Vestment Makers Think It’s Divine to Design One-of-a-Kind Papal Wrap

He may spend only a morning at the San Fernando Mission next month, but Pope John Paul II will have something to take home with him when he leaves.

A local liturgical design company is donating a one-of-a-kind stole made for the pontiff to wear during the Sept. 16 private prayer service in the mission church. Emblazoned with the words “San Fernando,” the stole may remain with the mission in its archives or be taken back as a souvenir to the Vatican, said William A. Turbay, principal artist and president of the design firm.

Needleworkers at Turbay’s firm, Martinez & Murphey of Los Angeles, are embroidering the mahogany-colored, silk stole this week with the papal and diocesan coats of arms as well as orange floral motifs similar to those adorning the interior of the historic church.

Working on special sewing machines in a studio in the garment district, about 15 people are also embroidering flax altar cloths and wall tapestries for the prayer service.

“The idea is not to destroy the effect of the already magnificent church by overdoing it,” Turbay, said. “A simple, subdued look is in keeping with the church.”

A long, rectangular adobe building graced with terra-cotta, blue and orange interior wall paintings, the church is an exact copy of one completed on the site in 1812. That church, the third built by mission padres, was destroyed in the 1971 earthquake.

Today, about 300 people, including the Gomez family of Sun Valley, attend Sunday Mass at the mission church on the north side of the quadrangle. Gina Gomez, a 25-year-old mother of four, has been among the crowd nearly every week for the past few years. Although the mission does not sponsor a permanent congregation, Gomez said she considers it “a blessing” that the pontiff is coming to her church.

“It means so much that he’ll be coming so close,” Gomez said.

It was also an honor to be the company asked to donate the stole and other liturgical garments for the Pope’s visit to the mission, Turbay said. Known as the Neiman-Marcus of liturgical design companies because it puts out a catalogue featuring opulent vestments, the firm is designing and making more than 325 vestments and miters that the U.S. bishops will wear at the papal Mass in Dodger Stadium after they leave the mission. The company is also making the vestments the Pope will wear for the Mass and reupholstering several chairs for the ceremonies.

Partners Met at Movie

Martinez & Murphey was founded when Turbay, 37, and his partner, Richard G. Rock, ran into each other in 1976 in Westwood as Rock was leaving the movie “The Omen,” Turbay said. The two men had first met while they attended Loyola University, where Rock studied theology and Turbay was a fine-arts student.

The partners employ artisans from around the world to make liturgical articles such as lapis lazuli bases for silver chalices and hand-carved statuary. The company’s plush carpet-lined showroom is “a candy store for ministers” of 27 religious faiths, Turbay said. The company continues to import and produce other items while working on the papal project, he said.

The papal project will cost the firm about $205,000, $5,000 of which is for the San Fernando mission accouterments. But to Turbay, a practicing Catholic who quit law school to pursue designing, the opportunity to serve the pontiff at whatever cost is “totally intoxicating.”

“If you were having a big party, you’d call and ask your friends for help, and that’s what happened here,” Turbay said. “Contributing our talents and helping serve is what it’s all about.”

Especially when your handiwork will be immortalized in mission history.