Vestments and Vesture

Vestments and Vesture: A Manual of Liturgical Art by Dom EA Roulin, translated by Dom Justin McCann, 298 pages

This is less a textbook than a primer for priests and others involved in the design, purchase, and care of all kinds of liturgical clothes, from chasubles to purificators to banners.  The focus is less on their historical development than on their design and use, with a continuous emphasis on simplicity and good taste.

The French original was published in 1930, a time which seems far removed from the liturgical wars of today.  Yet Dom Roulin's sensible advice indicts both the tawdriness of so much contemporary work and the theatricality of some traditionalist overreactions, instead supporting a liturgical art which is "dignified, solid, and devotional."