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I love the altar! I've always loved the medieval Sarum altars you often see in manuscripts and some reconstructed churches with the curtains and hanging pyx.
What exactly is a "hanging pyx"?
YOUNG catholics huh? I thought they just wanted life teen.
interesting
Don Roy, it's the "doubleknit dinosaurs" who keep telling us that what the young want. They don't have a clue. Tom
Here's an explanation with pictures of an Medieval English Church with a hanging pyx:
http://images.google.com/imgres?...%3Doff%26sa%
3DG
A hanging pyx is exactly what is sounds- a pyx or ciborium containing the blessed sacrament, hung on chains so it could be raise or lowered, and covered with a veil. They were often used in medeivel churches to reserve the blessed sacrament.
Here's an example in an anglican church:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdt...57600027416565/
What is a low mass? What is the precise diff from a high mass? Please no acronyms or tech terminology.
I think it may be a good idea to do a post on the evolution of the tabernacle on this site. I recently came across pictures of a "eucharistic dove" on this site: http://images.google.com/imgres?...l%3Den%26sa%
3DN
There seems to be some interesting liturgical history behind this practice. Does anyone know if current legislation would permit it today? I think it would be more compatible with the OF, but it seems like the hanging tabernacles from Medieval England would work with the EF as well, since that is more similar to the Sarum rite than the OF. Any thoughts?
There are serious security concerns in using an hanging pyx, sadly; if only because anything that isn't either 'built-in' or at least substantial, and securely fastened to a wall, is far too easy to remove quickly.
There are one or two in Anglican churches in the UK; I don't know of any in Catholic churches.
The 'Eucharistic Dove' is only really a rather ornate hanging pyx; although I remember reading somewhere, years ago, of a specific ceremonial use for one other than in the context of reservation. I'll try and track the reference down.
I'm not sure that the form of mass would be particularly relevant to whether a hanging pyx / Eucharistic Dove would be appropriate : I suspect it's more an architecturally 'stylistic' thing. The hanging pyx was an essentially Gothic deveice, and would look very strange in a Baroque Church (at least in the form usual in the UK); whereas I would think the Eucharistic Dove (at least those visible on the link) would look best in a Romanesque setting.
Thinking about it, I suppose one might get consent for a hanging pyx / dove in somewhere like a Seminary - not a public church, and with better-than-usual security. Anyone interested ?
Francesca;
the 'original' form of mass is (in its ultimate form) a complex service involving many people besides the priest, and with a choir/schola singing much of the audible part of the service - and at least in the Extradordinary (ie 'traditional') form, the priest says a lot of the prayers whilst the singers are singing. This is a 'High' Mass.
However, that's inconvenient for general use - or rather, if you have lots of priests who all want to say mass, it's simply impractical for all of them to do it that way - it simply takes too long, and uses too many resources.
So, they came up with the idea - purely for convenience - of the priest saying everything, including the bits the choir was meant to sing, with only one or two servers. There's no music, and in the traditional form there's quite a lot of silence as far as the congregation are concerned, whilst the priest prays 'voce secreto' (ie inaudibly)
So : High Mass is Priest with at least two other clergy, and (in theory) a minimum of four other servers, plus a choir; and music. On average, without a sermon, takes about 50 mins - 1 hour - and really needs quite a bit of space.
Low Mass is a Priest with just one or two servers, everything said, and obviously only needs quite a small space around the altar. Takes about 20 - 30 mins.
This is a 'quick & dirty' answer : I'm sure the liturgical theorists will be out for my blood, but I hope it helps anyway.
Thanks Quentin. I've heard those terms for 20 years, but only understood them in the vaguest terms.
I am the server in this photo.
It isn't a hanging pyx: it is a sanctuary light, because there is a (rarely used) tabernacle in the altar. As the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle on the High Altar (where there is a seriously serious sanctuary lamp) this one usually has a (permanently lit) candle in a blue holder: it is Our Lady's Altar after all.
There was no room for a sedilla after the heating was installed so Fr Smith's biretta rests on the radiator. The gates will nor close because at some point in the last 40 years, the bolt has disappeared.
Quentin says that Low Mass takes 20-30 minutes: yes, if the Priest and server know exactly what they are doing. When the Priest is learning by doing and the server is remembering what he learned as a small boy more than 40 years ago, it takes longer. With an enthusiastic and supportive ongregation, it seems not to matter at all.
Please pray for us, that we learn to do everything right.
St. Vincent Ferrer's here in NY has a hanging pyx in the Friars' Chapel.
http://www.csvf.org/Architecture-L.html
I don't know whether it's used. Glorious church!
I can't see a hanging pyx in the photo. But if you want to see one in a Catholic Church in the UK, go to Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight.
I have been praying for many years that Fr Tom would say the old mass I knew he would find it a great source of strength , it could almost be the Nomen Sanctissima
Memento,
If you mean the photo from SVF, scroll down the page to the second photo, which is a close-up of the pyx with an explanatory caption.
If you mean the photo on NLM, my apologies for sticking my nose in!
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