Friday, July 04, 2008

Tailor to the Popes: under the reign of Pius XII...



With the devil's focus to dismember the Church at the local level, many clergymen don't even wear clerical dress anymore. It goes without saying that it's been a time of tumult, which has already been ending.

My pastor of blessed memory, the ever solicitous Rev. Msgr. R. J. Schuler, PhD, used to talk about the "old days" in 1950s Rome with all of its many clerical tailors and hat stores, etc. With the vast majority of these shops having now closed their doors, the "rex" of them all remains, Gammarelli.

In 1942 (29 April, '42), Pius XII gave to the Gammarelli family the privilege of having his personal arms on their label and so here we see a ferriola (cape) made by them in the '40s or '50s with his crest and nice to see this quality work, over fifty years later, still in mint condition...and still being used!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for showing us the crest on this cassock. It is very beautiful. What a privilege it is to be a priest, and what a joy for a priest to be able to wear a cassock; and what a simple chaste pleasure it is to wear a Gamarelli.

humboldt said...

Yes, the economic effects of the changes by Vatican II were revolutionary. Amazing. The more I know the more horrified I am.