San Francisco Frontiers - Pope's 'couturier of the sacred' fueled by faith

With a few strokes of his pencil, Filippo Sorcinelli brought to life a flowing liturgical robe -- fitting for the man whose artistry and faith has cemented an international reputation for one-of-a-kind ecclesiastical attire.

On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV was to don a green and white vestment created by the 51-year-old Sorcinelli during a papal mass in the nearby port city of Rimini.

Having run Atelier LAVS for sacred vestments for 25 years, Sorcinelli is well aware of the weight of his responsibilities. He has created liturgical garments for the last three popes -- Benedict XVI, Francis, and now the Chicago-born Leo.

"Dressing a pope is, first of all, like dressing a priest. The respect is the same, the parameters are the same -- caring about respect for the role the priest and the pope occupy, therefore for their dignity and how they present themselves to the world," Sorcinelli told AFP.

The liturgical norms to be respected "are not constraints but guidelines, rules, fixed points," he said, calling sacred art "an absolutely important message of revelation."

- Incense, textiles --

Dubbed "a couturier of the sacred" by Vogue magazine, Sorcinelli has seen his business expand over the years, now encompassing perfumes and body products for the general public.

But the ardent Catholic is still driven by faith, first sparked in the small church of his native town of Mondolfo, in Italy's eastern Marche region, where he can still recall the smell of incense and the closely guarded antique fabrics within the sacristy.

"I could never do this work if I didn’t believe, if I weren’t living an experience of faith in some way," said the designer who has also served as the principal organist of the cathedral of Rimini and others nearby.

"My path really begins in that little church in Mondolfo in the Marche region, where, from the time I was a child, I would go with my mother to help clean that building," he said.

Sorcinelli, aided by 11 seamstresses, displayed the green silk forming the basis of Leo's vestment for Rimini, rolling out the sumptuous fabric onto a long table.

The "deep, solemn" green colour "precisely evokes that period of the liturgical year dedicated to hope and to the safeguarding of creation," he explained.

Gold and silver inlay work and green agate stones complete the garment.

"There was really no better choice to describe this setting: right there on the beach, right there in the port of Rimini, where through the ornamentation we also almost echoed the portholes of the boats."

- Art as expression -

Once when young, Sorcinelli met the former Robert Prevost -- the birth name of Pope Leo -- then just an Augustinian priest, but the men have not spoken since, he said.

During papal assignments, he submits possible designs and fabric swatches to the Vatican office that organises masses and other papal celebrations, the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.

"The process of creating a pontifical vestment -— in this specific case the chasuble and the mitre, that is, what he wears on his body and what he wears on his head -- can range from the simplicity of a few weeks up to three or four months of work," he said.

What's next for the designer/perfumer/organist remains to be seen, he said.

"I regard art as an inexhaustible source of expression. To stop would mean having completed one’s existence, and I don’t think I’m there yet."

X.Roberts--SFF