Traditional High Altars

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Hi! I have a quick question on traditional High Altars.

Don’t get me wrong, I love them and think they’re amazing and beautiful, but one point has always bugged me about them.
How is it ok for a statue of a saint (not Jesus) to be the center point of the main altar? I completely understand side altars, but I just don’t understand how that is acceptable for the main altar of a church. It just feels like we’re not placing Jesus at the center? I know that sounds like a super modernist argument, but I’m trying not to be. It’s just confusing.
(For clarification, I’m talking about when the central nook on a high altar has a statue of someone other than Jesus.)

Thanks so much!
 
Maybe since Jesus is there physically in the Blessed Sacrament, we don’t need a statue of Him right there anyway? Also there is probably a big crucifix overhanging the whole altar. I’m not any kind of expert, just my 2 cents.
 
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I would say that since the altar is built to house Jesus in the Tabernacle, while it may appear that the saint is the primary focus, the tabernacle, altar, sanctuary, and the whole church are for God and centered around the Eucharist.
 
Perhaps if you could post an image of the one you’re thinking about…?

This one was where I went to lunchtime Mass for many years, so when I think “high altar”, I think of this cathedral.


So here, you have the tabernacle as the main focal point of the high altar. It’s flanked by a pair of angels. Behind it is a stained glass image of the Crucifixion. Above it is Mary. Surrounding it are stained glass images of many saints, and a few statues. But the focal point is the tabernacle and Christ Crucified, and we all know that the only reason anyone else depicted is only present (and not lost to history) because they had a magnificent relationship with Christ, and are worthy of being copied. And so since they’re not an end in and of themselves, but merely an example of a successful path to God… I don’t find them distracting, but rather, inspiring.
 
Here’s another one I used to frequently attend that had a High Altar. The photo isn’t as clear.


But you clearly have the high altar and the tabernacle as the main focal point, even at this distance. It has a little marble canopy over it, and a crucifix on top of it. Flanked by… a pair of angels. Surrounded by… stained glass saints. Surmounted by… Mary and more angels with the blues of heaven above. With… several nice statues nearby. 🙂

But again, the focal point is the tabernacle and the cross, and everything else is just supporting imagery.
 
This is a church I’ll visit a few times a year, depending. It’s not a big-city church like the first two churches I posted pictures of— it’s in a town that hovers around 400 people.


High altar? Check. Flanking angels? Check. Stained glass? Check. A few statues? Check. But the central primary focus is… the tabernacle, surmounted by the crucifix.

So… it would be helpful if you posted a picture of the ones that seem to break from the pattern, and maybe we can figure out why it’s set up differently.
 
Oh, duh, the tabernacle…

Honestly all of these examples match what I had in mind. I guess I just completely forgot about the tabernacle.

Sorry for that!
 
Part of the reason why they were changed frankly.
Pretty, but if a new church was built like that the Bishop would not have signed off on the design.Around here the focus is an enormous hanging crucifix. Statues elsewhere.
 
In my parish there is a prominent crucifix in line with the altar and tabernacle. Above the crucifix is a mural showing the Father, Risen Son, and a Dove. Statues are prominent at the side altars, and corners of the church.

As devoted as I am to Mary, I still prefer the centrality of God in our line of sight. This was not so much a problem decades ago, because Catholics automatically assumed Mary and the saints only in relationship to God.
So the old churches were really ok. For that time.

But in recent years there is a sneaky movement to boost up Mary as a feisty woman (sometimes they spell it womyn) strong enough to stand up to the male, judgmental culture of her times. Some writers hint that her status as an unwed mother is more important than as mother of God.

Our grandparents never thought of St. Francis as anything but obedient to the Church, but there is a tendency to make him a liberal Democrat, who preached equality, and if some pope or bishop wanted to endorse him that’s ok, whatever, in any event he was gonna do what he wanted to do.

I can readily predict statues of other persons, besides saints, getting prominent in churches too. So best be careful here, we have new kinds of temptations out there now.
 
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I think it’s important to remember what the artistic intent was. They are trying to represent the Angels and Saints in Heaven praying the Mass along with us. So the statues remind us that when we have Mass, the Angels and Saints are there praying with us, as each Mass connects us with the Heavenly liturgy.

Personally, I think that by moving away from the statues has (in some ways) allowed us to disconnect from the notion that Mass links us with the worship the Saints and Angels are giving God in Heaven.

God bless
 
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Yay! My memory was on point! They’ve changed the Bishop’s throne since that photo was taken though!
 
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