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At 47 years old, Filippo Sorcinelli cannot only be considered the tailor of the Supreme Pontiff.
In addition, he is a fragrance creator and organist in divine service.
A practicing Catholic, he talks to Yo Dona about the death of Pope Ratzinger, but above all about the sounds and smells of life.
He receives us in his Roman shop, decorated with a huge photograph of Mario Giacomelli.
I had this question in mind for the end, but having recently passed away Pope Emeritus Joseph Ratzinger, it had better come first.
Why do we get along so badly with death, with black, even with mourning? I am a Christian.
There is a prayer that says: "Common death is the inheritance of all men."
I believe that people, not just Christians, are disturbed and fascinated by death, and whoever has faith should face it as a conquest and not as a loss.
If we are afraid of dying, it is because there are aspects still to be resolved in our lives.
For example, trust, existence and faith.
In addition, it is necessary to get rid of material attachments.
The body serves us to pass to the other side.
Regarding color, the problem is not black, but the perception we have of it.
History tells us that in the past only the nobility could afford it.
It was a sign of elegance.
It is not by chance that the Catholic Church uses it especially for funerals [Pope Ratzinger wore black shoes in his funeral chapel].
For me it is the most sober and elegant color, noble because it encloses all the colors in itself, and also bounces them, keeping the essence of each one. She made the miter that they put on Benedict XVI in San Pedro during his funeral.
He is also the author of all the clothing for Pope Francis for his last trip to L'Aquila, which he made months ago.
How did his close relationship with the Church begin? That work was much broader and more complex, because when the Supreme Pontiff moves, bishops, cardinals and priests with their respective chasubles do with him.
We had to design the liturgical clothing for the entire hierarchy present in L'Aquila, the place affected by an earthquake in 2009. The delegation was made up of approximately 200 people. Did the Vatican call you to commission it? No.
It was the Diocese of L'Aquila, our client for many years.
They are in contact with the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations.
We work very well with them, because we have known each other since they asked us to arrange the liturgical vestments of Celestine V, with which this Pope was exhibited when he died in the 13th century. His atelier -called LAVS- has existed since 2001. It is located in Santarcangelo di Romagna (Emilia-Romagna region) and is responsible for making sacred clothing and accessories for Christian ceremonies and rites.
Sorcinelli, at work.
What differences have you found between one and the other? Many.
The Pope lately has not physically celebrated the Eucharist, but he has attended it sitting in a wheelchair.
He appears, on his throne, with a huge, not too heavy cloak.
We know that for it we have to choose sober, light materials that represent the divinity of the celebrant.
For that, pompous wealth is not necessary, but purity.
The posthumous pope, however, was European and loved traditions very much.
He had a different expressive language.
The current one is Argentine, less traditional and with a sensitivity that has to do with the simplicity of the language and, therefore, of the liturgy and its clothing. Have you collaborated regularly with Pope Francis? Yes, we have dressed him since his first mass .
We have produced some garment every month, according to his requests.
Many of our creations have also ended up in museums around the world.
We have also worked for Notre Dame Cathedral, and for prelates from New York and Jerusalem. He has a couple of shops in Rome, near Via Borgo Pio, where another of the papal tailors, Raniero Mancinelli, makes habits for more everyday use.
He will not tell me that the Pope is coming here and there to have his measurements taken... No, although the legend says so, it is not so.
My contact is the Office of Liturgical Celebrations, directed by Monsignor Ravelli.
We agree with him: we present the measurements and models, and we try to adjust exactly to his requests.
We have been working for more than 20 years;
we know what to do. Does he also make shoes, like the master Stefanelli, who made Ratzinger's famous reds? No.
This is another legend: Prada never made shoes for any Pope.
In addition to the great Stefanelli, there is another modest craftsman nearby who has been shoeing the popes all his life. What you do is create fragrances and play the organ, especially sacred music.
They seem like three unconnected passions, but in reality they harbor a common thread.
It all starts in his childhood... When I was little I accompanied my mother when she went to clean the church as a volunteer.
She opened the cupboards browsing, smelled, listened to sacred music... I remember the smell of incense and the organ full of cobwebs.
It was then that I decided to be a designer of sacred habits, in addition to studying at the Conservatory and at the Pontifical for Sacred Music in Rome and, to complete the sensory experience, making perfumes.
In my olfactory journey I discovered that smells use the same language as music, we talk about olfactory notes and chords, and the piece of furniture where the nose composes its fragrances is called an organ.
That association of terms fascinated me.
Now I market those perfumes and play the organ in churches assiduously during celebrations.
The papal tailor playing the organ, another of his passions.
His store smells like church. What he's smelling is a mixture of five balsamic incenses.
My message is that incense does not only represent a church or a closed place, but rather is an element of ecumenical union for the whole world.
My fragrances have a story, each one is an episode of my life.
The last one is called Let me cry and it's a race towards freedom. Why did you call it that? Because it's hard to cry and because freedom is also conquered through tears.
Who doesn't know how to cry doesn't know how to laugh.
7,000 euros for a papal vestment
"We choose excellent materials, all made by hand. Almost all of them are Italian: silk comes from Como, for example. The price of each garment ranges from approximately one hundred euros to 7,000. A sacred parament costs so much because it is the mirror of the glory of God. It is not for the priest, but for Jesus. It must be beautiful and perfect, because it is the maximum expression of our Church", says Filippo Sorcinelli.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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