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Saturday 29 September 2007

Vestments wars

I would like to know the root of the aversion, on one side, to Gothic chasubles, and on the other, to the Roman style.
I have asked several places (no never, IRL,) and have tried to research others asking in various fora, but have never found an answer.
I am not talking about preferences, but the outright contempt expressed for others preferences. I know it is rooted in the "Liturgy Wars", but I truly don't understand the basis for it.
Obviously the style, the cut signifies something beyond itself for many people, but I wish I could figure out what in blazes it is.
Is there/was there, legislation about the two styles? Were the adherents of one martyred, the looms of the other destroyed by the jaquerie?
What gives?
Fine material, fine workwomanship, and fine design (and surely their opposites?) seem equally present in examples of both styles. Anyone with any information or wild guess please post.
...................
Color of course is a different matter, and there seems to be a great deal of ignorance on the subject, I have heard misinformation from the pulpit, read it in bulletins and in our diocesan newspaper (does NO ONE in the Church understand the difference between primary and secondary sources?!?!?$?%?^???)
And misinformation is viral.

The purpose of a variety in the color of the sacred vestments is to give effective expression even outwardly to the specific character of the mysteries of faith being celebrated and to a sense of Christian life's passage through the course of the liturgical year.
346.
As to the color of sacred vestments, the traditional usage is to be retained: namely,
a. White is used in the Offices and Masses during the Easter and Christmas seasons; also on celebrations of the Lord other than of his Passion, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Holy Angels, and of Saints who were not Martyrs; on the Solemnities of All Saints (1 November) and of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (24 June); and on the Feasts of Saint John the Evangelist (27 December), of the Chair of Saint Peter (22February), and of the Conversion of Saint Paul (25 January).
b. Red is used on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and on Good Friday, on Pentecost Sunday, on celebrations of the Lord’s Passion, on the feasts of the Apostles and Evangelists, and on celebrations of Martyr Saints.
c. Green is used in the Offices and Masses of Ordinary Time.
d. Violet or purple is used in Advent and of Lent. It may also be worn in Offices andMasses for the Dead (cf. below).e. Besides violet, white or black vestments may be worn at funeral services and at other Offices and Masses for the Dead in the Dioceses of the United States of America.
f. Rose may be used, where it is the practice, on Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent) and on Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent).
g. On more solemn days, sacred vestments may be used that are festive, that is, more precious, even if not of the color of the day.
h. Gold or silver colored vestments may be worn on more solemn occasions in the dioceses of the United States of America.
347.
Ritual Masses are celebrated in their proper color, in white, or in a festive color; Masses for Various Needs, on the other hand, are celebrated in the color proper to the day or the season or in violet if they are of a penitential character, for example, no. 31 (in Time of War or Conflict),no. 33 (in Time of Famine), or no. 38 (for the Forgiveness of Sins); Votive Masses are celebrated in the color suited to the Mass itself or even in the color proper to the day or the season.

Notice that white for funerals is not universal law but an American adaptation, the Latin original:
Color violaceus adhibetur tempore Adventus et Quadragesimae. Assumi
potest etiam in Officiis et Missis defunctorum.
Color niger adhiberi potest, ubi mos est, in Missis defunctorum.

Oh, and....

337. The vestment proper to the priest celebrant at Mass and other sacred actions directly connected with Mass is, unless otherwise indicated, the chasuble, worn over the alb and stole.

Yes, even newly presented Precious Moments Stoles....

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