Ship of Fools: Lenten Array: is it used ?

Thread: Lenten Array: is it used ? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by ardmacha (# 16499) on :

A friend of mine said Leneten Array; I can't imagine many people knowing what it is,let alone using it.
Are there many churches which still use the Lenten Array [as opposed to Passion-tide veiling] ? I know that Westminster Abbey has a fine set designed by Tapper in the 1920s, but what about other churches. Do we need A Church Travellers' Lenten Array Directory ?

Posted by Oferyas (# 14031) on :

I don't think I've ever seen the Lenten array used in 35 years of ministry - certainly never been in a parish that uses it. Are there any self-identified 'Sarum' parishes left?

(Slight Sarum tangent: I found a vestment maker from Poland on ebay offering blue vestments, but presumably these are a Marian theme, rather than Sarum Advent?)

Posted by Jante (# 9163) on :

The parish church at Cuddesdon use it- but not sure how much thats because of the college influence- I suspect it is.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I saw it at St. Gregory's Horfield, Bristol, last week.

Also a strange mixture at St. Monica's Chapel, Bristol, where i preached yesterday - Lenten Array dossal but purple frontal (and blue vestments for Refreshment Sunday).

Posted by fletcher christian (# 13919) on :

I know quite a number of places that use lenten array for their reredos and veil for the whole of lent (usually in unbleached linen).

Posted by Earwig (# 12057) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ardmacha:
Are there many churches which still use the Lenten Array [as opposed to Passion-tide veiling] ?

Go on then, give an ignoramus a hand. [Big Grin]

I've always thought Lenten Array referred to unbleached linen for the altar (and reredos?). What's Passiontide veiling?

Posted by seasick (# 48) on :

Veiling images and crosses in purple from the fifth Sunday of Lent.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

I was at Liverpool Cathedral yesterday week and they were using what looked like unbleached linen there

Posted by Amos (# 44) on :

Watt & Co's Facebook page has been putting up pictures of Lenten Array from a variety of places round the country. I think someone's mentioned Liverpool Cathedral. There's also (of course!) St Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill. And many others.
I like it myself. Unfortunately my predecessors didn't, so we don't have it. Maybe a generous bequest to one of the churches...

Posted by Earwig (# 12057) on :

quote:
Originally posted by seasick:
Veiling images and crosses in purple from the fifth Sunday of Lent.

Thanks! Never seen that, but popped into a teeny tiny rural church yesterday and they had their Lentern Array on the altar. Very simple and dignified.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by seasick:
Veiling images and crosses in purple from the fifth Sunday of Lent.

as opposed to Lenten veiling.

My 'home church' in my teens veiled altar cross, candlesticks and churchwarden's staves in Lenten array/hessian.

Banners were removed, the angel finials on the riddel poasts were removed and the tryptich closed.

Lovely - much more in the English spirit than purple.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

I was vicar of a church that had clearly been strongly influenced by the Parsons Handbook, and it was a surprise to me that Lenten Array didn't feature. I suspect that one of my Romanising predecessors chucked it all out for a rather pedestrian set of purple vestments. A great pity.

Posted by Cornish High (# 17202) on :

I discovered today on Flickr that Sarumsleuth has a large set of pictures under 'Lent' from several places around the country. Well worth a look.

Posted by Basilica (# 16965) on :

St Albans Abbey uses Lenten Array: a rather nice set.

It's a pity that the shade of purple that has become popular is a very deep one. It suits Advent very well, with connotations of royalty and imperial rule, but it is a very bad match for ideas of Lenten austerity.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

Purple for Lent???

If you use Lenten array for Lent, consistency would be to use greyish-blue for Advent (and for the gesimas).

[ 11. March 2013, 16:18: Message edited by: leo ]

Posted by Coa Coa (# 15535) on :

We cover up for all of Lent with purple ..not sure why we start the first of Lent... then black during the reading of the Passion Gospel.

Posted by Vulpior (# 12744) on :

Christ Church, Bath, has purple for the high altar, but has a Lenten Array for the Lady Chapel of grey, including the dorsal curtain. The superfrontal is trimmed with red, including embroidered symbols of the passion.

When I was there, I would lay out unbleached linen vestments for services taking place in the chapel.

The cross veils were also unbleached linen.

There has been some renewal of vestments and altar fabrics since I was there, so things may have changed. But the change in the Lady Chapel was very effective.

Posted by Zach82 (# 3208) on :

For some reason every Episcopal Church in the United States veils the crucifix with purple tutu fabric. Sigh.

Posted by ardmacha (# 16499) on :

Thanks so much. There are some fine photographs on different websites and the Warham Guild paper on Lenten Array by Dean Duncan-Jones is On Line.

Posted by Carys (# 78) on :

We have Lent array in the Lady Chapel with cross of thorns motifs, but purple on high altar and veil in purple at passiontide. I think veiling used to be earlier. We do have a Lent array frontal for the High altar but don't use it. We do only have chasuble and not tunicle and dalmatic which might influence use of purple for High altar

Carys

Posted by Sarum Sleuth (# 162) on :

Lenten array can certainly be found in a number of places in the Midlands. Derby, Leicester, Lichfield and Southwell Cathedrals all use it as well as St Mary's Nottingham and Chesterfield Parish Church.

SS

Posted by Quam Dilecta (# 12541) on :

In the USA, the only church where I have seen the Lenten Array was St. Paul's K Street in Washington, D.C.

Posted by Crucifer (# 523) on :

Our parish of St. Michael and All Angels, Winnipeg, uses purple throughout Lent (except for Laetare Sunday which is rose) up until Passion Sunday, when we switch to Lenten array, at which time all the crosses and statues are also veiled (in purple).

Posted by Basilica (# 16965) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Crucifer:
Our parish of St. Michael and All Angels, Winnipeg, uses purple throughout Lent (except for Laetare Sunday which is rose) up until Passion Sunday, when we switch to Lenten array, at which time all the crosses and statues are also veiled (in purple).

I've come across this pattern recently. It seems quite bizarre to me. Surely Lenten Array is more suited to the desert themes of the first five weeks of Lent than to the Passion themes of the last two.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Carys:
We have Lent array in the Lady Chapel with cross of thorns motifs, but purple on high altar and veil in purple at passiontide. I think veiling used to be earlier. We do have a Lent array frontal for the High altar but don't use it. We do only have chasuble and not tunicle and dalmatic which might influence use of purple for High altar

Carys

It used to be the custom to NOT have dalmatics and tunicles during Lent. Folded chasubles were used instead.

Nowadays, probably have the deacon in alb and crossed stole and the subdeacon in alb.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
It used to be the custom to NOT have dalmatics and tunicles during Lent. Folded chasubles were used instead.

Would that have been the custom in 'Sarum-influenced' churches where Lenten Array was used?

Posted by Sarum Sleuth (# 162) on :

No, just a chasuble and deacon in stole. Some places use Lenten array tunicles in the normal way.

SS..

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

Welcome back, SS.

Wasn't a folded chasuble in effect a broad stole?

The only church I've known use unbleached vestments in Lent, and indeed introduce them, was All Saints' Notting Hill many years ago. At which time All Saints was strictly Roman calendar and propers, with Series 3 commons and eucharistic prayer.

They were very impressive.

Posted by Wilfried (# 12277) on :

We use our Lenten array, unbleached linen and oxblood frontal and vestments, and veil throughout Lent. I didn't realize this was unusual, but I then I guess don't get out much. We also use Sarum blue for Advent; is that unusual too? We pretty much never use purple. We don't think of ourselves as particularly Sarum though.

I went to an AC parish last weekend that had purple frontals, rose vestments, and had also veiled.

[ 12. March 2013, 18:21: Message edited by: Wilfried ]

Posted by Stephen (# 40) on :

We don't use it - unfortunately - but it is used, but I think I've seen it more in cathedrals than anywhere else

Posted by Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras (# 11274) on :

Watts & Co. have been running many pictures of Lenten array on their fb page, those of Southwark Cathedral amongst them. In America, I personally have run into Lenten array only one place -- strangely at what used to be a little high church parish (not quite Anglo-Catholic)out in Lubbock, Texas. Moreover, it replaced the parish's formerly violet Lenten vestments and paraments.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
It used to be the custom to NOT have dalmatics and tunicles during Lent. Folded chasubles were used instead.
Would that have been the custom in 'Sarum-influenced' churches where Lenten Array was used?

No. Folded chazzies were Fortescue rather than Dearmer.

Posted by Hooker's Trick (# 89) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Quam Dilecta:
In the USA, the only church where I have seen the Lenten Array was St. Paul's K Street in Washington, D.C.

St Paul's has an unbleached 'veil' (a curtain really) for the reredos but they proudly keep Lent in purple.

Exeter used to use Lenten Array, as well as Winchester and I suspect Salisbury.

Posted by Quam Dilecta (# 12541) on :

Thank you, Hooker's Trick, for correcting the error in my post about St. Paul's K Street. I have only visited St. Paul's once during Lent, and the sight of the unbleached linen veil obviously left me with no memory whatsoever of the color of the vestments.

Posted by Ascension-ite (# 1985) on :

I believe St. Paul's K Street used to have a lenten array set, along with the aforementioned curtain for the reredos, but they have since given it away (where I don't know) and gone to purple for Lent. My current parish in low-church Virginia does not veil at all, except for Good Friday when the altar cross is veiled in black. We do at least have an attractive purple frontal/falls & chazzie. Usually in TEC there is the see-through purple veils for Lent as a default option at least.

Posted by Comper's Child (# 10580) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ascension-ite:
I believe St. Paul's K Street used to have a lenten array set, along with the aforementioned curtain for the reredos, but they have since given it away (where I don't know) and gone to purple for Lent. My current parish in low-church Virginia does not veil at all, except for Good Friday when the altar cross is veiled in black. We do at least have an attractive purple frontal/falls & chazzie. Usually in TEC there is the see-through purple veils for Lent as a default option at least.

The K Street array - in this sense a full set of vestments plus a stenciled frontal - were "translated" to All Souls' by the Zoo in DC. Only the Lenten veil remains.

Posted by Carys (# 78) on :

quote:
Originally posted by leo:

quote:
Originally posted by Carys:
We have Lent array in the Lady Chapel with cross of thorns motifs, but purple on high altar and veil in purple at passiontide. I think veiling used to be earlier. We do have a Lent array frontal for the High altar but don't use it. We do only have chasuble and not tunicle and dalmatic which might influence use of purple for High altar

Carys
It used to be the custom to NOT have dalmatics and tunicles during Lent. Folded chasubles were used instead.

Nowadays, probably have the deacon in alb and crossed stole and the subdeacon in alb.

I had a feeling that this might be the explanation. THe trouble is as we have a lay deacon* and servers in albs it would just look like two extra servers. But who knows what will happen when we have our new vicar.

Carys

*I know, but not my decision

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

We use Lent Array at St Paul's Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ at my instigation. I got a bit sick of the Big Purple from Septuagesima to Maundy Thursday which I thought was a bit blah. I started using red for Passiontide a few years ago, but only got the Lenten Array last year, which is off-white linen with the instruments of the passions displayed thereon. As the building is a bit on the white and plain side it looks almost bleak inside during Lent. The only colour is provided by the Stations of the Cross.

PD

[ 14. March 2013, 06:12: Message edited by: PD ]

Posted by Patrick (# 305) on :

When I was MC, Christ Church, Bronxville. New York used the full Lenten Array: chasuble, dalmatic, tunic in grey sackcloth, with sackcloth apparels, altar and cross identically clothed, with symbols of the passion sketched in red on the frontal. The acolytes usually wore amices and albs: in Lent, rochets. For Passiontide, dark red vestments for the clergy (with contrasting black apparels) and for the frontal. I understand that Bronxville has subsequently abandoned apparels. On the really rare traditionalist (Roman) side, St. Clement, Philadelphia uses the folded chasuble and broad stole for the clergy for the violet Sundays of Lent. In the later years of Pius XII, these were abolished. In my childhood, all that remained were the broad stoles of the deacons who chanted the Passion Gospel in Holy Week. New Liturgical Movement website, some years ago, featured photos and sketches of the folded chasuble, a strikingly impressive vestment, when designed along gothic lines.

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :

Sorry, a bit late to the party. My decidedly MOTR parish in the Chicago burbs uses Lenten Array, a very nice and simple set that I think might have been handmade for us, much as our quilted Advent set was.

The altar is bare, no frontal, low candles, and the cross has an unbleached linen veil (more of a drape). The altar itself is quite beautiful and I think the bare stone is appropriate to the season.

The pulpit fall shows the Lenten Array colors of black and oxblood.

The chasuble and stole are of unbleached linen and trimmed with the black-and-oxblood colors (I believe the tradition is to have black on the outer edge and oxblood on the inside).

The cross in our side chapel has a drape similar to the one above (sorry, photo's on the other computer!). We don't veil things in the traditional manner, and in fact there aren't any statues to be veiled.

But I really like the stark and simple effect, much better than purple, which always looks sumptuous to me despite the symbolism of the color. The only complication -- a relatively minor one -- is that I've had to rewrite some of the Godly Play lessons and repaint some of the materials since they assume the use of purple. So now our storytellers talk of the "color of the desert" and the "time when the bright colors go away."

[ 20. March 2013, 17:06: Message edited by: Mamacita ]

Posted by seasick (# 48) on :

I visited the church of Our Lady St Mary last week which had a very thorough use of Lent array with several altars with frontals and much veiling.

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