c. 2005 Religion News Service

ROME _ Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore slipped into Gammarelli’s tailor shop to check on an order, but wouldn’t say if he had his eyes on the white silk cassocks in the window display that have been prepared for the next pope.

A few minutes later, Cardinal Edward Egan of New York popped in, but turned around quickly without saying whether the red leather shoes laid out with the cassocks might be a good fit, either for himself or any other cardinal who could be elected pope.

These are busy days for Gammarelli’s, one of Rome’s best known providers of clergy couture. The three cassocks_ in small, medium and large _ will be delivered to the Vatican before the Monday (April 18) start of the conclave that will elect the next pope.

While no one can say who will be elected by Keeler, Egan and the 113 other cardinals, one thing is for sure: he will be wearing a cassock from Gammarelli’s, the preferred provider of papal clothing for five of the last six popes.

“The pope never comes here,” said Lorenzo Gammarelli, 32, whose family has owned the shop since 1792. “It is always us who go to the pope.”

In recent days, it has been the media who have come to Gammarelli’s to get a sneak peak at the cassocks, called a simar and worn only by the pope. The new pope will receive two white cassocks, one silk and one wool. The long button-down robes were ready on Tuesday after an order was placed by the Vatican one week earlier.

“Don’t ask me who pays for it, because I don’t know,” Gammarelli said, declining to share details on prices for either the fabric or the finished product.

The Vatican typically orders three sizes since no one knows if the next pope will be short or tall, skinny or plump. Minutes after his election by the College of Cardinals, the pope will retire to a small room and choose the cassock that fits best. Quick alterations will be made by nuns who work at the Vatican, Gammarelli said.

If the cassock needs further adjustments, Gammarelli tailors will go to the Vatican to get the job done. But Gammarelli said the shop is proud that it never takes more than two fittings to get it exactly right.

The three cassocks are more or less the same, although the shortest one is highlighted with delicate silk lace, a long white stole with gold fringe tassels and a bright red, half-length cape called a mozzetta. In many ways, it is a more retro look to the days when popes were dressed like _ and treated like _ kings.

It took four tailors six days to make the three sets of cassocks, but for Gammarelli’s, this is standard procedure. Every pope since Pius XI (1922-1939) has worn vestments from this tiny shop, with the exception of Pius XII (1939-1958) who used a family tailor.

“The main tailor is young and this is the first time she’s had to cut for a new pope,” Gammarelli said of the tailor named Monica, “so she is very, how do you say, emotional.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Although Gammarelli’s is the traditional supplier of papal attire, it does not have an exclusive contract. Gammarelli said he would be happy to continue to outfit the next pope, “if the pope wishes to continue to use our services.”

Inside the tiny shop, bolts of fabric await their future as “sartori ecclesiastici” (clerics clothes). There is purple cloth for bishops and archbishops, scarlet red for cardinals and black for rank-and-file priests. The shop also has stacks of luxurious brocade fabric with red and violet decoration, and yards upon yards of delicate golden trim.

There is delicate white silk for vestments worn at Easter and Christmas, red to recall the blood of martyrs and deep purple for Lent.

Outside the shop, television cameras are set up to film the papal cassocks and document the comings and goings of high-ranking prelates. Inside, the shop is bustling with activity as a black cassock hangs on a hook, wrapped in plastic, waiting for pick-up. High above the counter, about 60 black suits are on hand for priests in need of sartorial care.

The late Pope John Paul II was buried in a white cassock made at Gammarelli’s, a fact that does not go unnoticed by the staff of about a dozen shop workers and tailors. The papal flag hangs at half-staff above the store’s front window.

“Making clothes for the clergy is first of all a business,” he said. “But it can be spiritual, but that’s personal for each person.”

Sightings of cardinals are commonplace at Gammarelli’s. Keeler slipped in practically unnoticed and was greeted warmly by the patriarch of the store, Ammibale Gammarelli, Lorenzo Gammarelli’s uncle who has worked at the store near the imposing Pantheon for 55 years.

Asked by a reporter if he shopped there often, Keeler demurred, preferring to honor the media blackout adopted last week by the College of Cardinals. Turning to Egan in the doorway, he said, “Here’s the guy who shops here all the time.”

MO/JL END ECKSTROM