Ivory Chasuble with Crowned Marian Monogram, Lilies and Fleur-de-lys

Marian days first: the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Nativity of Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary and the other Marian feasts, and the May and October devotions.

Ivory belongs to the white class, so it is equally correct at Christmas and Easter, on feasts of Our Lord, and at weddings, ordinations and Masses of thanksgiving. It is not worn in Advent or Lent, at Pentecost, or in Ordinary Time.

It is the Marian monogram, an A and an M woven together beneath a crown, worked here in blue against the ivory ground. The letters are read as Ave Maria, or as Auspice Maria, under the protection of Mary; the crown marks her Queenship.

Around it a ring of gold stars recalls the crown of twelve stars in Revelation 12, and the white lilies below stand for purity.

This is the restrained one. The orphrey is ivory on ivory, marked out with fine gold piping rather than a contrasting band, and the only strong colour is the blue of the monogram itself. It sits quietly under a stone vault and photographs softly.

The blue velvet Marian chasuble is the fuller statement, with a royal blue velvet orphrey running collar to hem, a velvet standing collar and embroidered velvet cuff bands. Choose that one for a patronal solemnity, this one for the Marian Saturdays and the May devotions.

Mostly tone on tone. The lilies, the fleur-de-lys and the scrollwork are worked in ivory, warm gold and pale silver-grey against the ivory ground, so they read as texture and shadow rather than as a picture. The monogram in blue is the single note of colour, which is what draws the eye to it.

It is a quieter effect in person than a photograph suggests. If you want the whole panel worked in stronger gold, choose Made to Measure and say so in the notes.

A standard size chosen on height suits most wearers, since a chasuble is wide and unfastened. Use the size guide on this page and take the row your height falls in.

Choose Made to Measure if you fall outside those ranges or want a particular hem length. The measurement fields appear as soon as you select it. Made to Measure is priced the same as Extra Large.

Light and heat are what turn ivory cloth yellow, and a vestment kept for feast days spends most of the year in storage, which is where it happens. Keep it in a closed garment bag or vestment press, out of daylight and away from radiators, on a broad padded hanger.

Dry clean only, and handle it with clean dry hands: ivory shows finger marks and candle wax more readily than any other liturgical colour. Press only from the reverse, with a cloth between the iron and the cloth.