Friday, June 13, 2008

The good old days...


Here's a photo from circa 1964 in which we see how the old papal throne used to be set up in St. Peter's Square for Holy Mass.
Sure would be nice to bring some of this beauty back.
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13 comments:

Phil said...

I should say!

8:31 AM
leo said...

This is just soooo much better than that "gas-station"-look they have now.

9:04 AM
Anonymous said...

Good to remember St. Peter's before the big cleaning of the Jubilee. It was nasty and we did not realize it!

9:58 AM
Anonymous said...

Cir 1964?? It appears that Holy Mass was offered versus populum. Is this the case???

10:27 AM
qualcosa di bello said...

that is simply gorgeous!!!

11:56 AM
PeterHWright said...

I couldn't agree more with Leo. A gas station ! That is exactly what that new altar canopy in the piazza looks like.

Just stand in the piazza di San Pietro and look around at the great basilica by Michelangelo, its crowning dome by della Porta, its fine facade by Moderna, the huge collonade by Bernini, and you have to wonder why such a horrible design has been inflicted on such a site.

I hope it can be dismantled easily, and the sooner the better !

11:59 AM
Anonymous said...

Remember, Pope Benedict XVI has brought alittle of this back. The days of JP II and especially Paul VI with regards to Papal pomp were very bleak and bare. Paul VI discarded so much, and so brutally that I swear Paul VI must have been a "closet Calvinist" in his liturgical leanings and liturgical taste.

4:44 PM
Anonymous said...

This would be rather easy to set up-- I wish Msgr. Marini would re-intrduce this to outdoor Papal Masses!

4:54 PM
Anonymous said...

We all know that the Romans loved color. The Vatican should bring back the red carpets everywhere.

5:26 PM
Anonymous said...

Which way would the Pope face for these Masses, do you know? Would he face literal east (therefore accidentally towards the people) or liturgical east?

I didn't realize they had Masses in St. Peter's Square before the liturgical changes.

11:09 PM
PeterHWright said...

Moderna ?
Sorry, that should be Maderno ! Carlo Maderno (not to be confused with the Baroque sculptor Stefano Maderno) was the architect of the facade of St. Peter's.

Mea culpa.

12:06 PM
Anonymous said...

Such a thing as this in the Piazza San Pietro was really only seen between circa 1940s - 1960s (from 1870 - 1929 there was nothing in the Piazza). Notice the small candles on the altar which imply the changes were already being made.

7:59 AM
Anonymous said...

I don't believe that Mass was celebrated in St. Peter's square before Paul VI. I think the reason was that the interior of St. Peter's was transformed into the conciliar aula at the time.

5:20 AM

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