A Tailor's Faith
Far from the solemn pomp of the Vatican, under the arcades of the mountain town of Santarcangelo di Romagna, a tailor clad all in black leaned over his sketch. With a few strokes of his pencil, Filippo Sorcinelli brought to life a flowing liturgical robe — fitting for a man whose artistry and faith have built an international reputation for one-of-a-kind ecclesiastical attire.
On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV wore a green and white vestment created by the 51-year-old Sorcinelli while presiding over mass in the nearby port city of Rimini.
Crafting for Popes
Having run Atelier LAVS for sacred vestments for 25 years, Sorcinelli knows the weight of his responsibilities. He has created liturgical garments for the last three popes — Benedict XVI, Francis, and now the Chicago-born Leo.
"Dressing a pope is, first of all, like dressing a priest. The respect is the same, the parameters are the same — caring about respect for the role the priest and the pope occupy, therefore for their dignity and how they present themselves to the world," Sorcinelli told AFP.
The liturgical norms to be respected "are not constraints but guidelines, rules, fixed points," he said, calling sacred art "an absolutely important message of revelation."
From Incense to Perfume
Dubbed "a couturier of the sacred" by Vogue magazine, Sorcinelli has seen his business expand over the years, now encompassing perfumes and body products for the general public. But the ardent Catholic is still driven by faith, first sparked in the small church of his native town of Mondolfo, in Italy's eastern Marche region, where he recalls the smell of incense and the closely guarded antique fabrics within the sacristy.
"I could never do this work if I didn't believe, if I weren't living an experience of faith in some way," said the designer, who has also served as principal organist of the cathedral of Rimini and others nearby.
"My path really begins in that little church in Mondolfo in the Marche region, where, from the time I was a child, I would go with my mother to help clean that building," he said.
The Vestment's Symbolism
Sorcinelli, aided by 11 seamstresses, displayed the green silk forming the basis of the vestment created for Leo's Rimini mass. Gold and silver inlay work and green agate stones complete the piece. The deep, solemn green, he said, precisely evokes the period of the liturgical year dedicated to hope and to the safeguarding of creation. The ornamentation, he added, almost echoed the portholes of the boats in the port of Rimini.
A Serendipitous Connection
When young, Sorcinelli met the then-Augustinian priest Robert Prevost — the birth name of Pope Leo XIV — but the two have not spoken since. During papal assignments, Sorcinelli submits possible designs and fabric swatches to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. The process of creating a pontifical vestment, specifically the chasuble and the mitre, can range from a few weeks up to three or four months of work, he said.
Art as Revelation
Sorcinelli, also a perfumer and organist, sees art as an inexhaustible source of expression. "To stop would mean having completed one's existence," he said, adding that he does not think he has reached that point yet.