Traditional becomes antiquarian when it is a rupture with organic developmentOrganic development still continues. Or are you suggesting that vestments should always look exactly as they did in the Baroque period? Mitres became very tall and then became shorter again. Roman chasubles have largely given way to gothic-style chasubles. The same is true in architecture. The vaults in Gothic cathedrals became higher and higher until a part of Beauvais Cathedral collapsed and there was a change of direction. St Peter's as it stands now is a radically different building from the original basilica. Development by its nature does not stop and seeking inspiration form the past is common in art, architecture and design.
I see absolutely nothing to object to in reaching back to the early church for the design of the Pope's pallium. On the contrary, it is enriching. Nor do I object to the occasional use of Roman or Baroque style chasubles. I think there is room for all styles. The huge exaggerated mitres simply look ridiculous on the Pope. It is a question of proportion.
When it was customary for the Pope to wear a mantum the garment needed to be carried when he walked - and he did not often walk anywhere in the mantum, he was carried - or he would fall over it. The Pope no longer wears a mantum, he wears a cope, and he can walk perfectly well without the aid of cope bearers. They are superfluous and an artificial revival of things past. They look silly and theatrical.
This is what the Catholic Encyclopaedia has to say about the later development of liturgical vestments:
In the fourth period, from the thirteenth century to the present time, the history of the liturgical vestments is almost entirely the history of their rubrical evolution, their adornment with embroidery and ornamental trimmings, and the nature of the material from which they are made. …… In general the tendency in the fourth period has been towards greater richness of material and ornamentation, but, at the same time, towards greater convenience, therefore, a constantly increasing shortening and fitting to the figure of the vestments, naturally impairing the form and æsthetic effect of the vestments. The mitre alone has been permitted to grow into a tower disproportionate in shape. Taking everything together, the development which liturgical vestments have experienced since the thirteenth century, and more especially since the sixteenth century, hardly appears to be a matter of satisfaction, notwithstanding all the richness and costliness of ornamentation, but rather a lamentable disfigurement caused by the taste of the time.
Reuters
What's more important, being polite to the locals or glorifying God in the Liturgy? How does that look to people who just see the Pope in random media clips? You know what my friend said to me when he saw the Mariazell vestments? "That's the Pope? What an idiot."I would not say that the Pope looked like a clown - and ceratinly not an idiot - in the Mariazell vestments although he did look as if he had an accident with a few pots of paint. Has it occurred to you, Aspirantmonk, that the people who designed and made those vestments had in mind nothing less than "glorifying God in the Liturgy?" That their aesthetic senses do not concur with yours or mine does not make their intentions any less noble. The Pope, perhaps, has rather more insight, not to mention more kindness and humility than you do.
