Following are a handful of photos that help illustrate the beauty of vintage rugs in church. Indeed, such rugs add a sublime dignity to worship. The custom can also be seen in St. Peter's Basilica, with a red carpet with damask print, seen below. Sometimes very fine rugs are made of silk (in the Turkish tradition), while most are made of hand-spun wool, giving a unique texture. When taken care of they can last for generations. Typically the lining is of canvas or cotton, known for durability and softness.
For storage, the rugs are rolled up and kept in large floor level cupboards in the sacristy. For special occasions and festal seasons the rugs are taken out and displayed in the sanctuary. For Lent and Advent they are not seen. The rugs are heavy and necessitate the help of 2-3 men to move and unroll. When flat on the ground, the rugs themselves are a bit slippery, placed as they are on marble floors.
Sometimes there have little ties for them to attach to sanctuary stairs where they can be especially cumbersome and loose fitting. Many such rugs were custom made for their churches, such as this exquisite example in red seen below at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in Paris.
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| Carpet a St. John Lateran |
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| Carpet at St. Peter's Basilica |
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| Carpet of St. Peter's Basilica |
The reason green was the color of carpet used in the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Basilica for liturgies with the Papal Chapel was because this was prescribed in the Caeremoniale Episcoporum. It recommended that the carpet on the predella or footpace of the altar should be green (Caer. Ep., L. I, c. XII, n. 16). There is very little be said of why green. Possibly because it represented the earth in the Garden of Eden? Or perhaps because green was an expensive color in those years and so deemed more worthy for the sacred liturgy.
In The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite by Fortescue (7th edition), the question of carpets is mentioned (for example, pp. 313, 318, 337), Carpets are to be removed, the author reminds the reader, after the Holy Thursday stripping of the altars and they are to be put out again on Holy Saturday for the Vigil celebration. In no country in Europe can such a wealth of ecclesiastical carpets be seen as in Italy. In spite of the havoc brought by the "liturgical renewal" of the utopian modernization brought on by Vatican II, many of them have been preserved.
Perhaps in our lifetime we will see a revival and these precious treasures will once again be made and seen in our churches?
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| Lisieux |
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| Vatican Basilica |
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| Santissima Trinita' dei Pellegrini |
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| Vatican Basilica |
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| Example of woven texture of rug |
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| Example of what the lining looks like. |
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| Example from Paris of the regal majesty that a rug lends to the sanctuary |
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| Notre-Dame-de-Lorette |
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| Example from Paris |
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| Gorgeous craftsmanship |
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| The floor is thus transformed in splendor |
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| The holy of holies is thus adorned |
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| Example of custom details and size |
