Altar Server Vestments for TLM

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wilbir90

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Hi all!

I’m going to start serving at the TLM soon, and I need to get a cassock and surplice. Does anyone know where I can get a nice surplice with lace inserts for a decent price. I can’t find any under $100. I’m a college student so money is tight. I found a cassock, so no worries on that. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
For now, use the house surplice(s) unless they don’t have any in the sacristy. More lace, more grace!
Don’t focus so much on lace unless it is a first class feast and/or Sunday. Until then a simple white and bright surplice will do.

If you really need a surplice they’re on ebay at this link

collectibles.shop.ebay.com/Religion-Spirituality-/1446/i.html?_nkw=white+surplice&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Serve the Mass with heart and soul and worship in spirit and in truth. If you have any other questions pertinent to the traditional Mass email me at tbtcom1213@yahoo.com or at my blog at the bottom. Pax tecum
 
Thanks for the help guys!

I would use the house surplice, but I’m helping a retired priest with the TLM. The parish he is in residence at does not have any surplices in the sacristy. I wish they did though!

I’ll only end up serving on Sundays most likely. On the week days I have school, and I’m the sacristan for my university’s Catholic Student Center. So I’m pretty booked on the week days.
 
No. I don’t have to have lace. I plan on going to seminary after college, so I figured the surplice would last me for a long time. I just think the lace inserts make it more reverent looking, but it’s not a necessity.
 
Sedes Sapientiae

I had a priest tell me that lacey surplices were not strictly traditional nor were they orthodox, only some recent innovation that crept into the sacred liturgy down through the years. He was, of course, speaking of surplices for both altar servers and clergy.
 
In his book How to Serve [in Simple, Solemn, and Pontifical Functions], Dom Matthew Britt, O.S.B. says the following with regard to surplices for altar servers:
There are certain kinds of surplices that are not in keeping with the spirit of the liturgy. Among these are the lace surplice, the pleated surplice, and the short surplice of whatever material it may be made. No altar boy is more becomingly vested than one who has on a simple, long, linen surplice, immaculately clean. Moreover, it is preferable that it should have a wide opening at the neck where the fabric is neatly gathered. It is immaterial whether the opening be square or circular in shape.
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A footnote to this says the following:
“It is astonishing,” says Fortescue, “how modern the little cotta (surplice) to the waist is. Illustrations of…the eighteenth century still show long full surplices without lace; and France and Germany have never brought the surplice above the knee. I need hardly point out that artistically the beauty and dignity of this garment are entirely a matter of long full folds. A long surplice falling in folds, with wide sleever - one, in short, made according to St. Charles’ rules - is an exceedingly handsome garment.” Vestments of the Roman Rite, p. 110]
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Now, Dom Matthew’s book was first published in 1934 and obviously there are different customs from country to country… I personally don’t have a problem with lace surplices, but given that cost is going to be an issue, I would agree with Dom Matthew that what you should aim for is a long and gleaming white surplice! A long surplice, even without lace, looks very graceful. My personal preference is for a pleated surplice rather than a gathered one, and with a square neck as opposed to a round neck.

There is a shop in Poland - sklep.isidorus.net/index.php?cPath=22 - which seems to have a good selection of surplices. The prices are very good - I don’t know if this is a reflection on the quality, but they look fine in the pictures. I have never bought from this shop before, but I think I recall someone on CAF saying that they had bought a cassock from them and that the staff had been very helpful.
 
I also agree that lace on a server’s surplice is “over the top”. Servers, where there are more than one, should fairly match in length and style of surplice. You will rarely find lace surplices that match in pattern and style unless they were purchased together.

My son attends a traditional seminary and none of the seminarians (nearly 100) wear a lace surplice. All are pleated, square yoke (the round yoke tend to be a more Anglican tradition), and the length is to a point just above the knee.
 
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