I shall try and zoom in on some of the photos later, but I just wanted to get the set up as quickly as possible on Flickr. The set is open access, and on a Creative Commons license, so anyone can download it and use it, as long as they credit me for it and don't use it for commercial purposes.
It was interesting to see the recently instituted "Benedictine Arrangement" for Mass - the donation of a set of very nice silver-plated candlesticks for the Lady Altar means that the brass candlesticks can stay on the High Altar...
In my parish, we had the "Benedictine Arrangement" at the versum populum OF Mass for a while. It looked ridiculous - all that peeping out from behind the altar furniture with priest and people staring at each other like cats in an alley.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to say that the PP soon got tired of it.
We now have the vastly superior "Benedictine Arrangement" but ad orientem. All in the OF and mainly in English. It's so much less stressful for all concerned.
The absolute worst thing you can do liturgically (other than use the liturgical books of 1962) is face the wrong way, so all the so-called "Benedictine Altar arrangement" is just meaningless; a way of trying to construct a legitimate "theology" around a liturgical abuse to try and sweeten it up or explain it away. It doesn't work on me though...
ReplyDeleteMy Parish Priest to New Comunicant children: they were to partake from the best meal and table in town, also mention of cafe !!!!
ReplyDeleteLord preserve our Faith.
Sixupman,
ReplyDeleteLord preserve the Faith, indeed.
You have actually hit on a very moot point here. The Protestants of the Reformation were very keen on emphasising the 'meal' aspect of the 'Lord's Supper' in order to stress their opposition to the Sacrifice of the Mass: their churches had wooden 'communion tables' which were even sometimes placed parallel to the nave and to one side in order to emphasise that they weren't altars.
The Altar arrangement with the Crucifix as the focal point was the obvious Counter-Reformation response, reinforcing the identity of the Sacrifice of the Altar with that of Calvary.
With this in mind, the problem I have noticed with the 'Benedictine Arrangement' is that the Crucifix has to face the Celebrant, and so has its back to the people - easily solved by celebrating Ad Orientem.
Mass facing the people is a liturgical farce. But the most destructive novelty (apart from the changes to the mass) is communion in the hand and under both kinds.
ReplyDeleteHestor, actually Communion under both kinds is not a novelty - I actually think it is a good thing myself, and a command of the Lord long since explained away (like so much else) by Latin theology. Vatican II did much for the Liturgy that is often ignored by "traditionalists", who very often seem more enamoured of novelty than real Tradition. The restoration (and it is a restoration) of Communion under both kinds is one of these things. Unfortunately, since Western Liturgy had long since died a death (brought about by Scholastic minimalism and Papal decree), the Fathers of Vatican II, while having the right reasons and ends in mind, really didn't know what they were doing. They knew that the Liturgy (by 1962 in a desperate and exhausted state) needed a genuine renewal but like at Trent it all went pear-shaped. Had I been there, I'd have said something like: "You're flogging a dead horse mate".
ReplyDeleteMac, what's the story with the little blue lights? Did the First Communicants each leave one on the altar?
ReplyDeleteThe reason why communion under both kinds fell out of practice in the Roman liturgy was due to the Hussite heresy that stipulated that communion must be received under both kinds in order to "fully" receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord. There was very good reason on the part of the church, for not allowing the distribution of the chalice in this regard.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see how Trent produced a "pear-shaped" liturgy. According to the liturgical scholar, Dr. Fortescue:
"We may be very thankful that his (St. Pius V) Commission was so scrupulous to keep or restore the old Roman tradition. Essentially the Missal of Pius V. is the Gregorian Sacramentary; that again is formed from the Gelasian book, which depends on the Leonine collection... It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Caesar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours."
Andrew - yes, the children processed in two-by-two just before Mass, and put the candles on the altar.
ReplyDelete