Sometimes when people see certain basilicas in Rome, basilicas such as San Clemente, Santa Maria in Cosmedin, or the ancient catacomb basilica of Ss. Nereus and Achilleus (see above), they are rather mystified by the liturgical orderings they see before them. To many a Cath…
Understanding the Liturgical Ordering of San Clemente and Santa Maria in Cosmedin
Sometimes when people see certain basilicas in Rome, basilicas such as San Clemente, Santa Maria in Cosmedin, or the ancient catacomb basilica of Ss. Nereus and Achilleus (see above), they are rather mystified by the liturgical orderings they see before them. To many a Cath…
The Mantum of Clement XIII and Cope of John Paul II
A lesser seen photo of Pope John Paul II shows him celebrating Solemn Vespers at the papal basilica of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome in 1985 on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and in the presence of Rome's popular devotional image, the Madonna Salus P…
The Banners of the Vatican Basilica by Panini
My personal favorite oil on canvas painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is called the "Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome" by Giovanni Paolo Panini. This lovely images dates from 1754 . The artist was born in 1691 in Piacenza and died in 17…
Sacra Domus Aurea's Bespoke Silk Inspired by the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe
One of the more ambitious and creative projects that I have seen in recent years is a project pursued by the vestment atelier Sacra Domus Aurea who are based in Italy. We have featured this atelier before of course, but what is of particular interest in this instance is on…
The Church of the Holy Apostles in Athens: Exploring More Architectural Commonalities Between East and West
In another article published in September 2023, we looked at the church of Hosios Loukas in Distomo, Greece and discussed some of the strong similarities that can be found in Byzantine (i.e. Eastern Roman) churches of the first millennium with their comparable Western Roman…
Before and After: Holy Innocents in Long Beach, California
Harrison Design recently completed a major renovation of a Spanish Mission Revival church in Long Beach, California. In an all too familiar story, the church had been drastically remodelled in the 1970's and 1980's and, regrettably, there is no known documentation o…
Hand-Illuminated Altar Cards for the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius
Recently, Pelican Printery House executed a commission for the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago for a set of hand-illuminated altar cards for use in the celebration of the usus antiquior , or Tridentine Latin Mass. Now, we have featured similar work from this e…
Altar Frontals from Penson Ecclesiastlcal Arts
Frequently LAJ is approached about the question of procuring altar frontals (i.e. antependia) for their altar and so today I wanted to introduce our readers to Penson Ecclesiastical Arts , a firm which is based out of the United Kingdom (a place which retains a particularly …
The Twentieth Century Experiment: Placing a Gothic Y-Orphrey on a Roman Chasuble
Think of the "classic" y-orphrey and one's mind naturally tends toward gothic vestments -- specifically gothic revival vestments (for while the y-orphrey could be found in the actual gothic period, it was by no means universal or absolute; many other orphrey p…
Romanesque Revival in the Holy Land: Church of St. Joseph in Nazareth
One of my favorite places to visit in the Holy Land is St. Joseph's church located a minute's walk from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Situated up a hill in the Old City of Nazareth, this beautiful little church is under the care of the Franciscans. …
Liturgical Sandals from French Canada
Pontifical sandals are special liturgical footwear traditionally worn by prelates. As we detailed in our July 2018 article, Pontifical Sandals; A Brief History and Consideration , their liturgical use is quite ancient. As an example, in this fifth century mosaic found in the…
The Fifteenth Century Chasuble of Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza
Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza lived from 1428-1495, having been appointed the Cardinal Archbishop of Seville in the year 1473. The cardinal was a statesman, lawyer and the chancellor of Castille -- and, of interest perhaps to our American readers, a great advocate of t…
On Balustrades (Cancelli), Rood Screens and Iconostases
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If one looks at the historical churches of the East and West, a distinctive feature that at one time could be commonly found in many of them (especially the larger churches) was the separation of the altar and presbytery (i.e. sanctuary) from the rest of the church. This wa…
Splendours of Renaissance Spain
Continuing on with our exploration of Renaissance era vestment work, today I wanted to turn your attention to two vestment sets coming from Spain and the Spanish tradition. First, let's discuss what is common between the two sets. In the first instance, both sets util…
Vestments from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Madrid
The following are some photos of vestments coming from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Madrid, Santa Maria la Real de la Aldmudena . The first set he photographed is a Solemn Mass set inclusive of antependium, with the typical Spanish styled chasuble and dalmatic/tunicle (and …
The Basilica dei Santi Apostoli in Rome
One could be forgiven if they happened to walk past the Basilica dei Santi Apostoli in Rome and failed to notice it was even a church. This is in large part due to its rather distinctive, two storey portico -- not to mention the fact that there is not much of a street view …
Before and After: Immaculate Conception in Rapid City, South Dakota
On August 20th the newly restored altar and sanctuary of Immaculate Conception in Rapid City were unveiled. We have written on this beautiful church before in a previous article . This precious diamond is the historic former cathedral of Rapid City. It is heartening to see t…
Antependium of the Poor Clares Convent of Santa Clara in Cordoba, Spain
Today we feature an antependium coming from the sixteenth century. Many antependia, or altar frontals, of the modern period (I am speaking here broadly, i.e. in terms of the past few centuries) are not characterized by figurative imagery. Generally they are designed either …
Christmas Octave Masses at St. Kateri's Mission
In a previous article we looked at the Mohawk-language Advent Masses from the Mission of Kahnawake , a center of American Indian Catholicism that is now known as the Canadian National Shrine of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. We now examine the mission's Mohawk-language Masses fo…
Other Modern: The Art Nouveau Church of St. Leopold in Steinhof, Vienna
In terms of "Other Modern" (which, to explain it to readers unfamiliar with the concept, is a modern style which is significantly influenced by and not detached from the classical forms of artistic expression), I have personally always felt that Art Nouveau was on…
Paleochristian Revival in Sardinia, Italy: Monasterio di Luras
Recently a monastery located on the Italian island of Sardinia came to my attention and it struck me for reason of its architectural approach, firmly rooted as it is in both the paleochrisitan and Italo-Byzantine traditions. Rather than provide our own breakdown, LAJ was pr…
A Selection of Vestments in the Lyonese Style
Of French vestments, the Parisian style is the one that tends to get the widest circulation for one reason or another -- and for those who aren't familiar with the sort of distinction to which I am referring, I'd invite you to see our article, Paris and Lyon: Orphre…
The Church of San Fermo Maggiore in Verona
In follow up to our previous article on the "tornacoro" of the Duomo of Verona, within that article we mentioned the rarity of this type of balustrade/screen which comes in semi-circular form and includes elements of both the paleochristian balustrade and medieval…
