Book Review: Vestments and Vesture
Vestments and Vesture: A Manual of Liturgical Arts by Dom E. Roulin, OSB
I was touched to receive as a Christmas gift this year the book above, entitled ‘Vestments and Vesture’, written by Dom E. Roulin and originally published in 1930. The copy shown, and the one I received, was a quality reprint from Romanitas Press (we are not affiliated in any way with Romanitas, but have throughly enjoyed some of their offerings).
Written in France at perhaps the peak of ornateness and pomp in baroque vestments of theRoman Church, the volume reads often as reactionary and is often full of the ruthless judgement and wording one comes to expect in a text of this kind. The author longs for “the glories of the Middle Ages, and, better still, past them to that first Christian period when the faithful lived a life of charity in an atmosphere of simplicity and dignity’ (p. 10).
The general philosophy presented is that the primary focus when creating vestments (be it albs, chasubles, copes, or any other piece of vesture) should be the shape and the flow of the fabric. Throughout the many chapters on chasubles, copes, dalmatics, etc, the author deplores stiff apparels and linings or shortened & truncated cuts in favor of larger vestments that drape into beautiful folds. On this we most definitely agree. A great deal of prudent advice on decorations, orphreys, symbols, and colors is offered in the later parts of the book.
One place we must disagree with the author is on the use of lace. Certainly, he is right to deplore those albs that are entirely lace from above the waist down, but we maintain that well-executed lace has a place in liturgy. Roulin correctly identifies that lace begun entering ecclesial costume during the renaissance- after all, he says with sarcasm, “great lords and great ladies doted on lace; and why should the clergy be out of fashion?” (p. 15).
The serious answer to this rather snarky question can be found earlier in the very same chapter. Describing the early history of Christian vesture, Roulin writes “When the old Roman dress was no longer used in ordinary life, Christian bishops and priests continued to wear it. And they did so because this dress was dignified and beautiful, and was therefore specially suitable for Christian Worship” (4). Slightly reworded, this is also our argument for lace used tastefully and well: the material has fallen long out of favor for secular fashion, but is dignified and and beautiful and thus continues to have a place in the liturgical arts.
Read critically, Vestments and Vesture is an excellent text for Clergy, MCs and liturgists, or anyone interested in liturgical arts. As of writing, it is available for $32.50 at Romanitas Press.
