Offering the Best to God in the
Liturgy Is Expression of Love:
The Noble Simplicity of Liturgical Vestments
Uwe Michael Lang, CO
The biblical sapiential tradition acclaims God as "the author of
beauty" (Wisdom 13:3), glorifying him for the grandeur and
beauty of the works of creation. Christian thought, taking its
cue above all from sacred Scripture, but also from classical
philosophy, has developed the concept of beauty as a theological
category.
This teaching resounded in the homily of Benedict XVI during the
dedication Mass of the Basilica of the Holy Family in Barcelona
(Nov. 7, 2010): "Beauty also reveals God because, like him, a
work of beauty is pure gratuity; it calls us to freedom and
draws us away from selfishness." Divine beauty manifests itself
in an altogether particular way in the sacred liturgy, also
through material things of which man, made of soul and body, has
need to come to spiritual realities: the building of worship,
the furnishings, the vestments, the images, the music, the
dignity of the ceremonies themselves.
Reread in this connection is the fifth chapter on "Decorum of
the Liturgical Celebration" in the encyclical "Ecclesia de
Eucharistia" -- of Pope John Paul II (April 17, 2003), where he
affirms that Christ himself wanted a fitting a decorous
environment for the Last Supper, asking his disciples to prepare
it in the house of a friend who had a "large upper room
furnished" (Luke 22:12; cf. Mark 14:15). In face of Judas'
protest that the anointing with precious oil was an unacceptable
"waste," given the need of the poor, Jesus, without diminishing
the obligation of concrete charity towards the needy, declared
his great appreciation for the woman's action, because her
anointing anticipated "that honor of which his body will
continue to be worthy also after his death, indissolubly linked
as it is to the mystery of his Person" ("Ecclesia de Eucharistia,"
No. 47). John Paul II concludes that the Church, as the woman of
Bethany, "does not fear to 'waste,' investing the best of her
resources to express her adoring wonder in the face of the
incommensurable gift of the Eucharist" (ibid., No. 48). The
liturgy calls for the best of our possibilities, to glorify God
the Creator and Redeemer.
In the end, the care for the churches and the liturgy must be an
expression of love for the Lord. Also in a place where the
Church does not have great material resources, this duty cannot
be neglected. Already an important Pope of the 18th century,
Benedict XIV (1740-1758) in his encyclical "Annus Qui Hunc"
(Feb. 19, 1749), dedicated above all to sacred music, exhorted
his clergy to have the churches well kept and equipped with all
the necessary sacred objects for the worthy celebration of the
liturgy: "We wish to stress that we are not speaking of the
sumptuousness and magnificence of the Sacred Temples, or of the
preciousness of the sacred furnishings, we knowing as well that
they cannot be had everywhere. We have spoken of decency and
cleanliness which it is not licit for anyone to neglect, decency
and cleanliness being compatible with poverty."
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican
Council pronounced itself in a similar way: "Ordinaries, by the
encouragement and favor they show to art which is truly sacred,
should strive after noble beauty rather than mere sumptuous
display. This principle is to apply also in the matter of sacred
vestments and ornaments" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 124). This
passage refers to the concept of the "noble simplicity"
introduced in the same Constitution in No. 34. This concept
seems to originate in archeologist and historian of German art
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), according to whom Greek
classical sculpture was characterized by "noble simplicity and
quiet grandeur."
At the beginning of the 20th century, the known English
liturgist Edmund Bishop (1846-1917) described the "genius of the
Roman Rite" as marked by simplicity, sobriety and dignity (cf.
E. Bishop, "Liturgica Historica," Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1918,
pp. 1-19). This description is not without merit, but it is
necessary to be attentive to its interpretation: the Roman Rite
is "simple" compared to other historical rites, such as the
Eastern which are distinguished by great complexity and
sumptuousness. However, the "noble simplicity" of the Roman Rite
must not be confused with a misunderstood "liturgical poverty"
and an intellectualism that can lead to the ruin of solemnity,
foundation of divine worship (cf. the essential contribution of
St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae III, q. 64, a. 2; q.
66, a 10; q. 83, a. 4).
From such considerations it is evident that the sacred vestments
must contribute "to the decorum of the sacred action" ("Ordinamento
Generale del Messale Romano," No. 335), above all "in the way
and in the material used," but also, though in a measured way,
in the ornaments (ibid., No. 344). The use of the liturgical
vestments expresses the hermeneutics of continuity, without
excluding a particular historical style.
Benedict XVI furnishes a model in his celebrations when he wears
either the chasuble of modern style or in some solemn occasions,
the "classical" chasuble, used also by his predecessors. He
follows the example of the scribe, who became a disciple of the
kingdom of heaven, and who Jesus compared to "the head of a
household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the
old" (Matthew 13:52).
[Translation by ZENIT]
