Monday 14 December 2015

Pink...


When the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster cannot even dress himself for Vespers, you know something's terribly wrong. The Cathedral, once a centre of liturgical excellence fit to compare with Westminster Abbey itself, is just an embarrassment these days, in large part due to the actions and ideology of Cardinal Heenan. But doesn't Vinnie look rather silly in bright red and pink! From both an aesthetic and liturgical point of view, Vincent's attire is an aberration. It could almost be a parody of itself. Couldn't you imagine his vestments on shew in the window of a fancy dress shop? The man himself at a Tarts 'n' Vicars do? "What are you, then?" "Oh, I'm the gay prelate!" Whatever happened to the dignity of a winter cassock of rose merino wool, and a violet cope? Bright pink is not a liturgical colour, and to pair it up with bright red just makes him look like a clown. And look at the plywood over the magic door of mercy! O tempora! O for the palmy days of constancy, tradition and dignity!


12 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, good taste isn't a prerequisite to ordination. A fact which is painfully evident in most Roman parishes. It's no doubt a product of the Low Mass mentality.

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  2. No, low mass can and often was (notice past tense) celebrated with dignity. I always enjoyed low mass especially celebrated in Italy, the Italians at one time had a natural dignity when celebrating the old rite, and their rhythm in Latin was superb. But unlike some here, I am not offended by the Baroque, even the Russian and Ukrainian versions.

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    1. Some of the finest churches I have visited have been in the Baroque style. San Lorenzo in Turin is a good example. And I am not so utterly opposed to Baroque as people think. I just cannot abide the kind of tyranny that says that it is the ONLY legitimate liturgical and aesthetic ethos. If people want Baroque, let them have Baroque. But I will not suffer the kind of condescension of people that say that I am not entitled to my own mediaeval aesthetic and standard.

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    2. Patrick, I agree with you, I love the Dearmer Sarum tradition as well. I have no problem with Mass celebrated using "English" rubrics or Roman. The small baroque village churches in the Swiss and Austrian mountains are simply beyond compare. Of course, I also like Gregorian as well as Baroque liturgical music as well, not to mention Tudor, it is when, as one finds on some websites, infallible statements like this that I take offense: "baroque style vestments are forbidden." Unless, of course, one suspects they happen to be the Russian high-back, baroque style phelon with flowers splattered all over them. I can only deduce that you know of which web page I speak.

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  3. This thread demands this fantastic and wonderfully obscure mash-up.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZexkm544-g

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    1. It says that the video is unavailable but I'm guessing it's that song from Funny Face?

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    2. Please, please do NOT send this our novus ordo friends, they may consider making it the introit for the third Sunday of Advent.

      They do still have Advent don't they? hard to keep up.

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  4. Replies
    1. It morphed from introit to 'Antiphon at the Introit' in 1962MR and remained the same in 1970MR and its successive editions.

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    2. I have a friend who was the organist at a Catholic parish, for one wedding they played "Hello Dolly" as the introit, since the bride's name, you guessed it, was Dolly.

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  5. Oops! It is the audio to K. Thompson's screen test for what became "Funny Face" in which she combines "Think Pink" and "'S Wonderful." It is fantastic, though the mashup itself did not appear in the movie. You can also find an extended version of Think Pink on youtube which was apparently recorded (and even shot) for the movie, but the middle part was edited out of the final cut.

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  6. To be fair to the Archbishop, he does not look absolutely thrilled by his pink get-up.

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