-ats n prcctom kinii ot oil wr
ihal of Ri. Kaiherine cspccinlly.

CEiutct) Slestments.

"Two copes of black satin, orplireys red damask, broidered

*ifh flowers of gold, having in the back souls rising to their

doom, eitlier of them having in the hood an image of our
" Saviour sitting upon the rainbow,"

The salutation of our Lady, tlie Assumption, and the Coro-
nation of the Virgin, frequently form the subjects on the hoods
in these lists.

The lovely Syon cope is unfortunately without a hood now,
but the golden loops which suspended it below the orphrey still
remain, to keep us for ever speculating and wondering as to the
treasure we have lost. For, the hood of that cope could have
been naught but an object for lovers of the ancient faith to glory in.

The hood of the Anglo-Saxon priest was, at first, of a pointed
triangular shape ; but, in course of time, its outline took a more
curved and relenting form, in obedience to the principles of the
advancing taste in sacred art, and finally settled into the symme-
trical figure of an inverted Gothic arch. This was the shape of
the hood of the cope in the middle of the sixteenth century, and
the same which, at this day, is the only one acknowledged to be
correct by the best authorities on sacred vesture. The semi-
circular hood is a comparatively modern invention, inelegant,
and inconsistent with ancient associations of the Church. The
hood, to be proper, should not exceed t8 inches across the top ;
the depth of the same to the extreme point should scarcely
measure more than 21 inches. The designs on Plate 2$ are for
hoods 15 inches wide by 18 inches deepi

The orphreys of the cope, as of old, should match with the
hood in wealth and beauty. They may be made of any width
from 5 to 10 inches: less than the one makes a poor and insig-
nificant orphrey ; more than the latter is apt to produce a coarse,
rather than a rich, effect.

HDD3S FDR r,JPt:S

©rpfireps of dLopt.

An eight-inch orphrey was the most favoured in ancient times,
and it is very seemly, and affords ample space for a handsome
pattern of either canopied saints, flowers, scroll-work, or geome-
trical figures.

Formerly, these orphreys must have been more splendid with
the embroidery, gold, pearls, precious stones, and enamels heaped
upon them, than the warmest enthusiast in these utilitarian days
can conceive. We must remember, too, that the material of the
robe itself was very frequently like the Syon cope, and others we
know about, worked all over in the richest and most elaborate
manner with wonderful designs of saints, and angels, and holy
symbols of every kind. Animals, and birds of conventional forms
and spiritualized expression, were also often introduced in these
vast diapered patterns of the cope, and contributed, apart from
the precious metals and stuffs wrought about tliem, no small
degree of grandeur and mystery of effect to the more exalted
emblems of religion.

Sometimes, as now, these patterns would be figured in the
loom, on grounds of gold, rich velvet, or silk, and not by
the embroideress. But, in such case, the orphreys of the
garment, and the hood, would be, generally, of elaborate needle-
work.

A cope of this kind is shown on our Frontispiece. The main
portion of the robe is supposed to be of a woven material ; the
hood, and the orphreys, of embroidery.

The following are the correct dimensions for a cope of the
true shape ; by which we mean tliat of a cycloid, instead of an
exact semicircle^ of which this robe is generally supposed to be
formed. If cut upon the latter principle, the cope loses much of
the grace and dignity of its ancient prototype. For, supposing
the garment to be made from a circle of lo feet across, it must

Cburcb aestments.

necessarily be 5 feet long behind ; ami, when laid over the
shoulders, and duly taken up by their breadth, it is obvious that
it will have the ap[jearance of being much shorter before than it
is behind: unless it be made from a circle of larger dimensions,
when the cope, in order that it may in a seemly manner cover
the feet in front, will rest upon the ground several inches at the
back.

To counteract these objections, the curve must be drawn out
from the generating point upon the circle to the common cycloid
form; so that, in fact, if the right length of the cope behind be
5 feet, it may measure along its straightedge 11 feet. The cope
in the Frontispiece is sketched from a model of these dimensions.
The cope, with the exception of the humeral veil, is the least
difficult of all the sacred garments to make up, always providing
tlut it be laid out on a large table, closely tacked, and otherwise
proceeded with, as recommended, page 73.

An inner lining of stout unbleached calico is required for it ;
some vestment-makers use coarse linen, which many priests
object to, on account of its weight, without value. As for every
other vestment, this inner lining must be cut to the exact shape
which the garment is to be when made, and the rich material
tacked upon it. Then, the silk hning is to be placed and the
three-quarters of an inch, left beyond the size, turned over upon
the superior material, to be covered by the orphrey at the upper,
and by the narrow border of needlework, lace binding, or fringe,
at the lower, edge. A fringe round the bottom of the cope is
not greatly approved by the clergy at the present day ; they say
it is apt to catch, and occasion awkward movements, especially
as regards the processional garment. Notwithstanding this
objection, a fringe is the most graceful of all apjiendages for the
robe, and as such was the most favoured in past days ; when, a;

Colour of Cope.

we have already said, it was frequently made even of tiny bells of
the precious metals.

The cope must always be of the colour of the day, and when
worn with the sacrificial vestments, should correspond with them,
not only in colour, but in ornamentation.

A cope of the colour of the day is assumed by the priest who
is honoured, as the assistant of the bishop, at a Pontifical High
Mass. Vide Frontispiece.

When the divine service is not celebrated by a prelate, the
ordinary ofliciant wears the cope only in the procession of the
asperges fi*om the sacristy to the altar, and from thence through
the church. Upon the return to the sanctuary the cope is
removed from the shoulders of the priest, and he assumes the
sacrificial robe — the chasuble, to remain thus clothed to the end
of the solemn service.

At the benediction of the blessed Sacrament the priest wears a
white cope.

The same in the procession on Holy Thursday.

On the Feast of the Purification, the processional cope is
purple.

For the divine office before and after the midnight Mass at
Christmas, either a white, or a gold cope, is put on by the
officiant at the ninth lesson. At the same time, the cantors array
themselves in white copes.

On Holy Saturday a purple cope is used by the celebrant, and,
should a bishop ofliciate, he wears a purple cope at the blessing
of the fire, and also at the benediction of the font.

On the Vigil of Pentecost a purple cope is worn at the bene-
diction of the font.

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, white processional copes are
used.

C&urcfi Vestments.

During the office of the First Vespers for the Commemora-
tion of the Dead, which immediately follows the Second Vespers
of the Feast of All Saints, the priest is clothed in a black cope.

Also, in Masses for the Dead, where a cope is used, it must be
black ; upon which white, only, may be figured.

The Morse.

The morse is the ornamental fastening by which the cope is
confined upon the breast of the wearer. In the oldest of our
Church inventories we find profuse mention of the morse, and
may be justified in dating its adoption from a period almost as
early as that of the cope itself.

In the list of vestments of old St. Paul's, made a.d. 1295,
twenty-eight morses are enumerated as of superlative value, most
of them being of goldsmiths' work, and embellished with jewels
and enamels. A morse of this costly kind is illustrated in the
translation of M. Jules Labarte's work on the " Arts of the
" Middle Ages and Renaissance." It is described as follows : —
" Silver gilt. Fourteenth century. Forms a quatrefoil, with small
" lobes at the points of intersection. A lozenge, edged with
" cabochons of various colours and pearls, is inscribed within the
" quatrefoil, and on it is an eagle crowned ; the wings and body
" enriched with precious stones, rubies, sapphires, and garnet
" cabochons. Diameter, 7 inches."*

No doubt, anciently the art of the lapidary and the worker in
precious metals was extensively encouraged, and exercised in the
production of the morse, as many of those beautiful examples of
the sacred jewel existing in difltrent collections of ancient

* DescripUoDS of many such as this are to be found in llie Inventories of UdcoIq, VotL
Min&ter, .St. George's Coll^ale Chapel, Wbdsor ; and of many others taken before^ and
diirine llie sixteenth century.

-— •"

Cfte eeoree.

treasures abroad, as well as at home, will show. So, likewise,
must the skill of the needleworker have been equally in request,
as evidenced in nearly every familiar chronicle of Church vesture.
Some of these embroidered morses are described, as belonging to
those gorgeous "red velvet copes of Lincoln, on page 14.

It was not unusual to embroider the name of the donor of the
robe, in the form of a rebus or otherwise, on the morse, accom-
panied by some pious inscription, such as a supplication for
prayers for his soul, as instanced in the gift of Robert Thornton,
page 20. The coat of arms of the benefactor of the cope was
also a favourite secular device for the morse. We read of the
arms of Lord William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, a.d. 1495,
being wrought on the morses of no fewer than twenty-five
splendid copes in succession.

Subjects from Holy Writ, in affinity with the history deU-
neated on the garment itself, were frequently figured upon the
morse in the middle ages ; and very elaborately must they have
been worked, to render them intelligible on the necessarily small
space to which the design was limited.

Gold and gems, too, were profusely used about these embroi-
deries, until they were sometimes made to be even more costly,
as they were often more precious, owing to the devout hands
that worked them, than the massive clasp of the skilled goldsmith.

The morse of pure gold or silver, studded with precious
jewels, is not in these modern times so liberally bestowed upon
the cope as formerly. A fastening fashioned in needlework is
now, more often than any other, seen upon the garment ; and is
certainly preferable, for its genuineness alone, to any clasp of
spurious metals and unreal stones. Six inches by five is a
favoured size for an embroidered morse. For its ornamentation,
either of the following is a suitable design : —

€hw(t Vestments.

A good geometrical figure, consistent with the pattern upon
the cope or its orphreys ; the cross of England's patron saint,
St. George, upon a shield ; the monogram, or the emblems of
the saint or martyr to whom the church for which the cope is
made is dedicated; or, better than all, the mctoogram of our
Lord, or a figure of His Cross ; for, no matter what the cope
may be, these holy symbols can be shown in no more fitting
place than on the breast of His ministers.

112

Clje ©ffertotp Sieil

THE OFFEHTORY VEIL.

'■ I "^HIS vestment is sometimes called the Humeral Veil, and
■*■ again, the Benediction Veil. Althougli neither of these
terms may be considered incorrect, yet the Offertory Veil seems
to be the most appropriate, insomuch as it bears an immediate
reference to the especially solemn part of the Divine service,
during which the sub-deacon wears the garment.

As the celebrant is repeating the OfFertorium, the sub-deacon
advances from the foot of the altar to the credence table, where
the chalice and paten, prepared for the sacrifice, are placed,
covered by the offertory veil. Assisted by an acolyte, he
arranges this veil over his shoulders, and, tying it in front, enve-
lops die sacred vessels by it, and proceeds with them, thus
shrouded, to the epistle side of the altar, where the deacon
receives them from him.

After the offering of thechahce and paten, the deacon returns
the latter to the sub-deacon, who, taking it in hands already
muffled in the veil, retires to the foot of the altar, where he
continues to hold the sacred vessel, in the attitude shown in the
Frontispiece, till the end of the Pater Noster,

This function of the sub-deacon " is said to date from the

" time when the faithful offered bread and wine on the paten.

" As these offerings were large, the size of the paten was in

" proportion, and, being inconvenient on the altar, it was

Q .13

Cburcb aestments.

" removed, and held by the sub-deacon till wanted again by
" the priest."*

Dr. Rock says that " in old Catholic England an acolyte, clad
" in an alb and tunicle, and not the sub-deacon, so held the
" paten at High Mass." By some of the ancient writers the
acolyte thus appointed was called the " patener."

The use of the offertory veil is supposed to have existed from
a very early period in Anglo-Saxon times, although its history is
somewhat vague up to the eleventh century, when we find
Leofric, Bishop of Exeter, bequeathing to his church " iiii sub-
" diaconis handlin," whicli, it is concluded, were offertory veils.

This vestment is always of the colour of the day, and made to
harmonize in every other respect with the sacrificial robes with
which it is worn.

It is fashioned as a straight scarf, measuring full 3 yards long,
and vaiying from 20 to 36 inches in width. The veil shown in
the Frontispiece is a medium width of 27 inches, and is that
which is generally approved. A narrow offertory veil of 18, or
even 2c inches wide, unless it be made of a very rich material, is
a spare-looking and undignified garment; notwithstanding.it is
by no means uncommon to see such an one in use, particularly
when it accompanies a suit of vestments of either the Italian or
French form.

A rich piece of embroidery, symbolical of the elements of the
blessed Sacrament ; 'or a design of the I_,amb of tlie Holy Sa-
crifice; or the letters of the name of our Lord, surrounded by
rays of glory, are alike proper for the ornamentation of the
offertory veil. Sometimes, added to an elaborate piece of needle-
work in the centre, an embroidered border, such as we have
practically illustrated towards the end of this volume, is carried

' Rev. F. Oakeley, M.A. : "Order and Ceremonial of the Mass."

CKNTRi:?; FOR CROSS 'J^ '^^
W'.'.'n PLAIN iiiyniRV.;,

€^e SDffettorp (Eletl*

all about the edges of this scarf. Otherwise, a suitable woven
lace is used to bind it round, after the manner already described
for other vestments. It should always be finished along the ends
by a fringe of at least 3 inches deep.

Ribbon strings of 2 inches wide, and half a yard long, or silk
' cords, terminating in tassels, should be sewn at each side on the
front edge of the veil, that the minister may tie it across his
breast.

These strings are ordinarily sewn at a distance of a yard
apart — measuring from the centre of the veil, 18 inches each
way.

The lining of the offertory veil should be of silk, the same as
that used for the other vestments of the day. The employment
of a woollen material for this purpose is not only incorrect, but
reprehensible. Where paucity of means forbids silk, pure fine
linen may be substituted with impunity. Such' a lining, when
soiled, may be easily taken out and washed ; and, further, linen,
of all fabrics, has the highest sanction for proximity to the
sacred vessels.

«>5

Ctiurct) Slestments.

THE CHALICE VEIL.

'T^HE Chalice Veil, used in tlie Western Church, is the small
■*■ square of ^iik, like the vestments of the day, which over-
spreads the chalice and paten, as they are being conveyed to and
from the sacristy, and which covers them while resting on the
credence table.

The size of this veil may vary from a square of 24, to one of
20 inches. It is usually distinguished by a cross of needlework,
which may be either ornamental, or plain. To place the cross,
as shown on Plate a8, the silk should be folded in tlu"ee one
way, and precisely in half the other; and where the lines meet
on tlie first creased* division of the silk, there should the
centre ot the cross be fixed. By this arrangement the cross
falls naturally in front, when the veil is laid evenly over the
sacred vessels.

It is not incoirect to work the cross precisely in the centre of
the chalice veil ; indeed, it is the Italian custom so to do, although
the practice of placing the ornament in front is the most favoured
by the English clergy.

The chalice veil may have an embroidered border, like
the offertory veil, as well as the cross, and may be still further
enriched by a fringe of al inches deep.

^t €Mitt Qttl

Ordinarily, it has a woven lace of an inch wide, to match witli
that of the vestments, laid flat round its edges : the addition of a
fringe is optional.

No other but a silk, or a fine linen lining, must be thought of
for this veil. Failing the former material, the latter, as in the
case of the offertory veil, to be the sole substitute.

117

Cburcl) JUestments.

xvni.

THE BURSE.

' I ^HE Burse is the familiar name for the corporal case, the
-*- square, firm kind of pocket, which always accompanies
the sacred vessels at the Holy Mass.

It should be made of the same materials as the sacrificial
vestments, and as it is the receptacle for the corporal,* the cloth
upon which the sacred elements are consecrated, it must never
be lined with anything but the finest white lawn,

The size of the burse varies from 9 to 12 inches square. It
has usually a cross worked upon it, of a design and treatment
assimilating with the ornament displayed on the vestments of the
day. Sometimes a border of needlework, as described for the
chalice veil, instead of the more common border of woven
lace, is made to encompass the cross ; or a conventional pattern
is elegantly arranged to overspread the entire surface of tlie
case, as see Plate 28,

Anciently, it was the custom to embellish the burse in the
richest manner, and to elaborate beautifully, even on the small
space the article afforded for the due development of figures,
subjects from the lives of our Blessed Lord, the Holy Virgin,
and the saints ; embroidering them in fine gold and seed pearls,
and otherwise enriching their draperies by borderings of real and
various coloured gems.

* 'I'hi; pall, when tiot in u:>e, ih also kepi in ihe bunc

THE 3 'J :<.;.£

C!ie TButsc.

Burses such as described may be recognised in most of the in-
ventories of sacred appointments recorded by Dugdale.

The making up of the corporal case is one of the most appa-
rently complicated operations of the Church needlewoman. To
secure its perfect squareness, and neatness withal, the following is
the only sure plan of proceeding ; —

Two squares of tolerably stout Bristol board should be cut, to
the size appointed for the burse, with such precision that they
may not differ from each other even by the fiftieth part of an
inch.

These are best cut out upon a board, with a sharp penknife
guided by a straight-edged rule.*

Two more pieces of Bristol board must also be cut in a similar
manner to the above, and of the same dimensions one way, but
one inch less the other.

Over the two perfect squares, the upper side of the burse —
that which may have the cross upon it — and the plain silk for the
under side are to be stretched. Over the two curtailed squares
the lawn is to be strained.

Upon the upper silk side, unless there be a needlework border,
the woven lace binding is to be laid flat round the edge, and
nicely mitred at tlie corners ; holding the card, as a frame, in
the hand, and passing the needle backwards and forwards through
the edge of the lace, to form minute stitches on the right, and
those of about half an inch long, on the wrong or cardboard
side.

A gusset of silk, the length of the burse, and two inches wide
at the top, and tapering to half an inch at the bottom, is to be

* It ii qaitc worth the while uf those who hnvc many bunes to muke^ to have a sijuare
nl io thin metal, which msy be lairl down opon the card, on a board, and held by one hand
firmlj, whi]c cutting close round its sides with a sharp knife. Square afler square may
ipecdily be produced in this way, without a hnir'a breadih of variation.

119

i
i

firmly tacked to each linen division on the cardboard side ; then,
the two silk-covered cards are to be attached to the hnen-covered
pieces by sewing them against the gussets up each side, and by
bringing the two cards together, and sewing them neatly along
the two top edges, as well as across the bottom.

The linen cards are shortened at the bottom, that there may
not be four thicknesses of card to bring together along the closed
edge of the burse. On Plate 28 we have illustrated an open
burse to show the gusset, and the appearance of the article when
correctly made. The design is for a corporal case to be used at
times of solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, when
there is no Mass.

J20

C:f)e Surplice.

THE SURPLICE.

' I ""HIS, the most ample of all the
"*- white garments belonging to
ecclesiastical dress, originated in thi
primitive alb, from which, in the
eleventh century, it was enlarged by
the Anglo-Saxon clergy, that a fur
garment might be worn beneath it
in cold seasons.

The word surplice being com-
pounded from the Latin super^ above,
and pellis, a skin, or pdlicia, a skin-
vest, fully explains the first purposi
of the enlarged alb ; the new name
for which — surplice — we find, does
not appear in any record till tht
time of St. Edward the Confessor,
Dr. Rock observes that at one time in some parts of Englant'
the surplice was remarkable for having a hood attaclied to it,
which might be drawn up and worn over the head. He also
says : " The surplice was not allowed so thoroughly to supersede
" the use among the lower clergy of its prototype the alb, but
" what that latter garment, at the more solemn services such as
" High Mass, and in great processions, was required up to the

Cbiircft eiestments.

" last day of its being in the Use which St, Osmund framed for
" Salisbury, to be worn by the younger clerks who had to wait
" more immediately around the altar, and ministered as acolytes
" and incense-bearers at the holy sacrifice.

" The spirit of St. Osmund's rubrics clearly is, that though
" the surplice might be worn by those of the clergy who sat in
" the choir, or had to move to another quarter of the church to
" sing any portion of the office, still for every one employed
" about the altar, no matter at what distance from it, and though
" even he were not more than an acolyte, the alb was the allotted
" garment : if we may so say, the surplice was the choral, the alb
" the sacrificial ministering robe."

In the Catholic Church of the present day, the celebrating
priests at the Mass wear tlie alb beneath the chasuble, dalmatic,
and tunicle, while the surplice may be assumed, alike by the
preacher, the choir-boys, thurifers, and many others, who
though servants of the Church may not be of tlie clerg}'.*

Tile surplice was worn very long, even to touch the ground,
till nearly the middle of the fourteenth century. See Plates 30
and 31, extracted from Uueen Marys Psalter,

About this time — 1339 — we read of a constitution of
Benedict the Twelfth in which it was ordered that all canons,
within the choir and closes of cathedrals and other conventual
places, should wear their surjilices of such a size that the sleeves
should extend in length, below the pendent ha.n(\, to /our hands'
breadth, and that the garment itself should be long enough " to
" reach lower than the middle of the shin, or thereabouts." And
further, it was at the same time ordered that outside the churches.

" Knyyhton relates that, A.D. 1392, on Ihe relutti of Richard Ibe Second lo London, he
was welcomed by a grand procfuiion, in which, watkine wilh the bishop and c1ei;gy, were
five Jiundrcd Imys arrayed in inrpiicts.

TRUE FORM OF SURPLICE. PUte29

■ -yu:

\ '-^p -.y. :y t'i .,j.:Tj^.^y

Cbe Surplice.

cloisters, and places aforesaid, everj-wliere, and In all fitting
places, the surplice might be worn by tlie canons, beneath their
cappas and mantles, with sleeves aliout a Roman foot in depth,
and long enough in the skirt to reach to the middle of the
shin.

The ample proportions of the surplice ordered for the regular
canons in the first part of this decree, are those adhered to at this
moment by the promoters of a revived taste for all that is digni-
fied and grand in vestments for tiie Church. And who will not
go with these authorities in a preference for the beautiful, plainly-
made, lawn surplice, with seams and hems so neatly sewn that
stitches are only to be discovered in admiration for their regularity,
to the short, unmeaning, high-shouldered garment with meagre
sleeves, and bordered with paltry lace, in which some amongst
the clergy, and others about the various ceremonies of the
Church, are too often seen enrobed ?

Quite as much to be condemned is the surplice formerly in-
troduced from France, and happily now going out of use, which
instead of sleeves has wide open pieces like wings flapping about
the shoulders, and leaving the arms to display the cassock in a
most unbecoming manner.

The ancient surplice had sleeves, so full and long, that the
hands of the wearer could be easily enfolded within them for the
protection of the service-books from undue moisture of the skin.
All degrees of the clergy wore the garment of the same ample
form : but according to their rank, so it differed in the quality of
its material and embellishment.*

• Amon); other pious ljei|Uesls, Dame Eliiiabelh Andrews,
" ihikl Stoke Church shal\ have n surplice iniulc a( a piece of linci
And " to the church of WcjIoli, 20 yitrds of liin;]i tloih lo miike

Cijurcti Clesrmenrj.

"I'hread embroideries of blue, and sometimes of red, were not
unfrequent around tlie neck of the sJrplice of a priest; and, strange
as it may appear now, we are assured, " that it was the custom in
" some places in England not only for the clergy of a church to
** dine together on one of the great holidays, but to sit down to
" table each in his surplice."

The thurifer heading this chapter is from a scene in the life
of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and sketched from a
Cottonian MS., Julius, E. IV. The figure is shown exactly as
it appears in the manuscript, where it attracted us by the near
resemblance of its robe to the simple and majestic surplice of
Dr. Rock, which we had previously obtained permission to copy
for Plate 29, as an example of the correct shape of the garment.

The latter is made of fine lawn.

Its length, i^ yard, behind and before alike.

Its width at bottom, including a gore at each side of f yard
wide, is 5 1 yards.

These gores are | of a yard deep.

The sleeves are 3 yards in circumference at bottom, and have
gussets inserted of 15 ip'hes square.

The depth of the sleeves is i yard at the top of the arm. and
I yard and 7 inches deep at the longest part.

The neck is sloped round with great nicety, so that when the
head is passed through, the garment arranges itself on the figure
without need of fastening of any description ; and being precisely
the same behind and before, it is usual to work a tiny cross in
blue or white cotton at the back of the neck, for the wearer's
guidance in putting it on.

The chequer stitch confining the gathers is generally worked
either in coarse " Boars-head" cotton, or in a fine bobbin cord.
This ii now the only ornament appra\ed on the surplice.

ARCHBISHOP AND BISHOPS VESTED IN PALLIUM,
CHASUBLE AND COPE p,

PRIESTS IN SURPLICES

C^e ^urpltce.

Indeed, excessive neatness in make, and careful washing and
" getting up,** are all that need be observed to render the robe
fit for its good use. Plaiting^ marked by the iron or other
means, is wholly discountenanced for the surplice, which should
hang naturally and gracefully over the figure, in soft and unre-
strained folds.

Molinet remarks upon a kind of surplice without sleeves,
which in his time — 1666 — was being worn in some places, and
was nearly of the same circular form as the ample old chasuble.
He concludes his observation of this particular surplice in the
following words: — "Les chanoines reguliers de la congre-
" gation de Sainte Croix de Conimbre en Portugal, quelqu'uns
" d'AUemagne, et mesme de France, les portent encore decette
" maniere, qui a quelque chose d'antique et de venerable.**

1-^5

Cbutct Oestmeitts.

THE COTTA.

* I ""HE Cotta, a garment worn at the altar services in some
■*- churches by the assistant priests and acolytes, is nothing
more than a very poor substitute for the ample surplice.

As the latter is really the only correct white robe to be worn
over the cassock by all servitors at the altar, save those wearing
the sacrificial vestments, from the tonsured priest to the smallest
choir-boy, we do not feel it incumbent upon us to describe the
short, undignified appurtenance called the cotta.

Setting aside its mean appearance, nowhere do we find any
authority for its adoption.

We have alluded to the cotta as being worn by certain
officials at the Ecclesiastical Court of Rome, but we can take no
precedent from such a source for our, sometimes, indiscriminate
use of the garment to the exclusion of the surplice.

On Plate '^'^, we give two, not exaggerated, examples of the
cotta, as we have so frequently seen it in France.

Fig. I is the crimped cotta.

Fig. 2, the crochet cotta.

CorpocaI=Clot{)e.

THE SACRED LINEM OF THE ALTAR— CORPORAL-CLOTHS. PALLS.
PURIFICATORS, AND LAVABOR-TOWELS.

TT is possible that a description of the above may not be
-*■ looked for among vestments, nevertheless, we do not with-
hold it, as information upon the subject may prove useful to
some of our readers.

In " Church Embroidery," the corporal-cloth is mentioned
with a view to its ornamentation only, and the pall is glanced at,
in the same place, in a manner so confusing, that we are con-
strained to make the present work the medium of an apology
for the oversight, which has allowed, what may be construed
into an error, to appear under our name.

The above-mentioned book was printed, and bound, before we
discovered the two little words, which from being misread in our
manuscript, and strangely overlooked in our correction of the
proofs, left us responsible for erroneously representing the
corporal-cloth to be one and the same, at the present day, as
the pall.

It is perfectly true, nevertheless, that formerly the corporal-
cloth was made large enough to spread the whole way along the
top of the altar, and that one end of it was frequently used to
cover the chalice, as a pall — a custom continued in many of the
principal churches in France up to a very late period.

127

C&utct) Vestments.

In Strutt's " Regal Anriqiiities," Plate 28, where the Earl of
Nortliumbcrland is shown at an altar taking an oath of fealty to
King Richard, the corporal-cloth upon which the noble is
swearing* is opened out upon the middle of the altar, with one
end shrouding the chalice.

The origin of the large corporal, which overspread the top of
the altar, may be traced to the days when the true followers of
the faith, being rigid observers of the rites of the Church, were
zealous frequenters of the Blessed Sacrament; and the altar-
breads for such numerous communicants were all laid out, and
consecrated upon this especial cloth.

Upon the corporal, also, were the offerings deposited after the
Credo ; in commemoration of which usage the deacon now, as of
old, at the conclusion of the " Et Incarnatus est," advances to
the credence-table, and from thence to the altar, bearing with
him the burse containing the corporal. This he spreads upon
the altar, and then returns to resume his seat at the side of the
priest till the end of the Credo.

As the Blessed Host is now no longer, as formerly, reserved
only for the sick, but is kept ready for all who may present
themselves for Communion at the Holy Mass, the large corporal
has fallen into disuse, and a cloth seldom more than 20 inches
square supplies its place.

According to the Roman Catholic Ritual, the corporal should
be of finest linen, and its decoration chaste and simple.-|- A
small cross worked in the centre, in white or in red cotton, is

• This is the interpretation of the " Corporal -oath," of which we read in the middle ages.

t Ahhougli it would seem from the followtag, entracled from on old inventory of the
pacrcd possessions of Rf. George's Chapel, Windsor, that the corporal was once more richly
omamcnled :—

" Item, undecim corporalia, quorum, unum maemim pro niajore ealice anrcfl, cum rcpo-
•' silorio bono, omalo cum pcrlis.

" Item, tiniim de nle. et unum de ravidalc."
138

Cfie Ipurlfitator.

often its only ornament. Crosses may also he embroidered in
the four corners.

Both corporal-cloth and pall, being solemnly blessed for the
most sacred service of the Holy Eucharist, after they have been
used, may not be touched by one of the laity until they have
been first washed by a clerk in Holy Orders. The same injunc-
tion applies to the purificator.

The pall is the small square used for covering the chalice.
It is usually made of finest linen or lawn, with a piece of thin
card placed between the doubled material. Its size varies from
4| to 6 inches. It should have a cross embroidered in the
centre in white cotton, and may also have one worked in each
corner. The most correct finish for the edge is a hem of a
quarter of an inch wide, turned over on the right side, and
neatly stitched.

In churches where the Roman rite is strictly followed, the
cardboard is dispensed with for the pall, and the required firm-
ness gained, by stiffly starching the doubled linen. The Roman
pall, too, is little more than. 4 inches square, and invariably
bordered by a lace of about an inch and a half wide.

The Purificator, or Afundalory, is the linen napkin used for
wiping the sacred vessels at the Holy Mass.

It is sometimes made square, and about 14 inches in size.
An oblong square, however, is that to which we find the most
favour shown by the clergj'. The purificators employed at
St. George's Cathedral measure 17 by 10 inches. They should
be made of pure fine lawn, and be very neatly hemmed.

A small cross in red cotton is usually worked in the centre of
this napkin. Crosses may also be worked in the corners, but
they should be of a simple kind.

The purificator required at the Communion of the Sick,

Cdurcii aiestments.

cross in

the

should be 9 inches square, and marked with
centre.

The lavabor towel is that upon which the priest wipes his
fingers during the oblation of the Holy Mass.

We find a general objection to these towels being large,
although Gavantus directed that they should measure one yard
long and | of a yard wide.

Tliose in use at St. George's Cathedral average 1 8 by 14 inches,
and are made of the verj' finest diaper, and simply hemmed
round.

The Credence Cloth.

The Credence is the table which stands at the south side of the
altar, to bear the sacred vessels, and other special appointments
appertaining to the Holy Eucharist.

This table is always covered with a pure wlute cloth, which
should either hang down at each side to touch the ground, or
fall over to the depth of 5 inches, as along the front.

In many churches the credence-cloth is as handsomely orna-
mented as that of the altar itself: this is unnecessary. It should
have a hem of an inch wide, and above it may be a narrow
border worked in chain-stitch, with red and white cotton.

€tt Canon'0 Cope.

XXII.

T//JS CANON'S COPE.

^ I "HE Canons Cope was a large plain cloak reaching to the
•*- feet, always black, and 'made of thin cloth or other
woollen material. It was open, nearly, from the waist down-
wards, but permanently closed above, so that it had to be put on
over the head. A hood was also attached to it, but this was
seldom worn up, as the furred amys was made to answer all
purposes of protection, from cold, about the head and shoulders.

Both grades of the clergy, in the cathedral and collegiate
churches, wore over the cassock, for the services of the choir, at
an early period, the alb — subsequently the surplice ; but the
canon's black cope was always the upper garment in which they
came **by night as at matins, and by day, for prime, tierce,
" sext, and none ; or, as they are called, the * little hours.' "

Only on high festivals and Saints' days was the black cope laid
aside to exhibit the pure white alb, or the surplice, or to asjume
the still more jubilant robe, the rich silk cope of the colour of
the day, in which the wearer was to swell the glorious procession,
and to do honour to the grand High Mass.

A black woollen cloak, closely resembling the canon s cope
of former days, is still worn at certain offices of the Church, by
some orders of priests.

M«

Cl)ucc6 Vestments.

THE FURRED AMYS.

T^HE Furred Amys, anciently called the " almucia," was always
-'- worn with the canon's black cope; and we can suppose that
in inclement seasons of the year, at night, and in early morning,
when the clergy pursued their divine offices in the choir, it must
have been held a most grateful addition to the thin cloth cloak.

Like the canon's cope, the exterior material of the amys was
usually of a black woollen fabric, but, inside, it was lined with
fur — the quality of which was proportionate to the rank and
degree of the wearer, in the church and the choir ; and pendent
from the lower hem, about the shoulders, fastened like a fringe,
were the tails of the animals of whose fur the lining was made.

The " amictus ex grisia" was the amys made of a costly fur
of a silver-grey shade, and which was worn only by canons of
the highest class, while that of the minor canon was constructed
of a skin called Calabrian, from the Italian province where the
animal supplying the fur was principally found. We find that
^z grey antys was, "as a mark of honour, allowed to the royal
" chaplains ;" and as one proof of this are told that at the funeral
Mass of Henry the Seventh, "After the lords and barrens had
" made theire offeringe, then followed the chaplcins of dignitie
" and the pry amcze$ of the King's chappell " {Leland's " Col-
" lectanea," vol. iii., p. 308). By the same chronicler, at the
christening of Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry the Seventh,

Cdc JFutreD aniBs.

" many noble doctors in riche copes and ^-rey antys " are
described as being present.

By the beginning of the fourteenth century, the furred ainys
was not so much in requisition, as a head-covering, as heretofore,
for a small round cap began to be preferred, and was allowed to
be worn, by the clergy, at certain parts of the Divine service.
Then, the amys was left to fall behind as a hood, and to secure
it about the neck it was necessary to close the two corresponding
sides of the front together, so that in putting it on, the head had
to be passed through the opening. After this, the amys took
the form of a cape or tippet ; still the hood was not relinquished,
but hung around the neck, to be used, doubtless, as occasion
might require.

It also kept its fringe of tails, and in addition were attached to
its cape-like ends in front, two straight narrow strips of fur,
which hung down even below the knees, and in some represen-
tations of ecclesiastical figures of the period may well be mis-
taken for the stole. Early in the sixteenth century the amys
had got to be shaped like a small shawl, deeper behind than
before, with the two strips of fur still attached to it in front, but
no longer straight ; they were very wide where they joined the
ends of the cape, and tapered off to a mere point at their extre-
mities.

By this time, too, what was originally the outside of the gar-
ment had become the lining, and the fur the only material
rendered visible. The semblance of a hood seems to have been
all that the amys retained of its original design as a head-cover-
ing, antl this it kept to its very last days.

The following interesting passage from the "Church of our
" Fathers," may fitly close our account of the ancient amys : —

"Doctors of divinity and dignitaries in the Protestant Esta-

Ctiutct) ^esmtntn.

blishment of England, still keep up the use of the scarlet
gown in the universities on solemn occasions,* and the daily
wear of the scarlet hood hanging behind from the shoulders in
the cathedrals. This, to my thinking, is not the old, but a
modern way of putting it on : anciently, the . doctor's hood
was placed upon his shoulders, and not behind, as is shown
from the ceremonial of our Catholic Kings at the feast of the
Epiphany, as is instanced in Henry the Seventh, who, on the
* twelfth even, went to the evensong in his surcoot outward,
with taber sleeves, the cappe of estate on his hede, and the
hode aboute his showlders in doctors wise.* "**

• Anciently, ** Doctors in divinity or canon-law might be at once recognised by a scarlet
amys furred with grey ; the full canon had assigned him one that was outside black, but
within made of the same fine grey skins, of a deep silvery hue ; while to every person

* beneath that rank it was forbidden, with a few exceptions, to have any other than a dark

* brown and cheaper kind of fur in this article of Church attire." — Church of Our Fathers^

154

€bt a©itre.

XXIV.

T//E MITliE.

^ I ""O the Mitre could be assigned a very early origin, might we
-*- be certain that the plate of gold which Eusebius teils us
St. John the Evangelist wore upon his forehead, was to denote
his rank among the Christian priests of his time; or, that the
like ornament ascribed by Epiphamus to St. James, was equally
indicative of that apostle's high vocation in his Divine Master's
service.

We may, however, be justified in holding it quite within the
range of probability, that such distinguishing marks of head-
attire were assumed by these holy men in honour of a spiritual,
rather than a temporal cause ; for, it would be Httle short of
blasphemy to suppose that a desire for worldly display could
have caused them thus to adorn themselves.

Eminent liturgical writers have proved that, long before the
sixth centurj', a golden crown, set with gems, was the most
prominent feature of the bishop's insignia; and that even abbots
at a somewhat later period wore a jewelled band, which encircled
the forehead nearly to the eyebrows. The figure of St. Benedict,
pictured in St. Ethelwold's Benedictional, shows this ornament,
on the head of the saint, most perfectly.

Fig. 1, Plate 36, was sketched from the above.

For many centuries after the sixth, not only in England but
in Italy, and, in short, in every place on the Continent where

Cliutcti !at9tmcnt0.

I
I.

Christianity was known, was this golden diadem peculiar to the
episcopacy. It is even said that it was not abandoned as late as
the twelfth centur}'.

But, as well as this jewelled coronal, a kind of linen head-dress
was worn by Anglo-Saxon prelates of the eighth century ; it
was made of the finest flaxen cloth, and bound flat to the head
by two strips of the same material, which were secured behind,
and their long ends left to fall about the shoulders. Over this
was placed the ornamental band.

At a subsequent period, the bishop's kead-liftettt as we find it
called, was worn without crown or other dignified accompaniment
whatever.

It was about the end of the tenth century when the mitre took
its first definite form, insomuch as it was shaped something like
a rather high skull-cap, with pendants from the back, com-
memorative of the in/u/o', or lappets, of the ancient head-
linen.

In, or about, the time of Edward the Confessor, the sides of
the mitre were elevated to two short horns, or points, with a
slight depression or curve extending from one to the other,
along the top. Fig. a, Plate 36, may convey some idea of this
shape.

Fig, 3, on the same Plate, illustrates the mitre, from twelfth-
century examples, after its next change, with the points lowered
and rounded ofl\ This form could not have obtained long, for
with its date we find one nearly coeval, given to the introduction
of what we may safely call the established type of the Catholic
bishop's mitre, viz., that split open at top, and with back and
front elevations sloping towards the now depressed sides. This
is well exhibited on Plates 6 and 30.

No variation of any importance can be traced in the actual
■0

C&e ^itrc.

shape of the mlrre from the twelfth to the end of the fifteenth
century. It went througli this period increasing in beauty and
costliness of decoration, till the skill of the embroiderer was
taxed to the uttermost point of perfection, and the manipulative
art of the goldsmith came to a stand-still, as if puzzled to produce
anything more exquisite than the Limerick mitre, with its mine
of priceless gems, and its deftly crocketed sides. But still, those
striking peculiarities, which made the mitre different to every other
form of either sacred or secular head-covering, remained the same.

It was early in the sixteenth century, when the mitre began,
literally, to grow out of the simplicity of its dignified old shape,*
for it gradually increased in height, and became more and more
smooth and bulged at the sides, until the middle of the eighteenth
century, when it no longer presented an article of ecclesiastical
costume suggestive of reverence, but an ungainly head-encum-
brance, anything but uniform with the solemnity of the episco-
pal degree.

Such a mitre is exhibited in fig. .(, on Plate 36.

Till within the last twenty-five years, this form of mitre
etidurcd. It was still in vogue when the late Pugin wrote, in 1 844,
but, thanks to the zealous, untiring spirit of that great reviver
of all that Wits best in the ecclesiastical ornament of the middle
ages, the bishop's head-covering, in symmetry and embellishment,
is once more worthy of its purpose. For, at this moment, the
mitre of the Catholic prelate is strictly ordered to be made,
nearly as may be, to that of the fourteenth century. A perfect
example of which exists for us on the figure of Thomas de la
Mare, shown on Plate 1 1 .

• The mitre of Wiliiam of Wykehiim— fourteenth century — is only lo inches high ; Ihal
nf Bishop O'Ucagh, the Limerick milre, 13 inches ; while ihe onlinRiy height of the milre
iri the siileenth century was 18 inches.

T 1 37

Cbutc!) (Qestments.

Every bishop now, as anciently, has three kinds of mitre, to be
worn on different occasions.

1. The Simplex, of plain white linen, which may be, as it is
often, made of white silk, with no ornament whatever.

2. The Anriphrygiata, adorned with gold orphreys and
needlework.

3. The Pretiosa, the mitre embellished with jewels, pearls, and
enamels, and in every way precious from the wealth of rare
materials and the work of well-skilled hands.

The mitre of St. Thomas of Canterbury, with which all
must be familiar, clearly illustrates that called the " mitra auri-
" phrygiata." The exquisite proportions and true harmony of
the scroll-work, spread over its head-piece and pendants, are
a feast to the eyes. The ornament on its orphreys is that
wonderfully ancient and mysterious figure called the gam-
iuadion, from its representation of the Greek letter gamma, four
times rejieated.

Waller, whom Pugin in some part took for his authority, in
remarking upon this singular device, says that it was known and
used, in India and China, ten centuries before Christ, by a sect
styling themselves " doctors of reason, and followers of the mystic
" cross." Subsequently it was adopted by the worshippers of
Buddha, full six hundred years in advance of the Saviour, and
is to be met with on most of the Buddhist coins and inscriptions
found throughout India.

The "gammadion" is supposed to have been brought into
Christendom at a very early period. Waller says, probably, it
came among us about the sixth century ; Pugin proves its
existence in the paintings of the Roman catacombs long before,
by signalizing the figure of z/ossor, or excavator, buried there,
named Diogenes, who has this ornament figured on his habit
1-58

^U 8®itre.

and whose monument is certainly not later than tlie third
century.

It is said that in Thibet the Nestorians used tlie "gammadion"
as an emblem of "God crucified for the salvation of the human
" race." If all, or only a part of such accounts-as this, which are
handed down to us, of the religions antiquity of the device, be
true, we may indeed hold as most mystical the ornament which,
in Pugin's words, was " not only in use among the Christians
" from primitive times, but prophetically borne for centuries
" before the coming of our Lord."

In the Sanscrit language "swastica" is said to be the term for
the gammadion; in heraldry it is known as the _/]'//b/. Waller,
in his " Monumental Brasses," speaks of the fylfot as being
depicted on the arms of some Yorkshire families, in a manuscript
of the fourteenth century, and we have ourselves seen it on
military effigies of the middle ages.

The pattern exhibited upon the miniature preaching stole,
Plate 34, is the "gammadion" copied literally from the finely-
vested effigy of an ecclesiastic, figured in Shaw's " Dresses and
" Decorations of the Middle Ages," from an incised slab of the
fourteenth century, brought from the abbey of St. Genevieve,
and now affixed to the wall in the exterior court of the Palais des
Beaux Arts, at Paris.

The engraving on our title-page illustrates the "gammadion"
and quatrefoil, alternated in squares, as frequently represented
in tlie early decorative period.

Like the sacred vestment of the illustrious martyr, the mitre of
St. Thomas of Canterbury has been the model in these latter
days of the revival of mediaeval art, not only for mitres, but for
ornament upon secular as well as sacred things. Its elegant
scroll pattern has been imitated and used in endless different

fJ9

C!)urcf) Vestments.

ways. It has been fashioned into borders for linen altar-
cloths ;* its graceful lines have adorned the skirt of the alb ;
and it has been worked in every variety of material, from
the precious metals to worsted, tor ante-pendia and altar-
carpets.

Then, without the Church, arcliitcct and decorator have alike
had it in request for iron railings, fret-work carving, and cornice-
painting; albeit, that we have sometimes remarked more taste in
the recognition of a good design, than judgment in the selection
of an appropriate one.

The pattern upon the mitre in question is embroidered prin-
cipally in gold, couched upon a white ground, which is of an
elaborate diaper pattern. Red is introduced in the orphreys,
and a little bright blue in the "gammadion :" it is without gems
or gold ornament of any kind. Hence, it is called the "mitra
" auriphrygiata." Among the few examples left of the " mitra
" preiiosa," we may Jiumber that of William of Wykeham,
enough of which still remains to prove how rich it was, originally,
in gold, jewels, pearls, and enamels.

The Limerick mitre illustrated by Shaw, is a lovely specimen
of the jewelled mitre, being made at the very beginning of the
tifteenth century, when ecclesiastical handiwork of all kinds
was luxuriant with ornamental detail. Its construction is
described as of " thin solid plates of silver, studded with precious
" stones."

In the inventory, given in to Henry the Eighth, of Winchester
Monastery, the following items occur:—

" [tem^Three standing-J- mitres, silver and gilt, garnished with
" pearls and precious stones.

Cfie e^itre.

"Item — Ten old mitres, garnished with pearls and precious
* stones after the old fashion."*

Mitres of this particular kind are also put down in an inven-
tory, of a verj' early date, of the vestiary possessions of St.
George's Chapel, Windsor. Two are thus mentioned :—
" Item mitra bona, ornata lapidibus pretiosis.
" Item una mitra bona, cum diversis lapidibus, in qCia deficiunt
" tres lapides."

The ground-work, of the ancient mitre, judging from the
remnants of such as have been preserved, seems always to ha\'e
been white. No matter whether the foundation was of silk,
silver, or of seed-pearls, white was evidently held more correct
than colour, to represent the main portion of this episcopal
attire.

In the " Church of our Fatliers " the following is said relative
to the use of the mitre according to the Roman Ritual : —

" In the Ordo Romanus XIII., drawn up by command of
" Pope Gregory Xth, a.d. 1271, the white colour of the mitre
" and its three kinds, plain and enriched, according to the feast-
' day upon which each had to be worn, is clearly laid down : —
' Dominus Papa tres mitras diversas habet, quibus diversis tem-
" poribus utitur ; scilicet unam albam totam, unam cum auri-
' frisio in titulo sine circulo, et mitram aurifrisiatum in circulo et
' in titulo. Mitra aurifrisiata in circulo et in titulo utitur in
' officiis diebris festis et allis. . . . Mitra vero cum aurtfrisio in

' titulo sine circulo, utitur cum sedet in consistorio Alba

' utitur diebus dominicis et aliis non festivis."

The word tilulus is explained as the " stripe of gold running
" up the middle of the mitre."

• Uitrtt afttrlht old faihian, w
ulk. or > web of small seed pearls.

Ciiuccii Qestments.

An archbisliop's mitre from a sculptured figure, probably of
the thirteenth century, from one of the portals of Chartres
Cathedral, is shown in fig. 6, Plate 36.

This is a rare example of its kind, and will be seen to bear a
near resemblance, in outHne, to a Pope's mitre from Queen
Mary's Psalter, illustrated by fig. 5, on the same Plate.

The latter appears with the first of the three crowns which
now compose the tiara of the Pontiff. Pope Boniface the
Eighth, at the end of the thirteenth century, adopted the second
crown; and Urban the P'ifth, a.d. 1334, added the third and
final coronet.

The Pope only assumes the tiara on the most solemn cere-
monies, such as that of the " Urbi et Orbi," etc. At the cele-
bration of tlie Holy Mass at Christmas, Easter, and other great
festivals, he wears a mitre. The tiara presented by the Queen of
Spain to Pope Pius the Ninth is said to have cost 80,000/.

There is no better foundation or stiffener for the simpk and
orphreyed mitres than that which was used for the purpose in
ancient times, viz., parchment ; and, whether the mitre be of
plain linen, ornamented, or precious, it has to be made to fit the
head of the wearer, as any hat or cap.

A band of leather, of fiill 4 inches deep, should be sewn
around it inside, and the lining carried up to the height of the
straight, upright sides. The lining of the outside, to. lie properly
between the cleft, is cut separately, and attached to the outside,
after the inside lias been made complete. It is usually cut of a
loxenge shape, of sides equal to tliose of the triangle described
at the upper part of the mitre, and is sewn by its four even
sides to those of the triangular opening. Over these seams in
ornamented mitres a cord may be placed; but the plain white
linen mitre is neatly sewn together, and that is all.

C&e ^itre.

h A beautifiil mitra simplex, of ancient form, in modern use, is
before us.

It is of purest white linen, also its pendants ; its only decora-
tion the even stitches by which it has been put together.

From the base to the topmost point it measures 13 inches.
Across the base of the triangle, 13 inches. From the base of the
triangle to its apex, 8i inches. Sides of triangle, 1 1 inches.

The pendants are 13 inches long, and tapering from3i inches
wide at the lowermost end, to 2^ inches at the upper extremity,
where they are attached to the mitre at a distance of 2^ inches
apart.

The following instructive passage relating to the setting of
gems in tlie " mitra pretiosa," may be welcome to some of our
readers, who have not ready access to the work from which it is
extracted : — *

" Precious stones on a mitre, a hallowed vessel, or in anything
" for the house of God, should not be cut, as ladies' jewels are, in
** facets, but en caioc/wn^ that is, in the unbroken, pebble-like
shape. Apart from the difference which ought always to dis-
tinguish the sacred froni the secular, even in ornament, there
is greater broadness of colour and depth of tint, a something
grander, in gems when set in smooth elliptical form. The
jewels upon every kind of church ornament were invariably
mounted ot cabochvn during the mediaeval period."

• " The Church of our Falheri,"

C6urc6 fflEstmcnts.

THE ROCHET.

' I 'HE Rochet, now worn only by prelates, is best described as a
-*• very short alb, in which garment, like the surplice, it
claims its origin. Its sleeves are narrower than those of the alb ;
but with this exception, and that of its infericir length, it differs
in no respect from that robe.

Molinet, writing in 1666, after describing the form of the
rochet, says : — " lis appellait autrefois lunica Ihtca, et ['usage en
" estoit seulement permis dans les monasteres de I'ordre, aux
" officiers, et ^ ceux qui travoilloient, et etoient employes aux
" ouvrages de la maison, comme nous I'aprenons des Consti-
" tutois de Sainte Geneniefue, au chapitre de vestiaris cy-devant
" alleguc, si operarius sil, tunicain lincatn habere poterit ; on
*' remarque aussi dans le chapitre de labore fratrum, du mesme
" livre, que tons les religieux en prenoient pour aller au travail.
" Enfin la commodite a introduit la coOtume dans le ordre de se
" servir de ccs tuniques de linge, ou rochets pour I'habit ordi-
" naire et de revestir se surplis par dessus, pour assister aTOffice
" Divin ; afin sans doute que le surplis ne servant plus qu'd
" I'Eglise, fiit plus blanc et plus honneste. L'usage de ce
" rochet etoit desia commu parmy les chanoines reguliers, en
" 1340, puis qu'il en est fait mention dans les constitutions de
" Benoist XII., ou il les appelle, supcrpellieiutn ad formam
" roihcttoriint sen camisiarimn Romanornmr

Cf)e ffioc!)et.

That the a!b was worn over the rochet, for the celebration of
the Mass, in the thirteenth century we find from a canon of the
Church of Liege, a.d. 1287, which orders " that priests wear
*' under their albs either a surplice, or the linen tunic generally
" known as the rochet." From other authorities we gather, that
up to the period just named the tunica linea was synonymous
with the surplice ; but it would seem that, by the time this
decree was enacted, the rochet had obtained recognition, as a
garment distinct "from the full, wide-sleeved surplice, the very
amplitude of which would prevent its being worn beneath the
alb. It is said by some writers that on this account the rochet
was primitively used without sleeves ; an assertion which may be
reasonably entertained, when we reflect on the incapability of
the narrow sleeves of the alb, to contain any amount of bulk
without producing an awkward and ungraceful effect, such as we
may look in vain for, in any article of the ecclesiastical dress of
the middle ages.

Molinet has shown us in his "Figures des difFerents Habits
" des Chanoines Reguhers," the work just quoted from, how the
rochet came into favour with the regular canons ; and we find
also from various ancient inventories how the custom of wearing
this diminished form of alb became general; and that the
assumption of it was allowed to servants of inferior degree in the
Church, such as cantors and choir children.*

This last is clearly proved in the following extract from Dug-
dale, from the inventory of St. Mary Hill, London :—

• " This did not hinder the rochet, properly so called, from being looked upon u a
•' ganncnt especially belonging to the episcopal vesture ; for while but a priest, our country.
■' man Richard de Bury, who afterwards filled ihc see of Durham so worthily, had given
" him, by the hands of Hie Roman pontiff, a rochet, for a pledge that the Holy See would
"' name him to the very first bishopric which might become vacant in Kngland,"— r^H/ri
of eur Fathert.

U .45

Cdutcfi afstmcnts.

" Item, 8 surplyces for the querc.

*' Item, 3 rochets for children.

" Item, 3 alb)'S for children, witli parells."

By the mention of surplices and albs in the same list with the
rochets, we are at once assured that by this time the latter was a
garment as distinguished from the surplice, and alb, as they were
from each other.

Only prelates, and canons regular, as heretofore, now assume
the rochet. •

It is the robe worn on ordinary occasions by the Holy Father
himself, over his white soutane, or cassock, and beneath his
ermine-bordered mozetta.

In grand processions cardinal-bishops carry the rochet over
their cassocks, and the cope above.

So likewise is the rochet home by cardinal-priests, and deacons,
beneath the chasuble and the dalmatic; and, again, by cardinals
of the Papal choir, when in grand costume, it is put on over the
cassock, to be surmounted by that majestic robe called tlie
cappa-magna ; while above all is placed the mozetta, which is
of silk in summer, and entirely of ermine in the winter.

The four masters of the ecclesiastical ceremonies of the Court
of Rome wear over their violet cassocks, first the rochet, and
above that a less deep garment, called a cotta, with short and
somewhat full sleeves, descending only to the elbow.

As in nearly every case, here, as in Rome, the rochet is bor-
dered with lace, and ornamented with the same material at the
wrists, the cotta, when worn above it, as just mentioned, is
trimmed correspondingly, and its short sleeves fi*equently formed
altogether by a fall of lace.

It may be needless to remark that the lace thus employed for
either rochet or cotta should be, as we admit it often is, of the
146

THE CROCHET COTTA,

THE MANIPLE ALLUDED TO PAGE 33

Cde Wiotbtt

richest and rarest kind ; and, if possible, it should be that made in
convents or other Catholic establishments, where the dignity of
the Church is respected, and the appointments of her ministers
held too sacred, to be mixed up with secular ideas of dress and
ornament.

Were this made a rule, and one strictly followed in the ordering
of all fitting things for the sacerdotal office, the beautiful solem-
nities of the Church would be rendered more impressive, and our
ears happily saved from so much profane talk about Church
millinery.

The example of the rochet given on Plate 32 is the most
simple and correct we have met with in our research. The
figure is taken from Molinet's work, where it is shown to
represent the dress of a regular canon of the Abbey de Saint
Jean de Chartres.

«47

Cttutcb Oestmentfl.

THE SUBCTNGVLVM.

'T^HE Subcingulum is now worn, only, by the Roman Pontiff
-*■ when vested for the celebration of Mass on solemn occa-
sions, and has the appearance of a maniple suspended from the
left side of the girdle.

This appendage seems to have originated in a belt, or second
binding for the waist of the alb ; for we find, early in the ninth
century, that every bishop was ordered to wear it over his
girdle, reciting a separate prayer as he assumed each of the two
articles. The use of the "subcingulum " was not confined ex-
clusively to prelates in some countries, the rubrics of wliich, seem
to have enjoined that it should be worn by every cslebrant of
the solemn High Mass.*

It was about the end of the twelfth century when Pope Inno-
cent the Third decreed that this ornament should be " ranked
" among vestments allotted to the exclusive use of the episcopal
" order,"

• " No vain delay hath crossed Ihy way,

'■ God's service needs Ihine aid 1

" So thought the read]' page, and now

" The sacrUtan he playeJ.

" In slolc, and ringMlum full fair,

" He robed the priest, and went

" The hallowed vessels lo prepare

" For God's pure sacmmenl.",

Schillkr's FridnliH.

Cde @uticin0ulum.

As late as the sixteenth century, the " subcingulum" appears
to have been worn by some Enghsh as well as foreign bishops,
but now, as Dr. Rock obsen'es, "it is used in the Latin Church
" by the Pope only." And, he continues, " I cannot help
" thinking but these two appendages were shaped Ulce and
" served as pockets. Cencio de Sabellis, the Roman Chamber-
" lain, in the ' Ordo Romanus ' which he drew up towards tlie
" twelfth century, tells us that in those days when a newly-chosen
" pope took solemn possession of his Cathedral Church of St.
*' John Lateran, ' he was girt with a belt of crimson silk, hanging
*' from which there was a purse, which had in it twelve precious
" stones and some musk : the belt was meant to signify continence
" and chastity ; the purse, almsgiving to the widows, and the
" needy ones of Christ ; the twelve stones, the power of the
" apostles ; the musk, a good odour in the sight of God.' "

The subjoined concluding particulars, which we also borrow
from the " Church of our Fathers," of this curious old sacerdotal
ornament, are too interesting to be passed over, and too precious
to be handled in the way of gleaning, we therefore give them
nearly as possible in the writer's own words: —

"In the year 1224 was found the body, if not of St. Birinus,
" at least of some Anglo-Saxon bishop, and among other vest-
" ments upon it was a ' pera,' or gold woven purse, such as
" noticed by Cencio^a pocket hung from a girdle and worn by
" the saint when solemnly arrayed. Thus affording presumptive
" proof that, in Anglo-Saxon times, the bishops of this country
" wore, at great (unctions, a ' subcingulum ' with its appendages,
" for the same symbolic reasons as those assigned by the writers
" already quoted.

" I suspect, too, that the ' duo pendentia cum aurifrisio,' sur-
" rendered among so many other beautiful Anglo-Saxon vest-

J49

" ments of Ely Church to the Norman pillagers sent round by
" William, were the pendants of an episcopal belt.

" A slight change, it would seem, was, after the pontificate of
" Innocent the Third, made in the * subcingulum ;' for when
" Durandus wrote, a.d. 1286, instead of two, it had hanging to
" it but one pocket or appendage, which was double, and on the
" left-hand side, as it is now worn by the Pope. From the near
" resemblance which this appendage, or * succinctorium,' in its

altered form bore to a maniple, it began, some years after the

time of Durandus, to be called by that name.

" In an * Ordo Missae Pontificalis,' published by Greorgi from
" a Vatican manuscript of the end of the fourteenth century, it is
" so named : * Et primo induit (pontifex) sibi albam, deinde
" cinctorium cum manipulo ad .sinistram partem.' — Liturgia
" Rom. Poni.y tom. iii., p. 556."

((
((

150

Cfie ®temiaie, ot lap«Clotfi.

THE GREM/ALE, OR LAP-CLOTH.

OO called from the Latin woyA gretninm, was once used alike
*^ by prelate, priest, deacon, and sub-deacon, to cover the
knees while seated during particular parts of the High Mass, but
is now only adopted, at the Holy Service, by the bishop.

Originally, the specific object of tlie gremiale was to preserve
the vestment from any soil or stain which might be imparted to
it from the hands, wliich the priest, the whole time he is in a
sitting posture in the sanctuary, keeps reverentially outspread
upon his knees.

At this day the lap-cloth is not an unimportant article in the
vestiary appointments of the bishop, for it effectually protects his
robes from the incense which might sprinkle over them, as,
while seated, he serves it from the boat to the thurifer.

The gremiale, at its first adoption, was, literally, a napkin of
linen, supposed to be the "mellium " we read of in old records.
By degrees, embroidered ornament was bestowed upon it, and
that of the celebrant was, we are led to believe, distinguished from
those of the assistant priests by gold, and other enriching proper-
ties. It then was formed of silk, and still further embellished ;
and finally, was made of the same materials as, and worked to
correspond with, the different sets of ofiiciating vestments to be
worn on particular days.

The gremiale of the bisliop must accord with his vestments, in

'5*

Cliurcb (HestmentjBf.

colour and style of ornament. It should be edged with a border
of gold embroidery, or with a real gold lace, beyond which may
be a narrow gold fringe.

The most approved size of the gremiale is a square of 34
inches.

15?

CROSSES FOR PREACHING & OTHER-3 V^,, ,ti

Cbe Cappa e@asna.

THE CAPPA MAGNA.

' I 'HE word cappa actually bears reference to a liood, and,
"■■ anciently, was so used to designate such an appurtenance,
whether worn by priests or laity. Cappa was the term employed
for the hood of the chasuble, and especially for that of the white
vestment worn at the Easter celebration.

After the ordinary processional cope had become fully recog-
nised as a clerical garment, a cloak, of larger dimensions and
richer decoration, but with an available hood like its prototype,
was assumed by some degrees of the clergy. This was called the
Cappa Magna.

Such is the title now bestowed on that ample robe with
majestic train worn in the Catholic Church by the Sovereign
Pontiff, cardinals, and other high dignitaries, in choir, and at
certain times of ceremony.

The cappa magna is always of the same colour as the cassock
over which it is worn.

It is in this grand robe, with its train fiill and flowing, that
the cardinal advances and pays his obedience to the Pope. As
he is retiring to his place, his assistant chaplains, to accelerate
his dignified progress through the crowd, roll the train of his
cappa up so rapidly and ingeniously, that the movement, save to
one who may be watching for it, is scarcely perceptible.

Cdurcb (Htstmem.

The cappa magna of the cardinal, in choir, is of the won-
derful rosy-scarlet shade, excepting on Vigils, and during the
greater part of Lent and Advent, when it is of violet.

Here, in England, bishops of the Church of Rome wear the
violet cappa magna at certain times and seasons, such as at
Tenebrae in Holy Week, etc.

'54

Ctie a^o^etta.

XXIX.

THE MOZETTA.

nPHE Mozetta is the cape worn by the Pope, cardinals, and
-*■ bishops, over the rochet It is also, always put on over
the cappa magna, and, used thus, is either of white fur or silk,
according to the season.

His Holiness holds his receptions sitting, robed in the white
cassock and rochet, surmounted by a red mozetta, bordered with
ermine, and about his neck a gold-embroidered stole, caught
together, but not crossed, upon his breast. At such times, too,
the Pontiff wears the white, instead of the scarlet, calotte, or
skull-cap.

The mozetta worn by canons in choir is black.

That of the bishop can only be of violet.

The cardinal assumes red, excepting at penitential times, when
violet is used.

The shape of the silk mozetta is well shown on the sketch of
an English archbishop, Plate 37.

<55

C&ucc^ fllestments.

THE BUSKINS.

'T~*HESE, the ornamented ^tf/ci^leggings worn by the ccle-
-*■ brating bishop, are to be recognised in ancient docu-
ments under the title of campagi ; at a later period they are
called caligip, and are still known by that name, ahhough more
generally as the buskins.

Some of the early liturgical writers might create a degree of
confusion in our minds, by making buskins and sandals appear to
have been synonymous, but for more recent labourers in the
field of antiquity, who have compared tliese ambiguous accounts
with others more lucid, and equally reliable, to deduce the fact,
that the buskins and sandals were always distinct, as articles of
pontifical vesture.

We read of a document which, a.d. 666, mentions the cam-
pagi as only to be used by the Sovereign Pontiff. Afterwards,
the right of wearing them was granted to the clergy of Rome ;
and, finally, they became a part of the ministerial dress of every
bishop.

Although originally the buskins were, no doubt, made of
hnen, yet very early in the tenth century it would seem that they .
were not only in general use among the episcopal clergy, but
were of costly material and decoration ; insomuch as Riculfus
Helenensis thought his cali^i and sandals, with other valuables
.56

Cfje TSusfeins.

of sacred character, a fitting bequest to a church, " for the use
" of all future bishops of that see."

Long prior to the dawn of the eleventh century the embroi-
dered stockings, or buskins, were an essential part of the bishop's
pontificals, and ever since have remained so.

We have no lack of authority for the use of the buskins after
the above period, since nearly every old inventory which is open
to us has some record of the caliga;.

In that of Salisbury, made a.d. 1222, they are particularly
mentioned; also, in the list of St. Paul's, London, a.d. 1295,
where they are set down as ornamented in the richest manner.

The episcopal stocking of Bishop Waneflete, illustrated by
Dr. Rock, in his " Church of our Fathers," may justly be con-
sidered an unique example 1^ the bishop's buskin at its most
advanced stage of embellishment.

It is described as " of cloth of silver, embroidered with birds
" in gold, with flowers in coloured silks, and with sun-rays
" darting from a clo6d, seemingly the device of Edward the
" Fourth."

This buskin, with the prelate's sandal, shown on Plate 36, is
kept in St. Mary Magdalen College, at Oxford.

The buskins are the first articles of sacred attire put on by the
bishop when robing for the Mass. They are now, as the sandals,
usually made of lama, and always of the colour of the day.

To decorate them with embroidery is optional : most of those
used in England are of the rich unfigured lama. Their shape is
precisely tike a very wide stocking, made to reach just above tlie
knees, where they are tied by strings of ribbon run through a
, hem, that the top of tlie buskin may be drawn up t<» the size of
B.the leg.
H< The bishop puts off his ordinary shoes to assume the buskins,

and, as he draws them on, repeats the following piously-signi-
ficant prayer : —

" Let my feet be shod, O Lord, with the preparation of the
" Gospel of Peace ; and protect me under the shadow of thy
" wmgs.

He then slips his feet into the sandals, and, having adjusted
them, proceeds to vest himself in the amice, alb, and the rest of
the pontifical vestments.

Whenever the bishop celebrates he wears the buskins, except
on Good Friday, and at Masses for the Dead.

I T-)

BORDERS FOB. fiS?.

Cbe %aiioals.

THE SANDALS.

' I ""HE earliest form of Sandal worn by the priesthood gene-
-■■ rally was probably similar to that still used by many
religious orders, /. e. of leathern soles, secured on the foot by
thongs, or straps, across the instep.

Simultaneously, the episcopal sandals were also made of leather,
but of a much superior kind. It was delicately stained or tinted
with colour, and ornamented by a perforated pattern, which ex-
hibited itself most effectively over the naked instep.

Of such were the sandals described as found in the grave of
St. Cuthbert, buried a.d. 687.

In the twelfth century, the bishop's sandals were no longer
made solely of the wmdoived leather, as it was termed, but were
sometimes beautifully embroidered on the richest silks, and made
costly, as other pontifical appointments, with gold, silver, and
pearls.

Dr. Rock concludes that the " corium fenestratum," or open-
worked "leather sandal, fell into disuse about the fourteenth
** century, in England, when it was left in possession of the
" l^ty."

From the latter part of the eleventh century to the above-
named period the episcopal sandals were made of nearly every
colour, but principally of scarlet; and hence, as the writer just
quoted asserts (from the authority of Sicard), arose the name of
saftdal, from the red dye with which the leather was coloured.

1^9

Cbutcl) JUestmentis.

About the beginning of the twelfth century, it would appear
that the use of various-coloured sandals, to any but the higher
order of the clergy, was prohibited, and black only was recom-
mended to be worn by the priesthood as most suitable to their
degree. This was particularly laid down by the Council of
Exeter, a.d. 1287, and still more strictly enjoined in the Council
of London, a.d. 1342.

The earliest example we have met with of the bishop's orna-
mental sandal is that presented on the figures of the bishops of
Ravenna, Plate 5.

At no period could the episcopal shoe have been much richer
in decoration than these mosaics show.

Next, in chronological order, is the fine old sandal we have
copied from the " Vetus Liturgia Alemannica" of Gerbert, who
supposes it to have belonged to St. Egino, Bishop of Verona,
who died a.d. 802. This is exhibited on Plate 36, fig. 7.

In the above work a separate illustration is given of each shoe.
The writer met with them at Reichenau, near Constance, and
describes them as of leather, which appears once lo have been
stained purple, figured upon with needlework. Fig. 8, Plate 36,
is a(i illustration of the shoe of an archbishop, sculptured on
Chartres Cathedral early in the twelfth century. The mitre
exhibited, fig. 6, on the same Plate, is also taken from this effigy,
which is engr.ived in Shaw's " Dresses and Decorations of the
" Middle Ages."

The sandals of Bishop Giffard, in which he was buried in
Worcester Cathedral, a.d. 1301, are shown on the above Plate,
fig. 9. It is curious to note, notwithstanding that a period of
six centuries may have rolled between the one and the other
how nearly these shoes resemble, in shape and workmanship, the
sandals of the right-hand figure on Plate 5.

C&e Manuals.

Like the rest of his dress, the sandals of Thomas De la Mare,
Plate II, are beautiful examples of their kind, and prove to us,
more and fnore, how, in the fourteenth century, propriety in
ornament was clearly the leading principle of its beauty. The
design upon these shoes is perfect, and we are willing to suppose
that full justice was rendered to it in work and materials.

Of a very different style, though still handsome, is the shoe of
Bishop Waneflete, of the latter part of the fifteenth century,
fig. ID, Plate 36.

The original is kept at St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford.
Our copy is from the excellent drawing of it published in the
" Church of our Fathers," from which we have also extracted its
description : —

" It is of crimson velvet, of a rich deep pile, and wrought with
** flowers in gold, and with leaves like ivy, of silk, half yellow,
" half green ; the little dots of gold, with which the velvet is
" thickly sprinkled, are found very often on English vestments
" of the latter part of the fifteenth century.

" It is lined with very thin white kid."

It was this same Bishop Waneflete who drew up statutes for
his college at Oxford, wherein he imposed the greatest strictures
upon the fellows and scholars of the University in regard to their
dress ; forbidding them to wear " high-lows, or red, or peaked
" boots," or garments of any description which could not be held
" suitable and agreeable to the priestly state."

The episcopal sandals, or shoes, of the present day, which the
bishop always wears when he says Mass, are usually formed of a
rich material called lama,* a fabrication of either gold or silver,

• Lama, in the Italian, is explained as **a blade, a thin plate of metal." The woof of
the fabric to which this name is given, is partly formed by silver, or gold metal, drawn to

Y 161

«."■

I
I

Ci)urc& nxmmmts.

woven equally with silk. They are made up with ordinary
leather single soles, and are Hned with white kid. The depth is
that of a tolerably high shoe, the back quarters lapping over the
front, where they are brought together, and tied with a bow of
ribbon on the instep.

The bishop's sandals are mostly embroidered with gold, in
various designs, which, like those for the gloves, must be left to
the taste and discretion of the worker. The sandals are always
changed, with the other vestments, to the colour of the day.
They are worn neither in Masses for the Dead nor on Good
Fridays.

I)ie thinnest strips, or ihreads ; wliile silk constitales the warp, anil emlKxIieii llit ground
colour, of which the melal Li the enriching property.

The use of this material is very general in Rome for ecclesiastical purposes. Orphrcys to
velvet, or sillt copes, are often nrndc of it, and even without the addition of needlework, have
a very beautiful effect.

One who has lately returned from Borne, and who is not only interested, but learned, in
our subject, writer us as follows, in regard to the use of Iftma, in the Church of the Holy
See:—

" The Pope himself wean nothing richer than this, for I believe it impossible lo coaccive
"any material more pure-looking, more Tirillianl, and yet more umvarliify'lVte, than the
" silver lama, when made into vestments. On Easter Sunday his Holiness is arrayed in
" silver lama eniiched with gold embroidery, with no colour added, except that seen in the
"jewels, and the small amount contributed by the &niin. Indeed, all the sacerdotal vest.
" ments, on the grand Paschal celebration at St. Peter's, are of silver lama, and wonderfully
" is its purity of effect heightened by the scarlet and violet of the cardinals' and bishops'

The writer of the above was good eaoi^b to procure, for our information, patterns oT
lama from one of its best makers in Rome — Angelo Bianchi, Via, della Minerva, Kx, 83.

We find that gold, silver, red, green, violet, and black, average iSj. per yard in Italy ;
and may be imported here at less than 401. per yard, after carriage and duty arc paid.

A lama vestment, we are lolH, of any colour, richly embroidered in gold and sillu, may
l>e obtained from Uianchi for 22/.

THE MITRL.AND SANDAiS

Ctie ®lot)e$.

XXXIL

THE GLOVES.

TPHE bishop's gloves, known in old ecclesiastical records under
^ the names of manicee and ckirotheceSy have probably been
in use from a period as distant as the seventh century, if not
from an earlier date.

We find the term manicee (sleeves) to be not wholly misap-
plied to these sacerdotal appurtenances in their ancient form,
since they were made to draw up over the hand, considerably
above the wrist, where in after ages they terminated, at the. under
side of the arm, in a gracefully-turned point, from the extremity
of which hung a tassel.

Gloves are distinctly named in the old Salisbury Pontifical,
where a beautiful prayer is framed, to be said by the bishop elect
as he draws them on. In olden times, it is clear that other
orders of the clergy, as well as the bishop, wore gloves at the
Divine services. In some parts of France, especially, such was
the habit ; for De Vert remarks upon the priors of Clugni offi-
ciating in gloves, and upon cantors at Tours, and some other
places, holding their staves with gloved hands. The same writer
also mentions that at Angers, and many such churches, the
reliquary bearers performed their functions in gloves. This
custom, against which no injunction exists, may be very properly
followed, at the present day, by canopy, banner, and candle-
bearers, in the sacred offices of the Church.

165

Ctiurcb Vestments.

The gloves of the minor orders of the clergy were, we may
justly presume, without any decoration of importance, and were
in every other respect inferior to those of the prelate, which, as
far as we can trace, were, from the time of St. Osmund, always
ornamented, and frequently richly embroidered, and studded
with gold and gems.

The inventory of Old St. Paul's, a.d. 1295, helps us to
a description of episcopal gloves treasured there at that
period : —

"A mitre, seeded with pearls all over, the gift of Bishop
" Richard," comes first ; and then " two gloves of the like work-
" mansliip, the gift of the same, in which many stones are
" wanting. Also two pair of gloves, ornamented with sil%'er
" plates gilt, and set with stones."

Pugin, in giving the above extract, couples with it the follow-
ing, from the inventory of Canterbury Cathedral, published in
Dart's History :—

" Ciroteca'. R. de Winchelese cum perils et gcmmis in plata
" quadrata. Item, par unum cum tasselis * ai^enteis et parvis
" lapidibus. Item, quatuor paria, cum tasselis argenteis. Item,
" par unum de lino, cum tasselis et perils."

In the first days of their adoption the bishop's gloves are sup-
posed to have been always white, and of linen. Subsequently,
they were made of silk, and of various colours, to accord with
the vestments of the day ;-)- but of the precise period when the
use of any but white were sanctioned we are uncertain. Some

* TKese " tasselli " are not to be ri'ad as ihe omamcnls called taiseh of our d.iy, bal as
lliose little pifllcs of precious inelal sewn down upon the material, and described as enriching
much of the old vestment work. On the figure of Archbishop Chicheley, in Cwttcrbut^
Cathedral, the gloves are embellished with silver " Inisiclli."

+ Red would seem to have been the prevailing colour uf the episcopal glovet, judging
froin Ihose llgured upon ancient tnonnment.s.

,64

Ctie (Globes.

writers, Durandus among the rest, assert that in the thirteenth
century the prelate's gloves were still white.

Those in which Pope Boniface the Eighth was buried in
the fourteenth century were of white silk, richly figured with em-
broidery and fine pearls ; while the glove of William of Wyke-
ham, preserved at New College, Oxford, which must have been
made either late in the fourteenth, or very early in the fifteenth
century, is of purple silk, ornamented with gold.

On the figure of Thomas de la Mare, Plate 1 1, the gloves
show a lozenge-shaped device on the back ; this was, doubtless,
some gem, or other ornament of a costly character, such as the
munificent abbot, with his true taste for the beautiful in sacer-
dotal dress, would have judged in harmony with the rest of those
gracefully-adorned vestments.

The gloves of the Roman Catholic bishop are now always
made of woven silk, embellished with gold embroidery, and are
worn to correspond in colour with the vestments of the day.
On Good Fridays, and Masses for the Dead, the bishop wears no
gloves.

The most correct form of glove made for the episcopal use is
that with a top, widened from the wrist, as a gauntlet, and termi-
nating in two points at the under side of the arm. Around this
cufF, or gauntlet-shaped piece, a narrow border of gold bullion
embroidery is usually worked, besides the decoration on the back
of the hand, for which any uniform design of a strictly ecclesi-
astical character is correct.

A cross within a circle ; the sacred monogram, inclosed by a
floriated quatrefoil ; or a conventional rose, enriched by seed-
pearls, or by small well-set jewels, may be esteemed equally
appropriate for the adornment of the bishop's gloves.

As the difficulty of embroidering with nicety on a made-up

16,

Cburcl) Sle0tment0.

glove, particularly on one of woven silk, is great, we strongly
urge the worker to execute the principal part of the design, viz.,
that which covers the back of the hand, on fine linen, and
transfer it afterwards. The process of working the narrow border
actually upon the gauntlet, which is the only proper way, will be
found very easy.

166

Cbe IPalUum.

XXXIII.

THE PALLIUM,

nr^HE archbishop*s Pallium, incontrovertibly said to be the
^^ legitimate descendant of the Roman toga, is worn as the
symbol of jurisdiction.

In the time of St. Gregory the Great, the pall, or pallium,
seems to have been a long strip of material, woven of plain white
Iambus wool, and worn about the figure in such a way that it
crossed over the left shoulder, from which the ends were allowed
to fall, before and behind. This is exhibited, in our earliest
example of the pall, on the Bishops of Ravenna, Plate 5 .

It does not appear that the above manner of wearing the
pallium was changed until the beginning of the ninth century,
when we find it shifted round," so that its ends, though still
drooping before and behind, hung down the centre of the figure,
instead of &lling from the left shoulder, as heretofore.

The next modification was, as hitherto, simply in the arrange--
ment of the pallium. It was fixed to the breast and back of the
wearer, and at the left shoulder, where, in crossing, the material
was necessarily doubled, by three gold pins.

It then took its first, really, altered^ and what we may call its
final, form ; for, excepting its curtailment in length, the pall is
the same shape now as it was in the thirteenth century. It was
woven with a circular band to embrace the shoulders, and with

167

€buttt iXe&tm&ntfi,

long ends hanging straight down, back and front of the figure,
as see St. Peter, Plate 8, and archbishop, on Plate 30.

For centuries the pallium was figured only with a purple, or
sometimes a red, cross at each end. Then four crosses were
worked about it ; and, finally, six, worked in black, were figured
over it : its ends, too, were shortened, and it became as it
remains, and as we present it on Plate 37, sketched as it is worn
by the 4*ope over his fanon.

The pallium has always been made in Rome, whither everj'
archbishop must go to- receive it direct from the Holy See. He
wears it always when he sings the solemn High Mass in his owq^
diocese, but not out of it ; and it is the only one of his pontificals
which he may not lend to a brother primate.

The Pope wears the pallium when, and wherever, he says
Mass. The palhum is still made only of pure white wool, and
fastened by the three gold pins.

The ceremony of blessing the lambs, of whose wool the pallium
is formed, is a very interesting one.

We describe it from Dr. Rock's already well-told account
of it : —

" Every year, on the morning of St. Agnes's Feast, the 2,1st
" of January, a horse, bearing slung over his back two baskets,
" each of which holds a lamb of the fairest and the whitest, is to
" be seen walking into Rome, from the country, towards the
" Pope's palace, before which it awaits till the Pontift' comes to a
" window, thrown wide open, and, standing there, makes the sign
" of the cross upon the bleating burden below him,

" Borne thence to the fine old basilican church of St. Agnes,
" out of the walls, where solemn High Mass is to be sung, these
" lambs, decked with ribbons and flowers, are taken to the altar,
" and kept at its foot while the Holy Sacrifice is offered up.

C{ie Ipaltium.

** Formerly, at the Agnus Dei, but now after Divine service is
ended, the celebrating priest goes through the ceremony of
blessing these little animals.

" They are then given over to the canons of the Pope*s Ca^
thedral (St. John Lateran s), and the chapter of that church

" sends them to the Pontiff himself, who orders them to be
conveyed unto the dean of the apostolic sub-deacons, by whom
they are entrusted to the care of some nunnery, where they are

** kept and fed. In due time these lambs are shorn, and their

" fleeces, along with which is put, if need be, other fine wool, are

" spun and woven by the nuns into palls, against the festival of

« SS. Peter and Paul."

The old pallium is still commemorated on the arms of the see

of Canterbury.

169

Ciiutcii Slestment^

XXXIV.

THE FANON,

npHE Fanon is the " orale^ of ancient Catholic days.

-^ It typifies the ephod of the high priest of the Jewish Law,
and therefore appertains only to the vesture of the Sovereign
Pontiff.

When the Pope solemnly pontificates, he wears the fanon
above his chasuble; but before he assumes that garment, the
fenon is placed upon his head as a hood ; then, when the sacri-
ficial vestment is arranged about his body, the fanon is turned
down, and smoothly laid over his neck and shoulders, to be sur-
mounted by the pallium, as shown, Plate O)!-

The fanon is made of a material, in texture, as light as gauze,
and is figured with gold, blue, and red, in stripes.

ThErAMjiXAND PALLIliM

Cfie Ca00ocfc.

XXXV.

THE CASSOCK.

" I "O describe the form and make of this garment lies not within
•*• our province, as it exclusively belongs to that of the clerical
tailor.

All orders of the clergy wear the cassock made after the same
model. The soutane, or cassock, of the Pope is always white^
that of cardinals scarlet, and of bishops and prelates purple.

Priests and assistants at the Divine services wear alike the
black cassock. An exception to this rule is, however, sometimes
made, such as when at a Pontifical High Mass, as shown in our
Frontispiece, the acolytes are permitted to use the bishop's
colour, purple, for their cassocks.

171

Cburcfi Qmmmtn.

XXXVI.

THE BIRETTA,

T^HE Biretta, anciently worn by canons in choir, is especially
-*■ the cap of the duly-ordained priest.

When vested for the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the priest,
deacon, and sub-deacon proceed from the sacristy to the sanc-
tuary wearing their birettas, which, as they approach the altar,
are removed and placed on the sedilia at the south side of the
chancel. When the Gloria is about to be sung by the choir,
the priests seat themselves, and resume their caps.

All through the Divine service the priests divest themselves of
the biretta before advancing to the altar, and wear it whenever
they are seated. At every part of the Liturgy, or during the
sermon, where the Holy Name is repeated, or tlie Incarnation
alluded to, the biretta is reverentially raised both by priest and
preacher.

172

CJje Koman dollar.

THE ROMAN COLLAR.

■■ I ""HE priest's Roman Collar, as it is called, is a conventional
-*■ appurtenance of recent date, adopted by the clergy to
simulate the turn-down shirt-collar of ordinary dress.

It is well known that all priests, up to the latter half of the
sixteenth century, went with the neck and throat perfectly bare,
and that the collar has even as little claim to antiquity as the
Lutheran ruff, or the Geneva black gown ; and is altogether
ignored by most of tlie older religious orders.

Still, the Roman collar is anything but an unseemly addition
to the cassock, or to the clerical coat, and, if it continue to be
worn of the present regulation size and shape, may yet hold its
own against all secular fashions, as a distinguishing mark of a
clergyman's attire.

The collar worn by priests generally is made of a perfectly
straight piece of fine hnen, or lawn. It is bordered on the turn-
over side, and along its short ends, by a neatly-stitched hem of
half an inch. Opened out, when made, it is 2^ inches wide ; the
turn-down should not be more than 1 i inch deep.

The length of the collar is, of course, controlled by the size
of the wearer's throat. The average measure is from 154 to
r6 inclies.

The Roman collar worn by a bishop is violet, that of a
cardinal is scarlet.

OCbutcb Jlle&tments,

XXXVIII.

PXOPER COLOURS Foa THE SACRED VESTMENTS.

A CCORDING to the Roman Rubric, only five positive
-**■ colours are allotted to the Church for the sacred vest-
ments, viz., white, red, green, violet, and black.
Each of these is used as under : —

1. Wiiite, emblematical of purity, on all feasts of our Lord
but those of His Passion ; on festivals of the Blessed Virgin ; of
the saints, not martyrs; and, according to the strict Roman rite,
on festivals of the blessed Sacrament.

2. Red, on the feasts of Pentecost, and the apostles ajid
martyrs ; as symbolical of the descent of the Holy Ghost, in
the form of fiery tongues ; and of the shedding of the blood of
the Redeemer and His faithfiil followers.

3. Green, on every Sunday upon which a festival does not fall,
excepting those in Advent and Lent, and those which, coming
within the octave of a festival, must follow its rule, and assume
its colour.

4. Violet, the penitential colour, and therefore worn in Advent
and Lent, on the Rogation-days, Ember-days, and on all Vigils.

5. Black, only on Good Friday, and in Masses for the Dead.
Besides these, cloth of gold must be mentioned, as allowed to

take tile place of any colour, except black and violet.

Gold, too, may be used to any extent in the way of ornament,
on any coloured vestment but black, upon which only silver or
'74

white silk embroideries may be figured. It is also ordered that
each colour should be so represented, that its use may distinctly
mark the particular day upon which the Church requires it to
be worn. It is forbidden to mingle white, red, and green inde-
finitely in one vestment, so that it may be used indiscriminately
on any day for which either of these colours is ordered.

According to the old Sarum rite, not only were sky-bUie and
yellow recognised colours for the sacred vestments, but rct/was
used in Lent, and on Good Friday.

From Dugdale alone we get ample proof of the observation
of this rite. He enumerates blue vestments of every degree as
belonging to St. Frideswirie's Monastery — now Christ Church,
Oxford, — Peterborough, and Winchester.

In the vestiary inventory of St. Frideswide's we light upon
" copes of blew silk with flower-de-luces, roses, and crowns of
" gold, and a hole sute to the same. A cope of blew velvet!
" with braunches of gold, and a sute to the same ;" and even
" three albes, and three amesses of blew cloth baundekin."

A large space in the Peterborough list is taken up by blue
vestments. One of its prominent items is of " forty blew albes
" of divers sorts."

Winchester Monastery is set down for "forty-two copys of
" tisshue, one half of them blue, the other of red;" and " nine-
" and-twenty copys of blue silk, woven witli rays of gold."

In our observation of the sub-deacon's vestment, page 84, we
have said that, formerly, celestial blue was the colour of the
dalmatic and tunicle of the bishop. That such blue sacred
garments as are enumerated in the above inventories were worn
in our English churches on festivals of the blessed Virgin, as
white has always been, we are unable to prove satisfactorily.

Dr. Rock remarks that he saw sky-blue used in Spain, and in

•75

Cdutcti Vestments.

Naples, at the services of our Lady. He also directs us to the
Ordo Romanus XV., drawn up by Peter AmeHo, who flourished
A.D. 1393, to find that light blue was once emjiloyed at Rome,
which now excludes it altogether from the sanctuary, as a substi-
tute for black or purple.

Red is continually occurring in the old lists of sacerdotal pos-
sessions as the colour, enjoined by the Sarum rite, for Lent and
Good Friday. The first item in Dugdale's account of the albs
found at Peterborough in 1539 is —

" Red albs for Passion-'week, twenty-seven."

We have written evidence, too, from many sources, of the use
of yellow vestments, here as well as abroad, in Lent. This is
especially confirmed to us in the following from the inventory of
Lincoln Cathedral. Moreover, the item appears under the
heading of " black vestments :" —

" Chesable of yellow silk, small orphrey, crucifix of gold in
" red on the back, 2 tunacles, 3 albs, and the whole apparel, with
" 2 copes of the same suit and colour for LcntT

Violet, or purple, was certainly a less favoured colour for peni-
tential seasons in the Church of the medieeval period than it is
now ; for, throughout all our late research in behalf of this work,
we have found but a meagte mention of purple in any record.

Even in the richly-stocked wardrobe of Lincoln the paucity
of purple vestments is remarkable, bltte. in comparison, being
truly abundant.

x^6

(Bmbtointtj^ ^tttc^e0.

XXXIX.

EMBROIDERY STITCHES OF THE AMGLOSAXO.V AXD EARLY

MEDIEVAL PERIODS.

" I "HE more ancient the needlework, the more remarkable do
^ we find it for beauty of effect, gained by simple means.
The designs exhibited on the oldest relics of embroidered vest-
ments are of the plainest, although frequently of the most sym-
bolic, character ; and in their execution by the needle, not a
stitch has been used which, if drawn away, would not leave the
pattern incomplete.

One great feature of the Anglo-Saxon work was its lightness.
The gold and silks were made to trace the pattern, as it were, on
the surface of the main fabric of the article ornamented.

It is easy to account, in some degree, for this peculiarity, when
we reflect that in those early days such rich materials were costly
beyond our conception now, and were, doubtless, economized,
and, at the same time, made the most of upon these sacred gar-
ments, the general decoration of which was held so essential.

There is a growing taste for the revival of this graceful
description of sacred embroidery. Most of our leading archi-
tects are adopting the ancient style of ornament in church
decoration, and, where they are consulted in the matter of vest-
ments, encourage, and very properly, a preference for works of the
needle which are in character with the building wherein they are

to be used.

2 A . 177

Cburci) fflestments.

In " Church Embroidery," we limited our practical illustra-
tions of stitches to those principally of the mediieval period: we
here give twelve examples, the first eight of which may be
accepted as true types of the sacred needlework of the very
earliest Christian times. Indeed, we are not sure whether, like
the " gammadion," this method of embroidering was not in vogue
ages before the year of our Lord; for much of the Eastern
work, at this very day, is remarkable for the greater part of its
rich materials being kept upon the surface of the velvet, silk, or
cloth it is used to ornament. This is especially the case with
the gold thread, and twist, wrought upon those tastefully deco-
rated garments from India and Algeria, sometimes seen for sale
in this country.

In the following eight patterns, silks of any rich colours, with
gold twist, and thread, are to be employed where these different
materials are indicated in the engraving.

The lirst, and unexceptionably the most ancient of these
designs worked upon, what we may call, the outline principle, is
the "gammadion," explained page 138. This forms the pattern

on the stole, Plate 34. It may be worked as a border to a
Y cross, on the chasuble, and also for the edge of the garment.

178

CmbroiDerp ^titc&es.

For the " Mitra aiiriphrygiata " no device could be more suii-
ahlc, upon the bands or orphreys, than the "gamcnadion."

The next imitation of an Anglo-Saxon border tells its own
age by its quaint simplicity. It will be seen to resemble the
figuring upon the head-band of St. Benedict, Plate 36, and
originated, probably, in the " gammadion," to which it certainly
shows an affinity.

15111151151111

No. 3 is an exceedingly pretty pattern, in rich colours and
gold ; it is less bold or effective than some others, but, notwith-
standing, is a good specimen of the more elaborated needlework
of an earlv date.

'm^^s^^s'sis^^y^^yy'y^

^^■NS?^s^!ss*^ssssft«cs^^^i^^cs^N^!

No. 4 may either be worked upon an embroidered silk
ground, as represented here, or it may be executed only in out-
line. It is a good pattern for the border of a Bendiction burse,
a chalice veil, a gremiale, or any sacred article of moderate
dimensions. Gold beads have been used here witli great advan-
tage.

(JLbntct Oestments.

One of our most favourire outline designs is No, 5 ; expressive,
and easy of accomplishment. It will be recognized as forming
the circular pattern on the hood with crown?, Plate ^5- ^^ *
border on each side of a plain velvet, or a cloth of gold, orphrey,
for the cope of the above hood, this would be perfect. On any
fabric, or upon any colour, it will stand out, when worked, with
good eifect, Berlin silk, gold passing, twist, and gold beads, are
all the materials required for its production.

V x X vv x 3.:;x,^:jol:k"

\ V\ W \ WW w^

the kind of border suggested for the offertory ]

I N(

I garni

The above is
veil, page 1 14.

No. 6 is another suitable border for the decoration of the j
garment last named. We have used gold beads very profusely J

(ffimfJtoiDetp ®titci)cs.

in some of these patterns, and are well satisfied with the result.
Beads are so easily laid in their places upon the work, and ensure
repeated regularily, in a formal pattern where round dots are
indicated. Moreover, their enriching properties are invaluable,
when brought to bear with coloured silks.

'i!!^il!^i^,^im^^^&m^i!l?i!m?^i^t

w^^^^e^M-^m^^mi^Mem^.

The unpretending little border illustrated in No. 7 is also
made the circular pattern surrounding the figure of the Agnus
Dei on a hood, shown Plate 25.

As an embroidered edging to the orphrey of a cope, or for the
decoration of the offertory veil, this design is as eligible as that
of No. 5.

Our engraver has so well represented the different materials
le. have used in the development of these patterns, that we

Cburcf) Vestments.

believe it scarcely necessary to say that only one kind of rich
twist silk, " passing," and sewings, have been employed for this.

Our last pattern for silk and gold is copied from a missal of
the thirteenth century, and is gorgeous enough in colour and
general effect, to make us wish that it had been possible to pre-
sent it to every eye, as we see it at this moment. Indeed, we
might say this of all these particular designs worked in outline ;
they can never be fully appreciated until they are set forth in
colours and gold. To have illustrated them in this manner here
would have made our book too costly tor its specific purpose ;
we can, therefore, only urge our readers to work them, that they
may find themselves fascinated, as we are, by the truly grand
effects which can be produced in a short space of time by
moderate patience, and a fair amount of skill.

The following four engravings are of patterns in " passing," as
it is used to enrich the backgrounds to figures, and other objects,
on the vestment work of medlERval times.

Our space restricting us to this number, only, of illustrations,
we select such as will serve for examples of the principle upon
which these stitch patterns on gold are made, and may be multi-

Cmfitoiticcp Stitcbes.

plied. In " Church Embroidery " we gave tliirteen such
elementary specimens, to which these may be considered a sup-
plement.

It is impossible to show, upon paper, the numberless ways in
which tlie ancient workers, particularly of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, raised their embroidery, by string and other
means.

Many of the German vestments in the South Kensington
Museum exhibit this style to an exaggerated extent ; for, rich
as some portions of a design may be made in relief, other parts
become coarse and common by the like treatment; and this is
to he observed on some of the garments referred to. As, for
example, on a chasuble of Cologne work, of the fifteenth
century, where the subject is the Crucifixion, the features of the
Saviour are rendered most painfully material by the height to
which they are raised beneath the flesh-coloured silks. So with
those of the Blessed Virgin, figured upon this garment ; anything
mure stoUd and matter-of-fact than her face cannot be conceived
owing to the efforts of the worker to put them in strong relief
by mechanical means. This is only one of several subjects in
the same collection, which we could point to, as likely to mislead
the modern Church-needlewoman in her ambition to copy
effective ancient embroidery.

The work of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was
essentially refined in every phase. On the wonderful Abergavenny
chasuble, Plate 12, the whole of that beautiful background, to
the Crucifixion, is laid without a particle of string. Its raised
effect is brought about by an ingenious manner of working the
stitches, in " wavy couching," into a pattern, as they regulate
the gold thread on tlie linen foundation.

However, there are certain classes of ecclesiastical design, and

185

Ct)uct& QestmEnts.

particular forms, where stitch patterns in relief are not only-
admissible, but necessary to the perfection of richness. Of such
are some backgrounds, borderings, and canopies to figures ;
though the figures themselves, and, above all, their features,
should be put in relief, only, hy ^at sltading.

No. 9 is a groimd pattern of the fifteenth century, but not a
raised one. It may be seen on a chasuble of German work, at
South Kensington, where the wheels are of gold passing, stitched
with crimson, on an embroidered ground of crimson floss. It
js very rich, and costly looking.

We pubhsh No. lo, not that it is wonderful, but because it is
pretty and chaste, and so very appropriate, as we have seen it
used in fifteenth-century embroidery, for a drapery of our j
Lady.

It is of gold " passing," couched all over, in this little diamond!
pattern, with celestial blue. The cloak of the same figure is
of green silk, worked in long-stitch, with lines of "passing"
laid against the dark shade, to mark the folds. The lining of
this garment is blue floss, of the same shade as the couching
stitches,
184

CmfaroiDerp ^titc&es.

No. 1 1 is one of the raised stitches which we have remarked
as popular with the needleworkers of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries.

We have done our best to show the manner of laying the
string, which is the principle itself, for the accomphshment of
such a pattern.

No. 1 2 is given to exemplify the ease with which raised
patterns may be varied, only by laying the string in different
formal ways.

This example has been copied from one, among many of the
back-grounds to large subjects, with which the relics of sacred
needlework, of the later MediiEval period, have made us so
familiar.

iS,

Cf)urc6 iHestments.

THE fESTAfENT-MAXEf^S CHARGE TO THE SACJilSTAN.

'\^7'HERE the province of the vestttient-maker ends, there
* * does that of the sacristan begin.

We have just reached the prescribed limit of our subject, and,
before leaving it, would say a few words respecting the good
keeping of those sacred robes, for the seemly decoration of
which we have lovingly laboured through so many pages.

As a hint to sacristans generally, we would first remark that
upon their care does the preservation of the contents of the.
sacerdotal wardrobe mainly depend.

Tables free from dust and grease, so that they may be
touched or anything laid upon them without fear of soil, and
a constant adherence to the old maxim " of a place for every-
" thing, and everything in its place," are conditions which
every wardrobe-keeper should feel bound to fulfil, as essential '
to the conscientious discharge of the general duties of his
post.

Besides these, a deliberate examination of each robe as, after
its use, it is given to his charge, to remove any mark, or spot of
wax which it may have received; gentle brushing, even folding,
and smooth laying in its assigned place, are all simple acts of
care, to be observed as imperative ; for the neglect of anv one
of them might cause irreparable injury to some beautiful object

€bt Qcstmcnt^ma&et's C&arje to tbt Sacristan.

of intrinsic value to the church, which the best intentions, with
the most liberal means, could never a^ain replace.

Nor should the sacristan be interfered with, or called aside
when he is engaged in putting away the priests' robes. This
sometimes happens, and the vestments are hastily laid in the
drawers, and, maybe, forgotten till they are next required, when
they are produced in a condition which would be anything but
seemly, even for articles of ordinary apparel. Indeed, a well-
bred man would consider his valet unfit for his situation, were
he to present him with a creased garment, or a coat unbrushed,
since it was last worn. What then should not be expected from
a sacred wardrobe keeper ?

A well-constructed vestiary will be fitted with presses filled
with drawers, and sUding doors beyond, for the exclusion of air,
as well as dust. The drawers should be wide, that the vestments
may be saved fi^om much folding, and shallow, that they may be
numerous ; for it is a much better plan to keep each set of
vestments in a separate drawer, if possible, than to fill up a deep
space by laying many robes one over tlie other, to be injured
either by their own weight, or by being lifted up, and turned
over, to extract from the heap any particular set.

The priests' robes of linen, and the acolytes and choristers'
surplices, should be kept in separate drawers, and most carefully
folded e\'ery time they are laid by.

The sacred linen of the altar must also be kept apart from
the vestments, before it has been once used. Afterwards, the
priest who has used it will order its destination.

Velvet vestments require great care in putting away. They
should be folded, with pads of wadding between to obviate
creasing, across, not lengthwise; and the less they are folded the
better.

€f)mtt) aimmtnts.

The protection of bullion embroidery ami cloth ot gold from
damp and bad air is another important duty of the sacristan.
The drawers wherein vestments enriched by the precious metals
are kept should be lined with thick flannel — not green baize,
for the green dye is fugitive, and destructive to gold and silver.
Covers of unbleached calico, which have been steeped in saffron
water, should also be provided to fold about the garments
when they are laid by ; and even layers of the same safiron-
dyed cahco, placed over the gold embroidery itself, will protect
it from the influence of a pernicious atmosphere better than
anything else.

The most striking example of the careful preservation of
modern gold work is instanced in a costly set of crimson velvet
vestments, presented in the year 1853, by Sir George Bowyer,
to St. George's Catliedral, Southwark.

Originally intended for an Italian church, dedicated to St.
Peter, they are of the Roman shape, and were worked and made
under our direction, from the designs of Mr. T. J. Burton.

Their embellishment consists of rich gold embroidery, and
orphreys of lace, woven, for this express gift, with the keys and
sword in bright gold, upon a green ground, figured here and
there with crimson.

That the metal used in the manufacture of the lace was
pure as it could be, time has, in some degree, shown, for it is
still brilliant, as when it left the weaver's hands. The bullion
embroidery, too, on the chasuble, offertory veil, stoles, and tlie
rest, we find scarcely dimmed ; neither is the gold thread, so
profusely used in the cords and tassels of the dalmatics, and veil,
tarnished.

This is much to be able to say, after a test of fifteen years'
constant wear, of the manufactured gold of modern days. We

Cbe QestmenMnaftet's Cbatge to t6e feactistan.

give all due credit to the excellent quality of the metal, but find
that we have much praise left in reserve for the memory of the
late excellent sacristan, to whose great, not to say reverential,
care the preservation of these beautiful objects has, doubtless,
been in a great part owing.

It is true that every church is not favoured with such a
vestiary as St. George's, which, as A. W. Pugin planned it, may
be considered nearly perfect. But space, and appointed drawers,
fitted to exclude air and dust, and to receive every article of the
sacerdotal dress, without much folding, are not all-sufficient.
The sacristan should not only be calculated to feel a greater
respect for the robes of the holy altar than for those, however
costly, which belong to secular clothing, but he should also
have some degree of knowledge of the different materials which,
by virtue of his office, he has to handle.

Twenty years ago, such a man might have been difficult to
find, to occupy this post, in the Church of England ; for we
believe that no power on earth could have converted the stereo-
typed parish clerk of half a century back into the duly qualified
verger, or sacristan.

Happily, however, this is not now the condition of such
things, in any church where its rites are solemnly observed ;
and we can suppose, that in every band of choristers, or acolytes,
there is a youth, of good principles and right feeling, ready to
be selected for initiation, and instruction, in the duties of a
sacristan.

Apart from the honour of such an appointment, it is worthy
of being made sufficiently lucrative to meet the necessary wants
of one who is respectable enough to make it his vocation, and
upon whose care so much that is of true value to the dignity
of the Christian Ritual depends. In some churches there

Aafl.

Cburcj^ ([Ie0tment0.

are members of the clergy, who not only interest themselves,
but delight, aesthetically, in the real business of the sacred
wardrobe.

Such as these, we say it deferentially, are the best fitted to
impart knowledge on the subject, with as much as possible of
their taste, to all aspiring to the sacristans office.

190

De0cdptton of iTronttspfece.

DESCRIPTION OF FRONTISPIECE,

" I "HE subject of our frontispiece was suggested through our
-^ desire to show as many of the sacred robes as possible
in actual use.

We need scarcely explain that the bishop is the celebrant, on
this occasion ; and that the figure by his side, robed in a cope,
is his assistant at the Mass, and therefore, for the time being,
highest in degree, next to the prelate himself, of the clergy at
the altar.

The deacon is being incensed by the acolyte. The sub-
deacon stands at the foot of the altar, shrouding the paten with
the offertory veil.

The surpliced figure next to the sub-deacon is the master
of the ceremonies, whose functions are as important as they are
held sacred, at every solemn High Mass, in the Catholic
Church.

The acolytes bearing the mitre and staff of the bishop, wear
a scarf, usually of white crape, around their necks, for the
purpose of muffling their hands, to hold the episcopal insignia.

The altar itself has been adapted to our views, from one of
many beautiful designs of the kind, generously placed at our

191

Cburct) (Hestments.

disposal, by Messrs. Mayer, of Holies Street, Cavendish Square,
and of Munich.

The reputation of this house for sacred works of art, in the
precious metals and other materials, is already great ; it is likely
to become, as it deserves, world-wide.

192

SnUtv.

>:««o<^

Abergavenny, Description of Ancient Vestments found at, i8, 183.
Agnus Dei, Description of, on Chasuble, 60.
Aix-la-Chapelle, Ancient Chasuble at, 46.
Alb, The, 31.

, Ancient Example of, at South Kensington, 37.

, Apparels of, 34.

, Correct Dimensions of, 38.

■, Empress Eug(5nie, to Pope Pius the Ninth, presented by, 36.

, First decoration of, 33.

', The Sacrificial Ministering Robe, 122.

, Worn over the Rochet, 145.

Albs, Coloured, 31.

, Costly Gifts of, 34, 36.

, Worn by Children, 146.

Almucia, The. See Amys, 132.

Altar, The, Description of, on Frontispiece, 191.

, Sacred Linen of, 127, 187.

Amice, The, 26.

, Adorned with precious stones, 102.

, Apparels of, 28.

, Description of Ancient Example of, at South Kensington, 29.

Amys, The Furred, 132.

Ancient Vestments, Description of, at the Great Exhibition, 1862, 15.

, Examples of, at South Kensington, 21, 183.

2C 193

Anglo-Saxon Bishop, Head-linen of the, 136.

, Mitre of the, 135.

, Subcingulum of the, 149.

Anglo-Saxon Clergy, Chasuble worn by the, 48.

^ Cope of the, 104.

, Oflfertory Veil of the, 114.

, " Roc " or Tunicle of the, 83.

, Surplice originated by the, 121.

Anglo-Saxon " Flower," The, on the Chasuble, 57.
Anglo-Saxon Stitches, 177.

Annunciation, The, Chasuble designed for. Description of, 67.
Amulph, Prior of Rochester, Gift of, of Rich Vestment, and Cope with Silver
Bells, 102.

Bath Abbey, Gifts of Vestments to, 12.

" Bawdkin," 70.

Beaufort, Cardinal, Rich Gift of, to Winchester, 13.

Benedict the Twelfth, Constitution of, on the Surplice, 122.

Benediction Burse, The, 120.

Benediction Veil, The, 113.

Biretta, The, 172.

Blue, Celestial, Used in the Sacred Vestments, 84, 175.

, Light, anciently substituted for black or purple, 176.

Bobbin-cord, for Chequer-work on Surplice, 1 24.
Bristol-board, for Burse, 1 1 9.
Brocaded Silks, Ancient, 70.
Burse, The Sacrificial, 118.
Buskins, The, 156.

, of Bishop Waneflete, 157.

Byzantine Robe, The, of Our Lord, 53.

Calabrian Fur. See Amys, 132.
Calico, Unbleached, 74.
Cambric Shirt, Prince Arthur's, 35.
Campanula. See Note, 91.
Canon's Cope, The, 131.

Canopy and Candle-bearers, Gloves recommended for, 163.
194

3[nDcr

Canterbury Cathedral, Extract from Inventory of, 164.

: , Gloves on Figure of Archbishop in, 164.

Canterbury, See of, Pallium in Arms of the, 169.

Canute, King, Gifts of, to Croyland Abbey, 9.

Cappa Magna, The, 153.

Carew Castle, Ancient Figure from, 50.

Cassock, The, 171.

Cencia de Sabellis, Concerning the Subcingulum, 149.

Chalice-Veil, The, 75, 116.

Chartres Cathedral, Ancient Statue from, 54.

- , Mitre from Archbishop on, 142.

, Shoe from same figure on, 160.

Chasuble, The, 43.

, Correct Materials for, 68.

, Diptych, 45.

, French, 56.

, Hooded, 45. • *

, Italian, 55.

, St. Augustine's Gift of, to St Livinus, 47.

, of St Thomas of Canterbury, 48.

, Vesica form of, 47.

Chasubles, Mention of Rich, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21.

Chirothecae, The. See Gloves, 163,

Clavi, The, 4.

Clavus, the Augustus, 5.

^ The Latus, 5.

Clugni, Priors of. Officiating in Gloves, 163.

Coif, and Coyfe, 28.

Collar, The Roman, 173.

Colobium, The, 78.

Colours, Proper for the Sacred Vestments, 174.

Constantine, Emperor, Robe of Cloth of Gold presented to Macarius by the, 4.

, Sacred Ritual in reign of the, 3.

Cope, The, loi.

-, Colours of, for particular days, 109.

-, Cycloid, the right form for, 107.
-, Fringe for, 108.

'95

Cope, The, Fringe of Bells to, 102.

f Godfrey de Croyland's gift of, to Gaucelinus, 12.

, Hood of, 104.

, How to make up, 108.

-, Later use of, in Durham Cathedral, 103.
•, Orphreys of, 106.

Copes, Mention of particular, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 102, 103, 105

Corporal-Case. See Burse, 118.

Corporal-Cloths, 127.

Corporal-Oath, 128.

Cotta, The, 126, 146.

Cotton, " Boar's-Head," for Chequer Work on Surplice, 124.

, Reel, for Tacking-Stitches, 76.

Credence-Cloth, 130.
Cross, The Latin, 51, 64,

, The Tau, 50.

, The Y, 60.

Crosses on Sacred Linen, 128.
Crowns, as Finials to Cross, 66.

Dalmatic, The, 78.

, Apparels of, 80.

, General Decoration of, 81.

, Materials for, 81, 82.

, Shape of, in France, 81.

Dart's History of Canterbury, Extract from, concerning the Gloves, 164

Diadem, Golden, of St. Benedict, 135.

Diapering, 71.

Dorsal, The, of the Chasuble, 59.

Poster-Day, Ancient Custom of Baptising on the Eve of, ^;^.

, Description of the Pope's Robes on, 162.

Eastern Church, Stole of the, 89.

Egelric, Gifts of, to Croyland Abbey, 9.

Embroideries, Ancient, in South Kensington Museum, described, 64.

Embroidery, Bullion, preservation of, 188.

, Church, General Reference to fonner Work on, 23.

196

Embroidery, Exaggerated, 70.

, On Latin Cross, directed, 65.

, Stitches, Anglo-Saxon, and Mediaeval, 177.

Empress Eugenie, The, Gift of Alb from, to Pius the Ninth, 36.

Fanon, The, 170.

Feather-Work, Copes in, 11.

Figured Silks, 71.

" Flower," The, 57.

Frontispiece, Description of, 191.

** Fylfot," The. See " Gammadion," 139.

"Gammadion," The, Description of, 138.

Garinus, Abbot of St Alban's, Liberality of, 11.

German Vestments in the South Kensington Museum, 21.

Girdle, The, 40.

Glastonbury Abbey, Rich Vestments of, 8.

Gloves, The, 163.

, of Boniface the Eighth, 165.

, Correct form of, 165.

, Decoration of, 166.

, of William of Wykeham, 165.

Gothic Stole, The, 89, 92.
Gremiale, The, 151.

Humerals, The, 59.

Ina, King, Gifts of, to Glastonbury Abbey, 8.
Infulae of Mitre, 136.

Jaconet Muslin, for inner linings, 74.

Lace, Gold, Bindings, 58.

J Orphre)rs of, 61, 63.

Lace, Silk, for Vestments, 63, 74.

^ Thread, for the Rochet, and Cotta, 146.

Lama, Description of, 161.

3lnDer*

Lambs, Ceremony of blessing the, i68.

Laodiceae, The Council of) concerning the Stole, 88.

Lappets, The Mitre, 136.

Leofric, Bequest of, of three Copes to his Church of Exeter, 102.

Lichfield, First Archbishop of, 48.

Liege, Church of. Extract from a canon of the, 145.

Lincoln Cathedral, Rich Vestiary possessions of, 14, 20, 32.

Linea Tunica, 144.

Linen, Head, The Bishop's, 136.

Linen Mitre, 143.

Linenj Sacred, of the Altar, 127.

Linings, Calico, 75.

, Inner, 74.

, Linen, 115, 117.

, Silk, 75.

, Woollen, 73.

Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, Gift of Constantine to, 4.
Manicae. See Gloves, 163.
Maniple, The, 93.

, Origin of, 93.

, Pugin, 94.

, Roman, 95.

Margaret, Anglo-Saxon, Queen of Scotland, 102.
Materials, Proper for Vestments, 68 — 77, 81, 90.
Matilda, Queen, Gift of, of gorgeous Vestments, 102.
Mellium. See Gremiale, 151.
Mitre, The, 135.

• , Archbishop's, 142.

■ , Correct Shape of, 143.

, Limerick, 140.

, Of the Pope, from ancient MS., 142.

, Of St. Thomas of Canterbury, 138.

, Of William of Wykeham, 137, 140.

Mitres, "After the old fashion," 141.

-, Standing, 140.

Molinet, Extracts from, 125, 144.
198

3fnlier»

Monastery of St. Blase, Copes at, as illustrated by Gerbert, 103.

Morse, The, no.

Mount St Mary's, Wonderful Cope belonging to, 15.

Mozetta, The, 155.

Mundatory, The, 129.

Oflfertory Veil. See Benediction Veil, 113.

Oliver Cromwell, Destruction of Sacred Works by, 7.

Orarium. See Stole, 86.

Ordo Missae Pontificalis, Reference to, 14th century, 150.

Ordo Romanus, 12th century, 149.

, 13th century, 141.

, 14th century, 176.

Orphreys, 49, 59.

, Ancient Needlework, 14, 107.

, Cloth of Gold, 73.

, Satin, 72.

, Velvet, 72.

, Woven Lace, 63, 188.

Paenula. See Chasuble, 43.

Pall, The, 129.

Pallium, The, 167.

Papal Choir, Robes of Cardinals of the, 146, 153.

Pectoral, The, 59.

Pellicia. See Surplice.

Percy Shrine, Beauties of the, 7.

Planeta. See Chasuble, 43.

Pontifical, High Mass. See Frontispiece, and 191.

Pope Benedict the Twelfth, Reference to, 122.

Boniface the Eighth, -

— 142.

Eutychianus, —

— 78.

Gregory the Tenth, -

— 141.

Innocent the Third,

150.

Pius the Ninth,

— 36, 142, 155, 162, 168, 170, 171.

Sylvester, -

— 78.

Urban the Fifth,

— 142.

199

3fnDejc.

St Dnnstan, 57.

St Edward the Confessor, loi, 121, 136.

St Egino, 160.

St Genevieve, 139.

St George, 112.

St Gregory the Great, 83, 94, 167.

St Hugh, 102.

St John the Evangelist, 1,20, 32, 135.

St James, 135.

St Katherine, 105.

St Livinus, 47,

St Paul, 27, 41, 43.

St Peter, 54, 93, 168.

St Stephen, 80.

St Thomas of Canterbury, 48, 57, 139.

St Blase, Monastery of, 103.

St Frideswide's Monastery, Oxford, 175.

St. George's Cathedral, South wark, 130, 188.

St George's Chapel, Windsor, 141,

St Jean de Chartres, Abbey of, 147.

St John Lateran's, the Pope's Cathedral, 169.

St Mary's College, Oscott, 19.

St Mary Hill, London, 145.

St Mary Magdalene, Oxford, 157, 161.

St Paul's, Old, 12, 157, 164.

Sacristan, Duties of the, 186.

Sandals, The, 159.

, of Bishop Giffard, 160.

, of Bishops of Ravenna, 160.

, of Bishop Waneflete, 161.

, Correct form of, 161.

, Decoration of, 161.

, of St Egino, 160,

, of Thomas de la Mare, 160.

Smith, Lord William, Gifts ofi to Lincoln Abbey, 32.
Soutane, The, 146, 171.

2 D aoi

Veil, The Chalice, ii6.

Oflfcrto^y, 113.

Vestments, Directions for Making, 74.

, Exaggerated richness in, 71.

, Figured Silk for, 71.

— — , Velvet, 72.

Vestment-maker's Charge to the Sacristan, 186.

Wells Cathedral, Rich Bequests to, 12.

William the Conqueror, Appropriation by, of Enghsh Vestments, 22, 105, 150.

Winchester Cathedral, Gift of Cardinal Beaufort to, 13.

Worcester Cathedral, Sandals from Tomb of Bishop Giffard in, 160.

Y, The, Cross, 49, 60.

Yellow Vestments, substituted for Black, 176.

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