OK--What Is The Agenda Behind Cardinal Sarah and the "Ad Orientatem" Movement? VI

The Iconostasis at the Russicum
in Rome.  

The Roman Rite has a very unique genius.  The various Eastern Rites and the Rites of Northern Europe were highly influenced by the Court ceremonial of the Emperor or Kings, but Rome was ruled by the Pope and although the papal court developed its own ceremonial it was mainly liturgical and not imperial at least up to the Renaissance papacies.  And while the papal liturgies were more elaborate than the liturgy in a parish or monastic church—due to the presence of the pope—the rite, as practiced in the local churches maintained the Spartan dignity of its ancient character.  However, even the papal liturgies were more austere than the elaborate Gallican Rites practiced north of the Alps.  The vestments in Rome remained the simple dignified vesture of roman magistrates—the alb, the chasuble, the maniple and the stole. The deacon wore a dalmatic in place of the chasuble, though there were rituals in which the deacon too wore a chasuble. The vestments were almost invariably of white wool—the wearing of white being a sign of one’s Roman citizenship.  (Red came to be used, as it was in civil life, for the color of mourning.  It also was used for commemoration of martyrs—perhaps originally due to its connection with death—and for the Passion of the Lord.)  The basic structure of the liturgy: three processions (entrance, gifts, and communion) each followed by a collect remained clearly evident with the Readings placed between the first two and the Eucharistic prayer placed between the second and the third. The congregation stood through the entire liturgy, though there was seating for the clergy during the readings and homilies.  (In the east there were frequent prostrations in imitation of the courtly etiquette.)  A Byzantine priest who has taught liturgy in the seminary pointed out to me that the biblical model for the Roman liturgy is the gathering around the throne of the Lamb in the Book of Revelation singing the Thrice Holy Hymn while the liturgical model for the Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite is Christ the Priest entering into the heavenly sanctuary in the Letter to the Hebrews.  This makes some sense when one familiarizes oneself with the appropriate scriptural texts and the very different geist of each of the two rites. 

My chief objection to the ad apsidem position of the priest in the Roman Rite is that it bespeaks an ecclesiology in which the priest “says Mass” for the people rather than celebrating the Eucharist with them.  The ad apsidem position privatizes the Mass as the action of the priest when in fact it is the action of the entire assembly, priest and people together.  The East, with its very different geist, manages to include the faithful in the key actions of the liturgy despite the ad orientem position and even the presence of icon screens or sanctuary curtains.

The Byzantine—and other Eastern Rites—have developed a very different geist, one that is highly dialogical, than the Roman Rite.  The Byzantine Rite is a series of litanies sung among the (con)celebrant(s) at the altar, the deacon(s) standing at the Holy Doors, and the faithful.  There is a constant exchange of sung dialogue between the altar and the faithful. Even the Eucharistic Prayer contains one of these dialogical litanies.  And don’t forget the priest is not only standing with his back to the people, but the iconostasis blocks most views of the altar entirely.  (In fact, in the more strictly observant churches the Holy Doors are often closed, at least during penitential seasons, and the curtain behind them is drawn blocking any view whatsoever.)  Yet the sung interchange keeps the faithful aware that they are an integral part of the celebration. 

In the West, however the prayers are usually said by the priest alone.  Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei are sung together in a high Mass, but usually by a choir, and high Masses were rare: perhaps one a Sunday in most parishes with the remaining five or six Sunday Masses being a simple low or “read Mass” with only the priest and altar servers responding. 

So the issue for me really is this: is the Eucharist something the priest does on behalf of the people or is it something that the entire Body of Christ—the Church assembled—does together with the priest, as a sacramental presence of Christ in the assembly, does in unity.  The Tradition of the Church, as found in the Fathers of the Church, make it clear that the Liturgy is the work of the entire People of God albeit in their different functions. The versus populum position of the priest at the altar, which is the authentic heritage of the Roman Rite, preserves this in the face of a rite that would otherwise reduce the People of God from exercising their baptismal royal and priestly dignity to mere recipients of grace through the mediatorship of the ordained priest.  There is no way that I want to go back to that faulty ecclesiology, nor do I believe the vast majority of the faithful want to revert to being strangers at the Table of the Lord.  My experience of those seminarians and clergy who wish to go back is that they have a need to dominate and control others that stems from an underdeveloped psycho-sexual self-identity and want to use the Liturgy for their own aggrandizement.  They become, at least in their own minds, the indispensible mediators of grace through whom alone we can approach the Throne of Grace and without whom we would be bereft of the Love of God.  Pray for them for the judgment will be severe.

OK--What Is The Agenda Behind Cardinal Sarah and the "Ad Orientatem" Movement? IV

The versus populum altar

at San Giorgio in Velabro

There was an interesting line in letter to the New York Times this morning (July 19^th).  It had nothing to do with the question at hand: ad apsidem vs. versus populum for the celebration of the Mass-indeed, it was in the context of the role of historians in commenting on the current presidential election.  But despite the context, the principle is the same.  Historians keep our collective past in focus as an aid to determine our present (and future) choices.  Whether it be our cultural history, our political history, or our ecclesiastical history we often fall victim to vague generalizations, popular myths, and incorrect data all if which leads to wrong conclusions. 

Paris is one of my favorite cities and to see Paris from the air is a thrilling site. You can see the great ship of Notre Dame sailing eastwards up the Seine towards the rising sun.  Other great ships—Saint Eustache, Saint Germaine des Pres, Saint Sulpice, Saint Gervais accompanied by a flotilla of smaller sanctuaries such as the Sainte Chapelle, Saint Julien le Pauvre, Saint Étienne du Mont, Saint Séverin, Saint Merry, and countless others following in its wake are a reminder that Parisian Churches face east.  The same could be said for countless other cities in once-Catholic Europe—Prague, Vienna, Munich, Bamberg.  But curiously, it cannot be said for Rome. 

The orienting of the Churches was a widespread practice in the medieval world and, from the earliest days, an all-but-universal practice in the Christian East.  In these churches the congregation—and usually the priest—stood facing the Rising Sun to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice which that Rising Sun signifies.  But in Rome the ancient churches face every which way on the axis of the globe.  Saint Peter’ and Saint John Lateran face west!  (Of course, that does permit the bishop, when presiding versus Populum, at the main altar, to face east.)  Saint Mary Major’s faces north.  Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls on the Via Ostia is the only major basilica to face east—but even that church, in its original construction, faced west.  4^th century San Martino ai Monti faces Northwest as does near by Santa Praessede.  Also nearby, Santa Croce in Gerusalmme, also 4^th century faces southwest.  Santa Maria in Cosmedin faces southwest while nearby San Giorgio in Velabro faces almost due north. Across the Tiber, the very important 4^th century basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere faces almost due west.  Santa Maria ad Martyres, better known as the Pantheon, faces south.  The incontrovertible historical/architectural evidence is that the orienting of churches was not  part of the tradition of the Roman Rite.

But the question of versus populum was not simply a matter of the direction of the church building.  Today when visiting the four great papal basilicas one can see before the central altar a large open well sunk into the floor and into which pilgrims can descend to venerate the relics that lay beneath the altar.  The position of this well, known as a confessio, makes it impossible for the presider to stand at the altar with his back to the people.  The confessio is not limited to the basilicas but can be found in other churches where as well.  Another common arrangement found at San Giorgio in Velabro and Santa Maria in Trastevere, features the altar flush with the front wall of an elevated presbyterium.  Again, the space on the people’s side of the altar is nothing but open air and it is clear that these altars were designed for versus populum celebrations. 

Altars built for Mass versus populum were not limited to Rome—they seem to have been common in Ravenna, seat of the Imperial exarch as well, despite the dependency of Ravenna on Constantinople where ad orientem was a very important theological principle.  North of the Alps the ad orientem tradition took hold and it was only after the Reforms of the Council of Trent where many non-Roman features were introduced into the liturgy that the Roman Rite began celebrating with the priest facing away from the people.  In Rome, the papal altars continued to face the people for the celebration of Mass and in those ancient churches that were built for Mass versus populum the practice continued without comment or interruption.   In some churches such as San Martino ai Monti new altars were built that enabled the priest to celebrate ad apsidem, that is facing the rear wall of the church.

An interesting exception in Rome is the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.  The church was built when the papacy returned from Avignon and it was built by the Dominican friars.  The Dominicans had their own rite and like most medieval rites oriented the churches whenever possible.  Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was thus build facing east and presumably the altar was constructed for the ad orientem Mass.