Sediles

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Sediles in a hospital chapel in Brilon

Sedilia ( sg. The Sedile , from lat. Sedile n. , Pl. Sedilia ) are the seats in the sanctuary of Catholic churches for priests , deacons and altar boy and possibly other liturgical services , if provided with the feeder procession move.

In the Middle Ages, there were permanent sediments in many churches in the form of a session niche or a three-seat .

Sediles

Sediles in bench form in St. Canisius (Berlin) with additional sediles for concelebrations

Today's liturgical rules recommend highlighting the priest's seat under the sediles of the sanctuary:

“The seat of the priest has to make his service as head of the congregation and his task of leading the prayer clearly recognizable. The place at the apex of the sanctuary, facing the community, is particularly suitable, unless the shape of the room or other reasons speak against it (e.g. if contact between the ruler and the community is difficult due to too great a distance). The seat must not be in the shape of a throne . The places of the participants who perform a special service should be in a suitable place in the sanctuary so that everyone can carry out their tasks without difficulty. "

Almost only in the early days, historical sediles have the shape of a single seat, double seats are also rare, in the vast majority of cases, as far as their number can be read from the shape of the sedilia, they are three seats . The older sediles are typically embedded in the south wall of the choir ; these more or less decorated recesses are also known as session niches and have come down mainly from the Gothic period. Stone sediles are particularly common in England, where they have been common since the 12th and 13th centuries. But in the Gothic, especially from the 14th century, there is also independent, wooden furniture.

Gothic session niches

Gothic session niche in the Gerolding parish church in Lower Austria

The seat niche or sessio (lat. Sessio "seat") in the mostly right wall of the choir - at a Ostung the church in the south wall - is in the last yoke front of the choir circuit.

Germany
Lower Austria
Styria
Vienna
  • Three-part pointed arched session niche in the right side choir in the Michaelerkirche
Czech Republic
  • Three-part session niche with arcades, tracery and sanctuary in the southern choir wall of the Church of St. Wenceslas and the Body of Christ in Křečhoř

Three seats

Stone three seat in the Amelungsborn monastery , 14th century
Wood-carved three seat in the Marienkirche in Salzwedel, 14th century

In the three seat (also Levite seat, bench, celebrant chair) the clergy took place during certain sections of the liturgy, especially Gloria and Credo , when the mass was celebrated as a Levite ministry by priest, deacon and subdeacon . Celebrating mass as the “office of the Levites” has only been customary since the Second Vatican Council in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite.

Function, location and types

The location of the three seat is the south wall (right side, epistle side ) of the choir near the high altar. Here the oldest, niche-shaped three stone seats in the association of the choir wall are still preserved. In later examples, the turret architectures of the canopies above the seats become independent. Since the 14th century, it has been predominantly wooden furniture, the constructions of which are formally similar to those of the choir stalls with their side panels, rear walls and canopies. In contrast to these, however, three seats usually have no desk row and no folding seats. In rare cases, three seats are not set up as Levite chairs for the liturgical actors, but rather as seats of honor and are more likely to be located at the western end of the choir. The quality of the carvings on the medieval Levite chairs is hardly inferior to that on the altars. Only their topics are more secular, but often have a clearly moralizing background. The number of preserved three seats seems to decrease in the baroque period. In Protestant churches, for example in northern Germany, three seats have been preserved comparatively often, a sign that they were given new functions in the changed rite.

Outstanding three seats

place time material Remarks image
School gate , monastery church 1268 stone Interior monastery church school gate 06 2014 04.JPG
Xanten Cathedral around 1290 stone Figurative decorations: Enthroned Mother of God, personifications of the OT and NT , David, Solomon, evangelists as gargoyles. In terms of style, closely related to the Reims sculptures.
Bad Doberan, monastery church 1310/1890 Wood Original folding seats, the rest copied around 1890, original parts in Ludwigslust.

Bad Doberan, Münster, Levitenstuhl, copy around 1890, folding seats around 1310. S.JPG

Verden, Dom 1329 approx. Wood Figurative jewelry: pairs from the OT , personified stalls . Literature |
Amelungsborn Monastery 1370-90 stone 07 Levitenstuhl.jpg
Scharnebeck Monastery 1330-50 Wood Assembled with remains of choir stalls to form new chairs. literature
Salzwedel, Marienkirche 1300-1350 Wood Marienkirche Dreisitz.jpg
Osnabrück, St. Johann 1350-80 Wood literature F-choir, south wall-1.jpg
Naumburg Cathedral , east choir 1390-1400 Wood Figurative reliefs. - literature Naumburg Cathedral choir stalls 2012-04-29-17-03-34.jpg
St. Ansgari Church in Hage (East Frisia) around 1500 probably from the Premonstratensian Abbey of Coldinne ; Restored in 1981

See also

Individual evidence

Preliminary remark on the state of knowledge and research: No monographic representation could be determined for the "Dreisitz" furniture type. Neither the LThK nor the RGG devote any articles to him. The in RDK announced article "Levites chair" 2016 is not released yet (in the digital version of "RDK-lab").
  1. ↑ Duden
  2. ↑ General Introduction to the Roman Missal , No. 271
  3. ^ G. Cyprian Alston: Sedilia , in: Catholic Encyclopedia , 1913, Vol. 13.
  4. ↑ For the name Levite seat, see the section on the Christian Levites relating to these celebrants
  5. ^ Walter Loose: Choir Stalls of the Middle Ages , 1928, p. 11; Examples: Dreisitz in the Freising Cathedral (Berndt Osterholt: The choir of the Freising Minster in the Middle Ages, p. 14). - Comburg, collegiate church , prelate's chair with lectern, 1715, (Loose, p. 42, fig. 57)
  6. ↑ Occasionally they were even rebuilt in the 16th century in connection with a Lord's Supper table ( Alfred Rauhaus : Kleine Kirchenkunde, Reformierte Kirchen voninnen und Außen , Göttingen 2007, pp. 122–124 names East Frisian examples in Canum and Uttum )
  7. ↑ Jens Schröder: The tower structures of the altar tabernacle in the Catholic Church in Ludwigslust - inventory documentation, restoration, conversion to a Levite chair . Diploma thesis Potsdam (mach.) 1998
  8. ^ The art monuments of the districts Verden, Rotenburg and Zeven , Hanover 1908, and reprint Osnabrück 1980, pp. 65–67.
  9. ^ Willi Meyne: The remains of the medieval stalls in the church in Scharnebeck. In: Lüneburger Blätter 13, 1962, p. 25 ff .; Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments - Bremen Lower Saxony , Munich 1992, p. 1163.
  10. ↑ Christian Dolfen : The Levitenstuhl of the former collegiate church St. Johann in Osnabrück . In: Yearbook of the Provincial Museum in Hanover NF Vol. 4 (1929) pp. 88–98.
  11. ^ Ernst Schubert: The Naumburg Cathedral , Halle 1997, pp. 66–67. (allegedly "for the bishop as well as for the provost and the dean of the cathedral chapter"). On the east wall of the Ostlettner.
  12. ↑ Brochure Evangelical Lutheran St. Ansgari Church in Hage .

Web links

Commons : Sedilia  - collection of images, videos and audio files