People's Altar

Consecration of a popular altar

Milan, Duomo, popular altar

The popular altar is generally used today to refer to the free-standing altar in Catholic churches at which the priest celebrates the Eucharistic part of the Holy Mass facing the believers (versus populum) so that those celebrating can experience themselves as having gathered around the altar. This is "the center of thanksgiving, which is performed in the Eucharist" (Basic Order of the Roman Missal , No. 296). It, and not the altar cross standing next to or on it , is therefore at the same time the true inner East of faith to which one can go can look from any and quite different directions.

If a people's altar is a fixed, consecrated altar, it is considered the actual main altar ( altare maius , high altar ) of the church, even if the high altar, which was previously used for worship, is still in the church, for example because of its artistic value. People's altar is thus a common expression among German-speaking Catholics, but not a technical term liturgy of a legal or scientific nature. This also applies to the alternative term “ celebration altar” (because it is used for the celebration of the community mass).

Prehistory and Liturgical Movement

Free-standing papal altar of the Lateran basilica

Altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere , around 1700. As is customary in Roman churches, the altar is in the west of the building. When praying at the altar, the celebrating priest looks both to the east (towards the entrance of the church) and to the congregation who is celebrating.

Rood screen with people's altar in the St. Pantaleon Church in Cologne

In the first centuries, the Roman throne or palace basilica formed the model for Christian church building. In the apse apse stood the bishop's cathedra and the semicircular priest's bench. This expressed a hierarchical opposition between the priesthood and the people. The altar stood freely in the apse (in the west or east) and could be walked around. Free-standing altars of the type described have always been the main altars of the large "entrance-east" basilicas , e.g. B. in Rome by St. Peter and St. John in Lateran . The Missal Pope Pius V from 1570 and the Caeremoniale episcoporum from 1600 continue to include altars and the celebration versus populum (facing the Christian faithful), in relation to the rulers and the people, up to the Roman Missal in the version from 1962.

Until the time after the Reformation , the rood screen blocked the lay people (in monastery churches also the converses ) from seeing the high altar , in front of which the canons and the priest monks celebrated the hours of prayer and mass. In front of the rood screen, between the nave and the choir, there were usually one or two other altars. One was often consecrated to the cross of Christ and was therefore also referred to as the cross altar , later also as a lay altar , community altar or mess altar .

With and after the Council of Trent, the pastorally motivated rule prevailed in Catholic church building since the 16th century to enable the faithful to have an unobstructed view of the liturgical events at the main altar (e.g. by removing the existing rood screen ). The so-called “people's altar”, which spread in the 20th century, follows this tradition.

In the 20th century, in the course of the liturgical movement , there were the first more recent attempts with "popular altars", in Germany during the 1920s - such as in the crypt of the Maria Laach Abbey , in the cathedral in Passau , in St. Paul (Munich) or von Johannes Pinsk . For mass celebrations outside the church, for example in tent camps or homes of the Catholic youth movement , it was common practice since the first half of the 20th century. To set up the altar in such a way that the fellow celebrants could at least watch the priest's actions and join his mostly quiet prayers, because in the usual "silent masses " the orations and the prayer before the use of microphones could not be heard. On the eve of the Second Vatican Council , the desire to celebrate Holy Mass around a free-standing altar turned towards the people, especially in the liturgical movement , was a matter of course, especially since at this time the celebrants hardly had a position in the priestly seat , ambo and altar , namely only at the pontifical office . The Archbishop of Cologne, Josef Cardinal Frings, for example, took up this tendency and wrote in 1956: “It corresponds to our visually adjusted time that believers today want to see what is happening at the altar, and it corresponds to the democratic course of our days that the difference between ordained priests and laity is not emphasized more than necessary. Furthermore, despite all subjectivism and individualism, our time has a great longing for community and therefore has a deep understanding of the church as a community ”.

Liturgical reform (since 1964)

There are no detailed regulations in Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), the liturgy constitution of the Second Vatican Council, about the design of altars in general or specifically the introduction of “popular altars” . The constitution on the liturgy, however, basically requires that the church interior is to be carefully arranged in such a way that the active and conscious participation of the faithful can be achieved (SC 124), furthermore a revision of the “design and construction of the altars” so that they “are renewed Liturgy ”(SC 128). During the council (1962 to 1965), the Eucharist was celebrated in the council hall, St. Peter's Basilica with the entrance facing east , with the main celebrant looking ad orientem (to the east), while the council fathers who celebrated as believers looked west to the altar. This direction of celebration has been perceived since the time of the Council of Trent as celebration versus populum , in the direction of the participants in the celebration, and was described in this rubricist manner.

From March 7, 1965, there is a church regulation, which was brought to the attention of the assembled Council Fathers in advance in 1964, that the main altar is to be erected "free-standing" in the future, i.e. for new buildings and renovations, with two expressly stated goals: so that the priest can can easily walk around and also celebrate with him to the people (Instruction Inter Oecumenici of September 27, 1964 No. 91). In any case, the altar, at the same time the symbol of the corner stone Christ, should be the “center on which the gaze of the assembly is directed”. The declared aim of the liturgical reform was therefore not the restoration of the historical situation of the church building (“ liturgical archaeologism ”), but the promotion of the attention of the faithful according to the basic principle of conscious and active participation (cf. SC 124. 128).

This marked the beginning of one of the most visible changes that Vatican II brought to the life of the Roman Catholic Church. For unfavorable situations at a given altar location, the German bishops recommended as early as 1965 that a worthy table altar should also be set up near the community. For him, the name "People's Altar" soon became established.

The regulation of 1964/5 took place in 1969 under Pope Paul VI. Entrance to the General Introduction to the Roman Missal (AEM No. 262) and was repeated in 2002 under Pope John Paul II , now with the express addition: quod expedit ubicumque possibile sit , "This is recommended wherever it is possible" ( Basic Order of the Roman Missal [2002] No. 299). As early as 1983 the Italian Bishops' Conference had stipulated: "L'altare fisso della celebrazione sia unico e rivolto al popolo - The fixed altar of the celebration is one and turned to the people." According to the interpretation of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments from 2000, this is no obligation expressed, but the recommendation of the celebration to the people. The way of celebration turned towards the worship service seems more appropriate, since it simplifies communication; however, the other possibility is not excluded. When deciding on the appropriate arrangement of the altar, factors such as the spatial arrangement, the available space, the artistic value of the existing altar or the sensitivity of the worship community must be taken into account .

Supplementary ecclesiastical regulations aim at: the use of one altar alone (symbol of the one Christ), the temporal limitation of provisional solutions, the preservation of artistically valuable historical altars (possibly without liturgical use).

Cologne Cathedral , people's altar, 1956–1960

After the Second Vatican Council, the “popular altars” in the churches were initially often only provisional, but have now largely been replaced by properly consecrated (“hallowed”) altars, ie by a real “main altar” ( high altar ). “The holy celebrations may take place only on him. So that the attention of the believers is not distracted from the new altar, the old one should not be given any special decoration. ”( Basic Order of the Roman Missal [2002] No. 303). The altar turned towards the people ("people's altar") is the new main altar of the church, usually under the crossing or the triumphal arch , in church buildings started after the Second Vatican Council also often practically in the middle of the assembled believers, especially in the churches with the pews facing the altar from three sides.

Wherever there is a Christian altar, however, it is a prominent symbol for Christ, to whom Christians can orient themselves during prayer or around whom they can gather. Spirit and prayer at the altar, whether spoken by the ruler with his back or face to the congregation, are always directed towards God (ad Dominum) . There is therefore no contrast between versus populum and ad dominum . In this sense, Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, approved and expressly defended the practice of both directions of celebration in 2007.

Scheidegg parish church : People's altar

Since a new “people's altar” does not have to or cannot be set up in every existing church building, the priest's orientation to the community is not required for the celebration of the Eucharist. It is generally considered beneficial, but not necessary. Therefore, the rubrics of today's Roman Missal take into account both possible orientations of the celebrating priest: with his face to the altar and congregation (versus populum) or with his back to the congregation (versus absidem) . As it is contained in the Missal from 1962, this also applies where the Usus extraordinarius of the Roman rite is maintained.

Tabernacle-less altar on the west wall of the Sistine Chapel

The Roman Catholic worship service does not know a celebration of the Eucharist “towards the tabernacle ”. According to Joseph Ratzinger , it would be “against any theological logic” and “obviously pointless”. However, Pope Benedict XVI wanted. To rediscover the cosmic dimension of the liturgy, stimulate the alignment of priests and congregations without tying them to a particular direction. As a theologian he had already criticized the “people's altar wave” at the Catholic Day in Bamberg in 1966 and asked whether it was not more in the spirit of the council to prevent the “neo-clericalism” of the celebration in opposition to the ruler and the people by allowing everyone to join in in the same direction, turn to God and shout: "Our Father". This criticism could not affect the prayer that has always been customary in relation to the ruler and the rest of the congregation in the liturgical service of the Mass . Since January 2008 Pope Benedict XVI celebrated. in the western Sixtina, St. Mass at the historical high altar - so with the face to the altar cross (and to the west) and not, like its predecessors, on a mobile popular altar facing east and towards the believers, which is set up for the celebrations. At major papal masses in Rome and elsewhere, Pope Benedict XVI also celebrated. the liturgy versus populum , preferably in front of a large altar cross . Pope Francis had the popular altar of the Sistine Chapel, which has meanwhile been removed, re-erected for his first mass as Pope on March 14, 2013 and celebrates the mass both inside and outside Rome, usually facing the faithful.

The church historian Stefan Heid explains based on the early altars in the main churches of St. Peter, St. Paul and the Lateran Basilica that the popular altars introduced after the Second Vatican Council were not a renewal of early church altars, as the old church did not have such popular altars knew. For this reason Josef Andreas Jungmann spoke in 1967 of the “new altar”. The altar was mostly free in the room, but the priest celebrated facing east. Important for the old church was the eastward turn of the celebrants, whose principle, according to Sible de Blaauw, also applied to Rome. Such as B. the wested Sistine Chapel shows, but the real easting itself in the papal liturgy has not been considered for centuries.

Direction of prayer and orientation (church architecture)

See also : Ostung , Orientation and Ad orientem

Derivations

The cult in the temple in Jerusalem was oriented towards the holy of holies in the west (versus occidentem) . Since around the second century Christians have been praying facing eastwards - the place of paradise and the expected second coming of Christ; In buildings, some of the believers prefer a clear view of the sky through the door or window facing east. The change of direction possibly followed due to a prophecy of Ezekiel, who saw water coming from the right side of the altar (= from the east), which saved all who came to it. This was understood as a prophecy of baptism.

Free-standing main altar of St. Peter's Basilica under the Bernini canopy

Early Christian church building

The prayer principle also influenced the building of the church, so that the vast majority of early Christian churches faced east. The monumental church buildings erected after the turn of Constantine in the 4th century were also usually oriented towards the east (versus orientem) . Initially, churches with the apse facing west. In this case the entrance facade was easted. In the latter way, the Constantinian buildings in Jerusalem ( Church of the Holy Sepulcher ), Antioch, Tire and above all in Rome ( St. Peter , St. John Lateran , Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Santa Cecilia, Sant'Alessio, S. Giorgio al Velabro, S. Nicola In Carcere, Santi Nereo e Achilleo, Sant'Agata dei Goti, San Pancrazio, San Saba etc.) as well as in the Roman example the following churches, especially in North Africa, where the Roman customs were adopted. In the case of the “west-east” churches, the main celebrant prayed both in an easterly direction and with his face to the congregation (ad orientem, versus populum) , but the faithful usually looked towards the altar, that is, to the west. To the right of the high altar in St. Peter, not on top of it, a large cross rose on a stand. All those celebrating prayed with their eyes raised to heaven, not aimed at the altar or the altar cross . In comparison with the total number of churches, the churches easted at the beginning are - albeit prominent - exceptions.

While various theories have been put forward about the churches at the beginning, it can be stated that, on the one hand, they are the result of a complex development in terms of building history, which is to be interpreted in the context of urban conditions. On the other hand, this orientation is also related to the veneration of the martyr relics. So the first St. Peter's Basilica (Alt-St. Peter), like the later Renaissance building, was at the beginning. The relics of Peter were kept in the apse (to the west) in the apostle's shrine. The altar stood in front of the apostles' shrine, so that the celebrant was looking at it, although he was looking to the west, like the believers. The Pope therefore held between the 4th and 6th centuries in Alt-St. Peter does not head east. The altar was then changed under Gregory the Great , whereby a confessio was created over which the new altar was posed. In the course of the increasing unity of the Eucharistic celebration and the veneration of martyrs, the origins of which go back to the first half of the 4th century, the Confessio has been connected to the altar. This created a new situation: the altar now stood above the martyrs 'grave in such a way that, for architectural reasons, access to the altar was only possible from the west, so that the celebrant looked both towards the east and towards the martyrs' relics. By turning to the relics and thus also to the east, the celebrant looked into the church. The intention was not first the celebration versus populum , which rather resulted from the fact that the celebrant was looking to the east and to the apostle relics, but rather the orientation to the relics and to the east. Stefan Heid concludes from this: "If a church was at the entrance, it came about by chance and unintentionally to the constellation that the priest at the altar looked at the people." This arrangement was adopted in the 16th century for all papal basilicas, without looking at their orientation respect, think highly of.

In other regions of the West, the majority of the church buildings "apse-easted" were built, in which all the worshipers, leaders and believers, were oriented towards the east. In the centuries that followed, the question of the cardinal point in western church building became less important. The practice of aligning churches with sunrise or sunset ended around the 15th century. In the Sistine Chapel of the Pope z. For example, if the historical altar is on the west wall, it is not possible to east the celebration. With and after the Council of Trent , the pastorally motivated rule prevailed in the Catholic area since the 16th century to enable the faithful to have an unobstructed view of the liturgical events at the main altar. Regarding the direction of celebration, the Tridentinum did not issue any regulation. According to Karl Borromeo († 1584), “mass is usually celebrated at the high altar by a priest facing the people in accordance with the church rite”. The missal Pope Pius V from 1570 and the Caeremoniale episcoporum from 1600 - the “ Tridentine liturgy ” - mentions the practice of celebration versus populum (facing the Christian faithful), however, only in the case of churches with an easterly entrance (“Si altare sit ad orientem, versus populum "). This rubric was retained up to the Roman Missal in the 1962 version, which was in force at the time of the Second Vatican Council.

In the Eastern Church, the easting of the church and the altar has usually been preserved from early Christianity until today. However, some quite weighty chief prayers were also spoken in the Eastern Churches in a westerly direction, towards the congregation, for example during ordinations and prayers for blessings about people. In today's Byzantine Orthodox form of the St. James liturgy , the celebration with the priests looking towards the people is the rule. In the Eastern Catholic Churches , but also z. B. in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the celebration versus populum is becoming increasingly popular.

The hypothesis of the early Christian popular altar

In 1965 Otto Nussbaum put forward the thesis that the easting of the apse in church construction did not prevail until the 4th century, which also influenced the worship service. The opposite of the celebrant and the congregation (outside of Rome) was largely replaced by common prayer in the east. According to Nussbaum, the celebrant only stood in front of the (free-standing) altar with his back to the congregation after the 4th century and kept this position wherever a certain point of the compass, including easting, was no longer observed during church construction. The cathedra of the bishop was often moved from the center to the side wall of the choir, the altar moved towards the end of the apse and in the Middle Ages received structures with reredos and possibly tabernacles in many churches .

Nussbaum's thesis, which was already represented by Joseph Braun and Nussbaum's teacher Theodor Klauser , met with sharp criticism from Klaus Gamber in particular , but also from Marcel Metzger. Metzger mainly objected to the evaluation of the data collected by Nussbaum. The research of Gamber and Metzger are diametrically opposed to Nussbaum's argumentation, because they explain - in contrast to Nussbaum - that initially the east was the usual orientation of the churches, the altars and the celebrating priest. The early Christian practice of easting had a direct impact on the use of the altar and the location of the celebrant at the altar, so that the celebrant, in order to do justice to the east, looked in the same direction as the believers. Even if there were some exceptions, the apses in most churches and ecclesiastical buildings were already easted before the Constantinian Revolution (313). The free-standing altar had stood under the apse. The internal logic now required that the bishop or priest looked to the east and therefore stood ad orientem, looking into the apse between the altar and the congregation. In contrast to Nussbaum's thesis and today's popular altar, he was not standing behind the altar, but on the west side of the altar. Although Josef Andreas Jungmann was not entirely averse to the introduction of the people's altar, he came to the conclusion: "The often repeated assertion that the early Christian altar regularly presupposed turning to the people, turns out to be a legend."

In recent years Nussbaum's thesis has also been critically examined by Uwe Michael Lang and Stefan Heid . The latter explained: "The basic rule of the early Christian altar is that the celebrant stands on the western side of the altar and looks to the east." The celebrant looked up at God with his hands raised. This orientation of prayer reflects the turning towards the rising sun, a symbol of Christ, and is a religious legacy of Judaism and Paganism that Christians inherited. According to Gamber, Lang and Heid, the celebration ad orientem did not come up at some point, as Nussbaum explained, but was from the beginning a basic rule of Christian prayer and, as far as the celebrants were concerned, of the liturgy. In the 1920s, Franz Joseph Dölger determined through his historical research that this liturgical principle had already been established everywhere around 200 AD. According to Heid, the commonality of the early Christian altar and the popular altar should be reduced purely to the external appearance, that both are free-standing. Heid explains an essential difference, however: "The liturgical and theological meaning of the early church altar design is almost diametrically opposed to the current use of the popular altar in the Roman Catholic world." The sense of orientation was, however, with the "exile" in Avignon (1307– 1377) was lost, so that the building of the church in the Latin Church was no longer determined by the east. Although the orientation of the church was no longer strictly observed, the equalization of priests and people, with not a few exceptions, remained until the Second Vatican Council, so that there was no popular altar until then.

literature

• Louis Bouyer : Man and Rite. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1964, 211-214.
• Otto Nussbaum : The location of the liturgist at the Christian altar before the year 1000. (= Theophaneia . Volume 18) Hanstein, Bonn 1965, OCLC 841699500 .
• Josef Andreas Jungmann: The new altar . In: Der Seelsorger 37 (1967) 374–381.
• Klaus Gamber : The People's Altar - Expression of a New Understanding of Measurement. In: Una Voce Korrespondenz 12/1 (1982) 1-19 ( online ).
• Klaus Gamber: Towards the Lord! Questions about church building and prayer to the east (Studia patristica et liturgica, 18) Pustet, Regensburg 1987 (new edition: VDM Verlag, Düsseldorf 2003), ISBN 3-936755-12-4 .
• Burkhard Neunheuser: Eucharistic celebration at the altar versus populum. History and problem. In: Florentissima proles ecclesiae. Miscellanea hagiographica, historica et liturgica Reginaldo Grégoire O.Srespoonsive .B. XII lustra complenti oblata , ed. by Domenico Gobbi (Bibliotheca Civis 9). CIVIS, Trento 1996, pp. 417-444.
• Jae-Lyong Ahn: Altar and liturgical room in the Roman Catholic church. An architectural historical consideration with special consideration of the change in the location of the altar after the Second Vatican Council . Diss. Aachen 2004.
• Uwe Michael Lang : Conversi ad dominum. On the history of the Christian direction of prayer . Johannes Verlag, Einsiedeln 2004, ISBN 978-3-89411-384-1 .
• Rinaldo Falsini: Célébrer tournés vers le peuple et prier tournés vers le Seigneur. Sur l'orientation de la prière. In: La Maison-Dieu 250, 2007, pp. 135-146.
• Paul Bernhard Wodrazka: The celebration “versus orientem” or “versus absidem”. A chronological passage through the post-conciliar church documents (in excerpts). In: Theologisches 37, 2007, pp. 99–114.
• Stefan Heid : Posture of prayer and easting in early Christian times. In: Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 82 , 2006 (2008), pp. 347-404 ( online ; PDF).
• Ralf van Bühren : Art and Church in the 20th Century. The reception of the Second Vatican Council ( Council History , Series B: Investigations). Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76388-4 .
• Stefan Heid: table or altar? Scientific hypotheses with far-reaching consequences. In: Una Voce Korrespondenz 46/3 (2016) 342–367.
• Stefan Heid: Altar and Church. Principles of Christian liturgy. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7954-3425-0 , pp. 435–464.

Remarks

1. ↑ Derived from the designation of such an altar as altare populo versum in Ordo missae (1501) by Johannes Burckard , edited by J. Wickham Legg: Tracts on the Mass , London 1904, here p. 167. Later rubrics speak of an altar ad orientem versus populum and mean an altar in quo celebrans habet crucem et populum ante faciem suam (AB Gavantus: Thesaurus sacrorum rituum vol. 1, Lugduni 1685, 111f). Ad orientem also applies to an only imagined East (G. Vinitor: Compendium sacrorum rituum et caerimoniarum . Col. Agrip. 1685, p. 140).
2. ^ Basic order of the Roman Missal , advance publication of the German Bishops' Conference (2007).
3. ^ Missale Romanum : Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae V.3 (1962) http://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/missale62.pdf p. 59; see. Josef Andreas Jungmann : Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass , vol. 1, 5th edition, Herder, Vienna / Freiburg / Basel 1962, p. 332.
4. ^ Peter Wulf Hartmann: lay altar. In: The large art dictionary by PW Hartmann (accessed on May 29, 2010).
5. ↑ Bernard Chédozeau: Chœur clos, chœur ouvert. De l'église médiévale à l'église tridentine (France, XVIIe – XVIIIe siècle). Cerf, Paris 1998; Sible de Blaauw: Innovazioni di culto fra basso Medioevo e Cinquecento: la perdita dell'orientamento liturgico e la liberazione della navata . In: J. Stabenow (Ed.): Lo spazio e il culto . Venezia 2006, 25-51.
6. ↑ An exception z. B. the chapel of Rothenfels Castle (Rothenfels) with tabernacle on the altar standing on the wall. The architect, Rudolf Schwarz , interpreted the altar not as the center, but as the threshold of the celebration.
7. ^ Alcuin Reid: The Organic Development of the Liturgy. Second edition. Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2005, Index sv Mass facing the people.
8. ↑ In a foreword to: Willy Weyres : New Churches in the Archdiocese of Cologne 1945–1956. Cologne 1957, pp. 7–9, cited by: Norbert Trippen : Josef Cardinal Frings, Volume 1: His work for the Archdiocese of Cologne and for the Church in Germany (publications of the Commission for Contemporary History B 94). Paderborn 2003, p. 430 f., See also p. 444. However, Frings attached great importance to the fact that until the Second Vatican Council no "versus populum" was celebrated in churches of the Archdiocese of Cologne, with the exception of the archbishop at the crossing altar of Cologne Cathedral , because according to the rules of the time in the parish churches the tabernacle had to stand on the middle of the main altar.
9. ^ Carlo Borromeo: Instructiones fabricae et suppellectilis ecclesiasticae (Fondazione Memofonte onlus. Studio per l'elaborazione informatica delle fonti storico-artistiche), liber I, cap. X. De cappella maiori , pp. 18-19 ( online ; PDF; 487 KB); Missal Pope Pius V from 1570; Caeremoniale episcoporum from 1600; Missale Romanum from 1962: Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae V.3 (1962) http://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/missale62.pdf p. 59.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Josef Andreas Jungmann in the commentary on the constitution of the liturgy in: Lexicon for Theology and Church. The Second Vatican Council, Part 1. Freiburg 1966, p. 105.
11. ↑ “The high altar should be erected separately from the rear wall, so that one can easily walk around it and celebrate to the people. It should be placed in the sacred space so that it is really the center, which automatically turns the attention of the whole assembled community. ”Cf. Josef Andreas Jungmann in the commentary on the constitution of the liturgy in: Lexicon for Theology and Church. The Second Vatican Council . Part 1, Freiburg 1966, p. 105, note 5: “It should be noted that the Instructio does not, as is sometimes claimed, want the celebration versus the populum, but only the possibility of it. The decision in favor of this method of celebration, which has been made many times today, is connected with the emphasis placed on the meal character of the Eucharist and, more generally, with the newly awakened sense of community. "
12. ↑ The historical question of the location of the liturgist at the early Christian altar remains justified; but their answer does not concern or refute the real concern of the liturgical reform.
13. ↑ Guidelines of the German bishops for the celebration of Holy Mass in community (1965) Chapter 6, Art. 83.
14. ^ Seconda Edizione italiana del "Messale Romano"
15. ^ Congregatio de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum: Respons ad Quaestiones de nova Institutione Generali Missalis Romani , September 25, 2000, quoted in: Paul Bernhard Wodrazka: The celebration “versus orientem” or “versus absidem” . In: Theological . tape 37 (2007) , no. 3/4 , p. 99–114 ( theologisches.net [PDF]). , here col. 112.
16. ↑ Latin original text: In ecclesiis vero iam exstructis, quando altare antiquum ita situm est, ut difficilem reddat participationem populi nec transferri possit sine detrimento valoris artis, aliud altare fixum, arte confectum et rite dedicatum, exstruatur; et tantum super illud sacrae celebrationes peragantur. Ne fidelium attentio a novo altari distrahatur, altare antiquum ne sit peculiari modo ornatum.
17. ↑ The more radical proposal by Klaus Gamber : Liturgie übermorgen (Freiburg 1966) 251, to arrange the pews in concentric circles around the altar, was apparently nowhere realized.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Joseph Ratzinger: The festival of faith . 3. Edition. Einsiedeln 1993, p. 121.
19. ↑ http://www.kath.net/news/16941
20. ↑ Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro in: Notitiae 2, 1966, p. 160.
21. ↑ Vatican Radio : Baptism in the Sistine January 13, 2008.
22. ↑ Direction of celebration: Pope Francis stops the advance of Cardinal Sarah.
23. ↑ JA Jungmann: The new altar . In: The pastor . tape 37 , 1967, p. 374-381 .
24. ↑ Sible de Baauw: In vista della luce. Un principio dimenticato nell'orientamento dell'edificio di culto paleocristiano . In: P. Piva (Ed.): Arte medievale. Le vie dello spazio liturgico . Milan 2010, p. 15-45 .
25. ↑ Justified by the “Prince of the Liturgists” Bartolomeo Gavanti (1569–1638): Nunc ad omnem partem Missam celebramus, quia Deus ubique est , because God is everywhere.
26. ↑ A possible reason for the east facing entrance in Rome can be assumed to be a corresponding specification by the ancient Roman architect Vitruv (1st century BC).
27. ↑ Louis Bouyer: Man and Rite . Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1964, p. 215 .
28. ^ Liber pontificalis 2, 27. 119 Duchesne.
29. ^ Uwe Michael Lang: Conversi ad Dominum. On the history and theology of the Christian direction of prayer . New criteria, no. 5 . Johannes, Einsiedeln 2010, p. 74 cf. 82 .
30. ^ Uwe Michael Lang: Conversi ad Dominum. On the history and theology of the Christian direction of prayer . New criteria, no. 5 . Johannes, Einsiedeln 2010, p. 89-101 .
31. ^ Uwe Michael Lang: Conversi ad Dominum. On the history and theology of the Christian direction of prayer . New criteria, no. 5 . Johannes, Einsiedeln 2010, p. 83-101 .
32. ↑ Stefan Heid: Altar and Church. Principles of Christian liturgy. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2019, 451.
33. ↑ Stefan Heid: Altar and Church. Principles of Christian liturgy. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2019, 441.
34. ↑ Stefan Heid: Altar and Church. Principles of Christian liturgy. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2019, 441.
35. ^ Carlo Borromeo: Instructiones fabricae et suppellectilis ecclesiasticae (Fondazione Memofonte onlus. Studio per l'elaborazione informatica delle fonti storico-artistiche), liber I, cap. X. De cappella maiori , pp. 18-19 ( online ; PDF; 487 KB).
36. ^ Uwe Michael Lang: Conversi ad Dominum. On the history and theology of the Christian direction of prayer . New criteria, no. 5 . Johannes, Einsiedeln 2010, p. 29-30 .
37. ^ Missale Romanum : Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae V.3 (1962) http://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/missale62.pdf p. 59; see. Josef Andreas Jungmann : Missarum Sollemnia. A Genetic Explanation of the Roman Mass , Vol. 1. 5th Edition. Nova & Vetera, Bonn and Herder, Vienna / Freiburg / Basel 1962, p. 332.
38. ↑ St. James liturgy in Russia, with photo of the divine service celebrated in the direction of the congregation (2009) .
39. ↑ Heinzgerd Brakmann : The second life of the Greek Jacobos liturgy . In: Ostkirchliche Studien, 64 (2015), pp. 48–79, especially pp. 77–78.
40. ↑ Otto Nussbaum: The location of the liturgist at the Christian altar before the year 1000. An archaeological and liturgical historical investigation . Bonn 1965.
41. ↑ Johannes H. Emminghaus: The worship space and its design. In: Rupert Berger u. a. (Ed.): Shape of worship. Linguistic and non-linguistic forms of expression. Regensburg 1987, pp. 347–416, here pp. 378 ff. ( Church service. Handbook of liturgical science , part 3).
42. ^ Marcel Metzger: La place des liturges à l'autel . In RevSR 45 (1971) 113-145 (117-119).
43. ↑ Josef Andreas Jungmann: The new altar . In Der Seelsorger 37 (1967) 374-381 (376).
44. ↑ Stefan Heid: Altar and Church. Principles of Christian liturgy. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2019, 249, cf. 448.
45. ^ Franz Joseph Dölger: Sol salutis. Prayer and Singing in Christian Antiquity. With special regard to Ostung in prayer and liturgy , Münster 1920, ²1925, ³1972, 136–149, 185–198.
46. ↑ Stefan Heid: Altar and Church. Principles of Christian liturgy. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2019, 439–440.