Embroidery on a red cope at St Augustine's Church, Kilburn, London NW6, with heraldic symbols embroidered on the orphrey at the front (the diocesan arms for Canterbury and York, for example, top left and middle right respectively), and God on Majesty on the back. Red was considered the colour "for seasons that show forth His suffering, His dying, His sympathy, His life Man-wards" (Legg 91) and also, as "the colour of flame, and so used for Pentecost; and the colour of blood, and so used for Martyr's festivals" (H. H. J. 26). The material of the cope itself is embroidered with suns and flowers.[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Photographs by John Salmon, with thanks to St Augustine's Church; text by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit John Salmon and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Related Material
Bibliography
J., H. H. S. Augustine's Church, Kilburn. A Short Account of Its Structure, Vestments, and Other Works of Art. London: Morton & Burt, 1894. Hathi Trust. From a copy in the library of Princeton University. Web. 28 April 2021.
Legg, Dr. J. Wickham. "Notes on the History of the Liturgical Colours." Transactions of St Paul's Ecclesiological Society. 1885. 95-134. Google Books. Free Ebook.
Martin's Ecclesiastical Heraldry. Web. 28 April 2021.
Created 27 April 2021