NORWALK—Creating a cassock for her son’s first altar server duties at Mass was the beginning of a blossoming faith-filled company steeped in textile expertise, honed from some of the most famous fashion houses in the world.
Sacra Indumenta, which means sacred clothing, was borne from the desire of accomplished textile designer and now sacred vestment designer, Susan-Jayne Caballero, to use her talents to honor God.
“God formed me to have all of this training in textiles and is calling me now to do this,” she said, while sitting in her home office surrounded by books of inspiration and exquisite materials from around the world waiting to be transformed into sacred vestments or liturgical accessories. Caballero, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, studied abroad at ESMOD, a French private school of fashion and has worked with iconic fashion houses including Tommy Hilfiger, Diane Von Furstenberg and Ralph Lauren, the latter as a designer for 15 years.
“As the love of the Mass continues to grow and people return to churches, new garments are needed,” she said. “There is this rediscovery of beauty in the Mass.” This beauty is intricately reflected in the garments that she makes. Caballero sounds almost poetic as she describes the process of selecting the proper materials and making the garments with both form and function with bias-cut gussets, appliques and godets.
Inspiration, she said, often comes from historic pieces and the beauty of European churches she visited during her time studying abroad. As fate would have it, she met her husband Heitor, at a Lutheran church in New York City where he was working while studying the sacred art of liturgical music. Through his faith as a Catholic, their marriage and growing family, she said, “I started to see the fullness of grace,” recalling the many interactions at their children’s Catholic school and church, St. Ignatius of Loyola in New York City.
She credits those interactions with opening her eyes to a conversion from the Lutheran religion to Catholicism. “My conversion is essential to this company,” she said, adding that she wanted to give her hands over to God. She became a Catholic in 2012 during the Easter Vigil Mass. “It’s a really cool feeling because through the love of my first vocation and as a mother and a wife that I came to love what Sacra Indumenta is becoming through making a cassock for my son,” she said. “He got to serve Christ,” she said. “That is my inspired moment.”
And the inspiration that started it all, her son Sebastian’s first server surplice and his cassock, made from a vintage 1930s pattern, hangs on a sewing mannequin and stands in her design room, a highly organized converted garage space with numerous rows of fabrics and materials, a cutting board and two walls of bookshelves packed with inspirational and historical reference materials. “I run the company the way I ran things in the industry,” she said, adding that visits to the Garment District in New York City to source materials also affords her an opportunity to catch up with former colleagues in the fashion world.
Caballero designed a 12-piece rose con-celebrant Mass set for Father Paul Murphy, pastor of St. Thomas More in Darien, to wear during the two Sundays on the Liturgical calendar where rose is designated, Advent and Lent. “They are quite spectacular,” Father Murphy said of the vestments created by Caballero. “That’s the result of her personal touch.”
Father Murphy said he was familiar with Caballero’s work, and she came highly recommended by priests in the diocese. “I asked her to come in and told her what we were looking for. We went over designs, different colors and fabrics,” he said. “She came up with patterns and made sure they were fitted properly.” “By having the personal touch of Susan-Jayne we had far more options and it shows in the end results,” Father Murphy said of the vestments that were gifted by St. Thomas More parishioners, Brian and Laurie Conroy.
“It was very kind of them,” Father Murphy said. “They very generously stepped forward when they realized we did not have rose-colored vestments.” The Conroy’s gift was in loving memory of Laurie Conroy’s grandmother, Virginia Bloom and it helped the parish to continue to update and upgrade its liturgical vestments.
“It was a beautiful moment,” Caballero said of seeing Father Murphy wearing the rose-colored vestments during the Mass. “It moves beautifully,” she said of the vestments and Mass set that took four and a half months to create. “When it is a Mass set you see the luster of the set and brocade of the motifs working together,” she said. “A priest wears his vestments to be clothed like Christ. I cannot remove my fascination and adoration of what that means,” she said, adding it is important to bring the finest things of the earth as offerings, such as silk or linen. “What is the finest thing you can give to Christ, if you know it fails in comparison to what He gives?”
Caballero said her company continues to grow by word of mouth through the Church community and priests who also find examples of her work on several social media sites. “Creating these sacred vestments and liturgical accessories has to be done through the lens of adding beauty to the Mass,” she said. “There is nothing more beautiful than the Mass and honoring God.”
(For more information on her work visit www.sacraindumenta.com.)
By Kathy-Ann Gobin
Photo: Susan-Jayne Caballero, accomplished textile designer and now sacred vestment designer, use her talents to honor God.
