THE P RTAL
July 2015
Page 18
Embroidery Exhibition
Wendy Redvers Harris visits St Agatha’s Portsmouth
“Absolutely amazing!”
and “Very impressive!” were the enthusiastic reactions of visitors
to the Embroidery Exhibition at St Agatha’s Church, Portsmouth, opened on 12th June by Mgr Keith
Newton. The church is a stately Grade II* listed Italianate red-brick basilica, built in 1894 to the design of
the Anglo-Catholic “slum priest” Fr Dolling. Saved from demolition and undergoing restoration, it is now
under the care of the St Agatha’s Trust and its priest, of the Ordinariate, is Fr John Maunder.
Visitors were greeted by the welcoming sound of
the new church bells. Inside, friends and parishioners
from the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth enjoyed the
exhibition and refreshments in a relaxed and peaceful
atmosphere.
Fr John Maunder was there, with helpful volunteers,
as host to his remarkable collection of mostly
continental 18th to 20th century embroidered vestments
and ecclesiastical textiles. Some are the work of
professional companies, and others
made in convents or domestically. The
collection includes high and low mass
sets, copes and banners. One of these is
the early 20th century English banner of
St Agatha – the only one to survive from
the pre-war church.
A particularly interesting 18th century
continental white Latin chasuble comes
from an English Catholic convent which
had moved from Belgium. It features
two different floral woven patterns and
is thought to have been originally from
a woman’s dress. It frequently happened
that a young woman would give her
best clothes to a convent, upon entering
religious life, for use as vestment material.
Visitors were astonished by the beauty,
variety and extremely high quality of the
embroiderers’ skills. The vestments were
effectively displayed around the church
There were some especially striking 19th
on numbered stands, with accompanying
century red silk velvet vestments from
detailed catalogue for ease of reference.
France. They each feature a stunning
There was also a very helpful list of the
centrepiece of moulded gold or silver
Christian meanings of the symbols and
metal in raised forms: for example, the
flowers depicted in the embroideries, enabling visitors Lamb of God, adorned with gold or silver needlework
to appreciate their spiritual significance. They were and set against sunrays of sequins.
well-arranged in groups, according to their liturgical
colours: gold, white, red, violet, green, black and rose.
Many visitors particularly appreciated the intricate
needlepoint panels and orphreys which had been
The textiles included items in cloth of gold, silk, silk appliquéd onto some of the chasubles. Also greatly
damask and moiré. Fr John explained that old green admired were the cope hoods, made by Franciscan
vestments are often the most scarce, since they are used nuns in the 1870s – beautiful and intricate portrait
the most frequently during the Church’s liturgical year, embroideries of figures, using coloured silks, gold
and so decay more quickly than those in the other, less thread, bullion and coloured gemstones.
frequently used, colours.
Fr John commented that some embroiderers
One unusual English gold Latin chasuble from specialised in gold work, which roughened the fingers,
the early 20th century has a design including painted while others worked on the delicate silks. He sees his
paper roundels. Paper, or more often painted canvas, role as teaching, conserving and rescuing vestments
was sometimes used to reduce costs as the price of which he describes as “part of the beauty of holiness
embroideries increased. However, they are more and the mystery of the mass”. He hopes to be able to
prone to damage and loss.
create a new gallery for a more permanent display.
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