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Liturgical lace refers to the use of lace as a form of Liturgy at the crossroads of religious art and decorative arts.
This pairing of male and female liturgical lace has its earliest representation with the linen alb of Francis of Assisi presumably made by Clare of Assisi.
By the early 13th century, the Ancrene Wisse, an anonymous monastic rule for female anchoresses cautions nuns against devoting too much time to lace and ornamental work, to the detriment of work for the poor.
By the 1660s, Venetian needle lace became the most fashionable lace, with the patronage of the Catholic Church. Its characteristics with the exaggeration of three-dimensional qualities of needle lace; creating patterns which could be divided into parts allowed for the production of large-scale ecclesiastical items like vestments and church furnishings that were "conspicuously extravagant."
However, the major revolution to liturgical lace was sparked off by the invention of leaver lace which originated in Nottingham in England, early in the nineteenth century. Lace machines faced the opposition of the who had to be stopped in their vandalism by the Destruction of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1812. Eventually, the machines made lace much more accessible and in the 1840s, lace prices fell dramatically, which meant that albs, rochets and surplices could be garnished with very high lace of 60 cm. or more.
Through centuries, liturgical lace developed a style of its own across various cultures and even helped grow the industry, as in places such as Poland where bobbin laces were created for liturgical vestments and workshops bloomed across the country.
By the mid-19th century in France, lace was considered something of the 18th century and was replaced by more affordable filet lace or tulle which originated in Tulle, a city in the southern central region of France which was criticized as liturgical vestments were meant to be in linen and not in cotton which was used to make the latter. Meanwhile, lace flourished in Ireland.
Yet, the trend for more elaborate liturgical lace concerned some in the Catholic Church as well, already in 1880, Pio Martinucci as secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments or Ceremonials, noted that the surplice has become merely an ornament whose excess elegance little becomes its sacred usage.
In 1912, the Benedictine monk Lambert Beauduin recommended the use of lace and advised that the best liturgical lace was the one that was sown directly on the liturgical vestment.
From the 1930s onwards, the Liturgical movement was particularly critical of the use of liturgical lace. Women involved in embroidery and sowing at the time criticized liturgical lace as "worldly", "effeminate", and "feminine", arguing it had "no rightful place in the embroidering of liturgical vestments".
In the 1950s, as the trend was to give "imitate the nature of things, truth and substance", the tendency was to reject the transparency of lace as frivolous. The price of lace compared to linen was also used as an economic argument against its use in liturgy.
The whole movement was not against lace, as others encouraged its use in order for women to veil themselves when in church, in an attempt to return to the earliest centuries of Christian liturgy.
At the Second Vatican Council, liturgical lace was still very much in use.
In the wake of the pedophilia crisis, some went as far as to accuse liturgical lace of feminizing the celibate priesthood by "appropriating a female persona" and enacting "homoerotic aspects". Bordering Homophobia slur, some critics referring to a "homosexual question" in the Catholic Church have stated that "the exaggerated taste for lace has ceased to make us smile".
Since the 1990s however, younger generations have been keen on restoring the use of liturgical lace despite being considered as "retro" backwardism by those who presumed it was a return to the past. Under the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, the use of liturgical lace made a major comeback. However, Pope Francis has expressed a rather mitigated opinion saying ironically that liturgical lace or merletti described by La Croix journalist as "retrograde accouterments" were merely a "tribute to grandmothers" and needed some aggiornamento sixty years after the Council.
Lace is also often added to liturgical tablecloths and pieces such as chalice covers. Altar lace which consists of lace fringe which is usually attached to the front of the altar, was never mentioned in the rubrics, but it become popular in both Catholic and Reformed churches. Thus, even in Lutheran churches of Denmark, altars of most churches used to have "richly embroidered altar frontals, usually in Velvet, and with a deep superfrontal of lace". However, the corporal was never decorated with liturgical lace in order to avoid fragments of the consecrated host from being trapped in their stitching.
Liturgical lace was also used for , liturgical veil worn by women popular in Spain as well as in Latin America. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language; 4th edition. 2000
Papal nobility would also wear facciole or lace collar, consisting of two separate rectangular strips of lace or muslin, Cuff, steel buttons and buckles.
Finally, lace filet is sometimes used to frame Christian prayers such as the Our Father.
While styles of liturgical lace have evolved through centuries, the most popular trimmings today are considered to be:
In the Italian city of Rapallo, there is a museum dedicated to liturgical lace and lace in general. Moreover, Catholic churches often consider liturgical lace in their sacristies as part of their treasure.
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