Tuesday, April 10, 2007

The tale of "two" altars

Awhile back I was doing graphically edited versions of church sanctuaries that might give an example of how a little creativity, and only a little bit of budget could be used to revamp a sanctuary in a way that would give a rich sense of focus to the altar and sanctuary generally. (See here and here.) By focusing upon the altar specifically and the immediate space around it, I proposed this could be done to maximal effect with minimal budget. Specific to the altar itself, I proposed in many cases that the addition of substantive, traditional candlesticks and altar cross, as well as an altar frontal, could work wonders.

Well, thanks to a reader for sending this video clip in, which couldn't better illustrate the point in real life and full motion video.

Apparently this comes in the context of the FSSP, possibly in France, and obviously at a parish that they are guests in. Please watch how they go about turning a typically modern style altar in something reminiscent of the high altars of our tradition. There creativity here is quite something; simple materials are used to very great effect. It indeed demonstrates that with a little creativity, much is possible even in the most temporary of circumstances. Enjoy.

More recent articles:

For more articles, see the NLM archives: