Eight lacemakers and two seamstresses worked more than 1,400 hours on the unique altar cloth, alb, and stole to be used by the Pope at Mass in the Canary Islands.
When Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in Gran Canaria on June 11, he will be clothed in gifts of centuries-old Canary Islands artisanship. The alb, stole, and altar cloth the Pope will use at the Gran Canaria Stadium Mass were hand-stitched for him by members of the Association of Lacemakers of the Town of Ingenio (ACVI) at the request of the Canary Islands government. It took eight lacemakers and two seamstresses, beginning in March, over 1,400 hours of painstaking work to produce the vestments, working by hand in the drawn-thread style practiced in the town of Ingenio for more than two decades.
The most dramatic piece, according to a report by COPE, is the altar cloth, which measures approximately 8 feet wide by 11 feet long. Like the alb and stole, it features white-on-white work. Drawn-thread needlework (called calado in Spanish) involves separating threads of a woven fabric to leave open, regular spaces, and then stitching the threads together to form patterns within the open areas. It is a technique long used in parts of Europe to decorate liturgical fabrics.
The caladores of Ingenio used a technique unique to the town, called the spiral stitch, to produce the altar cloth. It is so laborious and delicate that it is rarely practiced these days, said Obdulia Artiles, secretary of ACVI. Artiles noted that the preservation and continuation of these needlework techniques is made possible "thanks to craft schools, the support of FEDAC [Fund for the Ethnography and Development of Canary Islands Crafts, Ed.], the Gran Canaria Island Council, and the legacy passed down through generations of lacemakers."
Symbols of Canary Islands history and faith
Adorning the altar cloth are both the cross of faith and symbols drawn from the pre-Hispanic history of the Canary Islands. The latter reflect the pottery stamps called pintaderas, bearing intricate geometric designs, that were used by the islands' earliest inhabitants, who came originally from Anatolia (now Turkey) by way of North Africa. A triangular and a circular pintadera flank the cross on the altar piece.
Bishop José Mazuelos of the Diocese of the Canary Islands is hoping the Pope will allow the altar cloth to remain in the islands when his visit is over. ""I know the time, dedication, and love that went into making that altar cloth," Bishop Mazuelos told COPE. "I will try to keep this here so that it remains in the cathedral for all of history."
The lacework for the alb features a stitch known as "church door," commonly used in ecclesiastical vestments. The lacemakers spent 15 hours separating the threads of special fabric purchased from Madrid before beginning the stitching.
Completing the set is a personal stole created by the ACVI for the Holy Father, with the name S.S. Papa León XIV (His Holiness Pope Leo XIV) embroidered in white on white. The stole also includes other examples of openwork.
Faith in the Canary Islands
The population of the Canary Islands is 76.6% Catholic, fruit of 600 years of Spanish presence since the islands' conquest (1402-1496). When Pope Leo XVI celebrates Mass in Gran Canaria, he will be accompanied in the stadium by the miraculous image of the Virgin of the Pine, the island's patroness. The 15th-century statue is said to have been discovered atop a pine tree on September 8, 1492, by the first bishop of Gran Canaria. The image of Mary and her Son, covered in jewels and crowned with gold, draws pilgrims to the basilica in Teror in search of healing.
Also present at the Mass will be another precious Canarian object of devotion, the Holy Christ of Teide from the island of Tenerife. This large crucifix, probably created in Antwerp in 1514 and sent by way of Venice, Barcelona, and Cadiz as a gift, has a tooled silver cross that was added in 1630. The image has been carried in procession on September 14, the Feast of the Holy Cross, since the early 17th century.
Thousands from across the archipelago and even from the mainland are expected to gather for Pope Leo's Mass on June 11.
