Monday, September 19, 2011

What a Prince of the Church Wears

A very rare image from the closet of Cardinal Mercier of Belgium.

5 comments:

  1. Among the rarest of all pieces of a cardinal's vesture was the cappa magna on the right hand side of the photo, the second one down. It appears blue, but actually was violet, with a rose pink lined hood.

    The rarest of all (and not in this photo), is the rose/pink cappa magna cardinals wore during Lent and Advent. During Lent on Laetare Sunday.
    There is 1 photograph of Pius XII as a Cardinal taken in this pink cappa magna, during his trip to the USA and staying at the huge mansion of a prominent USA Catholic in NY.
    All of this great treasure is gone from use today, except for the scarlet cappa magnas, and perhaps the saturnos (red Cardinals platter hats).

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  2. Wow-look at all that!
    Where was this taken, if I may ask?

    Barb

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  3. Although I am enthralled by the dignity of this cardinalitial vestments, which are also documents of rich catholic heritage, I fear that this treasures are now not in an adequate custody but dispersed through innumeral antiquarian
    shops, theatres or worse than that given the dramatic dogmatic and liturgical collapse of the belgian church through the liberal craze rotting somewhere as detritus.

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  4. Sad to think that some Cardinals are seen only in their brown habit with a red zuchetto, or even worse, seen wearing black slacks, wash n' wear short sleeves clergy shirt, and a cross dangling around the neck and either a grey (horrors--that makes them look like Protestants), or blck suit coat.

    All the beautiful cardinal vesture is gone.

    Thanks alot Pope Paul!! : (

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  5. Well, I must say that is all a bit much. However, Paul VI, I feel went overboard in supressing much of it. A balance is needed.
    one scarlet cappa should suffice. The rose and violet vestments can stay supressed but bring back the gallero, the mantelleta, the Roman hat with scarlet and gold cord.

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