Figure 1.-- |
About my First Communion. Strangely enough, I don't remember my own first communion at all. My mother converted from the Episcopal Church to the Catholic Church when I was
7 or so. She and my brother and I were all re-baptized together, and she
and I probably made our First Communion together, too, perhaps on the same
day. Most probably I wore a plain navy blue suit with a white shirt and
blue tie. My Mom was fond of this kind of outfit for me for dress wear,
though I found it boring. (I still find men's buriness or semi-formal dress
- suit and tie - to be boring.) Most other boys I knew dressed this way,
too. All the boys I hung around with held strong aversions to anything
fancier. We though fancy or fussy clothing sissyish or girlish (which to us
was the same thing).
On the other hand, I served as an altar boy for many years, and so I clearly
remember other people's First Communions, Confirmations, Weddings, and
similar religious dress-up occasions.
For First Communion in our parish, St. Leo's in Pawtucket, RI, the traditional style for the girls was a white dress (often with lots of lace and frills; generally knee-length or floor length), white stockings or tights, white mary-janes or sandals, and a short
white veil or mantilla - this was in the days when the Catholic Church still
expected women to wear a head covering in church. Girls carried a white
prayer-book and a white or pastel-bead Rosary. They also might carry a
small spray of flowers.
Boys generally wore a dark suit with long pants,
white shirt and dark necktie, and black lace-up shoes. They carried a black
prayer-book and a dark-bead Rosary, and wore a flower on the lapel of the
jacket. More than a hundred kids made their First Communion most years,
since St. Leo's was a big parish with upwards of 3,000 families. A few of
the boys wore white suits with long pants, white shirt and white tie and
white shoes (usually lace-up shoes, but once or twice I noted white
mary-jane instep-strap shoes). Boys in white generally came from
new-immigrant families, and I suppose they observed "old-country"
traditions.
Parishes in Rhode Island were generally ethnic. St. Leo's was an "Irish"
parish; most of our parishoners were of Irish or English ancestry, or
belonged to ethnic groups as yet not numerous enough for their own churches.
There were Irish parishes, French parishes, Italian parishes, and Polish
parishes in Pawtucket, often with overlapping boundaries--although all the
Catholic clergy reported to the one Bishop of Providence, whose see included
the whole state. St. Cecilia's church was only a block from St. Leo's. It
was a French-Canadian parish, with its own school, staffed by
French-Canadian nuns. The kids there had morning classes in French,
afternoon classes in English. The boys wore white for First Communion, if I
recall rightly.
When I was young, the Portuguese, as wll as Azoreans, and Cabo Verdeans
(together witha few Blacks from Portuguese colonies in Africa), were
beginning to immigrate in large numbers to RI and neighboring Massachusetts,
and Portuguese-speaking parishes were springing up. Some formerly Irish or
Italian neighborhoods were being taken over by Portuguese, and some parishes
were changing their ethnic orientation. Portuguese boys generally wore
white at First Communion, too.
Confirmations clothes were similar to First Communion clothes; girls wore
more "grown-up" dresses in white, and often "little heels". Boys wore the
usual dark suits, with white shirts and dark neckties. This was what I wore
for Confirmation. At Confirmations I never observed any boys in all-white
clothing. And I think that was the case at most parishes, of whatever
ethnicity.
I often assisted as an altar-server at weddings. During the warmer months
of the year I served at weddings almost every Saturday; sometimes I served
at several weddings on the same Saturday. Altar-servers received a tip of a
few dollars from the groom or best man, so Saturdays were very profitable
for me. In those days (the late 40s and early 50s) in our working-class
neighborhoods in Pawtucket few families could afford a really big wedding
celebration.
Most weddings had a maid/matron of honor and two or three bridesmaids, and the corresponding groomsmen to pair off with the ladies. Many weddings had flower-girls, rather fewer had ring-bearers, and hardly any had pages.
Flower girls: If the wedding didn't have children in the party, the maid
of honor handled the bride's bouquet, veil and train (if any), and the best
man took care of the rings. Flower girls wore fancy dress in white or
pastel.
Ring bearer: The ring bearer frequently wore a dark suit, or else a miniature
rented outfit like the groomsmen. Less frequently, the ring-bearer wore a
white lace-trimmed blouse, satin trousers or shorts (white or pastel), white
knee-socks or tights, white or pastel mary-jane shoes. Occasionally, the
boy wore a plain white shirt and dark shorts, white knee-socks, and black
lace-up shoes. Black-patent mary-janes, apparently worn as dressy footwear
by American boys in some places up until the 60s and 70s, were very rare.
Pages: The pages at a wedding dressed like the ring-bearer as a rule. Only once or
twice in several years did I observe pages in what was considerd overly
sissyish page-boy dress: short tunics, very short satin pants, tights,
strap-shoes, and perhaps pill-box caps.
May, in the Catholic Church, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a
"May Procession" was held on one Saturday during the month. (Saturdays were
also traditinally dedicated to Mary.) All the parish school children
organized by grades, with their teachers (nuns - the Sisters of Mercy
staffed the parish school), the choir boys and altar boys, and the parish
priests went in procession from the church to a statue of Mary on the parish
grounds. At the statue hymns would be sung and prayers said, etc. For the
procession the girls wore Easter or summer-style dresses in white or light
colors, and the boys the usual dark suits. If the weather was warm (New
England can be very cool in May) the boys might be allowed to leave off
their suit-jackets. All the children carried a flower to be placed at the
foot of the statue, and one older girl was selected by the nuns to crown the
statue with a circlet of flowers.
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