... of William Cardinal O'Connell (1859-1944), archbishop of Boston from 1907 to 1944, who already had his own posting
in October, where you also can find some biographical information. I just found these photos in the Photo collection of the Library of Congress and thought I'd share them with you.
That's quite a variety of non-liturgical wear the good Cardinal offers on these first three photos. I like the different hats. Does anybody know anything about the strangely buttoned coat in the last two pics?
With the Marquis Ferrante, Italian Consul in Boston, on the occasion of his being presented the Decoration of the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy.
With co-purpurados Mundelein and Hayes. Identification of the other gentlemen is a task for the specialists.
During a dedication ceremony
You cant say "Cardinal O'Connell" without saying "cappa magna"...
... so here we go.
That's quite a variety of non-liturgical wear the good Cardinal offers on these first three photos. I like the different hats. Does anybody know anything about the strangely buttoned coat in the last two pics?
With the Marquis Ferrante, Italian Consul in Boston, on the occasion of his being presented the Decoration of the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy.
With co-purpurados Mundelein and Hayes. Identification of the other gentlemen is a task for the specialists.
During a dedication ceremony
You cant say "Cardinal O'Connell" without saying "cappa magna"...
... so here we go.
9 comments:
The Cardinal's coat seems designed to fulfill the rules of the Third Council of Baltimore on clerical dress in the United States:
77. Ecclesia praescribit oportere clericum vestes proprio suo statui congruentes semper deferre. Decentia namque habitus externi ostendat oportet internam morum honestatem. Praeterea habitus clericorum peculiaris gerentibus non solum reverentiam celsae status dignitati debitam conciliat, sed ipsismet perpetuo status sanctitatem in mentem revocat et a plurimis quae minus clericum decent, arcet et avocat. Volumus itaque et praecipimus, ut omnes Ecclesiae legem servent, domique agentes vel in templo veste talari, quae clerico propria est, semper utantur. Cum foras prodcunt muneris vel animi recreandi causa vel in itinere, breviori quadam veste indui licet, quae tamen nigri coloris sit et ad genua producatur, ita ut a laicis distingui possint. Elegantiores vestium formas et mundanas quae novae in dies inveniuntur respuant. (Cone. Plen. Bait. II., No. 148.) Stricto praecepto sacerdotibus nostris injungimus, ut tam domi quam foris, sive in propria dioecesi degant sive extra eam, collare quod romanum vocatur gerant. Et quia ratio legis ecclesiasticae de vestitu clericorum non minus valet de regularibus quam saecularibus, sacerdotes quoque regulares tenentur lege utendi vel collari romano vel vestitu idoneo ad distinguendum clericos a laicis, quotiescumque seposito habitu sui ordinis proprio foras prodcunt.
http://books.google.com/books?id=vOcQAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR22&dq=Acta+te+DecretA+baltimore&ei=GAPkSfzNGpGiygTW2djQBw#PPA41,M1
Roughly: In travel, recreation, etc., they may dress in clothing nonetheless black and which stretches to the knees and is such that they are able to be distinguished from the laity.
(My Latin is pretty bad, but I remember how frustrating it was to see long extracts of untranslated latin when my Latin was worse than it is now... so I do my best to sketch the meaning of that little bit.)
First, welcome back and thank you for another treat!
Regarding those sitting with the porporati, I believe that on one's left, looking at the picture, is Archbishop (later Cardinal) Glennon of St Louis. His being there would also make sense because he was way up in seniority among the bishops of the US.I am not as sure of the man on the right but I think it may be Bishop Gallagher of Detroit (Detroit, of course, only raised to a Metropolitan See after his death).
The long coat is a perfectly standard 19th and 20th century clerical frock-coat. These were worn by all clergy when not in Cassock from the 17th century. They went out of fashion in most Catholic countries during the first half of the 19th century (as they were considered too connected with pre-revolutionary decadence). In non-Catholic countries they were kept as they resembled protestant minister's day dress more and would give rise to less public resentment. Such frock-coats are still worn in some places on special occasions. I have seen one at a charity ball, one at a wedding and another at a birthday party (though that was an Anglican one, which are more elaborate). The famous late Mgr Gilbey wore one every day until his death in 1998. One thing that is genuinely unusual about the picture though is that the coat has been done up. That is rare.
Thanks for the input, guys!
Christian, it did look like a frock coat to me, except that I am used to the front part below the waist being cut back a little. And, yes, the coat being done up is weird.
Such a frock coat is the usual cassock-substitute. Anglican bishops (and some lower prelates, if any) would wear them with gaiters, which can be seen in a caricature of Cardinal Newman imagining what it would have been like had he remained with Canterbury.
Wippells in UK still make just such frock coats. They were worn extensively throughout Australia by Catholic and Protestant clergy in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to purchase one on eBay: not in good condition, admittedly, but fascinating for someone interested to see how these things were made. Plenty of internal pockets and large, flat buttons, intended to be done up in imitation of a cassock.
Indeed, the Catholic clerical frock-coat was made to resemble a cassock. The reason why you would have seen ones that were slightly cut away, Leo, is probably because they either were or were aping the Anglican style. The Anglican style is worn over a sort of double-breasted smock with a little facsia. Because the smock resembles an Anglican double-breasted cassock one can infer that the frock coat is descended from a sort of outer, greca-like, coat. Most examples of this Anglican style frock-coat are not only cut back, the usually have folded back sleeves and many buttons. In this way they resemble the Georgian coats, which, no doubt, they are descended from.
PS: In the top picture one can see that he is clearly wearing a standard (at the time) double-breasted gentleman's frock-coat. In the group photograph many of the other clerics are doing this too. Clearly it must have been common practice to wear such frock-coats instead of the strictly clerical sort.
In the UK, the usual dress for an Anglican bishop was an attenuated double-breasted cassock known as an 'apron' which was worn with knee breeches, hose, and gaiters, over which was worn a frock coat. Just to make things even more fun, in addition to the black 'day' version there was a purple 'dress' version. I last saw the black version in 1986 when I was confirmed; the purple version is still occasionally seen at Court functions in the UK. Lord Carey wore it; not so sure about Rowen Williams.
In the USA, Anglican (PECUSA) bishops tended to wear an ordinary clerical frock coat with trousers as Swedish Lutheran bishops do to this day, albeit without the bands. The more elaborate form of bishops frock coat seems not have had much favour with PECUSA bishops, though on the RC side of the reckoning I have seen photographs of Card. Doughty ("God's Bricklayer") wearing the more cur back version.
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