To the highest standard… Joseph Shaw reports on an LMS gift of a set of faldstool covers to Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane

To the highest standard…

Joseph Shaw reports on an LMS gift of a set of faldstool covers to Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane

On Saturday 5 December 2020, in between lockdowns, the Guild of St Clare delivered the final instalment of an important gift from the Latin Mass Society to Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane: a set of faldstool covers in violet, black, and green, to go with a faldstool given to the parish by the LMS in 2019.

A faldstool is a chair, very similar to those you can see in pictures dating to Roman times, used by bishops in the celebration of Mass outside their own cathedral. It is normally covered in fabric, in accord with the liturgical season.

Four sets of covers, with matching cushion covers, have been executed by the Guild of St Clare. One, in white, came with the faldstool itself from the Italian supplier, Serpone, since it was needed at short notice for a Mass celebrated in Corpus Christi by Cardinal Francis Arinze, on 20 June 2019.

A red one was completed by the Guild for a Mass said by Cardinal Raymond Burke there on 16 September of the same year. The final three colours included one, in violet, which was to be used the very day after delivery by Bishop Robert Byrne of Hexham and Newcastle, who is a regular visitor to the parish.

The Latin Mass Society’s gift was made in the context of the thorough restoration of this church by its present Parish Priest, Fr Alan Robinson, and the long and close association the Society has with the parish.

Corpus Christi is a church where the Traditional Mass has always been said: it was one of the very few places where the parish priest continued to say the ancient Mass for those who wished to attend, alongside the Novus Ordo, in the dark days of the 1970s. This tradition continues with the Society’s Monday evening Masses, which are usually sung. We have had many other Masses there over the years: the already-mentioned Pontifical Low Mass celebrated by Cardinal Burke, many feast-day Masses, and in past years the Easter Triduum (which has now moved to a larger church, St Mary Moorfields).

Fr Alan Robinson comments: ‘I would like to offer a heart-felt thank you to Dr and Mrs Shaw, the LMS and members of the Guild of St Clare for generously making and providing these beautiful damask covers for our new faldstool. These will really lift Pontifical liturgies here and we look forward to being able to invite prelates to the Shrine to use them, once lockdown is over. I will be offering a Mass for the intentions of all involved.’

Corpus Christi is now a regular venue for polyphony arranged by the LMS Director of Music for London, Matthew Schellhorn, and chant sung by the LMS training schola, the Houghton Schola, which Matthew also leads: all, sadly, currently disrupted by the Coronavirus epidemic.

Fr Robinson has done a remarkable job in restoring the church, which is partly underground and at one time appeared a little gloomy. It is now resplendent in gilding, marble, and cleaned stone and brickwork, and the sanctuary which formerly had two altars in it now has just the original one, in its original place, so High Mass ceremonies can take place unimpeded.

The Guild of St Clare usually makes a charge for commissions, but provided the faldstool covers to the LMS at cost price, in recognition of the Society’s assistance to the Guild over the years since its foundation in 2009.

The covers were worked on at successive Guild ‘Vestment Mending Days’ and Sewing Retreats, by many volunteers, including the multi-talented Fr Stephen Morrison OPraem, when he was a Retreatgiver. When the Coronavirus restrictions made these events impossible, the covers were completed personally by the Guild’s National Coordinator, Lucy Shaw.

This set of faldstool covers represents the biggest project the Guild has yet tackled, taking up untold hours of volunteers’ time, and completed to the highest standards. The accuracy of the sewing, and details such as the piping, could hardly have been bettered, and indeed they far surpass the white cover supplied by the Italian manufacturer, Serpone. Fine materials, traditional skills, and the motive of the glory of God, are all on display.

The Latin Mass Society has a great many vestments in need of repair, and others lacking individual items, such as a maniple, stole, or chalice veil. Our vestments tend not to be of museum quality, but it seems an offence against our predecessors in the Faith who made, donated, and used these attractive though workaday vestments simply to throw them away. However, they can only be made usable again with the right skills and a great deal of time.

It is a source of frustration that such work by the Guild has been slowed down by the Coronavirus restrictions, but we are doing our best to find ways to continue the Guild’s work of teaching as well as making and mending despite this challenge. I hope readers with an inclination towards sewing will join the Guild at its events when they do become possible again: tasks can always be found for every level of skill.

A set of faldstool covers in violet, black, and green…

Fr Alan Robinson, Parish Priest of Corpus Christi Maiden Lane, being presented with the faldstool covers by Lucy Shaw, National Coordinator of the Guild of St Clare