La Tonacella Per Novizi

The Liturgical Arts Journal has a very interesting piece about the Franciscans of La Verna in Tuscany and their use of the distinctive Tonacella Per Novizi, which is that just the orphreys of the tunicle are worn by the novices of the Order at High Mass, rather than a complete tunicle. The Lyons Rite has a similar tradition.

I think I posted about this some years ago and linked to a post on the New Liturgical Movement but the photographs are I think clearer in this new post. It can be seen at Liturgical Curiosities: The Franciscan Tonacella Per Novizi at La Verna and the Orfroi of the Rite of Lyon

There is another example of a tonacells in the succeeding article on the site about the very splendid Pentecost vestments at La Verna which date from 1574. That article can be viewed at The 1574 Pentecost Vestments of the Franciscan Shrine of La Verna

Looking at the photographs the flames of the Holy Spirit embroidered on the vestments are very similar in style to this on the robes of the Order of the Holy Ghost in France. This was founded just four years later by King Henry III. Whilst there is doubtless no direct connection it does indicate a shared tradition of how to depict the flames of the Holy Spirit at the time.