A Modern History of Gothic Vestments, 1838-1957 (Part 2): Guest Article by Nico Fassino

This is the second part of Mr Nico Fassino’s article on the history of the revival of Gothic vestments; the first part was published on Wednesday. Mr Fassino is the founder of the Hand Missal History Project, an independent research initiative dedicated to exploring Catholic history through the untold and forgotten experiences of the laity across the centuries. Learn more at HandMissalHistory.com or @HandMissals. Once again, we are very grateful to him for sharing his interesting and thoroughly well-researched work with us.

Reception of the 1863 letter

Despite the 1863 letter from the Sacred Congregation of Rites, the use of Gothic vestments did not seem to be much changed in the years which followed. Records demonstrate the widespread and uncontroversial use of Gothic vestments around the globe during these years, including:

• In 1870, a magnificent set of Gothic vestments worth approximately $50,000 in modern valuation was given to Bishop Richard Roskell of Nottingham for use in the cathedral. [15]
• In 1873, Archbishop of Sydney John Polding wore “rich” Gothic vestments as he ordained Christopher Reynolds as Bishop of Adelaide in a large ceremony attended by at least four other Australian bishops. [16]
• The 1867, 1879, 1883, and 1885 retail catalogs of Benziger Brothers, the premier Catholic publishing house and church goods retail in the United States, offered Gothic-style vestments. [17]
• At his ordination by 1887, newly-consecrated Bishop of Wilcannia John Dunne wore “a superb and costly” set of white and gold Gothic vestments. [18]
• By 1895, one account observed: “… there is a great diversity in this respect [of vestments] in the Roman Catholic Church. In England, the Gothic, French, and the Italian chasubles are all freely used by the Roman Catholic Clergy. [...] The Swiss Roman Catholic clergy and those in many parts of Germany use Gothic vestments, not those of Renaissance form”. [19]

Archbishop of Sydney John Bede Polding in Gothic vestments, 1866

Another summarized the situation thus: “[a]s in England, so also on the Continent, the advance of the ample chasuble was notable. By 1900 many dioceses in Western Europe could show churches where it was in use. Some of them had secured indults, some had simply accepted a growing custom, and all could cite the example of Rome itself, where several cardinals and at least two popes (Pius IX and X) encouraged the ample chasuble and used it themselves.” [20]

Helene Stummel, ca. 1890

Helene Stummel, wife of the famous artist Frederick Stummel, was a vestment maker, and a passionate advocate for the revival of Gothic vestments during these years. She was sought after by many bishops, taught regularly across Europe, and published books on recommendations for the design of vestments:

“Madam Stummel has lectured before cardinals, bishops, and the clergy in Rome, before the Congresses of Cologne and Dusseldorf. Recently a number of the Bishops of England have invited her to speak before the conferences of the clergy and in their seminaries to the students of theology. She possesses a singular mastery of the subject, and has the means to illustrate her clear and erudite expositions from a rare collection of paramentics gathered and disposed with artistic skill and a thorough realization of the dignity of the subject.” [21]

One may wonder how such a situation could exist following the circular letter of 1863. It seems exceedingly implausible that significant numbers of bishops and priests of multiple countries throughout the world were deliberately disobeying Roman directives. What then is the explanation?

Interpretation of the 1863 letter

First, it is interesting to note that the 1863 letter was not published or included in the official collection of decrees and decisions of the Sacred Congregation of Rites for more than sixty years after it was written. It is possible that, because of this, in some isolated cases the letter went unheeded due to lack of awareness, or because it was viewed as less authoritative than a formal decree. [22]

The letter was widely known in general, however, and regularly cited in clerical journals or similar interpretive authorities. These discussions demonstrate how the 1863 letter was understood and applied over decades and suggest an explanation for why the use of Gothic vestments continued: in short, the letter was not considered to be an unequivocal or totally restrictive ban.

Writing in 1884, the editors of the Irish Ecclesiastical Record explained that this letter permitted Gothic vestments to continue to be used but prevented any new vestments from being produced: “[i]n the face of this decree, it is not lawful to manufacture new vestments of this pattern. The bishop may allow the use of those already made, till they are worn out.” [23]

Painting of Rev. William Lockhart, from the cover of “William Lockhart: First Fruits of the Oxford Movement” (Herefordshire: Gracewing, 2011).

Rev. William Lockhart, a convert and friend of John Henry Newman, offered extensive commentary on the 1863 letter in the pages of the Irish Ecclesiastical Record in 1890, stating that, among other things, the manufacture of ‘Borromean’ chasubles (in the size and shape prescribed by St. Charles Borromeo) remained fully permitted without requiring any special permission, as did the ‘Galway’ chasuble in Ireland. [24]

Despite the continuing use of Gothic vestments and the prevailing interpretation that the 1863 letter permitted this (but not the manufacture of new ones), Rome did not issue any further instructions, clarifications, or restrictions. [25]

The hated modern ‘French’ style

It is also worth noting that there were a number of prominent clerical and lay figures during these years who regularly wrote about their preference for the Gothic style in clerical journals and Catholic periodicals. Ernest Gilliat-Smith, for example, wrote in 1890, “... to my mind, Gothic vestments are preferable to Roman, both from an artistic and symbolic point of view, and I hope and trust that one day their use may be universal.” [26]

There was also widespread and long running disdain for the cheap, mass-produced French (modern fiddleback-style) vestments. These had undergone rather significant changes in style – described by some as “cutting and clipping” and others as “mutilation” – both before and after the French Revolution. These new forms were not forbidden by Rome and had quickly spread throughout Italy and elsewhere. [27]

Example of French-style clerical dress, 1776

The trend was described by the editors of the American Ecclesiastical Review as “[t]he growing abuse of the viol- (fiddle-) shaped chasuble, forced on the ecclesiastical market by the French makers of paramentics and silk merchants.” [28] Commentary in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record in 1890 is at turns both comical and illustrative, and seems worth quoting at length:

“Who can describe the abortion of the chasuble that pervades France at the present day? Fiddle-shaped in front, not coming down to the knees, stiff with buckram, or paper pasted on the poverty-stricken half-cotton-half-silk material of Lyons manufacture. They are as stiff as tea-boards, and crack if they are bent.

“I was told a story lately in Belgium, of a priest who objected to the stiff paper pasted between the flimsy silk and cheap cotton lining. The manufacturer [...] misunderstanding the objection of the priest, replied: ‘Yes, M. l‘Abbe, we always use paper, in order that they may wear better, and to add to the substantial appearance of our vestments; but I assure you, on this point I have a delicate conscience, and I never put into vestments anything but des bons journaux Catholiques [good Catholic newspapers].”

“These Lyons vestments are going every day all over the world. They are cheap, and Les Dames pieuses can thus make their collections go a good way in providing vestments for Les Missions Etrangeres. [...] We need not wonder that Pius IX intimated in the letter of Cardinal Patrizi that there might be good reasons (rationes alicujus ponderis), in favour of a return to the more ancient form of the vestment.” [29]

Even the noted authority Bishop Josephus van der Stappen commented dismissively on the French corruption of the chasuble:

“Hence, when the ancient chasuble had, in the course of time, been cut down from its generous proportions of old, to the skimp reduction of modern times, and the evil had found its way from France into the neighboring countries, there arose in England, France itself, Germany, and Belgium men who, animated by a zeal for Christian art, sought on their own account to restore the ancient practice by adopting the more beautiful style of Gothic vestments...” [30]

American Gothic (Vestments)

In America, by the turn of the century, there was some regular use of Gothic vestments and clear clerical support for more. Even the editors of the Ecclesiastical Review, nobody’s idea of progressive innovators, routinely featured pieces and editorials supporting their adoption.

Excerpt from the Ecclesiastical Review, April 1910

Beyond mere support, the Review was considered to be a driving force behind a movement pushing for the change in vestments. A letter from 1910 begins: “To the Editor, The Ecclesiastical Review. My hearty congratulations upon the movement you have started for the very desirable reform in our church vestments. Enclosed is a typical letter showing that you have many well-wishers with you in this matter…” [31]  Multiple examples of proposed Gothic designs were published in the Review, along with example measurements of what was permissible.

Model of proposed Gothic chasuble in the Ecclesiastical Review, December 1909, page 687.

The use and permissibility of Gothic vestments were widely discussed in various Catholic publications of the time. Some discussions even considered the potential future of a Roman decree to abandon fiddlebacks and exclusively adopt the Gothic! A 1910 editorial in the Jesuit journal America commented on the matter in a rather cheeky fashion:

The proper form and colors of vestments is being discussed in the Ecclesiastical Review[…] they represent a school long in existence in Germany and England, and are strong in art and aesthetics. We fear the faithful are largely Philistines [regarding which style of vestments they prefer]. Moreover, the Latin races are not likely to submit gladly even in this matter to the Teuton. [...]

If the Holy See so ordains, priests will all exchange our aniline-dyed, fiddle-shaped vestments for modified Gothic of subdued, esthetic hue. But many will do so with heavy hearts and there will be heavy hearts, too, among their people. It is hard to part with old friends, and the modern form and the bright colors have many to love them. For, after all, as Andrew Lang, singing in ‘The Galleries’ the charms of the two schools of art, confesses: ‘You still must win the public vote, Philistia!’ ” [32]

Examples of a proposed three-tiered system of vestments, in the Ecclesiastical Review, March 1910, page 351. This system was devised by Bishop Wilhelm von Keppler of Rottenburg, Germany. [33]

Through the first decade of the twentieth century we find records of the use of Gothic vestments across America. In 1910, Gothic vestments were in use in St. Mary’s church in Portland, Oregon. The Tabernacle Societies of the cathedrals in Baltimore and Cincinnati, which funded supplies and furnishings for parishes too poor to afford them, regularly produced Gothic vestments during these years. [34]

In 1914, the general American situation was summarized as follows: “[d]uring the last few years there has been a steady advance, especially in our larger city churches, towards a more exact observance of the rubrics and the carrying out of the solemn services of the Church. One of the notable features has been a closer approach, in the matter of vestments, to the old Roman usage, and many churches have adopted altogether the use of the so-called Gothic (old Roman) chasuble in place of the violin-shaped garments introduced by Gallican enterprise.” [35]

Example of Gothic vestments being given to bishops as gifts. Source: NCWC News Service, May 28, 1923, wire copy page 15.

Parishes were proud to own fine Gothic vestments and hefty sums were paid out for the best sets from American and European retailers. They were also frequently given as gifts by various parish or diocesan groups to their priests and bishops. For example, in 1922 the St. Anne Married Ladies’ Sodality at St. Mary's parish in Dayton, Ohio paid $900 for an imported set as a Christmas gift to their pastor (equal to $16,345 in 2023 when adjusted for inflation). [36]

By 1924 they seem to be in widespread and regular use, at least in certain parts of the country. In Cincinnati alone there are multiple examples of Gothic vestments mentioned in less than 12 months: at the Student’s Crusade Castle chapel, at the parishes of St. Margaret of Cortona and St. Agnes, and even at the Cathedral. [37]

This concludes the second article in this series. The third and final article will explore the use of Gothic vestments between 1925 and 1957 and offer conclusions concerning the whole series.

NOTES (numeration continued from previous article):
[15] The Nottinghamshire Guardian, April 22, 1870, page 2. The set was donated by nuns of Cologne, Germany and was valued at between £400-500 in 1870, or £39,180 adjusted for inflation as of June 2023.

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A Modern History of Gothic Vestments, 1838-1957 (Part 1): Guest Article by Nico Fassino

Last November, we published a research project by Mr Nico Fassino on the 1954 English Rituale. He has now graciously shared with us a new project, this time on the history of the revival of Gothic vestments, which will be published here in three parts. Mr Fassino is the founder of the Hand Missal History Project, an independent research initiative dedicated to exploring Catholic history through the untold and forgotten experiences of the laity across the centuries. Learn more at HandMissalHistory.com or @HandMissals. Once again, we are very grateful to him for sharing his interesting and thoroughly well-researched work with us. 

I recently saw a question about the modern history of ‘Gothic’ style vestments in the Roman Catholic Church. How and when were they re-introduced? At what point were they fully authorized for widespread use?

I am not an expert on vestments and have never studied their history. I was only casually familiar with what I would call the “common” narrative: that Gothic style vestments were illicitly adopted by some members of the Liturgical Movement in the early 1900s, forbidden as an abuse by Roman authorities, and only authorized in 1957 after which they became increasingly popular.

I was curious. Was this an accurate account or was there more to the story? I decided to explore historic Catholic newspapers and other contemporary material to see what I could find.

English Revival: Origins & Debate

The modern history of Gothic vestments largely begins with Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-52), at least for English-speaking lands. Pugin was a convert to Catholicism and an extraordinarily prolific ecclesiastical designer and architect. It is impossible to overstate his role or influence in launching the Gothic Revival movement.

Augustus Welby Pugin, by John Rogers Herbert, 1845 (source)

Bishop Thomas Walsh, Vicar Apostolic of England’s Midland District (one of the administrative regions of the English Catholic Church before the restoration of the hierarchy in 1850 - editor’s note), was a strong supporter of Pugin and “gave him almost a free hand in attempting to revive the old Gothic vestments of pre-Reformation days, besides encouraging him to build and restore churches in the Gothic style.” [1] This revival was not limited to England, however. On the Continent at this time, other figures were likewise involved in efforts to revive the use of Gothic vestments, including Dom Prosper Gueranger, abbot of monastery of Solesmes, and Canon Fanz Bock of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. [2]

Pugin’s efforts were quite successful and Gothic vestments were widely adopted by English clergy in these years. One notable public use of these vestments was at the opening of St. Mary’s College, Oscott in 1838 which was attended by several bishops and over 100 priests.

H.E. Bishop Antonio Mennini (then nuncio to Great Britain) wearing a Pugin vestment at St Mary’s College, Oscott, during a vocations conference held there in 2011.

But not all members of the English clergy were enthusiastic about these trends. Some, like Bishop Augustine Baines of the Westland District, opposed Pugin’s vision for vestments, church ornamentation, the restoration of Gregorian Chant, and other parts of the ‘English Catholic Revival’. Baines forbade his clergy to wear Pugin’s vestments and complained to Rome about them. [3]

In 1839, Bishop Thomas Walsh of the London District received a letter from the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith which expressed displeasure with what he was permitting in his diocese. The letter also referred directly and dismissively to Pugin as “an architect converted from heresy” who was behind these innovations. Pugin corresponded about this with his friend and fellow convert Ambrose Phillipps De Lisle. De Lisle later wrote to another shared acquaintance and patron–John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury:

… that the College of Propaganda is to regulate even the minutest details of our ecclesiastical dress, is to assume for a foreign congregation a degree of power that has never yet been claimed by any Pope, no nor even by any General Council of the Church.

An uniformity of vestments or even of rites and Liturgies has never yet been enforced in any period of the Church [...] Italy has her Chasubles very different in many respects fm. those of France, of Germany, and of modern England [...] ; it is therefore idle to say that the restoration of the old English Chasuble hurts the uniformity of the Church, seeing that no such uniformity exists: it is equally idle to say that it infringes upon the rubricks ; when the rubricks were composed most assuredly the modern form of vestments existed not, and therefore if either offended against them, it wd. be the latter, not our glorious old English form. [...]

No, deeply do I deplore this lamentable business: its consequences if persisted in, will be most disastrous, the very idea of them fills me with horror and alarm. [4]

Despite the 1839 letter from Cardinal Franzoni to Bishop Walsh, and the initial despair of Pugin and De Lisle, no formal restrictions to the use of Gothic vestments were issued from Rome, and their use continued to spread throughout England, and in France, Belgium, and Germany.

English Revival: Continued Use

In June 1841, the new Cathedral of St. Chad in Birmingham–commissioned by Walsh and designed by Pugin–was opened in an extraordinarily grand ceremony attended by thirteen bishops from around the world (two from Scotland, one from the United States, and one from Australia) including Bishop Baines. [5] For this Mass, Bishop Nicholas Wiseman and the celebrating ministers wore a set of gold Gothic vestments which had been designed by Pugin. [6]

Illustration of the original interior of the Cathedral of St. Chad in Birmingham. From Robert Kirkup Dent, “Old and New Birmingham: A History of the Town and Its People” (Birmingham: Houghton and Hammond, 1880), page 458.

In the decades which followed, Wiseman would be appointed as the first Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and become the driving force for trends within the newly re-established Catholic Church in England. He would continue to use Gothic vestments regularly. [7]

After the re-establishment of the Catholic Hierarchy and the First Provincial Synod of Westminster in 1852, now-Cardinal Wiseman traveled to Rome to submit the synodal decrees for Vatican approval. So widespread was the use of Gothic vestments at this time, it was rumored in the secular press that Rome intervened to edit the decrees in an attempt to regulate or ban them.

4. Dumfries and Galloway Standard and Advertiser, November 2, 1853, page 2.

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Augustus Pugin’s Church of St Augustine of Canterbury in Ramsgate, England

Wholly unplanned, this week’s theme on NLM is “friends visiting beautiful churches.” On Sunday, we saw Nicola’s photos of the relics of St Peter Martyr in the Portinari Chapel in Milan (more photos of the chapel will be posted later this week), and yesterday, we saw photos taken by another friend of one of the clandestine Catholic churches of Amsterdam. Another of our frequent guest contributors, Mr James Griffin of the Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music, is in England for the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, and took the opportunity to visit the church of St Augustine of Canterbury at Ramsgate, a project of the great Augustus Pugin, who is buried in the church. When he died at the age of only 40 in 1852, the work was continued by his sons Edward and Peter. Of course, it would take a whole series of posts to justice to any Pugin project; fortunately, you can see the whole complex on the church’s website, which has a superb virtual tour that gives a lot of very good information about it.

Pugin was, of course, an ardent admirer and promotor of style and form of medieval English churches, so of course, the church has a rood screen, and a liturgical choir rather than a choir loft. In 1970, the church was barbarously vandalized by the Benedictines who had charge of it, but much of the vandalism has been undone; the Crucifix was removed in 1970, but replaced in 2019.

Unfortunately, the Benedictines destroyed the high altar installed by their community in 1884; in the recent dewreckovation, a new one was installed. The frontal is a fiber-glass replica of Pugin’s own work from the Jesuit church of the Immaculate Conception in London, showing the Crucifixion in the middle, and various Old Testament scenes of sacrifice.  

The baptismal font is the work of a friend of Pugin named George Myers (1804-75).

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The Divine Is In the Detail

One of the things that characterized the medieval Gothic style was a theologically driven attention to detail. The Gothic mason not only wanted those details that people could see to be beautiful and structurally sound, but also the hidden structural details of the buttresses, for example, would be created according to principles of harmonic proportion. It would not occur to the illuminator or mason not to create even the smallest or hidden aspect beautifully, for to the Gothic artist, beauty had a utility. Beauty is the outward sign that a thing is suited to its purpose, and that that purpose is good. When we behold it, it’s influence is to direct our spirits to God. To create beautiful art elevates the work of the artist to a virtue that benefits the artist, who is content to try to please God with his work, as well as anyone who sees his art, to the degree that it is good and beautiful.

Shrewsbury Catholic Cathedral in Shropshire, England, has been undergoing a renovation under the patronage of Bishop Mark Davies. This is a 19th century, Puginesque English Gothic style; an article on the restoration in process, with comments by Fr Edmund Montgomery, the cathedral administrator, was published here at the end of March.

In the spirit of this Gothic love of detail, a piece of embroidered art in the style of the School of St Albans - that is, 21st-century English Gothic - is to be displayed permanently at Shrewsbury Cathedral. The piece will be framed and hung in the confessional on the priest’s side at the request of Fr Edmund. Stylistically, this is fully in keeping with the overall artistic schema of the cathedral.

The creator of this piece, Alix Murray, lives in Shrewsbury, and tells me that she was inspired by images from St Albans Psalter and the Bury Bible made in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England, both of the 12th century. She is a student of Pontifex University’s Master of Sacred Arts program.

Here is a picture of the interior of the cathedral.

This is the second piece of work to come out of a collaboration of PU students via a student Facebook group. I have had no personal input in this group - the ideas are generated amongst themselves. We showed a similar embroidered image by another PU student, Kathryn Laffrey, was published a few weeks ago, which resulted in her getting a commission for an embroidered chalice pall from an American cathedral.

Alix told me:

Our agreement was to use the materials we had available to us. I used a bedsheet for the canvas and embroidery floss (untangled with tremendous effort) from my daughters’ craft drawer. In the end, I had to order more floss as I was so limited for colours. I was inspired by two 12-century English illuminated manuscripts and the homeschooling group I am a member of is trying to organize a British history curriculum, so I used particularly English Catholic sources as my inspiration.

There is a saying that the devil is in the detail. However, if we care to make it so, the divine can be in the detail too. This is a detail that will be seen by only the priests in confessional. It’s potential for spiritual impact, without the glorification of the artist, is great. The influence of its beauty first on the confessor, and then in turn, indirectly, on the penitent, has the potential to affect many for the good in the diocese. Beauty will save the world!

Here is an original illumination from the Bury Bible created by an artist known as Master Hugo.

Churches Should Be Like Airports, But Not Like This!

I was greatly amused by a recent tweet from Fr Z.

It was attached to the following photograph:

In my opinion, Fr Z is dead on! Terminal 666, depicted here, is typical of the terrible church architecture that ignorant and callous bishops have inflicted upon the long-suffering faithful for decades. But in my opinion, it is even worse than that. This is not just an indictment of churches, it is also an indictment of the shocking state of municipal airport design.

One can imagine the general line of influence that produced this. The starting point is the whim of an architect who designs airports and other municipal and commercial buildings. This whim is removed from divine inspiration, having been cut loose from tradition during his formation at architecture school. Modern schools of architecture consciously reject all design principle that is rooted in a Christian understanding of the beauty of the cosmos and the beauty of God. This atheistic and materialistic secular culture then influences church architecture.

This is all the wrong way around. The way it should work is that the liturgy is the source of its own culture, inspired by an encounter with the person of Christ. The influence of this wellspring of worship works its way into all the liturgical forms: words, music, art, architecture and from there into secular culture. At each stage, it accommodates more and more the influences of the contemporary culture, but only in such a way that it magnifies and illumines what is Christ-like in what is beheld. In this template, all buildings, including municipal buildings, commercial buildings, homes and yes, even airport terminals and aircraft hangers, speak of Christ in a way that is appropriate to their purpose. This way, a beautiful and well-designed airport both maximizes its utility as an airport and its utility as a place where often disgruntled people sit and wait for hours in need of nourishment of the soul.

I can’t think of an airport to illustrate my point, but I can point to railway stations designed in the golden age of rail, in the 19th century. The train of influence, if you’ll forgive the pun, starts with AW Pugin, a British architect and Catholic convert who designed churches in what he called the “pointed” style of architecture in the early part of the century. He was referring to the Gothic cathedrals and churches of England and France. Many, including non-Catholics in England, were attracted to the beauty of his work, and it influenced not only church architecture of its day across the whole world, but also all other types of building.

So here we have the neo-gothic St Pancras station and hotel in London, inside and out, designed by George Gilbert Scott, who also designed many beautiful workhouses in Victorian England that are preserved buildings today. This is the properly ordained terminus of the 8th Day, if not a terminal!

And here is Mumbai Railway Station, completed in 1887 and now listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO:

I once showed this picture in a talk and someone in the audience suggested that this represented cultural imperialism. My response was that perhaps it does, but that doesn’t mean necessarily that its a bad thing. Certainly, India was part of the British Empire when it was built, and Indians probably didn’t have much say in the design at the time. However, India has been independent since 1947, and the Indians have certainly had the time and the means to replace it if they wanted to. They haven’t done so because it is a beautiful building that fulfills its purpose. Here is an interesting excerpt from the Wikipedia write-up on the station.

The terminus was designed by British architectural engineer Frederick William Stevens in the style of Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival architecture. Its construction began in 1878, in a location south of the old Bori Bunder railway station, and was completed in 1887, the year marking 50 years of Queen Victoria’s rule, the building being named, Victoria Terminus. The station’s name was changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (station code CST) in March 1996 to honor Shivaji, the 17th-century founder of the Maratha Empire, whose name is often preceded by Chhatrapati, a royal title. In 2017, the station was again renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (code CSTM), where Maharaj is also a royal title. However, both the former initials “VT” and the current, “CST” and “CSMT”, are commonly used. 

So, far from pulling it down as a relic of hated and now displaced rulers, it seems they admire the grandeur and universal beauty of it, and, if the names changes are an indicator, have adopted it as their own. If anyone is at fault here, under the modern dictates of political correctness, it is the Indians, who are guilty of cultural appropriation!

When India becomes Christian at some point in the future, I would wager that this building will have played an important, if an unsung part in the nation’s conversion. It doesn’t draw people to Christ by imposing values on them, but rather, by revealing to them that He is what they wanted all the time. This is a building, therefore, that increases human freedom through its beauty, it is not a symbol of the oppression at all. 

Contrary to what is commonly supposed, modern municipal airports through their banal ugliness, are not derived from freedom, but speak of the bondage of self-centredness and are symbols of oppression. 

I look forward to the day when both airports and, heaven help us, churches once again become symbols of cosmic beauty and human freedom!

If you want to know more about the mathematics of beauty, then my book The Way of Beauty has a section devoted to the subject; and for the most detailed exploration, there is a course, entitled The Mathematics of Beauty, a two-credit course offered as part of the Master of Sacred Arts offered by Pontifex.University

Photopost Catch-up: August 2019

We are always glad to receive photos of your liturgies, even when we haven’t specifically asked for them for a major feast. Here are three sets from various events: Masses of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, a green Sunday celebrated in a Pugin church, and St John-Marie Vianney. We also have a few amices from our friends Fr Jeffery Keyes and the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa.

São João Del Rei – Minas Gerais, Brazil

Solemn Mass of Our Lady of Carmel, celebrated by His Excellency José Eudes, bishop of São João Del Rei.

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Completing the Gothic Aesthetic of a Parish Church

Sometimes at NLM we feature the work of new artists and architects doing projects from scratch. At other times we have featured marvelous examples of renovations that have undone some or all of the evils of a former wreckovation (usually from the sixties or seventies). Today I am pleased to share some conceptual renderings by a young architectural designer, Kevin O'Connor, who is working to complete the "Gothicization" of a church built only a few years ago -- Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the FSSP parish in the Denver archidiocese. The project is quite extensive in scope and shows a fine sense of consistency of style and attention to detail, both on the inside of the building and in its external appearance. It is a great example of taking a good thing and making it even better. The text below was supplied to me by Mr. O'Connor. The parish hall is also undergoing renovation, as the painting below indicates.

 *          *          *

When the new church for Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built it was done so as an "interpretation" of the Gothic style, but with some elements left missing in order to make the project manageable and to fill an urgent need for a better church building. The purpose of the work being done at present is to address the unfinished aspects and to bring the church from an interpretation of the Gothic to an authentic execution of the style. Specifically, the church will be refinished in the English Gothic Revival as developed by the nineteenth-century architect A.W.N. Pugin. Not only have Pugin's buildings served as inspiration, but the design philosophy is also strongly formed by his writings on the principles of Gothic architecture.

A faithful execution of any Gothic building requires a great awareness of the integrity of the structure itself. That is, a modern building constructed from structural steel, stick framing, and drywall cannot convey the sense of solidarity, mass, and permanence that a true Gothic building does. When working with a modern structure, we can do our best to minimize those lacunae. Arcades will be added in the Sanctuary, and compound piers added to "hanging arches" in the Nave to augment the building's integrity. A decorated oak-beamed ceiling will be added to the sanctuary, and the walls will be decorated in polychromed and gilt stencil work. Dozens of custom wood, plaster and cast mortar mouldings, corbels, statues, bosses, capitals and splays for arches will be made to properly adorn the church, as any Gothic building requires a profusion of carved work.

Not only is the design work done by my company, but many of the elements are custom made "in-house," giving the assurance that the end product will match the design concept both technically and in the desired feel. The carved stone work, mouldings, wall patterns, painted and gilt work, the wooden ceiling, and many other features, are all completed in my own workshop. I should like to note that a majority of the new architectural features, such as columns, archways, and the ceiling, are constructed off-site in modular units that can be installed relatively quickly with minimal interruption to the parish's schedule.

The project will take many years and is to be done is stages. The Sanctuary will be the first stage of the refinishing project to be completed.

Picture #1: Scale drawing and watercolour of the  new decorated timber beamed ceiling for the Sanctuary

Picture #2: Photo of renderings of the three ceiling bosses, crown moulding tracery, and string course for the Sanctuary with the first sculpted boss.

Picture #3: Conceptual rendering of the remodeled Sanctuary

Picture #4: Conceptual rendering of the new Western Front of the church, and proposed tower and spire to be completed after the church is lengthened.

Picture #5: Conceptual rendering of the parish hall based upon the collegiate halls of Oxford University.

Below are some further sketches from the brainstorming process.

Pugin on Display: St. Mary's College, Oscott

Recently a vocations conference was held in Britain at AWN Pugin's St. Mary's College, Oscott, where Mass was celebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini.

I wished to show photos from this event, both the show Pugin's building, as well to show the vestments worn by the archbishop and his two deacons, which were also designed by AWN Pugin.

© Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk
Source: Catholic Church of England and Wales

"Perfect Cheadle"

St Giles' in Cheadle, Staffordshire is an exceptional Catholic church. Built between 1841-46 and financed by John Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, A. W. N. Pugin endeavoured to create "a perfect revival of an English parish church of the time of Edward I". Often, Pugin's ambitions had to be scaled down because of the lack of funds, but here at Cheadle, Pugin's patron had seemingly ample resources to match Pugin's imagination and skill. Consequently, the church possesses a soaring 200ft spire, so that the church dominates the town as no other Catholic church in England does, and inside, the polychrome splendour (inspired by the Sainte Chapelle in Paris) is awe-inspiring. 

One typically enters the darkened church and the details and colour are lost in the gloom, but as the lights very gradually and slowly come on, they reveal the splendour of the church and for several moments one is stunned into silence, and then one slowly begins to explore the richness of the building. I watched this happen when I visited St Giles' recently and it seemed to me a parable of sorts, pointing to our longed-for visio Dei. For Purgatory is surely an adjustment to the glory of God, as our eyes, darkened by sin become attuned to the light, colour and splendour of the beatific vision and we "behold Him as He really is", and then we explore the beauty of holiness, of God who is blest "in his angels and in his saints".

A Catholic church on such a grand scale and decidedly based on medieval antecedents naturally drew architects and churchmen from near and far who came to marvel at Pugin's determined Gothic revival. Cheadle was the gem in Pugin's crown which materialized every ideal he had outlined in his 'Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England' (1843) and 'True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture' (1841), and Lord Shrewsbury intended Cheadle to be "a text book for all good people [that would] improve the taste of young England". As such, the church was intended as a showpiece for how Christian architecture in Victorian England should proceed.

Pugin's ideal church did not come without opposition but he fought strenuously to realize his dream and so he called Cheadle "perfect Cheadle, my consolation in all afflictions". For Pugin, Cheadle was to be "an old English parish church [of the early 14th century] restored with scrupulous detail". This meant that it was furnished for the liturgy of medieval England, notably the Sarum rite.  For Pugin expected that the newly-emancipated Catholic church in England would adopt its ancient pre-Reformation rite. Consequently, Pugin introduced such revivals (or 'innovations' at the time!) as a Rood screen, an Easter sepulchre, a separate chapel for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament and a medieval arrangement for the sedilia. However, in the 1850s the restored Hierarchy of England & Wales voted to retain the 'Tridentine' missal rather than to revert to the Sarum rite. 

Pugin promised that the Rood Screen at Cheadle (which was not the first he introduced) would be "the richest yet produced". The introduction of the Rood Screen was controversial in Pugin's time and it was one of the items which excited Gothic revivalists. As Rosemary Hill says: "The passions aroused by liturgical furnishings were, sometimes still are, extreme." Further on, she notes that Nicholas Wiseman (later Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster) was initially opposed to Rood Screens although he later came to accept them. Nonetheless, his opinions and arguments are interesting and have a contemporary ring to them!

Wiseman wrote to Lord Shrewsbury in 1840 saying that "I think it of the utmost importance to throw our ceremonies open to all... In Catholic countries where the people have faith in the divine mysteries, and where they do not care about seeing... it may do to screen [the chancel] off... but here... the effect is one of concealment & separation to which neither catholics nor protestants have been accustomed."

These observations are not remote from our time, for whether we speak of Rood Screens, or the 'Benedictine' altar arrangement today, then, as Hill comments, these "were soon to become the symbol of division, not between priest and people, but between English Catholics and Ultramontanists, those who looked to Rome rather than to history and local tradition for their authority. The issue also divided high and low Anglicans and, more generally, as it still does, those for whom mystery and symbolism are essential elements of faith and those who see inclusiveness and clarity as the way forward for the Church."

Once an essential part of the medieval rites of English Catholicism, the Easter sepulchre was normally found in the north wall of the chancel and was used to 'bury' the Host (and Crucifix) on Good Friday after which the people kept watch before it, and then the Sacrament was raised into the hanging Pyx on Easter Sunday.

As Eamon Duffy says: "The Easter sepulchre and its accompanying ceremonial constitute something of an interpretative crux for any proper understanding of late medieval English religion. The sepulchre was emphatically a central part of the official liturgy of Holy Week, designed to inculcate and give dramatic expression to orthodox teaching, not merely on the saving power of Christ's cross and Passion but on the doctrine of the Eucharist."

Consequently, Pugin provides just such a sepulchre in Cheadle. In this photo, one can also see the brilliant encaustic tiles by Minton on the sanctuary floor. In the 1830s, Minton had experimented and mastered the medieval technique of creating encaustic tiles whereby different coloured clays bonded in the kiln itself so that the design was burned into and thus integral to the tile itself. With Pugin's encouragement, Minton's tiles became ubiquitous in Victorian buildings. As Hill says, "practical, hygienic and authentically Gothic, encaustic flooring [was and remains] the essence of Victorian decoration."

At the time Cheadle was built, the priest customarily sat in the centre of the sedilia and was flanked by deacon and sub-deacon.

However in Cheadle, Pugin once again showed his zeal for the medieval Church and reverted to a medieval arrangement and placed the seats on ascending steps, with the priest on the highest step, followed by deacon and then sub-deacon, and he inscribed the seats with the names of the offices, and symbols of the offices above the seats, so as to avoid any confusion in the future! So, we see the chalice and paten above the priest's seat, then an Evangeliarum for the deacon, and finally cruets for the sub-deacon. The angels in the canopies above the sedilia also bear the same symbols of office.

The ascending steps before the High Altar are also inscribed with the verses of psalm 43: "Introibo ad altare Dei..." and similar inscriptions from the psalms are found throughout the church.

Pugin's research into medieval churches convinced him that Cheadle should have a separate chapel for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. As such, rather than to reserve the Sacrament on the High Altar as was the norm (indeed law) at the time of Cheadle's construction, he built a chapel in the east end of the south aisle.

Alive with colour and detail comprising various Eucharistic emblems, it is a "perfect exposition of Catholic Eucharistic theology, and belief in the Real Presence". When John Henry Newman saw it in 1846 he called it the 'Porta Coeli' and indeed he considered St Giles' "the most splendid building I ever saw."

Sadly, Newman was temperamentally quite incompatible with Pugin and he disliked what he considered emotionalism (as opposed to an intellectual reserve) among Gothic revivalists. Eventually Newman would come to consider Pugin as "troublesome" and he seemed to take steps to officially obstruct him although Cardinal Wiseman protected Pugin from such restrictions. Pugin was also among the first to design ample flowing vestments such as the set seen here at Westminster Cathedral and designed for Cardinal Wiseman, but a decade after Pugin's death, the Congregation of Rites appeared to question whether they conformed to the then current liturgical norms.  

Pugin was clearly a visionary and unique architect and designer and Cheadle is his unique masterpiece; there is nothing quite like it and indeed, there arguably never was a medieval parish church quite as sumptuous as this. Hill argues that it "is a full-blown work of high romantic art". Whatever one thought of Pugin, he was not someone to be ignored and his influence, and indeed the controversies of his time, are still felt today.

A visit to Cheadle allows one to experience something of Pugin's vision and his approach to sacred art and architecture, which is profoundly Catholic. As the journalist who attended the opening of Cheadle's church on St Giles' day, 1 September 1846 (at which ten bishops and two archbishops were present in full pontificals) said, Cheadle was a demonstration of "the indissoluble connection between Art and Faith; the external beauty and the inward principle from which it springs... the universality of the Catholic Church in both space and time."

References

Aldrich, Gothic Revival (London: Phaidon Press, 1994)

Atterbury & Wainwright, Pugin (London: V&A, 1994)
Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2005 - 2nd ed.)
Fisher, Perfect Cheadle (Stafford: M. J. Fisher, 2004)
Hill, God's Architect (London: Penguin, 2007)

Photographs of Pugin's work and Cheadle are in my Flickr set. More photos from Cheadle will be added in the next few days.