Guest blogger Mantilla Amontillado is the founder of Veritas Vestments. She holds a degree in Ecclesiastical Haberdashery from Salamanca University. She has done the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella three times on horseback and is engaged to the famous matador, Senor Augusto Torquemada.

OK Hon. I’m been busy you know? My business called Veritas Vestments is beginning to take off. I hope it’s good. Maybe not. Something taking off is maybe not so good because then you are very busy all the time and you have no time for a siesta. Like we say in Spain, “This is taking off like a matador that has just been thrown by El Toro.”

But I want to take some time and show you something. My friend Monsignor Quixote tell me that there is this blog called ‘Bad Vestments’. He was sipping a sangria and telling me that if I ever want to have a vestment nightmare then I should to and see this blog. So I’m a little bit bored the other night, waiting for Augusto to give me a call when I’m going on the computer to look at this blog.

Madre de Dios! Listen Hon. You will never believe what you will see over there. Here is a picture to show you what I mean. What is this? I tell you what it is. It is an illustration of what vesments should not be. The problem is that someone is trying to be creative. You know what I mean? Creative is okay in it’s place. You know if you are five years old in kindergarten and the teacher gives you some, what you call it? Finger painting. That’s right. If you are finger painting then creative is good. But that’s it. With vestments and fresco and paintings for church and architecture ‘creative’ is not bueno.

You see hon, I learn this at my course on Ecclesiastical Haberdashery at the University of Salamanca. ‘Creative’ is the result of the Enlightenment. You see Mantilla is not just a pretty face hon. I have to do philosophy and everything. So what happens is that the Enlightenment is humanistic and forgets about God and it spits on the Church. They call it ‘Enlightenment’ and then go around cutting off the heads of priests and nuns. Anyway hon, this enlightenment is all about humans, not about God. Then out of this comes this thing called individualism where nobody believes in God, so instead they make themselves to be god. So they all think that they have to be ‘creative’ and do something new and different in order to make a mark for themselves.

Making a mark! Hon. This is not something you want to do. Dogs make marks for themselves. You know what I mean? This is not nice. So maybe the person who made this person thinks he makes a mark. I think he not make a mark. He make a mess.

So when this man comes out he look like some kind of clown or a walking stained glass window or something. Then everybody is talking about how the person who make the vestment is so wonderful, and they forget about God.

Listen Hon. If you want to do something beautiful for God you do it within the tradition. This is what Monsignor Quixote always tell me. He say, “When you live the tradition your roots go deep.” You know what I mean? Then if your roots go deep you get wonderful ideas that are bigger than you are. Then you do your painting or your writing or your vestments or something and they don’t seem to be so special and creative you know, but deep down they are connecting you and the people to what is deep down like the deep roots. Then what happens is all of this tradition comes up through you and you make something beautiful and it is creative in a different way. It’s like God is being creative through you instead of you being creative and just wanting to make your mark. Making your mark is nothing. It’s like a dog making water you know what I mean?

OK Hon. So don’t try to be creative. Instead try to be close to the Creator and may be something good rub off on you.