When In Doubt, Post About Vestments

I am in doubt, so I am posting about vestments. 

All these sets were offered for sale recently by Church Antiques, where, strange to tell, I often find myself. This first black requiem set comes from a church in Batley, and shows the silver orphreys one very often finds with such vestments. These look Spanish in their form, though that by no means entails that they come from Spain!

I think the pink aspect of this vestment set is a function of the photography rather than the nature of the fabric: I suspect it's red. It too comes from Batley and has a South German form, indicated by the extra bit of vertical braid just below the neckline.

In contrast to the above Roman sets from Batley, this red chasuble from Margate is in Gothic shape. That fabric looks 1950s or 1960s to me, but what stands out is the heavily embroidered silver boat, so nicely appropriate to a seaside town. 

This set from a church in Southampton you might define as 'gold', but yellow was used in some medieval English churches for feast days of confessors - saints who were neither virgins nor martyrs. This is definitely not medieval, though, although late nineteenth-century is a possibility. We had a similar set at Lamford, so tattered it was unusable though you could see what it once had been. Shame this has only what looks like alb apparel in addition to the chasuble rather than a stole.

And finally back to Roman vestments for this requiem set from Southampton. The combination of black and green is rather handsome.