AA-2026-355CE1
On the image
Sometime in the 1950s, a girl of about eleven or twelve was dressed in the full ceremonial white of a Catholic First Communion — long-sleeved gown, elbow-length gloves, floral wreath, and a veil that the Church and her mother had both apparently agreed could not be too long. The outfit was, in effect, a miniature bridal ensemble, because the theology of the occasion held that she was entering into a covenant with God, and the Church saw no reason that event should look casual. Someone with a camera caught her in the minutes before or after the ceremony itself, posed against a rough stone wall in a patch of hard sunlight, where she manages to look simultaneously pleased with herself and slightly burdened by the occasion's solemnity. The gloves alone — white cotton, fitted, worn by a child who would normally be scuffing her knees — represent a whole era's confidence that formality had the power to transform a person, at least for the length of a Sunday. She is smiling in the way of someone who has been told this is the most important day of her life so far, and who is willing to take that on faith.
Visually related — by likeness
Girl in First Communion Dress and Veil, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-355CE1. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-in-first-communion-dress-and-veil-1950s.
@misc{aaAA2026355CE1,
title = {Girl in First Communion Dress and Veil, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-355CE1},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-in-first-communion-dress-and-veil-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Girl in First Communion Dress and Veil, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-355CE1 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/girl-in-first-communion-dress-and-veil-1950s ER -
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