Mitre.
Western Europe, late 19th – early 20 th c.
Vilnius Cathedral.
20th c. Tradition or change
In the first half of the 20th century, the appearance of liturgical vestments developed along the lines formed in the 19th century, but a hundred years in the tsarist Russian Empire, two world wars and the Soviet occupation caused Lithuania’s isolation from the life of the Universal Church. The making and embroidery of liturgical vestments went into decline. Vestments from the Lentvaris church whose patrons were the Tyszkiewiczs, distinguished by high quality and craftsmanship, were an exception.
Other liturgical vestments
Liturgical vestments were supplemented by other elements. The stole is a long band with broadened ends, which became an indispensable attribute of the Holy Mass in the 9th century. At that time, the maniple worn on the left forearm was also included among liturgical vestments. The mitre, a bishop’s headdress, became established in the liturgy in the 11th–12th century. The gremial was a magnificent cloth laid across the knees of a bishop at a certain point in the liturgy.
Embroidery with metal and silk threads
The mitre embroidered with metal and coloured silk threads was most likely produced in specialized workshops of liturgical vestments in Western Europe. In the 19th century, a new style of decoration of liturgical vestments was created in these workshops, which remained popular later.
