London priest receives rare 16th-century replica chasuble
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Written by Carolyn Girard, The Catholic Register,
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This replica of a chasuble owned by St. Charles Borromeo is one of only 10 in the world. It is a gift for Fr. Paul Nicholson of the London diocese. (Photo courtesy of DiCarlo Religious Supply Centre)
TORONTO - A 16th-century chasuble replica finally made its way from Italy to St. Patrick’s parish of Kinkora in the diocese of London.
After a long delay, whereby it missed the original presentation day scheduled for the feast of Corpus Christi, the chasuble arrived safe and sound, ready to be blessed by the church’s pastor, Fr. Paul Nicholson, Nov. 1. The chasuble was purchased by Toronto-based siblings James and Mary Catherine Fallona in honour of their late aunt Margaret Mary Fallona.
“When Fr. Paul suggested this, we decided it would be a great idea,” said James, who paid part of the $8,000 for the vestment.
The chasuble, a replica of the vestment presented to the Senate of Bologna by St. Charles Borromeo, is one of only 10 copies made by a vestment company in Genoa, Italy, Tridentinum Interior and Liturgical Design. The company has previously made high level vestments for the Pope, including a purple one he wore on Ash Wednesday and a red one June 29 — also replicas of former papal brocades.
Tridentinum general manager Pietro Siffi said the company plans to present one of the copies of the St. Charles Borromeo chasuble to Pope Benedict XVI this year, another to the archbishop of Bologna and one to the rector of the church where the original chasuble is on display. Part of the proceeds from the seven others, including the one bought by the Fallonas, will help pay for those three, Siffi told The Register. St. Charles Borromeo was an archbishop of Milan during the 1500s.
Nicholson suggested buying the vestment as a way to honour Margaret Mary Fallona’s love for the Tridentine Mass. Nicholson himself learned Latin from Fallona, a high school teacher who could speak multiple languages including English, Italian, Spanish, French and Latin.
“I was in Grade 8 when I met her. She used to organize retreats for us to religious sites in Quebec,” Nicholson said.
“She did not live to see Summa Pontificum, but it’s almost like she envisioned this reality. She understood that ressourcement (a return to the sources) and aggiornamento (to update and dialogue with the modern world) both had to be done together. She was an extraordinary lover of the liturgy. Her foresight of the Tridentine Mass being offered regularly in the church came long before and we wanted to extend our thanks to Pope Benedict for Summa Pontificum in her name because it’s almost like she envisioned this reality.”
Fallona, who died in 2005 at the age of 102, was a great Catholic role model and respected community member, Nicholson said. She taught in the public school system at a time when it was hard for Catholics to get hired in that sector, but took things even further by bringing teachers and students on cultural trips to Quebec where she introduced them, like Nicholson, to many religious sites.
In order to bridge both the extraordinary and ordinary Masses, Nicholson, who has been at the parish for two years, plans to celebrate both an ordinary and Tridentine Mass on Sundays. He will wear the chasuble at both to illustrate that “there’s a mutual enrichment from it.”
Mary Catherine said it is an exciting thing to see happen.
“Certainly the Mass in the vernacular is very easy for many people but for us we studied Latin and grew up with it so it’s very familiar to us.”
The chasuble was on display in the storefront of Tridentinum’s Canadian distributor in Toronto in October, DiCarlo Religious Supply Centre, as the company’s first Italian replica-chasuble bought by Canadians.
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