Perhaps Bee can answer. I received a newsletter from the Canons Regular about their association. Call me a doctor of the law who notices things most people might not, like a pointer on the altar at an ordination, but it appears to me in these photos, that glass is placed over the altar cloths. I am sure the reason for this is that the ladies of the altar guild don't want to get wax on the cloths from inept altar boys lighting the altar candles.
But, my question is, shouldn't the Mass take place on the altar cloths and not on glass???????
But, my question is, shouldn't the Mass take place on the altar cloths and not on glass???????
22 comments:
There's no mass happening in any of those photos, Father! I can't believe you missed that given your keen sense of attention to detail.
🤔 🧐 look again at top photo!
That top photo wasn't there when I posted. At any rate, I can't tell if the plexiglass is there in the top photo.
I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, I doubt it is plexiglass but rather actual glass. It is for the EF Mass after all.
Bee here:
Gee Father McD, I don't know! There is a dedicated sacristan who has been there for umpteen years by the name of Don Jenski and he takes care of washing and pressing of all altar linens, as well as dressing the altar. Since I can't go over to church (even our sewing guild is suspended) I can't ask anyone. But as soon as I can I will.
God bless.
Bee
Bee here:
Also, Father, I would guess a piece of glass that large would be heavy and difficult to manage and so stiff it would take 2 or 3 people to move it. Because of that I'm guessing it is plexiglass. Don't know the rationale for it though.
God bless.
Bee
There's one church in my city whose high altar has one of those coverings. It's like a thin plastic sheet that they put on top over the altar cloth. Granted, this church doesn't use the high altar, but the six candles o it will still be lit sometimes, so I suppose maybe it is to just catch wax (or just to keep the altar cloth as white as possible, aka getting no dirt or dust on it). I always thought it was interesting, but never thought too much about it until this post!
I don't know about that. You can't use electric lights instead of candles and paper towels instead of the purificator or finger towel so I think glass or plastic on the altar would be...I can't think of the word....
JR
Would verboten be the word you're trying to think of?
It likely is just another plexiglass altar with a John The Baptist shower curtain from Jim Bakker for decorative edging.
There surely are a great number of electric candles of all types in use in NYC over fear of fire, if not 100% of all types.
Bee, you can get away with wearing a mask everywhere right now, and could not ask for a better time for a little B&E to get to the root of this and solve the mystery.
I thought what was wrong was using the humeral veil to protect the Celebrant's hands while genuflecting at Benediction.
I find this discussion FASCINATING! It is as FASCINATING as the discussion on another thread regarding the essential nature and the importance of the number and type of candles on the altar or on a side table.
Maybe next we can consider the impact of thread count in the amice fabric on the validity of the Mass and the evangelical outreach of Holy Mother Church. Oh! I do hope that will come to pass!
Electric votive candles were commonplace in Ireland in the late 1970s. You put a coin in the slot and the bulb would light up for the requisite amount of time.
I have been in Continental churches where the 'big six' on the original high altar were lit by electricity. There were real candles on the forward altar, although of the stubby variety and usually asymmetrically placed.
Some years ago the CDW had to rule that the altar Missal had to be a book, not an electronic device.
A H & C, Yikes, I'm glad you read my blog, but you really want us to examine the impactof thread count in the amice fabric, etc? I worked at Macy's in the 70's and sold sheets. Muslim (I don't know if that is related to Islam or not) had 130 thread count and (now I can't remember the name of the better quality, o my) had 180 thread count.
I always suggested 180 over 130 as it helped the validity of sleep at night. Then inventors came out with 200 thread count! WHOA!
Dearest Fr. Allan McDonald,
Well, amice thread count would be JUST as FASCINATING and far, far more essential in the discussion of the validity of the convection of the Sacred Species than glass vs plexiglass.
And unless you are making amices out of people who follow Islam, the fabric you are looking for is muslin, a cotton fabric of plain weave, not Muslim, an adherent of Islam.
By the way, since you are Italian, you will be interested to know that "muslin" is from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo, Italian name of Mosul, city in northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) where muslin was made.
Now I wonder is Benito Mussolini's name means "little man from Iraq."
How dare people on the internet talk about something that doesn't interest me! This is appalling! I'd better step into that discussion -- which I'm definitely not interested in -- to convince them to stop.
A H & C
Wow, and I thought I was OCD! The better quality linen (I wonder if it was name after Lenin of Russia) is percale, which can be 180 thread count and upwards to 500!! WHOA! That was not the case in the 70's. BTW, Percalle in Italian translates into gingham in English. I guess percale sounds better and of better quality,no?
But back to the fabulous discussion on plexiglass and glass altar coverings over the muslims and Italians, not to mention the Russians. I can't see these being placed over the amice at all, unless each priest had a mold made of his shoulders to allow for an exact fit. And the amice would not get soiled that way.
linen (n.)
"cloth from woven flax," early 14c., noun use of adjective linen "made of flax" from Old English līn "flax, linen thread, linen cloth" + -en (2). Old English lin is from Proto-Germanic *linam (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old High German lin "flax, linen," German Leinen "linen," Gothic lein "linen cloth"), probably an early borrowing from Latin linum "flax, linen," which, along with Greek linon is from a non-Indo-European language. Beekes writes, "Original identity is possible, however, since the cultivation of flax in Central Europe is very old. Still, it is more probable that linon and linum derive from a Mediterranean word. The word is unknown in Indo-Iranian (but the concept is, of course)." Lithuanian linai, Old Church Slavonic linu, Irish lin probably are ultimately from Latin or Greek.
percale (n.)
1620s, name of a kind of closely and firmly woven fabric imported from the East, from French percale, a word of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately from Persian pargalah "a rag." In modern use (1840) a fabric of French manufacture.
Bee here:
Oh my! Well, I can tell you from personal experience, it is nearly impossible to use the thread count (usually around 144) on fine linen to place a perfect cross in the center of a purification, even under magnification!
AH&C, I can tell you there are circles where the discussion you are mocking is undertaken with complete seriousness. I belong to one of them. So....
God bless.
Bee
Bee - There are people who take completely seriously the number of angels who can do the samba on the head of a pin, too!
Bee here:
Yes, and believe it or not Anonymous, people who castigate others for being concerned about drinking from a common chalice. I know, bores, (and boors), are everywhere.
God bless.
Bee
Bee,
Bravo, thanks for slapping back at Anonymous K
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