The Egyptian origin of liturgical lace Though it is often believed that "no documentary evidence exists that lace was made before the 15th century", it has also been shown from
ancient Egyptian nets that embroidered patterns from Antiquity could be found. The first trace of the use of lace in a liturgical context was found in the
Egyptian sarcophagus. Bead-net dresses, mentioned in Egyptian literature since the
Three Tales of Wonder (known also as the
Tales from the Westcar Papyrus ) and depicted in Egyptian art as the costume sky goddess,
Nut, from the third millennium B.C, can be seen as the oldest form or liturgical lace. In fact, given that these dresses were too heavy to move in, and having been found solely within tombs, it seems like they primarily served a funerary and liturgical function. They were made by stringing beads together on a net which was then worn over a linen dress. This early design known as a square knotted mesh netting was, therefore, a geometric design similar to
sprang.
The apostolic symbolism: from fishing nets to filet lace Based on
Ephesians 5 and the visions of the supper of the lamb in the
book of Revelation, liturgical lace has been described as a way for the Church to symbolize itself as a virginal bride celebrating the divine marriage with the heavenly spouse. Liturgical lace has also been compared to the fishing nets of the
apostles, especially as the Venetian lace is said to have originated from the Venetian sailors' art of knitting nets.
From Eastern monasticism to Franciscan lace Liturgical lace may have been disseminated in the Catholic Church through the migration of monks from the East such as
Nilus the Younger. Lace may have also evolved alongside realistic ornamentation from the
gammalion and cross-shape lace to more figurative representations such as flowing scrolls and vine leaves, as found in manuscript ornamentation as monasticism developed both male and female convents under the lead of
Benedict of Nursia and
Scholastica. This pairing of male and female liturgical lace has its earliest representation with the linen alb of
Francis of Assisi presumably made by
Clare of Assisi. By the early 13th century, the
Ancrene Wisse, an anonymous monastic rule for female anchoresses cautions nuns against devoting too much time to lace and ornamental work, to the detriment of work for the poor.
The Venetian renaissance of liturgical lace under the protection of Saint Francis Regis Lace industries, which sprang up like mushrooms all over Europe during the sixteenth century, encouraged the addition of lace to embellish the Catholic liturgy. By the 1660s, Venetian needle lace became the most fashionable lace, with the patronage of the
Catholic Church. Its characteristics with the exaggeration of three-dimensional qualities of needle lace; creating patterns which could be divided into parts allowed for the production of large-scale ecclesiastical items like vestments and church furnishings that were "conspicuously extravagant." saying Mass in the Church of the
Palais Royal is painted by
Delacroix wearing a delicate liturgical lace. However, the major revolution to liturgical lace was sparked off by the invention of leaver lace which originated in
Nottingham in England, early in the nineteenth century. Lace machines faced the opposition of the
Luddites who had to be stopped in their vandalism by the
Destruction of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1812. Eventually, the machines made lace much more accessible and in the 1840s, lace prices fell dramatically, which meant that albs, rochets and surplices could be garnished with very high lace of 60 cm. or more. Through centuries, liturgical lace developed a style of its own across various cultures and even helped grow the industry, as in places such as Poland where bobbin laces were created for liturgical vestments and workshops bloomed across the country.
Liturgical lace under fire since the Church Discipline Act 1840 In England, after the
Church Discipline Act 1840 (
3 & 4 Vict. c. 86) which aimed to counter the rise of
ritualism in the
Anglican Church, Robert Liddell, then vicar of Saint Paul's Church in
Knightsbridge, was taken to court by his churchwarden for the use of cloths edged with lace as well as altar crosses and credence tables. In 1854, while the courts refused him the use of an altar cross and of a credence table, lace was tolerated. By the mid-19th century in France, lace was considered something of the 18th century and was replaced by more affordable
filet lace or
tulle which originated in
Tulle, a city in the southern central region of France which was criticized as liturgical vestments were meant to be in linen and not in cotton which was used to make the latter. , in 1883. Meanwhile, lace flourished in
Ireland. with a full-length lace alb holding Mass on one of the mess decks in
HMS Royal Oak during the
First World War. Yet, the trend for more elaborate liturgical lace concerned some in the Catholic Church as well, already in 1880, Pio Martinucci as secretary of the
Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments or Ceremonials, noted that the surplice has become merely an ornament whose excess elegance little becomes its sacred usage. In 1912, the Benedictine monk
Lambert Beaudoin recommended the use of lace and advised that the best liturgical lace was the one that was sown directly on the liturgical vestment. From the 1930s onwards, the Liturgical movement was particularly critical of the use of liturgical lace. Women involved in embroidery and sowing at the time criticized liturgical lace as "worldly", "effeminate", and "feminine", arguing it had "no rightful place in the embroidering of liturgical vestments". In the 1950s, as the trend was to give "imitate the nature of things, truth and substance", the tendency was to reject the transparency of lace as frivolous. The price of lace compared to linen was also used as an economic argument against its use in liturgy. The whole movement was not against lace, as others encouraged its use in order for women to veil themselves when in church, in an attempt to return to the earliest centuries of Christian liturgy. At the
Second Vatican Council, liturgical lace was still very much in use.
Between renewal and criticism in 2013 wearing intricate liturgical lace under the papal
fanon. While the Second Vatican Council encouraged the beauty of the celebration, contradictory esthetic standards have led to conflicting positions on the use of lace in liturgy. In the United States alone for example, in 1996, altar lace was recommended as a way to lead toward prayers, especially for catechumenate team formation. At the same time, other official documents suggests that the use of altar lace and "old frontals" should be rejected preferring "a simple white cloth without lots of lace or frill". In the wake of the pedophilia crisis, some went as far as to accuse liturgical lace of feminizing the celibate priesthood by "appropriating a female persona" and enacting "homoerotic aspects". Bordering
homophobic slur, some critics referring to a "homosexual question" in the Catholic Church have stated that "the exaggerated taste for lace has ceased to make us smile". Since the 1990s however, younger generations have been keen on restoring the use of liturgical lace despite being considered as "retro"
backwardism by those who presumed it was a return to the past. Under the pontificate of
Pope Benedict XVI, the use of liturgical lace made a major comeback. However,
Pope Francis has expressed a rather mitigated opinion saying ironically that liturgical lace or
merletti described by
La Croix journalist as "retrograde accouterments" were merely a "tribute to grandmothers" and needed some
aggiornamento sixty years after the Council. ==Use: albs, surplices, rochets, mantillas, lace cuffs and framed prayers==