Last week I wrote about the “Benedictine” arrangement and specifically about the altar crucifix. But you've probably also noticed the six candles placed on the altar for weekend Masses. Why six? Simply because this is the traditional number of candles for Sundays and high holy days.
Actually, seven candles are used when a bishop presides! In churches like St. James in La Crosse, where the original high altar is again being used, three candles are placed on one side of the tabernacle and three on the other side.
Here at St. Peter's, our own altar crucifix, a gift from Msgr. Hundt, is from the chapel of the nuns who taught at the parish many years ago. I'm told that the candlesticks are from St. Peter's own high altar.
What a beautiful sense of continuity there is, therefore, in returning these candlesticks to use. After all, the forebears of so many here at St. Peter's built this church.
Now they could walk into church and recognize the altar arrangement that they knew, and that their own parents and grandparents and great-grandparents knew, and that even the early Christians knew in their own celebrations of Holy Mass by candlelight in the catacombs.
Blurb 1 (The Crotalus), Blurb 2 (Benedictine Arrangement)
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| Our Benedictine altar arrangement at St. Peter's Parish, Middle Ridge, Wis., during the Christmas season. |
Looks like the seventh candle could be the crucifix.
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