The Altar Frontal : 2

In a previous post, we introduced why altar frontals or antependia are desirable to cloth altars, based on liturgical law, sacred symbolism and aesthetics. These are compelling reasons for the use of the frontal, but so frequently two objections are offered why the altar frontal is not used :

The altar is so beautiful, why would we cover it up?

It is too difficult to be changing frontals frequently.

The answers to the first objection may be found by re-reading our first post.  But in this article we wish to begin to discuss the second objection.

A splendidly designed and embroidered altar frontal
clothing the High Altar of Westminster Cathedral (UK).
The use of the original High altar for the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy
was reintroduced by the present Archbishop of Westminster,
shewn in the photograph offering Mass.

Firstly, some terminology. The words frontal and antependium presuppose that the covering is applied only to one face of the altar namely, the front of it. This is perfectly proper when considering an altar which is attached to a reredos, or very close to a wall and therefore not freestanding. An altar, however, is a three-dimensional structure and - if it is freestanding - it ought to be fully clothed, not just clothed on those sides which are generally visible. Consequently, we also find the term altar pall which describes a parament which covers all sides of the altar or, at the least, two of them, the front face and the back face.

A free-standing altar placed in a central position which can be viewed from all sides, requires coverings at the front and the back (we leave aside the question of the linen altar cloths) in order for the covering to fulfil its purpose. It is unseemly to cover the front and not the back of an altar, unless of course, one takes the view that the altar frontal is purely used for aesthetic effect.

Where possible, and for reasons of adequately expressing sacred symbolism, the altar pall or frontal ought to be changed in accordance with the colour of the Liturgical Day or Season. It is quite acceptable, however, to have a worthy form of altar pall which is changed hardly ever. It is when several frontals or palls are used and have to be changed that the second objection becomes more prominent.

At present, as in the past, very few altars are designed with any thought given to their being covered with a pall or frontal. This is a serious deficiency in the vision of designers, but it is hardly a new one. It is very important when designing altars that serious consideration is given as to how they will be clothed. If no arrangement, or a clumsy arrangement is made for clothing an altar with a pall, quite quickly this will be cited as the reason NOT to use an altar pall or frontal. "It's too much trouble".

We will pass over without comment those execrable and unbefitting creations which, being multi-sided instead of four-sided, arrogantly defy sacred Tradition and any form of altar covering.

To be continued ...

The Bidding Prayers

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council Sacrosanctum Concilium laid down the desire of the Fathers for the restoration of intercessions:

53. The “common prayer” or “prayer of the faithful” is to be restored after the gospel and homily, especially on Sundays and holidays of obligation. By this prayer - in which the people are to take part - intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world.

This paragraph made reference to Saint Paul’s admonition at 1 Tim. 2:1-2. This paragraph is found – with only slight alterations – in the General Instructions on the Roman Missal.

Such intercessions are, therefore, of Apostolic origin, and were everywhere known by the time of Saint Augustine. The Solemn Orations of the Good Friday Afternoon Liturgy were the only survival of such intercessions in the Roman Missal for centuries. In the East, however, they were preserved in the unvarying Litanies, or Ektenia that are prayed throughout the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. From the East, such intercessions made their way during the first millennium into the various Rites in England and, centuries later, were incorporated into the Services of the Church of England, long after they had ceased being a usual feature of the Roman Rite.

Anciently, the intercessions formed part of non-Eucharistic prayer service (sometimes called a Synaxis). But when such services came to be usually celebrated immediately before the Eucharistic Liturgy, the intercessions gradually fell into disuse. This was because intercessions made during the Eucharistic Liturgy often repeated those found in the Synaxis. Such was the origin of the Roman Mass being described in two parts: the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful.

What is found in almost all the ancient examples of these intercessions are common intentions, which were summarised and made explicit by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

It was never envisaged by the Council - nor was it part of the ancient practice - that such intercessions vary on a daily basis, nor that there be any inclusion of extemporaneous prayer. It might easily be argued that the Council Fathers wished that these intercessions would become fixed in people’s consciousness, by being prayed week after week. Such is the practice with our Eastern brethren.

Upon this simple concept outlined by the Council Fathers, there have been many accretions over the last 50 years. Not uncommonly, we find intercessions anaemic in their theological content and not specifically Christian in their outlook. We commonly find the intercessions to be linked to the Propers of the Mass, and the lections of the Mass of the Day, as if “theme” were all-important. But this was never intended by the Council Fathers. Furthermore, a new and more noble translation of the Roman Missal for the English-speaking world has highlighted the often unsacral, even trite expression of these intercessions. But even the formulae found in the Roman Missal are so terse as easily to be described as bland.

Further posts in this small series will examine some forms of Intercession drawn-up immediately after the first liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Contrasts : 8

Celebrations of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Commission for Vestments in 2018

Commissions for the first half of 2018 are now being accepted.
  
Will you be ordained in 2018?

Please do not delay in making an enquiry.  

Places in our schedule are limited. Now is the time to be in contact with the Studio.  

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com

Saint Andrew's Abbey-Church, Bruges (Belgium)

Photograph: Dirk Vde 2007
Please note: The above copyrighted image may not be reproduced in any circumstances.

The magnificent Benedictine Abbey-Church of Saint Andrew in Bruges, Belgium is completely intact and truly glorious.

The altar rests beneath a magnificent civory or ciborium, the vault of which is covered with golden mosaic tiles. The apse walls are treated with inlaid marblework and murals painted in the Beuronese school of sacred art. Equally magnificent is the Cosmatesque floor of the sanctuary.

The altar of Saint Joseph in the Abbey-Church.
Here is seen a further example of the Beuronese school of sacred art.
The altar itself, together with its bronze Crucifix and candlesticks, is a work of art,
beautifully detailed and admirably proportionate.

The charming photograph adjacent was taken in the Abbey Church of Saint Andrew in Bruges,
Belgium around 1958.  A Benedictine monk is pictured at the beginning of a Low Mass, attended by two servers.

Re-posted from our other Blog Where Heaven and Earth Meet.

Click on the images for an enlarged view. 

The Kiss of Peace

At a previous Synod of Bishops, Pope Benedict and other bishops posed a question about the Kiss of Peace or Pax in the celebration of the Ordinary Form of Mass according to the Roman Rite. Subsequently, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decision of admirable Roman liturgical conservatism, rejecting a proposal that the Pax be observed at the Offertory, rather than before the reception of Holy Communion (as it has been since the time of Pope Saint Gregory the Great).

In a previous post about the revision of the Rites, we pondered if celebrants might consider that any ritual actions of the Extraordinary Form could be incorporated into their celebration of the New Mass in such a way as would not disturb the Faithful. One of these, it might be suggested, is the Pax.

The ritual actions for the Pax in the Extraordinary and Ordinary forms of the Roman Rite are quite different. The prayers - which are the same in both Old and New - are rearranged in the Ordinary form. One thing remains unchanged, however, and it is most significant. Domine Jesu Christi, qui dixisti apostolis tuis ... This prayer, which is the preface to the Pax, is not addressed to God the Father (as all the other prayers of the Mass are) (1)   but addressed directly to God the Son, who is present upon the altar before the very eyes of the celebrant.

All the more inappropriate, therefore, for the celebrant to say or sing this prayer looking around at the Congregation (we need not elaborate on various manifestations of the ars celebrandi of some priests). (2) The celebrant ought to have his eyes cast down upon the altar, looking at Him whom he is addressing. This injunction, however, will not be found in the rubrics of the Pauline Missal.

The Kissing of the Altar :
Karsh's photograph from the famous book by
Bishop Fulton Sheen : This is the Mass.

There is a regrettable ritual excision from the Pax as observed in the Pauline Missal. In Solemn Masses, according to the Extraordinary form, the celebrant recites quietly the prayer Domine Jesu Christi, qui dixisti apostolis tuis and then he kisses the corporal upon which rest the Sacred Host and the Chalice. The deacon (standing at his right), kisses the altar, but not the corporal. The celebrant then gives the Pax to the deacon. In some Mediaeval Western liturgies, the celebrant kissed not the corporal, but the Sacred Host itself, or the foot of the Chalice. These ritual gestures are of great significance and underline that the Pax is not a greeting per se, but a ritual transmission of the Peace which comes directly from our Saviour.

Would it be so objectionable if celebrants of Mass in the Ordinary Form were once again to kiss the corporal before giving the Faithful the Greeting of Peace? Would that ritual action not emphasise their words : The Peace of the Lord be with you always ? Would this be so objectionable? For some, probably. Others might not even notice. Still others might welcome the enrichment of an other-worldly ritual dimension in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. Prudence in all things.

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(1) With the exception of the Kyrie eleison, which is a litany.
(2) We had the misfortune to observe during the ANZAC Dawn Service at the Gallipoli Beach in Turkey on 25th April 2015, the Anglican minister "praying" the Lord's Prayer whilst looking from side to side to those gathered (whom he would have been unable to see because of the glare of lights). This is is the antithesis of Liturgical Prayer.

Vestments for Pentecost : 3

As the Church celebrates the Great Feast of Pentecost, we are pleased to present posts about three new red vestments that have been completed for this Feast.

This third post is a Low Mass set, shewn in the adjacent image, prepared for a young priest in the Archdiocese of New York USA.

This vestment, in the Studio's Borromeon style, was made from a beautiful European silk damask being a replica of a Venetian design of the 16th century. It is lined in a bronze taffeta. The vestments are ornamented in the Roman manner with a TAU at the front and column at the back in colours of burgundy and gold.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Vestments for Pentecost : 2

As the Church celebrates the Great Feast of Pentecost, we are pleased to present posts about three new red vestments that have been completed for this Feast.

This second post is a Low Mass set, shewn in the adjacent image, prepared for a young priest in the Diocese of Steubenville (Ohio) USA.

This vestment, in the Studio's Saint Austin design, was made from a beautiful English ecclesiastical brocade and lined in blue taffeta. The vestments are ornamented with an orphrey braid of the Studio's own design called Saint Chad (directly based on the work of AWN Pugin) in colours of red, blue and gold.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Vestments for Pentecost : 1

As the Church celebrates the Great Day of Pentecost, we are pleased to present posts about three new red vestments that have been completed for this Feast.

Our first post is a chasuble set, shewn in the adjacent image, prepared for a parish community in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (Texas USA), a returning customer.

This chasuble, in the Saint Bede Studio's Saint Giles design, was made from a beautiful silk damask of a distinctive shade of red and lined in a sand-grey taffeta. The vestments are ornamented with an orphrey braid of the Studio's own design (based on elements of the work of AWN Pugin) in colours of grey and burgundy upon red.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Gothic Revival Vestments

We are pleased to present these similar sets of red vestments prepared by the Saint Bede Studio for two priests from the Diocese of Arlington (Virginia) in the United States.

These sets of vestments are in the Studio's Saint Austin Gothic Revival style. They are made from an English ecclesiastical brocade in a deeper shade of red. Lined in a gold shade of taffeta, the vestments are ornamented with braids in red and gold, of the Studio's own design.

Please click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries : stbede62@gmail.com