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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: What to look for in an alb
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PentEcclesiastic
Shipmate
# 12098
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Posted
Update: it's been decided that I will be trained as a Eucharistic Minister and will be wearing a cassock and a surplice. I was taken to the vesting room to find a cassock I could fit. When they got through with me, I looked like a kid playing dress up. Sleeves too short and the surplice looked huge. I looked frumpy.
Pentecostals, at least in my neck of the woods, know things about cassocks. We do actually get a lot of mileage out of those. But they're not thin and flimsy they way the one I tried on was. So I guess I'm in the market for one, seeing that I probably will wear a cassock after seminary.
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We are called to be Holy.
Posts: 186 | From: Atlanta, Georgia | Registered: Nov 2006
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
When I was serving, there was always a silly five minutes going through the cupboard to find a cassock that could fit.
I found one that did, and put it on a hanger with my name on it.
I was quite unreasonably cross whenever I found it had been moved and was not available.
A cassock, like a good suit, ought to fit (although it will in part be covered by the surplice). As Mama Thomas says, an old fashioned alb can be adjusted in length by the girdle, which is always the critical dimension.
Any rate good luck, penty.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Mama Thomas
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# 10170
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by PentEcclesiastic:
Update: it's been decided that I will be trained as a Eucharistic Minister and will be wearing a cassock and a surplice. I was taken to the vesting room to find a cassock I could fit. When they got through with me, I looked like a kid playing dress up. Sleeves too short and the surplice looked huge. I looked frumpy.
Pentecostals, at least in my neck of the woods, know things about cassocks. We do actually get a lot of mileage out of those. But they're not thin and flimsy they way the one I tried on was. So I guess I'm in the market for one, seeing that I probably will wear a cassock after seminary.
A much more attractive choice and one that has tradition behind it. Be sure to post a pic somewhere!
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All hearts are open, all desires known
Posts: 3742 | From: Somewhere far away | Registered: Aug 2005
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
It depends on the surplice. Those skimpy ones that are less than knee-length, with sleeves that neither drape properly nor stay tucked out of the way, are horrible IMHO. Either a full-length Old English version (which are incredibly expensive, which is why I've not got one), or a decent (ie non-lacy) cotta, or an alb – cassock or otherwise. Please!
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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sebby
Shipmate
# 15147
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Posted
A clerical friend has considered a slight extravagence: treating himself to having a silk alb made. A number of us have been offering a little advice as to what style this should be, although in no doubt that our opinions will go very far with him.
I suppose it ought to be the traditional shape suitable to be worn with an amice under a chasable with a girdle. However if the silk is thick enough it might be possible to wear it without a cassock.
What style should it be?
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sebhyatt
Posts: 1340 | From: yorks | Registered: Sep 2009
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
Why on earth does he want a silk alb?
The whole principle of an alb is that it's supposed to be clean and white. So the best albs are made of fine linen and kept laundered and ironed. The same is true of surplices, which is why the problem with the Wareham Guild surplice is not the initial cost but the hugely time-consuming ironing.
An alb isn't supposed to be shiny nor to draw attention to itself.
Get your friend a few sets of silk underwear in liturgical colours and tell him to stick to a proper alb in linen or cotton. Or point him in the direction of one of those Easter season albs which are 'lace from the paps down.'
[ 02. September 2012, 19:54: Message edited by: Amos ]
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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(S)pike couchant
Shipmate
# 17199
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Posted
There's plenty of precedent for silk albs! I'm glad to see someone restoring this venerable Mediaeval custom.
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'Still the towers of Trebizond, the fabled city, shimmer on the far horizon, gated and walled' but Bize her yer Trabzon.
Posts: 308 | From: West of Eden, East of England | Registered: Jul 2012
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sebby
Shipmate
# 15147
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Posted
Do you know of any illustrations of silk albs, or any links?
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sebhyatt
Posts: 1340 | From: yorks | Registered: Sep 2009
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Mama Thomas
Shipmate
# 10170
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Posted
Forgive me, but the very idea of silk albs is absurd. What a waste of money!
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All hearts are open, all desires known
Posts: 3742 | From: Somewhere far away | Registered: Aug 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
This is 12th century, and more than bit flashy.
Nowadays it seems, not even Luzar do them in silk.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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sebby
Shipmate
# 15147
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mama Thomas:
Forgive me, but the very idea of silk albs is absurd. What a waste of money!
But I have heard of people who pay more than £2000 for a car!
Or...just this morning heard of someone who spent £2000 to go on the piss with mates in Las Vagas (not Prince Harry).
I'm sure a silk alb would cost less than that and for some be much more enjoyable.
It is often the case that when vesture is discussed it is a 'waste of money' but other extravagences are not. I had this discussion with a retired priest who was shocked at the extravagence only to go on to say that he paid £25,000 for his new car.
Or the person who was shocked that I once paid £500 for a newly upholstered 18thC mahogany sofa, yet was willing to spend far more on something from Maples that would have lost money the instant it left the showroom.
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sebhyatt
Posts: 1340 | From: yorks | Registered: Sep 2009
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dj_ordinaire
Host
# 4643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
This is 12th century, and more than bit flashy.
I think I've found my dream night-gown!
For use as an ecclesiastical undergarment, maybe not so much...
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Flinging wide the gates...
Posts: 10335 | From: Hanging in the balance of the reality of man | Registered: Jun 2003
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