While Laetare Sunday has come and gone, I could not help but share these images -- photographed by the NLM's own Br. Lawrence Lew, O.P. -- of a very rare sight indeed. Not only the incredibly beautiful church of
St. Birinius in Dorchester-on-Thames, with its wonderful rood screen, riddle posts and curtains, and painted ceilings, but also a conical chasuble.
Now conical chasubles are rare enough to see, all things considered, but the sight of a
conical rose chasuble is virtually unheard of:
The conical vestment originally came from
Pluscarden Abbey and the priest is Fr. John Osman, the parish priest of St. Birinius.
Quite stunning all around.
