Benedict XVI was delighted by the Mass at Westminster cathedral, apparently regarding it as an ideal celebration of the modern Roman Rite \u2013 \u201cthe best he\u2019s presided over in any foreign country,\u201d I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019m 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\u2019s 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\u2019m not referring to the big six candlesticks which are always on a marble platform behind the altar.)<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Why is the Bishops\u2019 Conference so blind to the the advantages of a \u201cBenedictine\u201d 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\u2019s in a minority.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/bilder\/westmincath_alter_pave_krusifiks.jpg\" "\\"westmincath_alter_pave_krusifiks\\"")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Damian Thompson skrev nylig om noe som skjedde da pave Benedikt feiret messen i Westminster Cathedral i London; i siste \u00f8yeblikk ble krusifikset og fire flotte lysestaker som stod foran paven bytta ut. (Disse m\u00e5 ikke blandes med de seks kjempestore lysestakene og krusifikset som alltid st\u00e5r bak hovedalteret i denne kirken. Alteret ble jo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-katolsk","category-liturgi","category-paven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/aomoi.net\/blogg\/bilder\/westmincath_alter_pavemesse.jpg\" "\\"westmincath_alter_pavemesse\\"")
<\/p>\n