In various articles over the years we have commented on the decline of vestment design in the late nineteenth and twentieth century as standardized, very 'conservative' (as in, relatively plain so as to reach the tastes of the broadest possible audience) 'catalogue offerings' came to replace the customized, bespoke offerings the characterized all previous centuries. But as with so many things, it wasn't all bad of course, and some impressive offerings can still be found in this period, such as this chasuble I'd like to share with our readers today.
The set in question was made sometime between the years 1878-1903 during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII whose coat of arms graces the chasuble, produced in the Marche region of Italy (which is found on its central-eastern coast). One might almost notice Leo XIII's stemma for reason that the primary focus of the chasuble is the resplendent image of Christ the King found within its central orphrey column.
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| Stemma of Pope Leo XIII |
One will note that above the stemma are the Latin words "euntes docete" taken from the broader phrase "euntes docete omnes gentes" (Go out and teach all nations) -- a reference to the Great Commission given by Christ to make disciples of all the nations; a theme which ties in nicely with the image of Christ the King.
The use of figurative imagery of this sort reflects the prerogatives of this particular period of time which began to give greater emphasis to the use of figurative and symbolic imagery in vestment design., paired with the tradition of previous centuries where vegetal and floral motifs predominated. This particular vestment presents a very nice synthesis of these two approaches.
For those especially interested in vestment design, here are the stole and maniple taken from the set:
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