There has been such a positive response to our recent rose vestments posting both here and on the LAJ Facebook page that it is admittedly rather tempting to publish further photos of the same. However, we shall exercise a little restraint and look to Lent and Laetare for that next opportunity instead. Still, it seems like there is another opportunity here in a similar vein; namely, to share a few historical examples of violet vestments before Advent passes us by in the next few days.
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| This particular example is a favourite. It would seem to clearly fall within the 18th century -- or at very least the basic textile would seem to be of that vintage. You can see the arms on the base of the chasuble as well, which if identified, would certainly aid in dating this particular piece. It is really a very fine example. Particularly appealing is the very subtle shade of violet with the white, green, red and yellow tones provided by the pattern. These colours compliment those within the stemma nicely and make for a very interesting and harmonious whole. The use of gold trims was the proper choice here for the same reason. |
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| Quite likely of 18th century vintage or possibly 19th century. Here again we see this very light, pastel form of violet which works very well with the heavy golden embroidery. It is a shame we are unable to see the entire chasuble, but it was worth showing nonetheless. |
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| 18th century with the type of stemma that is suggestive that this vestment was utilized in some royal or noble household chapel. |
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| Another 18th century example. One of the things that is particularly appealing about 18th century vestment work are the textiles they employed and the great variety of colours that could be found in them. Very often in our own day and age, we seem to very seldom stray from one or two variants of the liturgical colours. This has an tendency to flatten out our modern day vestment work significantly. Silver trims and the like are often a very good choice for violet vestments as a means of emphasizing the penitential aspect. That said, gold could have worked equally well here. |
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| This was apparently one of the chasubles of Fr. Pius Parsch who you may recognize as one of the figures of the Liturgical Movement. What is particularly appealing about this set is the highly geometric, repeating patterns in both the orphreys and the textile itself. That makes it less common in appearance and rather appealing. |
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| A solemn Mass set. I do not know much about this set but I would place these as mid 20th century. The use of a very deep purple works very nicely with the golden orphreys, as does the all too rare use of tassels on the dalmatic and tunicle. Modern vestment work often excludes details such as these, but they make all the difference in the world |
