Susan Gately
Some of the vestments used during the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress The WMOF18 is calling on artists and designers to put on their creative thinking caps to come up with a “unique and inspirational” design for the vestments to be worn by priests, bishops and the Pope himself at the masses of the World Meeting of Families in August 2018. The design “should lend itself to large volume production and should be easily produced, cleaned and maintained”, according to the organisers.
December 20 is the deadline for applications and an independent panel will judge the designs and award the winner a prize of €1,000
The WMOF congress theme – ‘The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World’ should in some way be reflected in the design.
Artists may submit up to three original designs and each design should be accompanied by a short note explaining its inspiration.
Elizabeth and Lilly Yeats, sisters of the poet William Butler Yeats and members of the Dun Emer Guild, crafted vestments used in the Eucharistic Congress held in Ireland in 1932. Their cloth-of-gold creation with intricate Celtic embroidery influenced by Elizabeth’s time in the circle of William Morris are still in use in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin today.