Just a guest. The pastor and Liturgy director wanted to focus on the risen Chist. Some chuechs will take to corpus off the cross during Easter Season.My new parish has a huge Crucifix on the altar. Throughout lent it was covered with a purple cloth.
On Easter morning the cloth was changed to white.
Why was the crucifix covered at Easter Mass?
Totally covered.Was it totally ‘covered’ or simply ‘draped’ like this:
parenting.leehansen.com/downloads/clipart/easter/pages/easter-draped-cross.htm
Your guess is as good as mine. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.My new parish has a huge Crucifix on the altar. Throughout lent it was covered with a purple cloth.
On Easter morning the cloth was changed to white.
Why was the crucifix covered at Easter Mass?
We can only speculate, really. For the most accurate answer, someone would have to ask the people who did it.Why was the crucifix covered at Easter Mass?
In the past, at least, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal specified that “a cross with the figure of Christ crucified upon it” should be used in entrance processions and that “there is also to be a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified on it” visible not only during Mass but at all times, recalling “for the faithful the saving passion of the Lord, [and] remain[ing] near the altar even outside of liturgical celebrations.” Other images of Christ and the cross may be present as well, such as a window depicting Christ enthroned in glory or a cross with the risen Christ superimposed, as long as a crucifix is also present.Some chuechs will take to corpus off the cross during Easter Season.
Please provide a source that says that the altar cross may not be veiled during the latter part of Lent.The central crucifix must never be veiled. If your parish chooses to veil images after the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the images that must remain uncovered are stained glass windows, Stations of the Cross, and one Crucifix which must always be present when a Mass is celebrated. Does your parish use the Benedictine altar arrangement, with a crucifix facing the versus populum priest on the altar?
A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH - Covering of Crosses and Images in LentPlease provide a source that says that the altar cross may not be veiled during the latter part of Lent.
First of all, I would first like to recommend Monsignor Peter Elliott’s excellent guide “Celebrations of the Liturgical Year” published by Ignatius Press in 2002. It is a very useful resource for all those involved in the practical aspects of liturgical planning.
Veiling during all of Lent may have been a common practice in the Middle Ages, but it has been restricted to Passiontide for several centuries. Hence, the practice our reader described is incorrect. The altar or processional cross is not veiled and, indeed, its use is implied in the rubrics for the solemn Masses of Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday.
The Processional Cross is called for during the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose. Since we are supposed to pretend that the covered images/icons/crosses are not there, what would be the point of a veiled cross at that time?Please provide a source that says that the altar cross may not be veiled during the latter part of Lent.
I think you are right. I am new at the parish. I don’t want to go to the pastor with a long list of questions. I asked him about a couple of things. It seems that he considers himself a scripture scholar and an expert liturgist. He is enhancing our experiences.Who knows. Ask the pastor or person responsible for such things. It sounds like someone’s creative interpretation to me.