ASK FATHER: Biretta woes! Wherein Fr. Z offers wisdom.
And now for something really important.
Pompoms on birettas.
From a seminarian in these USA …
QUAERITUR:
Any suggestions as to where to purchase a good biretta? It seems most of offerings from American companies have the black pom which falls totally flat. I’d appreciate any suggestions.
O tempora! O mores! What are they teaching in seminaries these days?
An "academic" biretta trimmed in green for Canon Law. Note that both strings are still in place. If the guy is smart, he'll cut just the top string, unless he wants to pom to flatten out.
The trick to the pom (that is, to have it flare out in a ball instead of going flat) is to cut only the top string of the two strings. Poms always arrive with two strings around the pom. Those which have “fallen flat” can be revived by holding the hat upside down, thus hanging the pom upside down, smoothing it down and getting it nice and even and then winding a black string or thread around and around the pom’s fibers tightly about 3/4″ to 1″ from its (inverted) based. It helps to have two people for this project, but one can do it.
Otherwise, contact John Hastreiter at Leaflet Missal Company in St. Paul, MN.
BTW… the Roman biretta usually doesn’t have a pompom on it. Notice that a Cardinal’s biretta doesn’t have one: they are Roman clergy. The pom is, I think, a French thing.
And pay attention to your birettiquette!
And your liturgical Beretta-quette as well.
PS: I still want a one of those groovy Spanish birettas, with the five horns. I don’t know when I would ever use it, but I want one anyway.
Or there’s this one! Whew!
It looks like something out of Star Trek but, you’ve gotta admit… that‘s a hat!
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