These photos were posed after Pentecost Sunday Mass. See those gold runners on the altar? I purchased those for the cathedral in the late 1980's when I was the associate rector and master of ceremonies there. We've both held up well only getting better with age!
7 comments:
Now that's a Catholic priest! So wonderful that you evolved spiritually over time and found the grace to say the EF
Not sure about the 'runners'. What's the point of them? Much better to have the linen altar cloths hanging down on either side in the traditional manner.
Incidentally, the terms 'epistle' and 'gospel' side depend on the orientation. If Mass is celebrated versus populum the epistle side is on the left as seen by the congregation, and this is where the credence table is situated - service is always from the celebrant's right.
The runners are decorations, much as flowers, carpets, etc.
Flowers, carpets etc. are not placed on the mensa.
Runners can be placed on the altar. Unlike in the photo Fr. McDonald posted, they are easily placed under the altar cloths, linen or otherwise. Like an altar frontal, the runners can be changed to match the season or feast.
Flowers are trickier. Unless the mensa is large, an arrangement can be overwhelming. I think it's generally preferable to keep flowers in flower stands or other places away from the mensa.
Actually, 'runners', a very recent fashion compared with antependia, remind me of another fad, namely wearing the stole over the chasuble.
An altar arrangement often seen in continental Europe, with a couple of stubby candles at one end and a flower arrangement at the other (the way a suburban housewife might have adorned her coffee-table in the 1970s) is of course far worse.
It doesn't seem to bother PF at the modern chapel wherein he celebrates his daily Mass, but it makes me want to throw up.
John Nolan,
PF celebrates the Mass like a typical Jesuit with no ars celebrandi. I have seen newly ordained priests vest and say Mass far superior to Santita. Sad. I dread it when Msgr. Marini leaves the scene.
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