Pews in European churches

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victrolatim

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I’ve discovered while perusing photos of various European churches that I very seldom see pews, rather things that remind me of rows of wooden dining room chairs. How does the congregation kneel? Or are the rubrics/attitudes different in Europe? I’ve always been curious about this.
 
In places without kneelers, some people bring their own kneeling cushion, some kneel on the floor. Those who canno kneel due to frailty, disability, age, etc, do not kneel-- they sit or stand.

In Europe they kneel for the consecration. The U.S. received permission to kneel again after the Aganus Dei, that is not done elsewhere.
 
1ke said:
In places without kneelers, some people bring their own kneeling cushion, some kneel on the floor. Those who canno kneel due to frailty, disability, age, etc, do not kneel-- they sit or stand.

In Europe they kneel for the consecration. The U.S. received permission to kneel again after the Aganus Dei, that is not done elsewhere.
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In Britain it is also customary to kneel for the entire anaphora and after Agnus.

In Poland people stand for anaphora, kneel for consecration, stand again for memorial acclamation, kneel again after Agnus.
 
1ke said:
In Europe they kneel for the consecration. The U.S. received permission to kneel again after the Aganus Dei, that is not done elsewhere.
Click to expand...
In Canada we also only kneel for the consecration, and after communion.

When the abbey where I normally attend Mass has a lot of American tourists, it’s always amusing to hear the kneelers crash to the floor and see people start to keel at the start of the EP. The rest of us kneel at the consecration and rise immediately for the Mystery of the Faith.
 
victrolatim said:
I’ve discovered while perusing photos of various European churches that I very seldom see pews, rather things that remind me of rows of wooden dining room chairs. How does the congregation kneel? Or are the rubrics/attitudes different in Europe? I’ve always been curious about this.
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Are these very old Churches?

Pews were introduced by non-Catholic Churches where the sermon was the central act of worship. Pews were not generally found in Catholic churches prior to the reformation.

-Tim-
 
Very interesting. I did not know that. Yes indeed all of them tend to be quite old (i.e. Notre Dame de Paris)
 
victrolatim said:
Very interesting. I did not know that. Yes indeed all of them tend to be quite old (i.e. Notre Dame de Paris)
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Patrick457 here on CAF has posted some fascinating information about the construction of ancient Churches.

One such post is forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=9575350&highlight=central+ambo#post9575350 written in the context of which way the deacon faced when proclaiming the Gospel. In the middle of the post he speaks about the construction of the Church and segregation of men and women who faced the central aisle (like monastic choir stalls) instead of facing the altar.

Another similar thread is at forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=12698446&highlight=central+ambo#post12698446.

-Tim-
 
OraLabora said:
…kneel at the consecration and rise immediately for the Mystery of the Faith.
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This is consistent with my experiences in Europe. The kneelers are often just wooden - no padding, but the wood is preferable to the stone floors.
 
victrolatim said:
I’ve discovered while perusing photos of various European churches that I very seldom see pews, rather things that remind me of rows of wooden dining room chairs. How does the congregation kneel? Or are the rubrics/attitudes different in Europe? I’ve always been curious about this.
Click to expand...
Almost all Catholic Churches in Europe have pews and people always kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer and before and after Communion.
 
1ke said:
The U.S. received permission to kneel again after the Aganus Dei, that is not done elsewhere.
Click to expand...
That is incorrect - that has always been the case in Britain, Ireland, Italy and Germany.
 
The OP isn’t asking about kneelers or when people are supposed to kneel.

He is asking about pews - why pictures of old European Churches show now pews but only rows of chairs?

It is very frustrating for me personally, to post a question and have people answer a completely different question.

-Tim-
 
Where in Europe? When I was in Poland, Prague and Vienna, all the churches I saw had pews.
 
And where I am, it’s a mixed bag. None of my parish’s three churches have pews. The ICRSS’s churches all have them, as does the Shrine to St. Rita. At the cathedral, there are pews in the chapel but not in the main church (nave and transepts). No pews in my former parish church in Paris, nor at Notre-Dame. However, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre (18th arrondissement in Paris) has pews IIRC…haven’t been there in a while.

Also, the presence of pews doesn’t automatically mean there are kneelers as well. At the aforementioned Shrine of St. Rita, the first 4-5 rows of pews have kneelers but the rest of the rows behind them do not. Where kneelers are absent, those who do kneel do so on the floor. You get used to it. 🙂

I have never seen anyone bring a cushion to kneel on in any of the churches mentioned in my post. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen anywhere ever—I have not been in every church in Europe, nor just in France for that matter—but I have yet to see it.
 
OraLabora said:
In Canada we also only kneel for the consecration, and after communion.

When the abbey where I normally attend Mass has a lot of American tourists, it’s always amusing to hear the kneelers crash to the floor and see people start to keel at the start of the EP. The rest of us kneel at the consecration and rise immediately for the Mystery of the Faith.
Click to expand...
In Canada it varies. Many of them are like OreLabora says, they follow the GIRM to a T. Others, like mine, follow the part that says that if a parish wishes to kneel for the entire Eucharistic Prayer and after the “Ecce Agnus Dei…” it is laudable to do so. We kneel for the entire EP but not again until after Communion. Sadly, there are still parishes where they don’t kneel at all.
 
1ke said:
In places without kneelers, some people bring their own kneeling cushion, some kneel on the floor. Those who canno kneel due to frailty, disability, age, etc, do not kneel-- they sit or stand.

In Europe they kneel for the consecration. The U.S. received permission to kneel again after the Aganus Dei, that is not done elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Really. We can kneel whenever we feel so inspired.
 
Elizium23 said:
That’s kind of disruptive and contrary to unity, during a liturgy, when the prescribed posture is sitting or standing.
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I agree. The thing to keep in mind about liturgy, it is the prayer of the whole Church, in unity, and thus “it isn’t all about me”.
 
The OP didn’t ask about kneeling. He asked about pews.

-Tim-
 
Do most Episcopal churches have pews? Because there’s one near me that I noticed has no pews, just folding chairs, and I always found that odd. Now I’m learning from this thread that the pews are a Protestant invention!?
 
OraLabora said:
I agree. The thing to keep in mind about liturgy, it is the prayer of the whole Church, in unity, and thus “it isn’t all about me”.
Click to expand...
Well, there are differing schools of thought about that unity aspect, maybe they see things differently in Italy, but that’s another topic.
 
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