May 11, 2011

Praecinge Me, Domine, Cingulo Pulcherrimo

I received these lovely cinctures in the mail today, a gift from Paul of the Communio blog, which you should also read.


Of course a cincture as a liturgical vestment is not the same thing as the cord that forms part of the Franciscan habit, but I couldn't help thinking of one of my favorite quips from the Franciscan tradition, from Salimbene, a chronicling friar in the middle to late thirteenth century. As quoted in Dominic Monti's St. Bonaventure's Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order:

"Salimbene, recounting the lack of discipline in the Order in his youth, remarks: 'Some of these brethren did not even wear the proper cord of the friars, but chose a fancy one with colored threads and intricate knots. And happy was he who thought he had the prettiest one."
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:36 PM

    Can you teach me to properly "braid" my cinctures for storage/travel?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brother Charles3:38 PM

    To be honest, I've never learned that little skill. They came the way they appear in the picture. But I'll try to learn.

    ReplyDelete

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

I also reserve the right to reject comments promoting things like private revelations and fringe points of view, if it seems to me like they are being presented in a misleading way.

If you raise a disagreement with something I say but I do not respond, please do not feel slighted or insulted, or imagine that this automatically means I disagree or agree with you. It's just that I don't find the comment box to be a constructive medium for certain forms of debate.