c. 2007 Religion News Service
TYRINGHAM, Mass. _ A new business venture on a hilltop in the Berkshires is a true example of Divine inspiration.
Here in the Monastery Mont Deux Coeurs of the Sisters of the Visitation, Sister Gemma Maria Parisi directs the work of Chantal Artisans, producing deluxe liturgical vestments for Roman Catholic priests and the clergy of other denominations.
There’s nothing new about Parisi designing and making vestments; she’s been doing that for many years, using the skills she learned as a child in Italy.
What is new is that the sisters have taken the venture online at http://www.chantalartisans.com as they look to generate revenue to help sustain the monastery, which is home to 16 sisters. It takes its name from one of the contemplative orders founders, Saint Jane de Chantal.
“I have been making vestments almost since I entered the monastery, and I just made my 40-year profession,” Parisi said. “Now we’ve put it on the Web site. I can use the gift the Lord has given me to expand the project.”
Chantal Artisans offers several lines of vestments for different seasons. Perhaps as no surprise, the lines have Italian names _ Angeli, Bellezza, Gloria, Levante, Lodare, Maestoso, Regno, Splendore, Venite. Prices start at about $400.
Chantal Artisans went online in January, and the sisters are still working to promote their vestment lines. They have sent out a brochure designed by Sister Judith Clare Philips at the monastery.
“Before we went online, we were going by word of mouth,” Sister Miriam Rose Niethus said. “So we called different dioceses and sent out a brochure. Then we sat back and waited for the flood of orders. Now we’re at the next level where we need to do more targeted marketing.”
Volume takes a while to build.
“It’s slow when you start a new business and nobody knows it’s there,” Niethus said. “And when you profess to live a hidden life, it’s a little awkward. Our life was to be hidden and gentle. We try to do this and at the same time support ourselves.”
That’s reflected in Chantal Artisans’ motto: “The work of contemplative hands.”
The sisters also have operational challenges that other businesses don’t. They sing the Liturgy of the Hours five times a day in addition to individual prayer.
“Because of our prayer schedule, the longest period we have at a time is about an hour and a half,” Niethus said. “Then we come back to it.”
They have hired two local women part-time to come in and sew from Parisi’s design on the “assembly line” she has set up in a former store room in the monastery. She is training the lay workers.
“One thing that comes from Scriptures (I Corinthians) is, `Share with one another the gifts you’ve received.’ And I love to teach. I’m always happy if someone learns,” Parisi said.
Niethus said a number of people in the local business community have helped them with aspects of the vestments venture.
“Sister Ann-Marguerite (Potchen) and Mother Mary Emmanuel (Dominguez) formed a committee, so people will come to a meeting about once a month and advise us on how to work with our Web site, how to advertise,” she said.
Niethus said the vestments can be given as a gift or a memorial.
“Sister will embroider the name and they can give the vestment in honor of that person,” she said. “We’re trying to remind people that vestments can be purchased by lay people and given to their parish for an anniversary of an ordination.”
The monastery sells vestments for clergy in denominations other than Catholic, including Anglicans. Niethus recalled answering the door one day to a couple of visitors.
“There were two ladies. They said, `We just wanted to see your monastery. We’ve heard about you.’ One woman said, `Oh, you sell vestments,’ and I said, `Yes, would you like to donate one to your parish?’ She said, `I’d like to purchase it for myself. I’m a Lutheran minister.”’
She asked to try one and said “you should talk to the Anglicans, talk to the Lutherans, talk to the Methodists,” Niethus recalled.
Other abbeys make vestments, as do some religious commercial houses. But, then, most don’t have artisans like Parisi.
At 14 months old, she contracted polio in her native Italy. Unable to walk,she was enrolled in a special school where she was taught sewing. Her mother envisioned a career for her as a dressmaker.
When she emigrated to the United States at age 20, she joined the Sisters of Visitation in the Bronx, where she immediately started working on vestments.
“The Lord provided for me. He took my legs, but he gave me a good mind and good hands,” she said. “Even in a wheelchair, a person can do things and be useful. God provides in different ways.”
(Kenneth Ross writes for The Republican in Springfield, Mass.)
KRE/LF END ROSS
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