The Saint Bede Studio Blog

Paschaltide 2026 : 5

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:13:00 +1000

During this Paschal Season, we are pleased to continue our series of festal vestments.

For this post, we are pleased to present a very simple set of vestments, made in the traditional Roman style. The vestments are made from a beautiful ivory brocade and fully-lined in a shade of gold silk. The chasuble in this post is ornamented in the well-known Roman style, a TAU at the front and a column at the back, formed simply by an out-lining golden galloon.

The chasuble is in the Studio's Saint Philip Neri style, which is the product of years of research into historical vestments and refinement of dimensions for comfortable use. The Studio revived this more ample 16th century style of the Roman chasuble in 2007 and since then we have made many of them. Beware of poorly-made imitations!

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Paschaltide 2026 : 4

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 11:44:00 +1000

We are pleased to continue our Paschaltide posts with this set of festal vestments made for a customer in New Zealand. The vestments are made from a familiar tapestry fabric and fully-lined in crimson-red cloth. This chasuble is ornamented in the well-known Roman style, a variation of the TAU at the front and a column at the back, formed by a stripes of crimson-red brocade and an outlining burgundy and gold galloon.

The vestments are sumptuous, but yet gold metallic yarns are nowhere to be found in it.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Paschaltide 2026 : 3

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:34:00 +1000

In this Easter Season, the Saint Bede Studio is pleased to present a set of festal vestments made in the Gothic Revival style. The vestments were made from a brocade of bright white and fully-lined in a taffeta muted-gold in colour.

This chasuble is ornamented in the well-known Gothic style, formed by an orphrey braid based on the work of A.W.N. Pugin. The colours of this braid are red and gold, with an outlining galloon in the same thread.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Paschaltide 2026 : 2

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:05:00 +1000

We are pleased to conclude the Octave of Easter with this post featuring a set of festal vestments, made in the Borromeon style. The vestments are made from a distinctive tapestry fabric in a very muted gold, with golden highlights. They are fully-lined in golden taffeta.

This chasuble is ornamented in the well-known Roman style, being the TAU at the front and a column at the back, formed by one of the Studio's unique braids Saint Columba and an outlining gold galloon.

The first image depicts the back of the chasuble; the second image depicts the lower edge of the chasuble front.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

The chasuble is in the Studio's Borromeon style, which is the product of years of research into historical vestments and refinement of dimensions for comfortable use. The Studio revived this more ample 16th century style of the Roman chasuble in 2007 and since then we have made many of them. Beware of poorly-made imitations!

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Paschaltide 2026 : 1

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Wed, 8 Apr 2026 20:27:00 +1000

In this Paschal Octave, the Studio is pleased to present this beautiful set of Festal vestments. These vestments were made from a silk damask with a gold figured design on an ivory background.

Fully-lined in a shade of dark red taffeta, the chasuble is ornamented with a unique braid of the Studio, Saint Columba. A galloon of straw-gold outlines the TAU ornament at the front of the chasuble and the column at the back.

The chasuble is in the Studio's Borromeon style, which is the product of years of research into historical vestments and refinement of dimensions for comfortable use.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Easter Day 2026

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sun, 5 Apr 2026 01:00:00 +1100

To all readers of this blog and to customers and friends of the Saint Bede Studio, may many Graces be yours on the sacred Day of our Lord's Resurrection.

On Easter Day 2026, the Shadow of the Cross looms large across a world still stricken with confusion, hatred and war. But in these fearful moments, we look again to the optimistic Christian message that God has overcome Death - and all the awfulness, frailties, discord and disappointments of this earthly life - and loves each and every poor sinner.

Christ is Risen !

The Mandatum

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 22:00:00 +1100

A 19th century engraving depicting the Pope, surrounded
by the Papal Court washing the feet of thirteen
poor men of Rome.
This rite took place in the Sistine Chapel on the
morning of Maundy Thursday.

The return to a more traditional liturgical praxis of Holy Week in the happy reign of Leo XIV brings a refreshment to those troubled by the developments of his predecessor.

In this post, we wish to give an outline of the history of the Mandatum in order to present reasons why the significance of the Rite is open to different interpretations and philosophies.

The Catholic Encyclopædia (1907-1914) has an article on the history of the Mandatum, written by Herbert Thurston SJ, of which the following is an extract. Father Thurston had written previously about the Mandatum in his monograph Lent and Holy Week (1904):

This tradition, we may believe, has never been interrupted, though the evidence in the early centuries is scattered and fitful. For example the Council of Elvira (A.D. 300) in Canon 48 directs that the feet of those about to be baptised are not to be washed by priests but presumably by clerics or at least lay persons. This practice of washing the feet at baptism was long maintained in Gaul, Milan, and Ireland, but it was not apparently known in Rome or in the East. In Africa the nexus between this ceremony and baptism became so close that there seemed danger of its being mistaken for an integral part of the rite of baptism itself (Augustine, Ep. LV, Ad Jan., n. 33). Hence the washing of the feet was in many places assigned to another day than that on which the baptism took place. In the religious orders the ceremony found favour as a practice of charity and humility. The Rule of St. Benedict directs that it should be performed every Saturday for all the community by him who exercised the office of cook for the week; while it was also enjoined that the abbot and the brethren were to wash the feet of those who were received as guests. The act was a religious one and was to be accompanied by prayers and psalmody, "for in our guests Christ Himself is honoured and received". The liturgical washing of feet (if we can trust the negative evidence of our early records) seems only to have established itself in East and West at a comparatively late date. In 694 the Seventeenth Synod of Toledo commanded all bishops and priests in a position of superiority under pain of excommunication to wash the feet of those subject to them. The matter is also discussed by Amalarius and other liturgists of the ninth century. Whether the custom of holding this Maundy (from Mandatum novum do vobis, the first words of the initial Antiphon) on Maundy Thursday, developed out of the baptismal practice originally attached to that day does not seem quite clear, but it soon became a universal custom in cathedral and collegiate churches. In the latter half of the twelfth century the pope washed the feet of twelve sub-deacons after his Mass and of thirteen poor men after his dinner. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum (1600) directs that the bishop is to wash the feet either of thirteen poor men or of thirteen of his canons. The bishop and his assistants are vested and the Gospel Ante diem festum paschae is ceremonially sung with incense and lights at the beginning of the function. Most of the sovereigns of Europe used also formerly to perform the Maundy. The custom is still retained at the Austrian and Spanish courts.

A number of points may be made here. Although the origin of the Mandatum is a Divine Precept, which the Church has since earliest times considered binding, its expression and its symbolism are by no means clear in liturgical history. On the one hand, it is associated with the Catechumenate, on the other hand with the poor; yet again, a demonstration of the attitude of service which a bishop or religious superior ought to have towards his community.

The question of the Mandatum being linked to Ordination to the ministerial priesthood is somewhat less clear, although it is often spoken about.

What is quite clear, amongst various uncertainties, is that throughout its history, the Mandatum had no relationship with ordinary parish life: it was a rite which pertained to the Diocesan Cathedral or Church of a Religious Community. Only since 1955, with the revisions of the Holy Week Liturgy approved by Pope Pius XII, has the Mandatum been included in the ceremonies of the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday and consequently, celebrated ordinarily in parishes. Perhaps this revision was not as laudable as was thought at the time.

In the last two decades, we have witnessed the spectacle of all sorts of curious and frightful additions to the Mandatum, advocated by tinpot liturgists (we will refrain from describing any of these dismal accretions). And so, the symbolism of this ancient rite has become obscured again. An unfortunate by-product of this trajectory is that the real focus of the Evening Mass of Maundy Thursday - the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist and Ministerial Priesthood - becomes obscured.

Happily, we note that in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite, the Mandatum is OPTIONAL. In the more ancient (pre-1955) rites of Maundy Thursday, as we noted, the Mandatum is reserved to the local Bishop's celebration of Holy Week. Its being observed at a time other than during the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday is something which, we might suggest, could be given serious consideration. Were that to happen, perhaps it would be of lesser consequence if the feet of women or non-Christians were also washed.

AMDG

Passiontide 2026 : 6

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 20:05:00 +1100

This post features a set of red vestments in the Studio's Saint Cuthbert style. This chasuble is both long and wide and is especially designed to fold up beautifully when the arms of the celebrant are elevated.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

The Saint Cuthbert chasuble is notable for a steeply-angled Y-orphrey, which is especially effective when the ornament is formed from a narrow galloon. This ornament replicates certain mediaeval chasubles which have survived and others depicted in manuscript illuminations.

Tasteful contemporary vestments are made by certain studios in Italy, France and Germany, but we also make them here in Australia at the Saint Bede Studio. This set has a simple dignity and is made from high quality fabrics.

Crimson-red dupion silk is lined with a copper-coloured taffeta and is ornamented with one of the Studio's braids called Saxony, being knotwork in three colours.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Passiontide 2026 : 5

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Wed, 1 Apr 2026 13:38:00 +1100

At this time of year in the circles of liturgical commentators, there is frequently a discussion about why RED vestments are used on Palm Sunday, instead of purple; and likewise on Good Friday. There are various theories about the intentions of the revisionists of the Holy Week liturgists in the 1950s and 1960s in making this change, including the one that goes " this was the colour used in an earlier period of the Roman Rite. "

Maybe that is true, but it is a claim that needs to be qualified.

We do know that the use of Roman purple is a very ancient one liturgically, but this colour in ancient times was not the fuchsia seen today in the robes of prelates of the Church; it was a much darker colour. The reason for that is that the robes of Imperial Rome were double-dyed and resulted in a colour almost like clotted blood.

If we keep in mind this very deep colour it is easy to imagine that what was described as Roman Purple was not so very different from dark red or even black. Consequently, it becomes easier to understand why what might be described or specified in very old liturgical texts as red, black or Roman purple might be describing much the same colour.

According to the Missale Romanum of 1970, Palm Sunday and Good Friday are observed with red vestments. Although not stipulated in any of the liturgical books, the shade of red vestments used on Palm Sunday and Good Friday ought not be a fiery red. Such a fiery red is more suitable for Masses of the Holy Spirit.

The set of vestments in this post is in a deep shade of red and accords with the theory outlined above about the ancient use of a dark penitential colour.

It is simple, but dignified. Made from dupion silk and fully lined, the chasuble is ornamented with a dominant TAU formed from a braid unique to the Studio, being a reproduction of a design by AWN Pugin.

The chasuble is in the Studio's Saint Martin style, which is very ample and folds beautifully when the arms of the wearer are elevated.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Passiontide 2026 : 4

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:34:00 +1100

In this Passiontide, the Saint Bede Studio is pleased to present this set of vestments in a deep shade of red.

This dignified set of vestments is in the Roman style, a particular variant we call Saint Martin, being a more ample cut of chasuble.

The vestments were made from ecclesiastical brocade in a darker shade of red. The ornament - in the Roman style - consists of a TAU at the front and a column at the back. This ornament is formed from an ecclesiastical brocade in the colours of burgundy and old gold. The effect is very solemn, which is more suited to the character of Passiontide than bright red vestments.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Enquiries.

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Palm Sunday 2026

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 19:41:00 +1100

As Holy Week begins, we are pleased to present this set of red vestments, in the Borromeon style.

This set is constructed from ecclesiastical brocade in a beautiful shade of crimson red and is lined in a coppery shade of taffeta.

The ornament was formed from one of the Studio's unique braids in colours of old gold and burgundy, with a hint of white, upon red. It features knot-work, rather than our usual mediaeval style. We called the braid Saint Columba. It can be used with any of the liturgical colours, excepting rose.

The orphrey is outlined with another knot-work narrow galloon in the same colours.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Enquiries.

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Passiontide 2026 : 3

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:10:00 +1100

This is a set of vestments in a very different shade of Lenten purple. It is not a blue-violet, but the colour of a grape, a deep shade, but slightly redder.

Made from dupion silk and fully-lined in taffeta, the chasuble is ornamented with a geometric braid in colours of red, blue, straw and white, being a reproduction of a design by AWN Pugin.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

The chasuble is in the Studio's Saint Martin style, which is very ample and folds beautifully when the arms of the wearer are elevated.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Ladye Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:50:00 +1100

On this lovely Feast of the Annunciation, the Studio is pleased to present this set of vestments in honour of the Virgin Mary. This design we have named Regina Coeli.

The vestments were made from a European brocade. They were ornamented with a damask in peacock blue and silver, outlined with a silver-coloured narrow galloon. The vestments were lined with dupion silk in a shade to match the orphrey.

We have made several sets of vestments in this style, which have been very pleasing to our customers.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Enquiries.

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Passiontide 2026 : 2

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 19:56:00 +1100

As Passiontide continues, we are pleased to present this set of vestments, made from Roman purple dupion silk and ornamented simply with the Studio's Saint Columba braid in colours of burgundy, gold and white upon a red ground. This braid is distinctive amongst the Studio's suite of unique braids because its ornament is inspired by ancient knot-work of the British Isles.

These vestments are in the Gothic Revival style, a variant we call Saint Giles, which is not too ample and folds beautifully.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Passiontide 2026 : 1

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:18:00 +1100

As Passiontide begins, we are pleased to make this presentation of a set of vestments in a distinctive decorative scheme. The colour of these vestments is commonly referred to as Roman purple.

These vestments are made from an English ecclesiastical brocade, ornamented with a narrower braid in colours of grey and burgundy.

The lining of these vestments is of taffeta in crimson-red colour. Perhaps it may be noted that these Lenten vestments do not incorporate any trace of gold ornament.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

The Liturgical Question that will not go away

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:24:00 +1100

Figure 1.
The celebration of Mass "ad orientem" according to
the New Missal in a French Monastic Community.

Twenty years ago, a priest of the Toronto Oratory published a book titled The Mass and Modernity : Walking to Heaven Backward. It is an excellent philosophical study and profound in its discussion of the difficulties facing the Church because of the collapse of her Liturgical praxis. EN1 The author, Father Robinson, was inspired by a celebrated phrase in one of the Sermons of Saint JH Newman on the path we take to salvation. Father Robinson observes that Saint Newman was writing about the individual who learns the truth about faith and right conduct through the experience of error :

He [Newman] was reminding us that, in fact, we all make mistakes about the meaning of life and how it should be lived. But things do not stop there because we then go on to act out these mistaken ideas, and this is true even if or when we are not very clear as to what exactly the ideas are. Bad practice is based on confused and false principles, and it is by an often bitter experience that we finally see the truth a bit more clearly and so find ourselves a little nearer to the Promised Land. EN2

Father Robinson suggests that this metaphor of the path to salvation is most applicable to the intense debates about the Church's Liturgy over almost 60 years. It would be fair to conclude that these debates (some have termed them "wars") are but one manifestation of the increasingly polarised state of the Church. In this little essay, we cannot plumb the philosophical depths of the arguments held by each side, nevertheless observing that these philosophical differences are the substance of the disagreement. It would be regrettable to describe this debate as political, even though it manifests itself politically and in externals.

The current phase of these debates presents irreconcilable differences - each side deems the other to be in an indefensible situation and harming the good of the Church. This is debated continuously and often heatedly, on the wide-world of the Web. The subject matter is so familiar to readers, that it is unnecessary to mention the small details, but merely to make some observations.

OPPOSING POSITIONS

There are two opposing positions (with many variations) in this particular battle of the Liturgy Wars.

The first position is a rejection of the notion that the Roman Rite has two forms, Ordinary and Extraordinary, since this is deemed to be contrary to the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. EN3 The notion is to be corrected by the suppression of that form which preceded the Council (the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite), regardless of the confusion or scandal that might be caused in the process.

The opposing position is that the Rites which were promulgated after the conclusion of the Council (the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite) were an illegitimate and fraudulent exercise in ecclesiastical authority, which cast aside Tradition for misguided ideological ends; the remedy, therefore, is that those revised Rites be suppressed, regardless of the practical difficulty of doing so.

There are loud voices making clear these two positions, but not everyone who takes an interest in these matters holds to one or the other of the two positions. Many are disturbed by the intensity in which these two positions are debated.

The Catholic World is not divided into Defenders of Liturgical Tradition and its Opponents. There are many debates in the Church and perhaps they are underpinned by the same divergent philosophies. Defenders of a strict liturgical Tradition are not numerous in the sum of the Church's Faithful and they seem mainly to be voices of the Western World. The Churches of Africa, Asia and South America do not seem to be deeply involved in this particular liturgical debate and are largely content with the revised Rites which emerged after 1969. We might be mindful that the Faithful in these continents comprise a large number of the world's Catholics.

BUILDING UP THE SACRED

In his instruction Desiderio desideravi, the present Bishop of Rome wished to encourage a culture where the Sacred Liturgy is celebrated with sacrality and due decorum and that the Faithful be well-formed in what takes places when they gather to celebrate the Rites of the Church. This is an admirable aspiration, which aligns with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on the Sacred Liturgy and, indeed, the teachings of previous Popes. But, unfortunately, the same vigour with which the Holy See acts to restrict the celebration of the former Missal is not also applied to the much more numerous and widespread abuses - worldwide - in the manner of celebrating the Revised Rites. The failure to act against these abuses - some of them sacrilegious - undermines what the Bishop of Rome claims he has "desired with a great longing".

Also detracting from claims made in Traditionis Custodes and Desiderio desideravi is a vast body of reputable scholarship discussing the development of the Revised Rites and the ideology underpinning those revisions. It is no longer credible simply to assert that the New Order of Mass is the "unique" expression of the Roman Rite, nor to claim that it is completely consonant with the Tradition of the Church's liturgical prayer and ritual gestures. It is well that these objections be understood and not be dismissed out of hand as the ravings of agitators and arch-conservatives.

It must also be remembered, on the other hand, that for the majority of Catholics, such scholarship is not relevant to their faith-lives. The majority of Catholics are content with the state of the Church's Liturgy as they experience it each week. Some, however, are more disposed to a re-sacralisation of the Rites than others. Priests who celebrate both forms of the Roman Rite may not have the luxury to choose one to the exclusion of the other, nor think it desirable.

MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES

Those who are convinced that the Church is going to abandon the Revised Rites in favour of a more strict liturgical Tradition are going to be disappointed. And those who believe that they can stifle the aspirations of Faithful Catholics with authoritarian acts of ritual repression will also be disappointed. When insufficient magnanimity underpins both positions, neither can expect or deserve success.

It is justly pointed out that the perilous speed in which the revision of the Church's principal rites was carried out in the period 1965 - 1969 was harmful to the Church. Pope Benedict, in criticising the Revisions, noted a mentality which produced a "banal product of the moment". EN4 These insightful words have been conveniently ignored.

In the fifty or so years since, there have been too many changes in the Liturgy for the Faithful adequately to accommodate. A liturgical spirituality cannot be formed in a milieu of ongoing adaptations and the frequent introduction of new music and liturgical texts. In the West, the results of this are all-too evident. Why then, would the solution be to introduce another raft of changes, aimed at reversing those revisions? Why would that be any more prudent and less disruptive?

FEWER DOCUMENTS AND MORE REAL DIALOGUE

A stalemate is not quite the end of the matter, however, nor is that a Christian manner of resolving disagreements. We might hope for (but not expect soon), dialogue, rather than pronouncements from on high, whilst noting that this issue did not figure at all in the opaque discussions of the much-vaunted Synod on Synodality. At this moment, Authority is interested in only certain debates.

Everyone who takes the view that a "Reform of the Reform" is needed, has his or her own ideas on what form that should take. Might it not be best, however, that the future of liturgical reform be taken slowly, carefully and with greater charity on all sides? Those agitating for complete suppression of the Revised Rites might take a step backwards to reflect on wider realities within the Church. Similarly, the Holy See should allow the more ancient Rites of the Church to be celebrated without paranoid restrictions and cease the unpastoral ostracisation and misrepresentation of its adherents. The sanctification of the Church through its Sacred Liturgy is not well-served by ideological attempts to deny realities, even with the noble motives and aspirations. We should hope and pray for a ceasefire in these Liturgy Wars.

Over a passage of years - not even the blink of an eye in God's time - it will become obvious, more acceptable, that aspects of the Revised Rites are a product of an era which is gone and no longer enriching to the Church, or providing what is needed to draw souls to Christ. And those who have defended (should we write "imposed"?) those Revisions so emphatically will also be gone. A reform of the Roman Rite is necessary and desirable, but can only be attempted at a moment free from rancour. The process of Reform should not be limited to discussions between liturgical scholars, nor should the experiences of the last sixty years - good and bad - simply be set aside, as if they never took place. Learning from collective mistakes and setting aside imperfect premises, such a reform might be undertaken carefully, rooted in Tradition, but with pastoral sensitivity, one cautious step at a time, and backward.

We advance to the truth by experience of error; we succeed through failures. We know not how to do right except by having done wrong. We call virtue a mean, that is, as considering it to lie between things that are wrong. We know what is right, not positively, but negatively; we do not see the truth at once and make towards it, but we fall upon and try error, and find it is not the truth. We grope about by touch, not by sight, and so by a miserable experience exhaust the possible modes of acting till naught is left, but truth, remaining. Such is the process by which we succeed; we walk to Heaven backward.

Saint J.H. Newman "Parochial and Plain Sermons" Vol. 5, no. 8.

Figure 2. A scene at the Second Vatican Council.

END-NOTES

EN1 Robinson, Jonathon, The Mass and Modernity : Walking to Heaven Backward, Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2005.

EN2 Robinson, op.cit., page 344.

EN3 The terms Ordinary and Extraordinary as applied to the Mass of the Roman Rite originated in 2007 with Pope Benedict's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. In this essay, we will refer to the Ordinary form as The Revised Rites since we are also discussing the revised liturgical books of the Sacraments, Episcopal ceremonies &c.

EN4 The following article is an investigation of the words written by the then Cardinal Ratzinger : https://sharonkabel.com/post/ratzinger-fabricated-liturgy/

AMDG

On the Importance of Altar frontals : part 1

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 19:44:00 +1100

Excepting perhaps for the altar canopy or civory, the most worthy, liturgical, notable and appropriate adornment of any altar is its altar frontal (antependium). More than any other adornment does the use of the antependium highlight the primacy of the altar. And yet, the antependium is the adornment most frequently lacking from our altars.

The Altar of the Confession in Saint Peter's Basilica
Pope Benedict is seen here offering Mass on Pentecost 2008.
This marvellously embroidered frontal in crimson red and gold
frequently clothes this altar for Papal Masses.

The Rev'd JB O’Connell speaks of the symbolism of the antependium:

As the early linen clothing of the altar recalled our Lord’s burial shroud, so the precious fabric of the later frontal is to recall his royalty....The clothed altar with its beauty and changing colours is a symbol of the Mystical Body - the whole Christ, Christ united with all his saints - it translates this doctrine into the language of colour and form. In addition to its symbolical value, the frontal - with its sequence of colours and its changing form and decoration - lends variety and new beauty to the altar, and helps to mark the degrees of festivity in the Church’s liturgy. Because of its function as an adornment of the altar - although not its primary purpose, which is its symbolism - some liturgical writers maintain that its use is not obligatory, by custom, if the altar is itself made of precious material and highly decorative. But if the frontal is not used, not only is its symbolism disregarded, but the altar is without change of permanent adornment, degrees of festivity cannot be adequately expressed, nor can the liturgical changes of season or feast be fully indicated.

J.B. O’Connell, Church Building and Furnishing: the Church’s Way, pp.188-89.

The use of the antependium has been a continual practice in the basilicas of Rome.
To this day, the Altar of the Confession in S’ Peter’s Basilica
is clothed with an antependium during the Papal Masses.
Shewn in this image is one of the elaborately-worked antependia used in Saint Peter's.

It may also be observed that many altars of no particular artistic merit, and especially altars which are simply supported on two or four pillars and lack a solid panel underneath the altar table, can be particularly enhanced by the use of an antependium.

Until 1960, the Rubrics of the Roman Missal and the directives of the Ceremonial of Bishops required that altars, but specifically high altars be clothed with an antependium: it was not a matter of choice or dependent upon the beauty or otherwise of any given altar. Unhappily, however, the directives were largely ignored. Recognising this failure, the revised rubrics of the 1960 Missal omitted the sentence which required the use of an antependium, although maintaining that rubric which required the antependium to be changed according to the season or festival.

The altar in Saint Peter's without an antependium.
The altar is of surprising plainness, indicating that it was
intended that the central altar of Christendom
would always be clothed for Mass.

Even after the requirement for an antependium had been relaxed by the revised rubrics of 1960, the American scholar of canon and liturgical law Father Frederick McManus (who was to become prominent amongst the liturgical reformers), advocated the use of antependia:

The use of the frontal as the vestment of the altar remains proper and entirely suitable...it is still very desirable as a worthy vestment for the altar...and as an effective indication of the liturgical celebration.

F.R. McManus, Handbook For the New Rubrics, Baltimore, 1961, pp. 202-03.

Sufficient has been quoted to demonstrate that even if the antependium is not required, its use is eminently suitable and desirable liturgically, important symbolically, and could not be recommended strongly enough. Very few altars are incapable of having antependia attached to them, even if some ingenuity in keeping them in place is required.

A wider view of the Altar of the Confession, decorated for Christmas.
The altar is manifestly enhanced by the magnificent antependium.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

AMDG

The Season of Lent 2026 : 9

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:53:00 +1100

In this Holy Season of Lent, the Saint Bede Studio is pleased to present this set of penitential vestments.

This dignified set of vestments is in the Gothic style, a particular variant we call Saint Giles, being a more ample cut of chasuble.

The vestments were made from dupion silk of a rich and darker shade of purple. Lined in a shade of crimson-red taffeta, the vestments were ornamented with one of the Studio's unique braids. This geometric braid named Saint Austin we have used with great success in all the liturgical colours (except Rose). It is directly based on a design by AWN Pugin.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Enquiries.

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

On the Feast of Saint Joseph

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 08:00:00 +1100

On this beautiful Feast of Saint Joseph, the Studio is pleased to present these vestments. They were made from an ecclesiastical brocade in bright white and fully-lined in a muted gold taffeta. The vestments are in the Gothic Revival style and the combination of colours has been found very attractive by our customers.

The vestments are ornamented with one of the Studio's braids, being a replica of a design by AWN Pugin; this braid is augmented by a narrow galloon running alongside it and in the same colours of brighter red and old gold. Notice how these braids are arranged : the greatest care is taken with all our vestments to ensure that braids are precisely and harmoniously aligned, not cutting away design elements.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

On the Feast of S' Patrick

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 19:57:00 +1100

It is a reasonable to question to ask why, on this popular Feast of Saint Patrick, confessor and bishop, the Church does not use the liturgical colour green?

This joyous Feast, however, is much older than the popular culture and "the wearin' of the green." The liturgical colour conforms with that of the Feasts of other Confessors, which has been white (with some variations) for a thousand years - or even longer.

Nevertheless, nothing prevents Festal vestments being ornamented with green and in this post the Studio is pleased to present just such a set, made recently for an American customer. The vestments were constructed from an ivory-coloured brocade and fully-lined in taffeta of a muted green colour. These vestments are ornamented with an ecclesiastical brocade in colours of green and gold, which is outlined with a galloon in colours of black and gold.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

These vestments are a variation on the Studio's Saint Philip Neri style, which is the product of years of research into historical vestments and refinement of dimensions for comfortable use. The Studio revived this more ample 16th century style of the Roman chasuble in 2007 and since then we have made many of them. Beware of poorly-made imitations!

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

Rose Vestments in the Gothic Revival Style.

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 23:47:00 +1100

Although Laetare Sunday last for just one day in Lent, the Studio is pleased to feature other rose-coloured vestments over the next several days.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

This set of vestments is made from dupion silk in a deeper shade of rose and lined in a lighter rose shade of taffeta.

The orphrey of this chasuble is formed from one of the Saint Bede Studio's unique braids called Rose Antiqua. This lovely braid, which has been designed especially for use with Rose and Indigo-violet vestments, is not in our usual Gothic Revival style, but is based on Arts & Crafts themes, with stylised flowers.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Enquiries.

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

A Rose by any other name but Pink

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +1100

Figure 1. Pope Paul VI in 1978

wearing a rose chasuble

made from dupion silk.
Image: L'Osservatore Romano

Twice a year, the Church breaks the tone of its penitential seasons by the use of rose-coloured vestments. Rose-coloured vestments were never commonplace and they still are not. Nevertheless, you will find various pronouncements these days (usually on websites) about what the real or authentic shade of rose is which is to be used for vestments.

Newsflash: there is no official shade of Rose designated by the Church, nor has there ever been. One reason for this is rather simple: only in the nineteenth century did the process of dyeing fabric become sufficiently sophisticated to ensure that much the same shade of a colour emerged from one batch of fabric dyeing to another.

Many different colours have been deemed by the Church as acceptable as liturgical Rose. Some of these are a salmon shade; some a silvery-pink, almost mushroom-colour; some close to what we would call Bishop's purple or fuchsia.

Another thing is certain: Bubblegum Pink is not Rose, nor has it been a traditional variation for use on these days. Whilst not intending to get into the argument as to whether the use of pink (be it vibrant or subdued) is a fitting colour for a man to wear, Bubblegum Pink certainly manifests a lamentable lack of liturgical good taste. And yet we find so many pink vestments for sale from ecclesiastical suppliers etc. We may wonder why any priest would submit to wearing such.

Figure 2. Pope Paul VI greeting a priest
after Mass in Saint Peter's on Laetare Sunday 1978.
Both are wearing rose

chasubles made from dupion silk.
Image: L'Osservatore Romano

Adjacent are two pictures of another shade of Rose. These are sets of vestments worn by Pope S. Paul VI on Laetare Sunday, 1978. The vestments are made from dupion silk of a very subdued silvery-rose. Ornamenting them is a column-orphrey almost fuchsia in colour. Sadly, these vestments have not been seen in Papal Masses since : lamentable sets of brighter pink vestments, of rather unimaginative fabric and design, have been used instead.

Below is an image of a set of Rose vestments made by the Saint Bede Studio of similar colour to the vestments of S. Paul VI.

AMDG

Praying for God's Blessing on our work

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:06:00 +1100

The work of the Saint Bede Studio, which is conducted in modest arrangements here in Newcastle, is able to continue because of God's blessing upon it.

Most days, we receive a message from a customer or an enquirer thanking us for the work we do to beautify God's house and with a promise of prayer.

Your custom and your prayer are the two foundations upon which our work continues. We have many commissions and more enquiries than we can manage.

This prayer has appeared on the Studio blog before. Perhaps you will pray it remembering all those who work to sanctify God's House.

AMDG.

This prayer has received the Imprimatur of the Bishop of Maitland & Newcastle (Australia).

The Season of Lent 2026 : 8

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:35:00 +1100

In this Holy Season of Lent, we are pleased to present a set of vestments of simple dignity, made in the traditional Roman style. The vestments are constructed from a lighter shade of violet ecclesiastical brocade and fully-lined in a grey cloth. The chasuble in this post is ornamented in the well-known Roman style, a TAU at the front and a column at the back, formed simply by an outlining silver-grey galloon.

Silver ornament upon violet is a distinctive manner of ornamenting vestments for the Seasons of Advent and Lent and a little more subdued than the all-too-common use of gold.

These vestments are in the Studio's Saint Philip Neri style, which is the product of years of research into historical vestments and refinement of dimensions for comfortable use. The Studio revived this more ample 16th century style of the Roman chasuble in 2007 and since then we have made many of them. Beware of poorly-made imitations!

The vestments of the Saint Bede Studio are beautiful in design, sound in construction and distinctive in appearance.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Information on placing an order.

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG

The Season of Lent 2026 : 7

noreply@blogger.com (The Saint Bede Studio) — Sat, 7 Mar 2026 14:06:00 +1100

In this post we present a simple set of violet vestments ornamented with a column at the front and the back. The columns are decorated with one of the Studio's unique braids Saint Dunstan in colours of violet, taup and white upon a red background. This braid was specially developed to ornament violet and rose-coloured vestments.

The braid is laid upon an orphrey panel formed from red dupion silk.

This set of vestments is in the style we have called Saint Anselm; it is not elaborate, but neither is it just thrown-together. It is well-designed and of dignified appearance. Note that the column is made from a red-coloured dupion silk, which complements the colour of the braid. We also find that the column is not of exaggerated width, but of substantial appearance.

There is much to be said for vestments of simple dignity. These vestments are well-made and will be serviceable for a number of years if treated respectfully.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

The Saint Bede Studio : vestments made by Catholics for Catholics.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Please note that posts on this blog are set-up for optimal viewing via a web-browser, not via a mobile phone.

AMDG