Bulletin of Catholic University of Peking

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF PEKING 43

As regards the second or “liturgical’? objection, the whole difficulty arises from the previously-mentioned peculiarity that the Chinese facade is always the broad southern side and never the gable-end. In a building so constructed, the place of honor is in the middle of the hall, vis-a-vis of the main entrance. It is here, therefore, according to Chinese notions, that the altar should be placed, with priest and people in front of it, facing the _North. In Western churches, however, the position of the altar is by no means fixed. Its place varies with the architectural style and local requirements.

In eruciform churches with domes, its position is under the dome, at the center of decussation. In cruciform churches without domes, it is usual to place it in the upper arm of the cross. In. certain Roman basilicas, the choir is in the apse and the altar is thrust out into the nave, where it stands over the confessio. At such an altar, the celebrant says Mass facing the people, and does not turn for the Dom1nus vobiscum. Such, indeed, was the primitive position of the altar, and the custom of relegating it to the apse, or of placing it in juxtapositicn to the rear wall is of considerably later origin.

Front elevation of the Diocesan Seminary at Hsuan Hua Fu, Chih-li. Designed by Dom Adelbert Gresnigi, O.S.B.

In short, the position of the altar is largely a matter of convention. In favor, however, of its primitive position (in the basilica and the domed cruciform church) there is this much to be said, that such a position meets more fully the requirements of the Liturgy, of which one of the foremost is that the faithful should be placed so as to enable them to associate themselves most intimately with the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries. In other words, they should be afforded the best possible opportunity of witnessing the Holy Sacrifice and of hearing the prayers, the lessons, and the preaching of the Word of God. In fact,

so obvious are the advantages of the primitive arrangement, that there is now a movement on foot in Europe to do away with the long Gothic church in which the altar is so far removed from the bulk of the congregation. A recent article on Church Architecture in the Bulletin Parotssial Liturgique (published by the Abbey of St. André, Lophem-lez-Bruges, Belgium), strongly advocates the building of short, broad churches in place of long, narrow ones, in order that the last row of pews may not be too remote from the altar. All of which indicates that if Chinese style requires the altar to be placed in the middle of the nave,