Saturday, February 23, 2008

Ordinations at Lateran Archbasilica...


It's been a long winter, friends. Rome had not seen glory like this in about forty years. Then came today.
It was a lovely Mass and a historical moment. Clergy and seminarians came from every corner of the globe. Laymen, too, and families with little children.
The guys busted these candles out of the museum treasury and carried the old portable altar from dusty storage.
Many thanks to the friendly Italian canon in charge of the Lateran sacristy who made much of this possible. Many thanks, too, to Archbishop Luigi de Magistris, a son of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, for singing the Mass.
Before the hippies arrived on the scene there were always two portable altars in the Basilica of St. John Lateran: the altar in front of the confessio and the altar in front of the fixed throne. Today the one was returned and this is what it looked like.
And it all still shined as it did back in the day. Ever Roman, ever timeless, ever Catholic.

2 comments:

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

Many thanks to JP for the magnificent photos of the Lateran.

When I lived in Italy in the
1970s, the altar before the cathedra had been swept away.

I never thought to see it again.

I never thought to see the timeless ceremonies again.

If I'd been there, I don't suppose I would have seen very much from the nave.

So, in that sense, seeing these photos is better than being there !

Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Miracles do happen to those who love the Lord!!!