The Mystery of Christianity
The Church is, in Christ, a sacrament of unity: that is a sign and instrument of the unity of the whole human race in Christ the Lord. A sacrament is a symbolic expression of the great mystery of grace and salvation centered in Jesus Christ. For the New Testament and the fathers, Christ is the great sacrament or mystery of salvation, but Christ is not complete without the Church, which is his visible and effective presence on earth. Thus the Church can be seen, in Christ, as the encompassing sacrament.
The sacrament of the Church is fully realised only in the Catholic Church, the visible grace-filled society in which the bonds of professed faith, ecclesiastic government, and sacramental communion remain fully intact (LG 14). These bonds belong together insofar as the true Church indefectibly possesses them all. But the bonds are separable in the sense that some may survive in the absence of others. Non-Roman Catholic communities may possess some authentic ecclesial elements and be able to make fruitful use of them as channels of grace (LG 15; UR 3). Individuals in different ecclesial situations may enjoy various degrees of communion with, or incorporation in, the one Church of Christ.
To be fully incorporated and fully in communion, one must posses the Spirit of Christ and accept the full system of Catholic Christianity, including all of the means of salvation given it (LG 14). Catechumens can be joined to the Church by explicit desire. Baptised non-Catholics can be in partial or imperfect communion, thanks to their faith, their devotion, and the means of salvation available to them in their respective communities (LG 15). Non-Christians are not in communion with the Church but are ordered toward it in various ways (LG 16).
The Church is the fulfilment of the new covenant, the community of those who have been reconciled to God in Christ dead and risen for us, and are called to live with God as his sons, citizens of the heavenly city, and to take partial possession of the inheritance of God.
The Church, to which we are called in Christ Jesus, and in which we acquire sanctity through the grace of God, will attain its full perfection only in the glory of heaven, when there will come the time of the restoration of all things. Then the whole Church of the saints in the supreme happiness of charity will adore God and “the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 5:12), proclaiming with one voice: “To Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb blessing, and honour, and glory, and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13-14)
The mystery of the Church gathers together in one community those who are still on earth, those who are still in purgatory after death, and those who have already come to the glory of God. Those who must still hope and those who already found the term of their hope live in the same charity that unites every member of this unique body. In this way, a profound solidarity links those who journey toward God with those who are already face to face with God. It is the communion of holy people that is thus realised and is the very definition of ecclesial reality.
As an icon of the Church, the Blessed Virgin Mary personally illustrates what the Church is as a community. She is the living example of the perfectly Christian life; consequently, by her life she bears witness to the perfection of the virtues. In this, all Christians can contemplate in Mary that to which grace calls them to be, not only personally but also in their apostolic actions to collaborate in the salvation of all men.
Holiness is the reception of this mystery of grace, which configures us to Christ. It is present in the profound life of this mystery of unity of the invisible, the divine, and the eternal, toward which all that is visible, human, and temporal is ordered and subordinated. This holiness is the great family mark that is already uniting us with the citizens of heaven and among whom the Virgin Mary shines with a brightness without compare.
This is the final “complex reality” of the mystery of holiness: that which is the highest, the most excellent, and of the greatest price is intended for everyone. Contrary to our way of life in civil society, where everything is measured by power and money, all of the goods of God are offered generously to everyone in the community, of which Christ is the head.
Our religion is not a religion of heroes but of saints, that is to say, humble men and women who, each day, allow themselves to be loved by Christ and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, walk—slowly or quickly, depending on the person and on the particular time—toward the destination of hope, which does not deceive: God Himself, Christ who is all and in all (Col 3;11), the Church of glory.
———
[Taken from the book: Vatican II—Renewal within Tradition, edited by Matthew L. Lamb and Matthew Levering, published by Oxford University Press, including extracts from Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. and Benoît-Dominique de La Soujeole, O.P.].
Read Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
The sacrament of the Church is fully realised only in the Catholic Church, the visible grace-filled society in which the bonds of professed faith, ecclesiastic government, and sacramental communion remain fully intact (LG 14). These bonds belong together insofar as the true Church indefectibly possesses them all. But the bonds are separable in the sense that some may survive in the absence of others. Non-Roman Catholic communities may possess some authentic ecclesial elements and be able to make fruitful use of them as channels of grace (LG 15; UR 3). Individuals in different ecclesial situations may enjoy various degrees of communion with, or incorporation in, the one Church of Christ.
To be fully incorporated and fully in communion, one must posses the Spirit of Christ and accept the full system of Catholic Christianity, including all of the means of salvation given it (LG 14). Catechumens can be joined to the Church by explicit desire. Baptised non-Catholics can be in partial or imperfect communion, thanks to their faith, their devotion, and the means of salvation available to them in their respective communities (LG 15). Non-Christians are not in communion with the Church but are ordered toward it in various ways (LG 16).
The Church is the fulfilment of the new covenant, the community of those who have been reconciled to God in Christ dead and risen for us, and are called to live with God as his sons, citizens of the heavenly city, and to take partial possession of the inheritance of God.
The Church, to which we are called in Christ Jesus, and in which we acquire sanctity through the grace of God, will attain its full perfection only in the glory of heaven, when there will come the time of the restoration of all things. Then the whole Church of the saints in the supreme happiness of charity will adore God and “the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 5:12), proclaiming with one voice: “To Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb blessing, and honour, and glory, and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13-14)
The mystery of the Church gathers together in one community those who are still on earth, those who are still in purgatory after death, and those who have already come to the glory of God. Those who must still hope and those who already found the term of their hope live in the same charity that unites every member of this unique body. In this way, a profound solidarity links those who journey toward God with those who are already face to face with God. It is the communion of holy people that is thus realised and is the very definition of ecclesial reality.
As an icon of the Church, the Blessed Virgin Mary personally illustrates what the Church is as a community. She is the living example of the perfectly Christian life; consequently, by her life she bears witness to the perfection of the virtues. In this, all Christians can contemplate in Mary that to which grace calls them to be, not only personally but also in their apostolic actions to collaborate in the salvation of all men.
Holiness is the reception of this mystery of grace, which configures us to Christ. It is present in the profound life of this mystery of unity of the invisible, the divine, and the eternal, toward which all that is visible, human, and temporal is ordered and subordinated. This holiness is the great family mark that is already uniting us with the citizens of heaven and among whom the Virgin Mary shines with a brightness without compare.
This is the final “complex reality” of the mystery of holiness: that which is the highest, the most excellent, and of the greatest price is intended for everyone. Contrary to our way of life in civil society, where everything is measured by power and money, all of the goods of God are offered generously to everyone in the community, of which Christ is the head.
Our religion is not a religion of heroes but of saints, that is to say, humble men and women who, each day, allow themselves to be loved by Christ and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, walk—slowly or quickly, depending on the person and on the particular time—toward the destination of hope, which does not deceive: God Himself, Christ who is all and in all (Col 3;11), the Church of glory.
———
[Taken from the book: Vatican II—Renewal within Tradition, edited by Matthew L. Lamb and Matthew Levering, published by Oxford University Press, including extracts from Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. and Benoît-Dominique de La Soujeole, O.P.].
Read Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
Christianity in Ireland
Notes on the History of Ireland
Survey of the Development of Christianity in Ireland
Pre-Christian Ireland
The inhabitants of Ireland were pagan. Historic sites such as Brú na Bóinne were the burial sites of kings and centres of worship.
The Celts brought to Ireland an hierarchical society where aristocratic warriors shared the highest place with druids, who were priests, philosophers, teachers, judges and poets. Druids transmitted their lore orally to their students, but remained aloof from the people. Their rituals were carried out in the groves of their “sacred” tree, the oak. Their craft was strongly reliant on magic, augury and human sacrifice. Their pantheon of gods governed every facet of human life.
Pope Clementine Consecrates Palladius in A.D. 431 as First Bishop of the Irish
St. Patrick is Ireland’s Spiritual Father, but he had predecessors—St. Ailbe of Emly, St. Ibar of Beg Erin and St. Declan of Ardmore.
Bishop Palladius landed on the coast of Wicklow, but after founding three churches, departed for Rome.
After six years of slavery in Ireland Patrick escaped to Auxerre where he received Holy Orders. He returned to Ireland with twenty-four companions, landing first on the Wicklow coast. Patrick knew that in order to convert the people he had first to convince their lords.
Ireland—the Island of Saints and Scholars
With Christianity came Latin ,and once accepted, the art of writing followed—replacing the clumsy and laborious Ogam script.
Irish monasticism, an era of White Martyrdom, began with St. Enda on the Aran Islands. In spite of its sever austerity of Enda’s monastic discipline the fame of his school spread all over the Christian world and students came not only from Ireland, but from all over Europe. One of Enda’s disciples, St. Finian, established the great monastery of Clonard on the river Boyne, from whence came most of Irelands greatest saints—the “Twelve Apostles of Ireland”: Colmcille of Derry and Iona, Kieran of Saighir, Ciaran of Clonmacnois, Brendan of Clonfert, Brendan of Birr, Colman of Terryglass, Molasses of Devenish, Canice of Aghaboe, Ruadhan of Lothra, Mobhi of Glasnevin, Senell of Cluain Inis, and Nannidh of Inis Maighe Samh.
How the Irish Saved Civilisation
Irish monks lived lives of severe asceticism and simplicity. Daly labour insured their self-sufficiency. They lived alone in small functional huts, but gathered for meals and prayer. The Mass was offered in small unpretentious churches.
Their pedagogy was mostly oral, and intellectual work was done in the Scriptorium where masterpieces of illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow were produced.
More than 800 monasteries, including Glendalough, Clonmacnois and Skellig Michael, had an international reputation for piety and learning.
The Viking Invasions Bring Disruption to the Ireland
The Irish monastic movement began to expand Eastwards and into Europe beginning in the sixth century. St. Colmcille of Iona, St. Aidan of Lindisfarne and St. Columbanus of Luxeuil were well known examples.
However, secular interference in the life of the monasteries accelerated decline, and the Viking invasion lead to demise.
Pope Adrian IV in his Bull Laudabiliter Authorises the Invasion of Ireland
Few monasteries still survived by the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The twelfth century Synod of Kells (1152) established a territorial diocesan hierarchy along European lines.
The Anglo-Norman invasion was a military annexation of Ireland initiated at the behest of king Henry II of England and culminated with the Treaty of Windsor (1175) when Rory O’Connor recognised Henry as Lord of Ireland. This status quo under British hegemony continued up to the implementation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1921.
Reform and Revival
St. Malachy of Armagh, who introduced the Augustinians of Arrouaise and the Cistercian monks to Ireland, initiated ecclesial reform and religious revival. The Anglo-Normans helped facilitate the arrive of Military Orders, Knights Hospitallers and Templars, into Ireland.
The Black Death (1348-9)
Religious fervour was re-ignited in the thirteenth century with the arrival of the mendicant orders, but the Black Death and other famines and pestilences of the fourteenth century had a serious effect on existing foundations.
Decline
Between the mid-fourteenth century and the Reformation no more monasteries of monks or regular canons were founded, although there were over 100 new houses of friars.
The monastic life degenerated considerably during the fifteenth century, succumbing to poverty and paucity of vocations due to indiscipline and spiritual decline.
King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII established himself as head of the Church within his domain. The 1534 Act of Supremacy was given effect in Ireland in 1536. The king’ s claim to usurp the authority of the Pope was enforced through the Act of Slander, whereby such denial was defined as High Treason. The crime of High Treason resulted in the legal forfeiture of property.
King Edward VI
Ecclesial reformation had little success, except in the Pale (Dublin surround), and in the towns. Doctrinal and liturgical innovations were strongly resisted.
Queen Mary
She restored the rights of the Pope, doctrine and the liturgy, but with little effect.
Queen Elizabeth I
The parliament of 1560 reestablished the provisions and law of 1536, adding the Act of Uniformity, which enforced on pain of a fine, attendance on Sundays at a service performed according to the [Anglican] Book of Common Prayer.
Suppression of the Monasteries and Persecution of Irish Catholics
During the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I over 400 monasteries were suppressed. Hundreds of Roman Catholics: bishops, priests, monks, friars, nuns, and lay people were executed; usually publicly, by being hung, dawn, and quartered. This fate of martyrdom the Irish shared with their Catholic brethren in Briton, who suffered the same appalling atrocities in the name of Roman Catholism.
Emancipation
Most anti-catholic legislation was quashed by 1829, yet Catholics were still required to pay tithes to the established [Anglican] church of Ireland. William Gladstone disestablished the [Anglican] church of Ireland in 1869.
The Visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979
(Extract from the Homily of Pope John Paul II, Limerick, 1979)
‘Ireland in the past displayed a remarkable interpenetration of her whole culture, speech and way of life by the things of God and the life of grace. Life was in a way organised around religious events. The task of this generation of Irish men and women is to transform the more complex world of modern industrial and urban life by the same Gospel spirit. Today, you must keep the city and factory for God, as you have always kept the farm and the village community for him in the past. Material progress has in so many places led to decline of faith and growth in Christ, growth in love and justice. To accomplish this you must have consistency between your faith and your daily life…
Ireland must choose. You the present generation of Irish people must decide; your choice must be clear and your decision firm. Let the voice of your forefathers, who suffered so much to maintain their faith in Christ and thus to preserve Ireland’s soul, resound today in your ears through the voice of the Pope when he repeats the words of Christ: “What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26). What would it profit Ireland to go the easy way of the world and suffer the loss of her soul?’…
Your country seems in a sense to be living again the temptations of Christ: Ireland is being asked to prefer the “Kingdoms of the world and their splendour” to the kingdom of God (cf Mt 4:8). Satan, the tempter, the adversary of Christ, will use all his might and all his deceptions to win Ireland for the way of the world. What a victory he would gain, what a blow he would inflict on the Body of Christ in the world, if he could seduce Irish men and women away from Christ. Now is the time of testing for Ireland. This generation is once more a generation of decision’.
Survey of the Development of Christianity in Ireland
Pre-Christian Ireland
The inhabitants of Ireland were pagan. Historic sites such as Brú na Bóinne were the burial sites of kings and centres of worship.
The Celts brought to Ireland an hierarchical society where aristocratic warriors shared the highest place with druids, who were priests, philosophers, teachers, judges and poets. Druids transmitted their lore orally to their students, but remained aloof from the people. Their rituals were carried out in the groves of their “sacred” tree, the oak. Their craft was strongly reliant on magic, augury and human sacrifice. Their pantheon of gods governed every facet of human life.
Pope Clementine Consecrates Palladius in A.D. 431 as First Bishop of the Irish
St. Patrick is Ireland’s Spiritual Father, but he had predecessors—St. Ailbe of Emly, St. Ibar of Beg Erin and St. Declan of Ardmore.
Bishop Palladius landed on the coast of Wicklow, but after founding three churches, departed for Rome.
After six years of slavery in Ireland Patrick escaped to Auxerre where he received Holy Orders. He returned to Ireland with twenty-four companions, landing first on the Wicklow coast. Patrick knew that in order to convert the people he had first to convince their lords.
Ireland—the Island of Saints and Scholars
With Christianity came Latin ,and once accepted, the art of writing followed—replacing the clumsy and laborious Ogam script.
Irish monasticism, an era of White Martyrdom, began with St. Enda on the Aran Islands. In spite of its sever austerity of Enda’s monastic discipline the fame of his school spread all over the Christian world and students came not only from Ireland, but from all over Europe. One of Enda’s disciples, St. Finian, established the great monastery of Clonard on the river Boyne, from whence came most of Irelands greatest saints—the “Twelve Apostles of Ireland”: Colmcille of Derry and Iona, Kieran of Saighir, Ciaran of Clonmacnois, Brendan of Clonfert, Brendan of Birr, Colman of Terryglass, Molasses of Devenish, Canice of Aghaboe, Ruadhan of Lothra, Mobhi of Glasnevin, Senell of Cluain Inis, and Nannidh of Inis Maighe Samh.
How the Irish Saved Civilisation
Irish monks lived lives of severe asceticism and simplicity. Daly labour insured their self-sufficiency. They lived alone in small functional huts, but gathered for meals and prayer. The Mass was offered in small unpretentious churches.
Their pedagogy was mostly oral, and intellectual work was done in the Scriptorium where masterpieces of illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow were produced.
More than 800 monasteries, including Glendalough, Clonmacnois and Skellig Michael, had an international reputation for piety and learning.
The Viking Invasions Bring Disruption to the Ireland
The Irish monastic movement began to expand Eastwards and into Europe beginning in the sixth century. St. Colmcille of Iona, St. Aidan of Lindisfarne and St. Columbanus of Luxeuil were well known examples.
However, secular interference in the life of the monasteries accelerated decline, and the Viking invasion lead to demise.
Pope Adrian IV in his Bull Laudabiliter Authorises the Invasion of Ireland
Few monasteries still survived by the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The twelfth century Synod of Kells (1152) established a territorial diocesan hierarchy along European lines.
The Anglo-Norman invasion was a military annexation of Ireland initiated at the behest of king Henry II of England and culminated with the Treaty of Windsor (1175) when Rory O’Connor recognised Henry as Lord of Ireland. This status quo under British hegemony continued up to the implementation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1921.
Reform and Revival
St. Malachy of Armagh, who introduced the Augustinians of Arrouaise and the Cistercian monks to Ireland, initiated ecclesial reform and religious revival. The Anglo-Normans helped facilitate the arrive of Military Orders, Knights Hospitallers and Templars, into Ireland.
The Black Death (1348-9)
Religious fervour was re-ignited in the thirteenth century with the arrival of the mendicant orders, but the Black Death and other famines and pestilences of the fourteenth century had a serious effect on existing foundations.
Decline
Between the mid-fourteenth century and the Reformation no more monasteries of monks or regular canons were founded, although there were over 100 new houses of friars.
The monastic life degenerated considerably during the fifteenth century, succumbing to poverty and paucity of vocations due to indiscipline and spiritual decline.
King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII established himself as head of the Church within his domain. The 1534 Act of Supremacy was given effect in Ireland in 1536. The king’ s claim to usurp the authority of the Pope was enforced through the Act of Slander, whereby such denial was defined as High Treason. The crime of High Treason resulted in the legal forfeiture of property.
King Edward VI
Ecclesial reformation had little success, except in the Pale (Dublin surround), and in the towns. Doctrinal and liturgical innovations were strongly resisted.
Queen Mary
She restored the rights of the Pope, doctrine and the liturgy, but with little effect.
Queen Elizabeth I
The parliament of 1560 reestablished the provisions and law of 1536, adding the Act of Uniformity, which enforced on pain of a fine, attendance on Sundays at a service performed according to the [Anglican] Book of Common Prayer.
Suppression of the Monasteries and Persecution of Irish Catholics
During the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I over 400 monasteries were suppressed. Hundreds of Roman Catholics: bishops, priests, monks, friars, nuns, and lay people were executed; usually publicly, by being hung, dawn, and quartered. This fate of martyrdom the Irish shared with their Catholic brethren in Briton, who suffered the same appalling atrocities in the name of Roman Catholism.
Emancipation
Most anti-catholic legislation was quashed by 1829, yet Catholics were still required to pay tithes to the established [Anglican] church of Ireland. William Gladstone disestablished the [Anglican] church of Ireland in 1869.
The Visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979
(Extract from the Homily of Pope John Paul II, Limerick, 1979)
‘Ireland in the past displayed a remarkable interpenetration of her whole culture, speech and way of life by the things of God and the life of grace. Life was in a way organised around religious events. The task of this generation of Irish men and women is to transform the more complex world of modern industrial and urban life by the same Gospel spirit. Today, you must keep the city and factory for God, as you have always kept the farm and the village community for him in the past. Material progress has in so many places led to decline of faith and growth in Christ, growth in love and justice. To accomplish this you must have consistency between your faith and your daily life…
Ireland must choose. You the present generation of Irish people must decide; your choice must be clear and your decision firm. Let the voice of your forefathers, who suffered so much to maintain their faith in Christ and thus to preserve Ireland’s soul, resound today in your ears through the voice of the Pope when he repeats the words of Christ: “What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26). What would it profit Ireland to go the easy way of the world and suffer the loss of her soul?’…
Your country seems in a sense to be living again the temptations of Christ: Ireland is being asked to prefer the “Kingdoms of the world and their splendour” to the kingdom of God (cf Mt 4:8). Satan, the tempter, the adversary of Christ, will use all his might and all his deceptions to win Ireland for the way of the world. What a victory he would gain, what a blow he would inflict on the Body of Christ in the world, if he could seduce Irish men and women away from Christ. Now is the time of testing for Ireland. This generation is once more a generation of decision’.
Ss. Peter and Paul's
The Foundation Stone
A chapel dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul was built on Carey’s Lane in 1786. It served the Catholic community of the entire central part of the city. By 1839 the Old Carey’s Lane Chapel had become hopelessly inadequate. The chapel was partially demolished and the present day Parish Church of Ss. Peter and Paul’s was built on its site. A portion of the old chapel, used for a time as a sacristy, still stands, abutting Carey’s Lane. It took ten years to acquire the extra land required and eight years to build the new church. This was carried out by the design firm of Mr. Barry McMullen, to the design of E.W. Pugin, the famous London architect and a leading figure in the Gothic Revival of the 19th Century. The foundation stone of the church was laid on August 15th, 1859 and the work completed in June 1866.
A chapel dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul was built on Carey’s Lane in 1786. It served the Catholic community of the entire central part of the city. By 1839 the Old Carey’s Lane Chapel had become hopelessly inadequate. The chapel was partially demolished and the present day Parish Church of Ss. Peter and Paul’s was built on its site. A portion of the old chapel, used for a time as a sacristy, still stands, abutting Carey’s Lane. It took ten years to acquire the extra land required and eight years to build the new church. This was carried out by the design firm of Mr. Barry McMullen, to the design of E.W. Pugin, the famous London architect and a leading figure in the Gothic Revival of the 19th Century. The foundation stone of the church was laid on August 15th, 1859 and the work completed in June 1866.
Sacred Architecture
The Sacred Liturgy
The Church is the fulfilment of the new covenant, the community of those who have been reconciled to God in Christ dead and risen for us, and are called to live with God as his sons, citizens of the heavenly city, and to take partial possession of the inheritance of God.
All the promises made to Isreal become, in fact, a reality in Christ:, ”Now you are in Christ Jesus; now through the blood of Christ, you have been brought close, you who were once far away. He is our bond of peace; he has made the two nations one…” (Eph. 2:13). (Yves Cardinal Congar: The Mystery of the Church)
In the Old Covenant, the high priest performed the rite of atonement in the Holy of Holies. None but he could enter, and even he could do so only once a year…The Christian church building soon acquired the name Domus ecclesia (the house of the Church, the assembly of the People of God), and then, as an abbreviation, the word ecclesia (“assembly”, “church”) came to be used, not just of the living community, but also of the building that housed it. This development is accompanied by another idea: Christ himself offers worship as he stands before the Father. He becomes his members worship as they come together with him and around him. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: The Spirit of the Liturgy)
Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord, and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father.
Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members.
From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.
In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle; we sing a hymn to the Lord's glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory. (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: Sacrosanctum concilium, 7-8)
The Liturgy and the Art of the Church Building
The church building is a sacred place—set apart from its surroundings and other buildings—made so by consecration, by its symbolism, and by what takes place within its walls, the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries and the worship of the faithful. Apart from the sacramental presence of the Lord, the church is a holy place, filled with the Divine Presence—more so than the Temple of old ever was. It is itself an act of worship—as its planning, building and furnishings were acts of worship—it is a prayer in stone.
The orientation of the church is that its longitudinal axis lies east-west, so that the apse, with the altar, is at the east end, the main entrance at the west end. The eastward orientation of the church is based on the symbolism of the rising sun—the symbol of the Messiah, coming from the east and thence departing—the symbol also of the risen Christ, and of the Parousia: second coming of Christ. This easterly gaze is fundamentally eschatological: about death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul.
The western doorway or entrance into the church is symbolically understood to be the vulva through which we were born and the threshold of paradise through which we may be born again.
The longitudinal axis from the western doorways to the apse represents the pilgrims progress along the Way from the mundane world at the western entry to the most spiritual at the eastern, where one hopes to meet God at the Eucharist. The transverse axis represents wisdom and the means under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom.
The altar is the elevated marble structure at the east end of the church on which sacrifice is offered.
The Catholic Church is built primarily to house an altar. It is, as it were, built about its high altar. This altar is the optical and architectural centre of the church. It is clearly visible from every aspect of the building.
Lancet windows dominate the eastern sanctuary wall. The stained glass and tracery patterns are so eye-catching that the phenomena becomes the aesthetic centre of gravity—highlighting the Parousia.
Read Sacrosanctum concilium of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
The Church is the fulfilment of the new covenant, the community of those who have been reconciled to God in Christ dead and risen for us, and are called to live with God as his sons, citizens of the heavenly city, and to take partial possession of the inheritance of God.
All the promises made to Isreal become, in fact, a reality in Christ:, ”Now you are in Christ Jesus; now through the blood of Christ, you have been brought close, you who were once far away. He is our bond of peace; he has made the two nations one…” (Eph. 2:13). (Yves Cardinal Congar: The Mystery of the Church)
In the Old Covenant, the high priest performed the rite of atonement in the Holy of Holies. None but he could enter, and even he could do so only once a year…The Christian church building soon acquired the name Domus ecclesia (the house of the Church, the assembly of the People of God), and then, as an abbreviation, the word ecclesia (“assembly”, “church”) came to be used, not just of the living community, but also of the building that housed it. This development is accompanied by another idea: Christ himself offers worship as he stands before the Father. He becomes his members worship as they come together with him and around him. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: The Spirit of the Liturgy)
Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord, and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father.
Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members.
From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.
In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle; we sing a hymn to the Lord's glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory. (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: Sacrosanctum concilium, 7-8)
The Liturgy and the Art of the Church Building
The church building is a sacred place—set apart from its surroundings and other buildings—made so by consecration, by its symbolism, and by what takes place within its walls, the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries and the worship of the faithful. Apart from the sacramental presence of the Lord, the church is a holy place, filled with the Divine Presence—more so than the Temple of old ever was. It is itself an act of worship—as its planning, building and furnishings were acts of worship—it is a prayer in stone.
The orientation of the church is that its longitudinal axis lies east-west, so that the apse, with the altar, is at the east end, the main entrance at the west end. The eastward orientation of the church is based on the symbolism of the rising sun—the symbol of the Messiah, coming from the east and thence departing—the symbol also of the risen Christ, and of the Parousia: second coming of Christ. This easterly gaze is fundamentally eschatological: about death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul.
The western doorway or entrance into the church is symbolically understood to be the vulva through which we were born and the threshold of paradise through which we may be born again.
The longitudinal axis from the western doorways to the apse represents the pilgrims progress along the Way from the mundane world at the western entry to the most spiritual at the eastern, where one hopes to meet God at the Eucharist. The transverse axis represents wisdom and the means under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom.
The altar is the elevated marble structure at the east end of the church on which sacrifice is offered.
The Catholic Church is built primarily to house an altar. It is, as it were, built about its high altar. This altar is the optical and architectural centre of the church. It is clearly visible from every aspect of the building.
Lancet windows dominate the eastern sanctuary wall. The stained glass and tracery patterns are so eye-catching that the phenomena becomes the aesthetic centre of gravity—highlighting the Parousia.
Read Sacrosanctum concilium of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
The Great Western Doorway
Ss. Peter and Paul’s church is built of red sandstone with dressings of limestone. The ridge of the roof is decorated by ornamental ironwork, partly gilded, terminating at the western gable by an ornamental cross with foliated arms.
The western doorway is recessed, as in an alcove, and is flanked with ornamental jambs. A triangular heading surmounts the arch over the doorway and the doors are hung with ornamental iron hinges. An arcade of small blank arches flank the principle doorway. Over the doorway is the great western window of the church. Through the small porch or narthex the nave is seen to terminate in the chancel.
The western doorway is recessed, as in an alcove, and is flanked with ornamental jambs. A triangular heading surmounts the arch over the doorway and the doors are hung with ornamental iron hinges. An arcade of small blank arches flank the principle doorway. Over the doorway is the great western window of the church. Through the small porch or narthex the nave is seen to terminate in the chancel.
The Nave
Beyond the narthex is the body of the church consisting of nave and side aisles. Both aisles are dived from the nave by an arcade of arches. The arches rest on columns of polished red marble. The clerestory, resting on carved capitals, houses large windows; twelve decorative marble plinths support statues of the twelve apostles. The roof is of open timber work, the principle beams resting on corbels, carved in representation of the choirs of angles.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Padre Pio is an Italian saint who was a Capuchin friar known for bearing the stigmata.
The Baptistery
After the altar, the baptistery is the most important part of the parish church on account of the mystagogy whereby one is initiated into the mystery of Christ by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the ‘sacraments’ to the ‘mysteries’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1075). Baptism is a bath of water in which the “imperishable seed” of the Word of God produces its life-giving effect (CCC 1228).
In the early centuries baptism was mainly of adults, sometimes in great numbers, and done by immersion. The earliest form of a baptismal font was a vat or tank. From the 4th century a separate building—spacious and highly ornate—situated at the north or west corner of the church came into use as the baptistery. The baptistery at Ss. Peter and Paul’s is attached to the south west corner of the church and is in two distinct parts, a portico for the preparatory rites, and the baptistery itself. The font is surmounted by a civory.
Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that, “we too might walk in newness of life” (CCC 985 quoting Romans).
The practice of infant baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. Born with a fallen nature and tainted by original sin, all are called to Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God (CCC.1250). The Church obliges parents to have their infants baptised within the first few weeks (CIC. 867).
In the past infants were brought to the church immediately by their godparents. They were met at the baptistery portico by the Parish Priest. After the scrutinies he performed exorcisms over the child before leading him into the baptistery for the baptism.
Mothers were generally not at the baptism. After convalescence, mother and baby were met by the Parish Priest at the West Door of the church. He lead them to the altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary to bless or “church” them. This is an ancient ceremony of thanksgiving, which is in the ritual, and has its roots in the Jewish practice of the purification of mothers after childbirth (Luke 2. 22-32)( Exodus 13.1-13, Leviticus 12.1-8).
In the early centuries baptism was mainly of adults, sometimes in great numbers, and done by immersion. The earliest form of a baptismal font was a vat or tank. From the 4th century a separate building—spacious and highly ornate—situated at the north or west corner of the church came into use as the baptistery. The baptistery at Ss. Peter and Paul’s is attached to the south west corner of the church and is in two distinct parts, a portico for the preparatory rites, and the baptistery itself. The font is surmounted by a civory.
Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that, “we too might walk in newness of life” (CCC 985 quoting Romans).
The practice of infant baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. Born with a fallen nature and tainted by original sin, all are called to Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God (CCC.1250). The Church obliges parents to have their infants baptised within the first few weeks (CIC. 867).
In the past infants were brought to the church immediately by their godparents. They were met at the baptistery portico by the Parish Priest. After the scrutinies he performed exorcisms over the child before leading him into the baptistery for the baptism.
Mothers were generally not at the baptism. After convalescence, mother and baby were met by the Parish Priest at the West Door of the church. He lead them to the altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary to bless or “church” them. This is an ancient ceremony of thanksgiving, which is in the ritual, and has its roots in the Jewish practice of the purification of mothers after childbirth (Luke 2. 22-32)( Exodus 13.1-13, Leviticus 12.1-8).
The Crucifixion
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother 11 and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John. 19: 25–27)
When Jesus saw his mother 11 and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John. 19: 25–27)
The Confessional
Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesiastical communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as, “the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace” (CCC:1446).
The sacrament of Penance comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God’s action through the intervention of the Church. The Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion (CCC: 1448).
Up to the 16th century the confessor used a seat in the open church, and the penitent knelt beside him at the beginning and for the absolving, but sat beside him for the confession itself. The confessor at the absolution laid his hand on the penitent. Only in the 17th century was a grill introduced. It was probably due to St. Charles Borromeo, who , at the first Council of Milan, 1565, ordered a partition (labella) between the confessor and the penitent.
In Ss. Peter and Paul’s the confessionals are double sided. The priest sits in the middle, separated on either side by a grill, through which he communicates alternatively with successive penitents. The penitent’s side of the confessional is furnished with a large kneeler.
The sacrament of Penance comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God’s action through the intervention of the Church. The Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion (CCC: 1448).
Up to the 16th century the confessor used a seat in the open church, and the penitent knelt beside him at the beginning and for the absolving, but sat beside him for the confession itself. The confessor at the absolution laid his hand on the penitent. Only in the 17th century was a grill introduced. It was probably due to St. Charles Borromeo, who , at the first Council of Milan, 1565, ordered a partition (labella) between the confessor and the penitent.
In Ss. Peter and Paul’s the confessionals are double sided. The priest sits in the middle, separated on either side by a grill, through which he communicates alternatively with successive penitents. The penitent’s side of the confessional is furnished with a large kneeler.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is rooted in our love for God, who so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son, who has so loved us as to deliver Himself up for us. From the earliest centuries, in accordance with the example of St. John, Christ’s open side and the mystery of the blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is characterised by a reciprocation of love whose aim is to foster love of Jesus who has loved us, that is to return love for love. The depth of this love of Christ manifests itself to the devout soul as a love despised and outraged, especially in the Eucharist, and naturally assumes a character of reparation, atonement, and compassion for Christ crucified. This love is affectively unitive of its nature.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is characterised by a reciprocation of love whose aim is to foster love of Jesus who has loved us, that is to return love for love. The depth of this love of Christ manifests itself to the devout soul as a love despised and outraged, especially in the Eucharist, and naturally assumes a character of reparation, atonement, and compassion for Christ crucified. This love is affectively unitive of its nature.
The Souls in Purgatory
Judgement
The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life…Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgement primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works of faith…either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through purification or immediately,—or immediately and everlasting damnation (CCC. 1020—1022).
Purgatory
All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (CCC. 1030)
Pope Benedict XVI on the Eschaton
The encyclical letter, Spe salvi (41—50), outlines the Christian doctrine on salvation.
From the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice. Faith in Christ has never looked merely backwards or merely upwards, but always also forwards to the hour of justice that the Lord repeatedly proclaimed. This looking ahead has given Christianity its importance for the present moment. In the arrangement of Christian sacred buildings, which were intended to make visible the historic and cosmic breadth of faith in Christ, it became customary to depict the Lord returning as a king—the symbol of hope—at the east end; while the west wall normally portrayed the Last Judgement as a symbol of our responsibility for our lives—a scene which followed and accompanied the faithful as they went out to resume their daily routine. As the iconography of the Last Judgement developed, however, more and more prominence was given to its ominous and frightening aspects, which obviously held more fascination for artists than the splendour of hope, often all too well concealed beneath the horrors…
In the modern era, the idea of the Last Judgement has faded into the background: Christian faith has been individualised and primarily oriented towards the salvation of the believer's own soul, while reflection on world history is largely dominated by the idea of progress. The fundamental content of awaiting a final Judgement, however, has not disappeared: it has simply taken on a totally different form. The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history…
To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. Is it not also a frightening image? I would say: it is an image that evokes responsibility, an image, therefore, of that fear of which Saint Hilary spoke when he said that all our fear has its place in love. God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace…
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures; the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced…
This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God. The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory…
St. Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast…
Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy…
A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important for the practice of Christian hope. Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC). The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is common to the Eastern and Western Church…
The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon?
Read Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on Eschatology: Hell, Purgatory, Heaven
The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life…Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgement primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works of faith…either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through purification or immediately,—or immediately and everlasting damnation (CCC. 1020—1022).
Purgatory
All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (CCC. 1030)
Pope Benedict XVI on the Eschaton
The encyclical letter, Spe salvi (41—50), outlines the Christian doctrine on salvation.
From the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice. Faith in Christ has never looked merely backwards or merely upwards, but always also forwards to the hour of justice that the Lord repeatedly proclaimed. This looking ahead has given Christianity its importance for the present moment. In the arrangement of Christian sacred buildings, which were intended to make visible the historic and cosmic breadth of faith in Christ, it became customary to depict the Lord returning as a king—the symbol of hope—at the east end; while the west wall normally portrayed the Last Judgement as a symbol of our responsibility for our lives—a scene which followed and accompanied the faithful as they went out to resume their daily routine. As the iconography of the Last Judgement developed, however, more and more prominence was given to its ominous and frightening aspects, which obviously held more fascination for artists than the splendour of hope, often all too well concealed beneath the horrors…
In the modern era, the idea of the Last Judgement has faded into the background: Christian faith has been individualised and primarily oriented towards the salvation of the believer's own soul, while reflection on world history is largely dominated by the idea of progress. The fundamental content of awaiting a final Judgement, however, has not disappeared: it has simply taken on a totally different form. The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history…
To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. Is it not also a frightening image? I would say: it is an image that evokes responsibility, an image, therefore, of that fear of which Saint Hilary spoke when he said that all our fear has its place in love. God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace…
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures; the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced…
This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God. The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory…
St. Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast…
Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy…
A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important for the practice of Christian hope. Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC). The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is common to the Eastern and Western Church…
The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon?
Read Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on Eschatology: Hell, Purgatory, Heaven
The Chancel
The Chancel
The chancel or presbyterium is the eastern part of the church marked off by cancelli or altar railings. The foreground is historically referred to as the choir, and the position of prominence containing the altar is the sanctuary.
From early days—there was local legislation as far back as the 4th century—entrance to the chancel, except momentarily, on certain occasions, was forbidden to the laity. The sanctuary was cut off as a place especially sacred, and reserved to the clergy, between whom and the laity there is a distinction of divine origin.
The Constitution Lumen gentium (10) of the Second Vatican Council explains the principle:
‘Christ the Lord, High Priest taken from among men, made the new people "a kingdom and priests to God the Father". The baptised, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and an holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.
Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the Eucharistic sacrifice, and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, by virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist. They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and by self-denial and active charity.’.
The chancel is set aside in order that, in the words of Presbyterorum ordinis (18), priests may nourish the faithful, “at the double table of the Sacred Scriptures and the Eucharist”.
The Cancelli or Communion Rail
The cancelli (septum or transenna) of stone, wood, or metal separated the chancel from the nave as early as the 4th century. Cancelli are also used to protect shrines or relics. Sometimes they developed into great ornate screens.
In the early centuries the Blessed Sacrament was received standing. From the 15th or 16th centuries communion began to be received kneeling at the cancelli or altar rail. Thus, the communion rail began to be thought of as a prolongation of the altar from where one received the Body of Christ.
The Rood
A great wooden Triumphal Cross, large crucifix ornamented at the ends of the arms with the symbols of the four evangelists (a man, a lion, a bull, and an eagle), is attached to the south east column adjacent the cancelli. The Rood was seen in churches erected on a beam, or on a screen or loft, that ran between the nave and chancel, beneath the chancel arch, or was hung in this position.
The Ambo or Pulpit
Initially, the Bishop preached from his Cathedra, or throne, in the apse of his Cathedral. Priests preached before the bishop from the altar steps or from the ambo, from where the Gospel had been chanted. From the 13th century—when the Gospel was no longer chanted in the ambo and sermons were preached apart from the Liturgy—a separate pulpit came into use, which was placed in the nave. In the 16th century the canopy or sounding board in the style of a tester was added to the pulpit.
The design of Ss. Peter and Paul’s carved pulpit is octagonal and consists of pedestal, balustrade, and curved staircase. Its ornate 35 Ft spired canopy has been removed.
The Choir
The area at the foreground of the chancel—beyond the altar rails—known as the choir is furnished with stalls for clergy participating in the Liturgy.
The chancel or presbyterium is the eastern part of the church marked off by cancelli or altar railings. The foreground is historically referred to as the choir, and the position of prominence containing the altar is the sanctuary.
From early days—there was local legislation as far back as the 4th century—entrance to the chancel, except momentarily, on certain occasions, was forbidden to the laity. The sanctuary was cut off as a place especially sacred, and reserved to the clergy, between whom and the laity there is a distinction of divine origin.
The Constitution Lumen gentium (10) of the Second Vatican Council explains the principle:
‘Christ the Lord, High Priest taken from among men, made the new people "a kingdom and priests to God the Father". The baptised, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and an holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.
Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the Eucharistic sacrifice, and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, by virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist. They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and by self-denial and active charity.’.
The chancel is set aside in order that, in the words of Presbyterorum ordinis (18), priests may nourish the faithful, “at the double table of the Sacred Scriptures and the Eucharist”.
The Cancelli or Communion Rail
The cancelli (septum or transenna) of stone, wood, or metal separated the chancel from the nave as early as the 4th century. Cancelli are also used to protect shrines or relics. Sometimes they developed into great ornate screens.
In the early centuries the Blessed Sacrament was received standing. From the 15th or 16th centuries communion began to be received kneeling at the cancelli or altar rail. Thus, the communion rail began to be thought of as a prolongation of the altar from where one received the Body of Christ.
The Rood
A great wooden Triumphal Cross, large crucifix ornamented at the ends of the arms with the symbols of the four evangelists (a man, a lion, a bull, and an eagle), is attached to the south east column adjacent the cancelli. The Rood was seen in churches erected on a beam, or on a screen or loft, that ran between the nave and chancel, beneath the chancel arch, or was hung in this position.
The Ambo or Pulpit
Initially, the Bishop preached from his Cathedra, or throne, in the apse of his Cathedral. Priests preached before the bishop from the altar steps or from the ambo, from where the Gospel had been chanted. From the 13th century—when the Gospel was no longer chanted in the ambo and sermons were preached apart from the Liturgy—a separate pulpit came into use, which was placed in the nave. In the 16th century the canopy or sounding board in the style of a tester was added to the pulpit.
The design of Ss. Peter and Paul’s carved pulpit is octagonal and consists of pedestal, balustrade, and curved staircase. Its ornate 35 Ft spired canopy has been removed.
The Choir
The area at the foreground of the chancel—beyond the altar rails—known as the choir is furnished with stalls for clergy participating in the Liturgy.
The High Altar
The High Altar
The Catholic Church is built primarily to house an altar. The altar is the optical and architectural centre of the church. It must be clearly visible from every point of the building.
The Christian altar—altare, trapeza, altarium, Mensa Domini—is a consecrated table of natural stone, situated at the east end of the church, in which relics of the saints are enshrined, and on which gifts are set, and the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered.
The Christian altar derives in principle from the memory of the table of the Last Supper and from the Cross. It is the altar that designates a gift as victim (Matt. 23:19), that signifies its offering to God and its acceptance by him.
Prayer Before the Countenance of God According to the Fathers
According to Eusebius of Caesaria (†339) Christian sacrificial worship takes the place of both the Jewish and pagan sacrifices. Isaiah’s prophesy (Is. 19:19) refers to the Christian altar at which the priests of the New Covenant offer unbloody and spiritual sacrifices. The Christian altar supplanted the (legitimate) sacrifices of Jerusalem, and also ended (erroneous) heathen worship of the gods.
Tertullian of Carthage († after 220) spoke of the sacrificial prayers which the priest said while standing at the altar. The altar was the place on which the sacrifice and votive gifts were placed and from which the prayer of the people rose to God’s ears. The priest stood at the altar as one praying—raising not only his hands, but also his gaze—as one orientated upwards to the other world. The altar was the place where the priest received sacrificial offerings . In this way, the altar was a visible part of a vertical orientation, which drew one from earth to heaven. Throughout the gesture of his prayer, the altar was drawn into a three-dimensional, spatial structure which extended up to heaven. To stand at the altar meant to stand before the Countenance of God, that is, to behold God’s Face.
A Glimpse into Heaven—the Divine Liturgy Correlates with the Earthly Liturgy
At the altar, the priest looks upon God’s Countenance and knows also that God looks upon him. Since God reigns above the universe, the altar must open up and provide a glimpse into heaven. Thus, the holy place of heaven and the heavenly Jerusalem become principal eschatological ideas of liturgical reference. In heaven, after all, there is also a Liturgy which correlates with the Liturgy at the earthly altar, where the faithful give their gifts to the Deacon who then places them with the Eucharistic sacrifice at the altar. The altar thus becomes the place in which heaven opens up and one gazes upon the Lord to whom the sacrifice ascends. The gifts on the altar are not only seen by God, but are also accepted, and are even brought into heaven to him by the angels.
Finally, when one speaks of the altar of the Christian cult as the proper centre of worship then one must also emphasise the necessary role of the martyrs. The martyrs (witnesses, saints) ask God to behold, accept and take to himself the gifts and offerings lying on the altar. Their intercession is so promising because they please God also by their own gifts, that is, their merits.
Prayer ad Orientem
Just as the Church of God is built up of people and clergy, so to the presbytery or choir, in whose vertex stands the cathedra of the bishop, is separated from the nave of the church. Just as the ecclesiastical assembly, following ancient custom, was wont to pray facing East, toward the Orient from on high, so too the ecclesiastical building is turned into a ship (navis—nave) voyaging toward the East, and so the direction which the praying congregation faces coincides with the lie of the building.
In the early church when the cathedra stood in the vertex of the apse the bishop faced the congregation—as if from heaven, alongside the angels and saints—and greeted the people as our Saviour greeted his disciples on Easter Day with the words, “Peace be with you”. When presiding at the high altar his orientation was, in principle, towards the East. Often, however, the orientation of the church meant that the celebrant—in order to face East—was also facing the main entrance of the church—and the congregation likewise—turning their backs to the celebrant—faced East (which was towards the entrance of the church). The Bishop’s role as mediator—as from heaven, alongside the angels and saints, and at the altar on behalf of man—was manifest in the distinct positions he took vis-à-vis the congregation. From the 9th century, the congregation began to face East taking up a position behind the celebrant—oriented toward the altar—now removed into the apse. At the same time the Bishop’s chair was moved from the apse to the Gospel side of the chancel between the congregation and the altar.
Historical Development
Until after the 2nd century Mass was celebrated in private houses. From the 3rd century Christian churches began to make their appearance despite persecution. The first altars were very simple—a small table, or a small portable square Mensa—in wood or stone—laid on a table. They were unconsecrated, unadorned, usually covered with a linen cloth, and with nothing on them except the bread and wine for Mass, and later the book of Gospels.
The practice of covering the altar with a canopy—civory, balachinum, tester—began in the 4th century.
Not until the 9th century was it permitted to place on the altar anything that was not essential for the celebration of Mass. Up to this time, in the Western Church, the high altar stood out in the church as the prominent feature, the table (Mensa)—the stone of sacrifice—being kept unencumbered and treated with special respect. Now it began to be invaded by reliquaries, placed either on the Mensa, or, the larger ones, enshrined behind and above the altar. This relic invasion was destined to change, little by little, the character, disposition and even the situation of the high altar. It became necessary to combine the altar with the relic shrine, and so the Mensa, from being square and small, became oblong and larger. The reliquary behind and above the Mensa became bigger and bigger, even more ornate, and more and more the centre of attraction, so that it ended up becoming a far more prominent feature of the sanctuary than the altar itself. So, the accessory usurped the place of the principal—and the same phenomenon occurred in the 19th century, when the Exposition throne became the dominant element of the altar.
By the 11th century candles—which previously hung from the roof of the civory—and a cross—which previously surmounted the canopy, or hung from it, or had stood on the floor—were place on the table of sacrifice.
In the 11th and 12th centuries an elementary fixed retable made its appearance, first often as a support for one end of the reliquary over the altar. This grew even bigger and even more ornate until it grew into the huge reredos that was the dominant feature of the altars from the 15th century.
The position of the altar, too, was changed. Instead of being fully detached and standing out clearly in the middle of the sanctuary, it was moved back against the east wall and became more and more integrated into its accessaries, the actual altar (Mensa) becoming ever more subsidiary.
By the end of the 14th century the retable had become a great towering structure. With each passing decade it grew bigger, and in design ever more complicated and flamboyant. The dominant features of the high altars of this period were size and over-ornamentation, and features were in keeping with the Renaissance ideas, and with Baroque and Rocco styles of architecture.
By the 16th century gradines and the tabernacle were added to the retable of the high altar. The result of this mania for immense, elaborate superstructures was that the altar itself—the table of sacrifice—lost all its significance, was dwarfed out of all recognition and ceased to be the focal point of the church.
Also, from the 14th and 15th centuries rose the external worship of the reserved Sacrament by expositions and processions, and from the 16th century was added Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. All through the following centuries expositions and benedictions grew ever more frequent. The true character of the high altar as the place of sacrifice became obscured, the medieval devotion to the altar disappeared, and the altar came to be regarded as the “home of the Blessed Sacrament”—its Mensa, ever more loaded with candles and flowers, the stand for these manifestations of popular piety to the reserved Sanctissimum. Eventually, a permanent throne was erected above the tabernacle to facilitate the rite of Benediction.
The superstructure of the high altar at Ss. Peter and Paul’s was made from 36 tons of Sicilian marble.
Conclusion
In the course of the foregoing considerations about the altar as the centre of priestly prayer and sacrifice, some principles should become clear. One cannot separate the altar from the general history of religion, from the concept of sacrifice, from the priesthood, from the vertical prayer position, from the facing ad orientem, from the liturgical rites and prayers, from the contextual images in the church, and of the heavenly world of God or from the angels and the saints. All of these elements taken together constituted a coherent religious culture for centuries, which has visibly crumbled during the course of the last centuries.
Following the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and in line with the General Instruction to the Roman Missal (262), “The main altar should be freestanding, away from the any wall, so that the priest can walk all around it and can celebrate facing the people.”, a second altar has been place in the chancel.
Church legislation concerning the celebration of Mass ad orientem as outlined by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments may be read here:
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/responses-to-questions-2156
The arguments developed in these paragraphs have been abstracted from the writings of Stefan Heid, Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J., and J. B. O’Connell.
The Catholic Church is built primarily to house an altar. The altar is the optical and architectural centre of the church. It must be clearly visible from every point of the building.
The Christian altar—altare, trapeza, altarium, Mensa Domini—is a consecrated table of natural stone, situated at the east end of the church, in which relics of the saints are enshrined, and on which gifts are set, and the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered.
The Christian altar derives in principle from the memory of the table of the Last Supper and from the Cross. It is the altar that designates a gift as victim (Matt. 23:19), that signifies its offering to God and its acceptance by him.
Prayer Before the Countenance of God According to the Fathers
According to Eusebius of Caesaria (†339) Christian sacrificial worship takes the place of both the Jewish and pagan sacrifices. Isaiah’s prophesy (Is. 19:19) refers to the Christian altar at which the priests of the New Covenant offer unbloody and spiritual sacrifices. The Christian altar supplanted the (legitimate) sacrifices of Jerusalem, and also ended (erroneous) heathen worship of the gods.
Tertullian of Carthage († after 220) spoke of the sacrificial prayers which the priest said while standing at the altar. The altar was the place on which the sacrifice and votive gifts were placed and from which the prayer of the people rose to God’s ears. The priest stood at the altar as one praying—raising not only his hands, but also his gaze—as one orientated upwards to the other world. The altar was the place where the priest received sacrificial offerings . In this way, the altar was a visible part of a vertical orientation, which drew one from earth to heaven. Throughout the gesture of his prayer, the altar was drawn into a three-dimensional, spatial structure which extended up to heaven. To stand at the altar meant to stand before the Countenance of God, that is, to behold God’s Face.
A Glimpse into Heaven—the Divine Liturgy Correlates with the Earthly Liturgy
At the altar, the priest looks upon God’s Countenance and knows also that God looks upon him. Since God reigns above the universe, the altar must open up and provide a glimpse into heaven. Thus, the holy place of heaven and the heavenly Jerusalem become principal eschatological ideas of liturgical reference. In heaven, after all, there is also a Liturgy which correlates with the Liturgy at the earthly altar, where the faithful give their gifts to the Deacon who then places them with the Eucharistic sacrifice at the altar. The altar thus becomes the place in which heaven opens up and one gazes upon the Lord to whom the sacrifice ascends. The gifts on the altar are not only seen by God, but are also accepted, and are even brought into heaven to him by the angels.
Finally, when one speaks of the altar of the Christian cult as the proper centre of worship then one must also emphasise the necessary role of the martyrs. The martyrs (witnesses, saints) ask God to behold, accept and take to himself the gifts and offerings lying on the altar. Their intercession is so promising because they please God also by their own gifts, that is, their merits.
Prayer ad Orientem
Just as the Church of God is built up of people and clergy, so to the presbytery or choir, in whose vertex stands the cathedra of the bishop, is separated from the nave of the church. Just as the ecclesiastical assembly, following ancient custom, was wont to pray facing East, toward the Orient from on high, so too the ecclesiastical building is turned into a ship (navis—nave) voyaging toward the East, and so the direction which the praying congregation faces coincides with the lie of the building.
In the early church when the cathedra stood in the vertex of the apse the bishop faced the congregation—as if from heaven, alongside the angels and saints—and greeted the people as our Saviour greeted his disciples on Easter Day with the words, “Peace be with you”. When presiding at the high altar his orientation was, in principle, towards the East. Often, however, the orientation of the church meant that the celebrant—in order to face East—was also facing the main entrance of the church—and the congregation likewise—turning their backs to the celebrant—faced East (which was towards the entrance of the church). The Bishop’s role as mediator—as from heaven, alongside the angels and saints, and at the altar on behalf of man—was manifest in the distinct positions he took vis-à-vis the congregation. From the 9th century, the congregation began to face East taking up a position behind the celebrant—oriented toward the altar—now removed into the apse. At the same time the Bishop’s chair was moved from the apse to the Gospel side of the chancel between the congregation and the altar.
Historical Development
Until after the 2nd century Mass was celebrated in private houses. From the 3rd century Christian churches began to make their appearance despite persecution. The first altars were very simple—a small table, or a small portable square Mensa—in wood or stone—laid on a table. They were unconsecrated, unadorned, usually covered with a linen cloth, and with nothing on them except the bread and wine for Mass, and later the book of Gospels.
The practice of covering the altar with a canopy—civory, balachinum, tester—began in the 4th century.
Not until the 9th century was it permitted to place on the altar anything that was not essential for the celebration of Mass. Up to this time, in the Western Church, the high altar stood out in the church as the prominent feature, the table (Mensa)—the stone of sacrifice—being kept unencumbered and treated with special respect. Now it began to be invaded by reliquaries, placed either on the Mensa, or, the larger ones, enshrined behind and above the altar. This relic invasion was destined to change, little by little, the character, disposition and even the situation of the high altar. It became necessary to combine the altar with the relic shrine, and so the Mensa, from being square and small, became oblong and larger. The reliquary behind and above the Mensa became bigger and bigger, even more ornate, and more and more the centre of attraction, so that it ended up becoming a far more prominent feature of the sanctuary than the altar itself. So, the accessory usurped the place of the principal—and the same phenomenon occurred in the 19th century, when the Exposition throne became the dominant element of the altar.
By the 11th century candles—which previously hung from the roof of the civory—and a cross—which previously surmounted the canopy, or hung from it, or had stood on the floor—were place on the table of sacrifice.
In the 11th and 12th centuries an elementary fixed retable made its appearance, first often as a support for one end of the reliquary over the altar. This grew even bigger and even more ornate until it grew into the huge reredos that was the dominant feature of the altars from the 15th century.
The position of the altar, too, was changed. Instead of being fully detached and standing out clearly in the middle of the sanctuary, it was moved back against the east wall and became more and more integrated into its accessaries, the actual altar (Mensa) becoming ever more subsidiary.
By the end of the 14th century the retable had become a great towering structure. With each passing decade it grew bigger, and in design ever more complicated and flamboyant. The dominant features of the high altars of this period were size and over-ornamentation, and features were in keeping with the Renaissance ideas, and with Baroque and Rocco styles of architecture.
By the 16th century gradines and the tabernacle were added to the retable of the high altar. The result of this mania for immense, elaborate superstructures was that the altar itself—the table of sacrifice—lost all its significance, was dwarfed out of all recognition and ceased to be the focal point of the church.
Also, from the 14th and 15th centuries rose the external worship of the reserved Sacrament by expositions and processions, and from the 16th century was added Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. All through the following centuries expositions and benedictions grew ever more frequent. The true character of the high altar as the place of sacrifice became obscured, the medieval devotion to the altar disappeared, and the altar came to be regarded as the “home of the Blessed Sacrament”—its Mensa, ever more loaded with candles and flowers, the stand for these manifestations of popular piety to the reserved Sanctissimum. Eventually, a permanent throne was erected above the tabernacle to facilitate the rite of Benediction.
The superstructure of the high altar at Ss. Peter and Paul’s was made from 36 tons of Sicilian marble.
Conclusion
In the course of the foregoing considerations about the altar as the centre of priestly prayer and sacrifice, some principles should become clear. One cannot separate the altar from the general history of religion, from the concept of sacrifice, from the priesthood, from the vertical prayer position, from the facing ad orientem, from the liturgical rites and prayers, from the contextual images in the church, and of the heavenly world of God or from the angels and the saints. All of these elements taken together constituted a coherent religious culture for centuries, which has visibly crumbled during the course of the last centuries.
Following the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and in line with the General Instruction to the Roman Missal (262), “The main altar should be freestanding, away from the any wall, so that the priest can walk all around it and can celebrate facing the people.”, a second altar has been place in the chancel.
Church legislation concerning the celebration of Mass ad orientem as outlined by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments may be read here:
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/responses-to-questions-2156
The arguments developed in these paragraphs have been abstracted from the writings of Stefan Heid, Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J., and J. B. O’Connell.
- The Altar as the centre of prayer and priesthood in the early Church, Stefan Heid, from Agere in Persona Christi: Aspects of the Ministerial Priesthood (2005), 7th International Fota Conference.
- The Mass of the Roman Rite—Its Origin and Development, Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J.
- Church Building & Furnishing—The Church’s Way, J.B. O’Connell
The Side Altars
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux