Damian Thompson skrev nylig om noe som skjedde da pave Benedikt feiret messen i Westminster Cathedral i London; i siste øyeblikk ble krusifikset og fire flotte lysestaker som stod foran paven bytta ut. (Disse må ikke blandes med de seks kjempestore lysestakene og krusifikset som alltid står bak hovedalteret i denne kirken. Alteret ble jo bygget for versus Deum feiring, derfor ble disse plassert der fra starten av – og senere er de heldigvis ikke tatt bort.) Slik skriver Damian – og nederst ser man lysestaker og krusifiks som ble funnet:
Benedict XVI was delighted by the Mass at Westminster cathedral, apparently regarding it as an ideal celebration of the modern Roman Rite – “the best he’s presided over in any foreign country,” I’m told. Second, the Vatican intervened at the last moment to make sure that the altar was decorated (as you can see in the picture above) by a free-standing antique crucifix.
I think I’m right in saying that the cathedral usually has a cross lying on the altar, propped up slightly to face the celebrant, thus following the letter but not the spirit of the Pope’s request that the priest should be symbolically orientated towards Calvary. When Mgr Guido Marini, the Vatican Master of Ceremonies, visited Westminster Cathedral earlier this year he seemed satisfied with this arrangement. So, when they trooped into the sanctuary for the service, the Bishops of England and Wales were expecting a virtually invisible low-lying cross and, on the altar itself, a couple of those stumpy candles that look like loo rolls. (I’m not referring to the big six candlesticks which are always on a marble platform behind the altar.)
But Mgr Marini had other ideas, (and found) a splendid crucifix and the two tall altar candlesticks … he asked for them, and in a manner that brooked no opposition. As it happens, some cathedral staff were only to delighted to oblige. But, for certain bishops, this rearrangement was about as welcome as an unscheduled celebration of Benediction at a Pentecostal revival meeting.
Why is the Bishops’ Conference so blind to the the advantages of a “Benedictine” arrangement of the altar, which adds solemnity while distracting from the personality of the celebrant? I know how well the central crucifix can work because my local parish priest has adopted the innovation: there is absolutely no sense of an object getting in the way of the consecration. But he’s in a minority.
