Church vestments with frilly floral motifs and gracefully meandering tendrils

Halfway through the exhibition Fashion for God in the Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, the visitor enters a room with colorful motifs on the floor and walls. The visual power of the hall that suddenly reveals itself is paradoxically exemplary of the secrecy of Catholic churches during the Republic of the Netherlands.

From its transition to Protestantism around 1580 until the end of the Republic in 1795, Catholics were officially forbidden to meet in public. They therefore founded their churches inconspicuously in other buildings. But the decoration of the interior with paintings, statues and paraments (liturgical clothing) was no less exuberant.

Church vestments from the house or secret churches in the seventeenth and eighteenth century Netherlands play the leading role in this sensational exhibition. In the richly decorated hall designed by Maison the Faux, a life-size viewing box houses a set of paraments (all liturgical objects made of textile), consisting of two dalmatics (priestly mass vestments) and a cope: a wide cloak that was worn at special occasions.

A miter, footwear for feet and hands, and the gilded curl of a bishop’s staff complete the presentation. The white satin garments, equipped with gracefully meandering tendrils and flower buds in gold thread, were made in Haarlem in 1628-1641 for Bishop Philippus Rovenius.

The ‘spiritual virgins’ who made the embroidery were among the women whose communal Catholic lifestyle was tolerated. A series of rooms in the first part of the exhibition show a variety of garments made of precious fabrics, sometimes decorated with beautiful figures of saints and Bible scenes by professional textile workers but much more often by these religious women.

Green and pink dalmatic with base fabric from around 1750 with columns from around 1775. Silk, gold braid. (98 × 117 cm.)

Change

The motifs of Bishop Rovenius’ mass vestments are incorporated in large scales in the white-gold carpet and wall coverings of the central hall. Almost unnoticed, they merge into the green-pink floral motifs of a second set of paraments, arranged on the other side of the viewing box. Now it is a cope, two dalmatics and a chasuble – the robe of the main celebrant at the Catholic mass, sleeveless with violin case-like cutouts in the front for freedom of movement for the priest.

The pieces date from the beginning of the eighteenth century and represent a change in church textiles around 1700. The fabrics with flowers and in then fashionable colors were once dresses: wealthy ladies donated them to the church to have them made into ceremonial robes.

The exhibition shows how flexible fabrics with frisky floral motifs and colors that are not very liturgically responsible, such as pink and blue, received a warm welcome in the church. Just as the embroiderers in the past contributed to the rich decoration of the Mass, the donors of textiles for paraments worn by themselves would have felt personally closer to the Mass. The fact that other churchgoers would have recognized the reference to private benefactors in the precious fabrics was a bonus.

A priestly mass vestment with basic fabric from approximately 1725-1730 and cope shield and auri friezes from approximately 1700-1730. Silk damask, silver thread, silk chenille thread, sequins. (133 × 299 cm.)

In some cases the origin of the substances is still known. For example, a white cope from the nineteenth century comes from a dress with a floral pattern in which Engelberta Groen married in Utrecht in 1755. It is now shown next to the priest’s robes. A silk dress that Clara van Halteren left to the church in 1799 was made into a chasuble. The pajama-like, vertically striped pink fabric appears beneath the stitched gold cross. The church authorities seem to have quickly determined that this so-called “Streep van Van Halteren” was somewhat less suitable as a candy-colored mass vestment.