Saint Pius X says Holy Mass at the Altar of the Chair of Peter, 1906
The center of Christendom, the mighty new Patriarchal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (whose 500th anniversary we celebrated so conspicuosly this year) has, in its apse, one of the most famous sculptural groups in the world, the Chair of Saint Peter, by Bernini.
The image is well-known to all Catholics: the Holy Cathedra, embedded in a chair-like bronze sculpture, apparently suspended in the air, surrounded by angels, an alabaster window with the Holy Ghost, and four Doctors of East and West.
The image is well-known to all Catholics: the Holy Cathedra, embedded in a chair-like bronze sculpture, apparently suspended in the air, surrounded by angels, an alabaster window with the Holy Ghost, and four Doctors of East and West.
When Bernini finished this Counter-Reformation masterpiece, he included a marble altar and marble steps, moving (as it were) upwards towards the Cathedra, as it is plainly seen in this picture, with the traditional Roman altar arrangement (six candlesticks and a Crucifix).
And yet...
What many Catholics do not realize is that, sometime in the second half of the last decade of the past century, a liturgical expert in the Vatican (we would venture guessing a name...) decided to do something about that altar: the old, Traditional, look would not do. The complete removal of the altar was necessary. The Basilica had to be updated!
What many Catholics do not realize is that, sometime in the second half of the last decade of the past century, a liturgical expert in the Vatican (we would venture guessing a name...) decided to do something about that altar: the old, Traditional, look would not do. The complete removal of the altar was necessary. The Basilica had to be updated!
This is how the same place looks today: the traditional Altar, which had been in that place since the age of Bernini, was removed.
Several yards to the east of it, a modern "anvil-like" altar has been added. Three marble steps to the old Altar remain, as a sort of pedestal for the celebrants, and as a phantasmagorical reminder of so many wonderful Masses celebrated versus Deum (westwards, circumstantially)...
Several yards to the east of it, a modern "anvil-like" altar has been added. Three marble steps to the old Altar remain, as a sort of pedestal for the celebrants, and as a phantasmagorical reminder of so many wonderful Masses celebrated versus Deum (westwards, circumstantially)...
Photographic collection tip: Cattolici Romani.
