A stitch in time…

Lucy Shaw reports from the second Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat

The first weekend of March this year saw the second Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat, held once again at the Carmelite Retreat Centre in Oxfordshire.

St Thérèse of Lisieux, surely the best-known of all Carmelite nuns, adored snow, and describes in her autobiography how, on the morning of the day she took Solemn Vows, she awoke to see a thick blanket of snow on the ground - a wedding gift from her heavenly Spouse.

Both our retreats have been similarly blessed; and although it seems a remarkable indication of heavenly favour, it looked as though this year's fall might be sufficiently abundant to prevent the retreat happening at all. The snow, which had started falling during the week before, starting falling again on Friday afternoon, and the final approach to the Retreat Centre up a steep hill became impassible to all but four-wheel-drive vehicles. However, the remarkable courage of the retreatants and the assistance of our heavenly Patrons defeated the weather, and we assembled without serious accident at the Priory for a weekend of sewing, spiritual conferences and, most importantly, traditional liturgy.

I founded the Guild in 2010 because I became aware that there was a drastic shortage of people with the skills to repair vestments for the growing number of traditionally minded priests wanting to use and maintain them. I had very little experience of vestment mending myself at the time, and had been plunged in at the deep end with a beautiful nineteenth century watered silk chasuble covered in goldwork. I and my fellow Guild members have tackled a number of commissions since then, and working together has enabled us to develop our skills in a way which would have been impossible otherwise. We have all been grateful, not only for the opportunities to learn new skills, but for the fellowship of other committed Catholics determined to serve the Church through thick and thin, which has brought us all many graces. The Retreat is a way of deepening this mutual endeavour, and also of bringing it to people who live too far away to participate in our local events and meetings, most of which take place in Oxford.

Mass at the Sewing retreat

I am constantly impressed by people's willingness to undertake the most mundane tasks when working for the good of the Church, and so it was this weekend. Retreatants re-stitched couched goldwork threads that had come loose on a preaching stole, replaced the clasp and gold braid of a cope, and patched damaged maniples. Enormous holes in a deep lace trim on an alb were repaired, and new orphreys for a chasuble were cut out and stitched into place.

At work: the sewing itself can be quite simple, though time-consuming

The hardest part of repairing vestments is often making decisions about exactly the best way of going about it, and choosing appropriate materials; the sewing itself can be quite simple, though time-consuming. The Retreat brings the great benefit of consultation, and we were able to discuss at length the various options for each item. The aim of the Guild is always to avoid as far as possible a botched or fudged repair – ideally, we want to restore vestments to a state where they are once again a joy to use. That often means a considerable investment of time, but we are sustained in our efforts by the knowledge of the sublime use to which the end product will be put.

On the occasion of the retreat, we had also the spiritual nourishment of the liturgy, and of our chaplain, Fr Hunwicke's, talks. Fr Hunwicke is always a splendid speaker, both witty and profound, and we were fascinated by the talks he had prepared for us. Taking as his starting point Christ's Passion, he took us through several passages in the Gospels and linked them with their precursors in the Old Testament. His scholarship opened up some of the riches to be found there for us, and gave us a great deal to meditate on during the rest of Lent.

The aim of the Guild is always to avoid as far as possible a botched or fudged repair

The staff at the retreat centre made us extremely comfortable. Food and hot drinks are plentiful, and the bedrooms immaculate. I particularly appreciate the tray of emergency supplies for retreatants who may have left behind some essential or other: a tube of toothpaste, soap and the like are left on the landing for our use. The chapel is very sparsely decorated, but the quiet bestowed by its rural situation makes the occasion a retreat in the most literal sense of the word. The weather meant we could not make use of the beautiful outdoor Stations of the Cross, but many of the retreatants made an opportunity to visit the little grotto in the Priory gardens.

With the Traditional Mass at the centre of all our activities, we formed a truly Catholic community. It was a joy to be able to assist our priests in such a practical way, and I am delighted that we have been able to confirm next year's dates: 1st-3rd February 2019. In response to the tremendous demand for places we are planning an extra retreat this year, to take place at Douai Abbey from 23rd to 25th November. Bookings can be made on the LMS website.