On 21 May 00, at 21:56, John Wickstrom wrote:
> I am reminded by this message and the thread in general of Erasmus's passage
> referring to the monks and friars in the Praise of Folly:
> "But what could be more charming than to observe how they do everything by
> rules, as if they were entering figures in a ledger where it would be a
> terrible sin to overlook the smallest detail: how many knots to the shoe,
> what colors and different styles for each garment, of what material and how
> many straws wide the cincture may be, the cut of the hood and how many pecks
> it should hold, ho w many inches long the hair may be....Nevertheless,
> because of such trifles, not only do they consider outsiders beneath their
> contempt but one order scorns another, and men who profess apostolic charity
> raise a catastrophic uproar about a garment that is belted somewhat
> differently, or a color that is a little darker."
This sort of criticism is perhaps not surprising during the heady
times of the Reformation, but the attitude he was attacking was
apparently considerably formalized. According to Theodor Klauser,
"on 9 Dec. 1925, the Congregation of Rites of the Catholic Church
rejected the so-called Gothic Mass vestments. They said that
wherever people had such vestments manufactured, they were
departing from the practice of the Roman Church, which had long
since abandoned the Gothic form and only allowed the Baroque."
So much for Apostolic taste. The road to heaven is apparently
paved with discarded Gothic chasubles!
Jim Bugslag
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