Our first consideration comes in the form of the most recent offering, a red chasuble thoroughly rooted in the Roman tradition.
The chasuble is set on a blood red silk moiré with a single gold tone embroidery. For any who are familiar with the study of Roman vestments, this combination will be readily familiar. The design is a variation on one of the very first embroidered offerings and demonstrates just how much colours and their combinations can change the look and feel of a vestment. A closer look:
The second offering comes in black velvet and falls (in a very discreet way) into the Roman tradition of memento mori. Now, as many of our readers will no doubt know, memento mori were frequently included in in vestment work of the later 19th and 18th century, also appearing in the 19th, until its use was abolished by the S.R.C. However, as I have myself argued here, I think there is a contemporary case for its revival in our own time and frequently these revivals happen in just such a way as this -- unassumingly. Whatever your own particular position on memento mori on vestments (and let's recall they are found within our churches everywhere else, including our altars), I believe you will find this particular offering, set on velvet in two tones of gold, quite interesting.
Out final consideration today comes in the form of Sacra Domus Aurea's first fully embroidered solemn Mass set -- inclusive of all the usual parts and pieces: chasuble, dalmatic, tunicle, cope and humeral veil. Some of our readers may recognize this set from the recent FSSP ordinations that took place in Lincoln, Nebraska as it was commissioned and worn by one of the ordinands. Like the red example, it too is set on silk moiré and utilizes a single colour of gold embroidery.
