Religion: Sober Life, Sober Vestments

The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church have traditionally dressed as befits their princely rank. A cardinal’s minimum ceremonial wardrobe, including ermine-tipped cape and watered-silk robes in purple and scarlet, costs at least $3,000. Last week, on the heels of his appointment of 24 new cardinals (TIME, Dec. 8), Pope Pius XII ordered members of the Sacred College to scale down on the splendor. The world situation, said a papal decree, enjoins “a sober tenor of life upon all and a measured and austere one, particularly upon the clergy.”

Although many cardinals inherit robes from their predecessors, the new official change will mean a saving of $1,000 for a prelate who has to outfit himself from scratch. Specifically, the Pope has ordered : 1) that the fantail on both purple and red cassocks be eliminated, 2) that purple robes, which are used in time of mourning and during Lent and Advent, be made of wool instead of silk (the scarlet formal dress will continue to be made of silk), 3) that the six-yard train on the cappa magna, the long ceremonial cape which cardinals wear, be shortened to three yards.

The papal order threw a sudden and heavy burden on the overworked tailors at Gammarelli Bros., the Vatican’s semiofficial outfitters. Already swamped with orders from some of the new cardinals, the Gammarellis now had extra work from old customers. Cardinals living in Rome began dropping in at their little shop on Via Santa Chiara to order trains cut in half and fantails eliminated from their cassocks.

A comparable concession to austerity was made last week by England’s Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, in charge of arrangements for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. At previous coronations, it was mandatory for peers attending the ceremony to wear crimson robes trimmed with ermine. This time, peers not taking direct part in the ceremonies may wear merely the mantle of an order of knighthood over formal evening dress (knee breeches optional). The wives of peers (below the rank of countess) may also come in ordinary evening dresses.