Just thinking out loud: The Holy Father mentions in the new Motu Proprio that it will go into effect on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept 14). Does anyone else think that it is possible that either on that day, or some time thereafter that he himself will publicly offer the Extraordinary Mass at St. Peter’s? Could we see something similiar to the below pics soon? Wouldn’t that send a message, Actions always speaking louder than Words. Oh……One can wish it will happen.
I wonder why the 7th candle, when the diocesan bishop is presiding, is not lit in some of the photos.
Hmm.. didn’t they rip the High Altar out of St. Peter’s Basilica?
All of the photos with the missing 7th candle seem to be Papal Low Masses. The 7th candle would only be used for a full Solemn Mass.
Thank you for the info Father.
ohh ..what a site!! forgive me God ..for the pride i fell when i see this..images like this help me Try to be more faithful…im enjoying this site greatly ..thanks to all who who give their time to to keep this up.
Thank you Anon, Ken
If he were to celebrate according to the “extraordinary form”, can we assume the pope would use the ancient papal ceremonial rather than simply the missale romanum?
I the 4th photo, is the Pope facing the people?
I remember that at the 2nd Vatican Ecumenical Council a (low) Mass was celebrated every day according the Missal of the bl. John XXIII. So some photos are in order.
You may find the video of a ‘day of the Bavarian Pope’. There you may see that the Pope BXVI concelebrates the daily Mass with his two secretaries in his private Chapel in Italian according to the N.O. Missal for 5 Italian faithfuls. Usually the Pope is less papist than the papists. And He may cultivate some pastoral concern for his 5 Italian faithfuls.
Domenico, I do believe that Masses in St. Peter’s were always “towards the people”, not because the people were there, but because the Church doors faced East towards the Rising Sun (Son) symbolism. Apostolic Tradition, it’s important to keep around. Some ill-informed, or malicious folks might have misunderstood why it was done.
I come to your site almost every day. Thank you for these pictures. I love Pius XII. I am praying that come September 14th, Papa Benedict will offer Solemn High Mass in St. Peter’s.
Thank you JT. I hope he does it too, just to show the Bishops he means business.
Also The tomb of St. Peter is positioned beneath the High Altar and this necessitated the nave to go where it does because the Vatican Hill rises behind the basilica, and therefore there was not enough space to put the nave there.
Alexander:
The High Altar in St Peter’s is the altar above the tomb of St Peter under the central baldacchino. The altar to which you refer was the ‘Altar of the Chair’ at the far end of the apse. This was indeed removed under Cardinal Virgilio Noe, a disciple of Bugnini and one time Arch-priest of St Peter’s. It was removed while I was a student in Rome, I think in either 1990 or 1991. It was removed furtively while the Pope was away on his summer holidays. The reason Noe gave was that the altar had no historical value! The present altar in this region faces the people and is used for daily Mass and Vespers on a Sunday. It was designed, I believe by Paul VI and looks just like an ironing board.
Thanks Fr. Kim, if people look carefully at Papal masses on TV they can see that thing. It looks so woefully out of place.
Just to be pedantic and precise, the seventh candle is for pontifical high Mass of the living celebrated by the diocesan bishop; there is no seventh candle at pontifical Requiems.
Fr Kim,
Thanks. I’ve often wondered how best to describe that altar and “ironing board” is simply perfect. I (just about) remember the old altar and always hoped that one day it would be used again. How sad that Cardinal Noe saw fit to remove it. (BTW I saw him once chastising a server in the basilica itself. Wow, what a temper that man had.)
ken88 “…Church doors faced East towards the Rising Sun (Son) symnbolism…”
Somewhere someone (Ronald Knox?) suggested that the reason for this was to discourage tardiness at Eucharistic celebrations, especially on unpleasantly warm mornings, because, naturally, the faithful would prefer the more comfortable interior to exposure to the elements outside. How’s THAT for symbolism?
Actually, I believe there were many Churches in Rome were the Mass was celebrated “towards the people” because the door was East. This seems to be a pretty common way of doing things in Rome, as the layout in an urban area did not always allow buildings to be built in the direction of the East. A good read on the subject was Fr. Klaus Gamber’s book on the Liturgy.
I have heard that the “backwards” direction of the old Roman basilicas is due to the image of the boat (the bark of Peter, or navis from which we get our word “nave”). Remember, the captain of the ship used to steer from the back.
Interesting, Thanks Dino.
Surely it would be simple enough to rebuild the Altar of the Chair and remove the Ironing Board. The steps and platform are still there, but they’re empty except when a “chair” is placed there for the celebrant.
Yeah, they can replace it. Maybe next on the list for Pope Benedict?
It should have never happened in the first place, even if they weren’t going to use it, why destroy the Altar where many Popes offered Mass? Even a non-Catholic with an appreciation of Culture and Tradition could see at least the Historical significance of such an edifice.
The custom of building churches with the altar at the east end had become a mere preference long before the Council or the even the pre-councilar liturgical reform movement. It is often noted that nothing the Council did prohibited a priest from saying Mass facing the apse of the church. This is true, because nothing prior to the Council required him to do so. The Beligans and French rebuilt many of their churches restored during the First War with a free standing altar and the priest would say Mass facing the people. By the 1950s it was not impossible to find this in most parts of the world.
Katherine,
The rubrics, even now, assume Mass ad orientem. There is little to no evidence for Mass versus populum before VII. VII allows it, but like I said, the Missal of Pope Paul VI has at certain points phrases like “the priest turns to the faithful.” The freestanding Altars do not prove anything: most basilicas have freestanding Altars, and have for hundreds of years, but Mass was still celebrated ad orientem, towards the coming Lord. The unity expressed through this gesture is amazing.
What a wonderful site. I just found it today. Thank you for the info and the beautiful pictures.
Your Very Welcome, Dennis