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REVIEW: Handbook for Laundering Liturgical Linens
You might recall that some time ago I posted a preview of a booklet projected by Angelus Press.
It is now out:
Handbook for Laundering Liturgical Linens.
This is a very useful booklet!
Anyone with a parish or chapel who would like to get people involved in the care of altar linens would be wise to purchase copies of this nicely printed pamphlet for distribution.
As I wrote in my preview: I am highly in favor of anything that will help other people learn how properly to iron purificators, corporals, amices… all that stuff.
That said, I was a little puzzled why on the cover of the pamphlet they seem to have chosen to place the corporal upside down on the altar beneath the chalice.
Here is shot that gives you a sense also of the paper used for the cover, which I think is the clay-treated paper often found in magazines. It picks up your finger prints, but.. so what.
Notice the way the corporal is laid out, with the folds up. The point of a corporal is, in part, to retain particles of the Host within it, when folded up like an envelop. So.. I would have put it the other way.
But this can be easily corrected in a future printing, I imagine.
Here is the page with the instructions for the corporal.
I see in the back, in a "Guidelines and Tips" section, they may have taken a tip from me both from the blog entry and a phone conversation. They included a line or two about priests first washing the linens and putting the water down the sacrarium before sending them off to be worked on. Also, they picked up on the washing bags for amices. There was some good discussing on laundering tips at that preview entry I posted.
Now if I could get someone to do the linens for the Sabine Farm!
So, the pamphlet is short, but packed: 12pp. Softcover, illustrated. $2.95
Isn’t the picture of the corporal on the front of the booklet upside-down? [Pretty observant! o{]:¬) ]
Comment by Fr. Pius, OP — 19 August 2008 @ 4:08 pmOh please don’t tell us you wash your own linens? I don’t think your readers could handle anymore shocking news! Many years ago,I washed the
Comment by jay — 19 August 2008 @ 4:52 pmpriest’s mother’s kitchen towels. He’s a Pastor now. Dreadful job
Gee,Fr.Z…nobody seems interested in the fascinating topic of proper linen care! Perhaps a spoiled lot…Nothing like the joy of seeing those linens brightened up and the stains miraculously gone! :) Come on wdtprs readers, somebody help Fr.Z out!
Comment by Greg — 19 August 2008 @ 5:34 pmI think this booklet will be a good resource, because honestly, they don’t teach priests about things like this in seminary (at least not at the seminary I went to, which was a pretty good one), and so most priests are clueless, and just trust that their sacristans will do things right, whatever “right” is. I have the impression that there are many sacristans who don’t really know what they are doing.
Comment by Fr. A. Nonymous — 19 August 2008 @ 8:58 pmAnyone know of usual/good dimensions for making both corporals and purificators?
Comment by Dcn. Gregory — 19 August 2008 @ 9:40 pmMy friends at Angelus gave me a booklet a few weeks ago when it first came it. All in all good.
On the Corporal: Ironically enough, if you follow the instructions inside the booklet about folding the corporal for laundering, it would end up facing the correct direction. Apparently the photographer didn’t read the text before taking the photos.
I’ll have to remember to give him a hard time when I see him.
Cheers and here’s wishing you bright white linens, Father.
Comment by Ian — 20 August 2008 @ 12:08 amDoes it tell you how to get that glazed starched effect that Italian nuns used to get on a corporal?
Comment by Fr Ray Blake — 20 August 2008 @ 12:44 amSynchronicity, coincidence or the hand of the Holy Spirit! – This very week I have joined the ranks of Parish Ladies who care for Liturgical Linens. What an honour and privilege. I can remember a lot from my very early training, but this booklet will be invaluable. I hope it includes advice on repairs and storage.
Greg – some of us are indeed VERY interested in linen care. It is a VERY interesting subject.
Fr Blake – many years ago when I was at a convent school run by French nuns, we were taught to achieve that “glazed starch effect” by adding a solution of very fine sugar to the starch. The same mixture was used by many of the girls in place of hair spray – cheap and very effective. But I would guess that that is one of the things that priests most definitely would not know.
Comment by Christabel — 20 August 2008 @ 2:14 amActually, whilst we are on the subject, may I ask the advice and opinion of any priests reading these comments please?
The best way to preserve the freshness (and moth-free status) of liturgical linens is to store them with a natural herbal scent such as lavender or verbena or lemon salts. Is there any preference about the use of such scents? Good, bad, pleasant, irritating, likely to bring on hay fever? Is this practice even allowed? Or is it one of those things which annoy priests for years but they are always too charitable to mention?
Comment by Christabel — 20 August 2008 @ 2:25 amChristabel, I can’t speak for Fr. but I’m pretty sure that
Comment by dymphna — 20 August 2008 @ 9:01 ammany priests don’t want to smell like lavender. Lemon &
verbena are unisex scents that probably wouldn’t be too
annoying to a man.
My best guess on the cover is that the items were arranged by a photographer (who didn’t read the book and for all we know isn’t even Catholic) who probably felt that folds-up looked better than folds-down. All they care about is getting the best looking shot, stuff like that. The problem actually is that no one in-the-know about such matters caught it before the book went to print (or before the cover went to print, if it is a dust jacket).
Comment by GJP — 20 August 2008 @ 9:35 amSo true, christabel! Having worked in an Irish laundry, I know how fascinating it is, especially when the holy sisters would come in. Cleaning linens and the dirty laundry in the Church, both interesting. As always, JESUS is best at this kind of work…His speciality!
Comment by greg — 20 August 2008 @ 11:10 amFr. Blake – for the nice glazed starch look…
Comment by Fr. Darrell Roman — 20 August 2008 @ 2:15 pmyou have to use the real starch, cook it, soak your linens
in it, hang them up to dry and then iron them..
I learned this in the seminary when I was a student
in the seminary in Polan. I was on vacation and asked the
Sister’s to show me how to wash and iron the altar linens.
They said that this was the first time a seminarian aske
to help and learn how to take care of the altar linens.
Also, if you use red wine and there are red stains on
linens, soak them in soda water….yes, the soda water
for a drink…it takes the stains out. Bleach will just
break down the material…
Good Luck!
Fr. Darrell
Love the snap that a nice piece of linen has when it has the glazed starch look. Where does one get solid powdered starch these days? It’s unavailable at every store I go to localy. If you can even find someone over the age of 50 who actualy knows what it is they usualy tell you they havent sold it in years. The kids who stock the isles in the stores look at you like you have an extra hole in your head when you ask.
Also Christabel mentioned “very fine sugar”. Is this the same as what we call confectioners sug