Why does the altar of St Peter's Basilica face the people

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eamonnroma said:
How do you know that you are facing God?
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Jesus is God. Jesus is made present on the altar at every Mass. The priest always faces Jesus on the altar and so the priest always faces God.

The altar itself is liturgical East because the Son of Man/Light of the World rises on the altar during Mass. The priest always faces the altar and so the priest always faces liturgical East.

It is the place where heaven and earth are joined, and where the Parousia or Second Coming is anticipated. As God’s throne or mercy-seat, it is not orientated in any direction. On the contrary, everything and everybody are orientated towards it; and it is reaching up to heaven. In a word, the altar is the “liturgical East” to which both priest and people direct their gaze when they celebrate the Eucharist. Read More…

It does not matter which geographical direction the priest faces. If he faces the altar then he faces liturgical East.

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
Jesus is God. Jesus is made present on the altar at every Mass. The priest always faces Jesus on the altar and so the priest always faces God.

The altar itself is liturgical East because the Son of Man/Light of the World rises on the altar during Mass. The priest always faces the altar and so the priest always faces liturgical East.

It is the place where heaven and earth are joined, and where the Parousia or Second Coming is anticipated. As God’s throne or mercy-seat, it is not orientated in any direction. On the contrary, everything and everybody are orientated towards it; and it is reaching up to heaven. In a word, the altar is the “liturgical East” to which both priest and people direct their gaze when they celebrate the Eucharist. Read More…

It does not matter which geographical direction the priest faces. If he faces the altar then he faces liturgical East.

-Tim-
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But what of Our Lord reposed in the tabernacle? In many churches, the reposed Sacrament is situated right behind the Altar of Sacrifice. Does the priest not show Our Lord his back for the great majority of the Mass when he adopts the *versus populum * orientation? I have often wondered about this.
 
Ignatius said:
It looks like Santa Maria Rotonda (AD 14) has the entrance at the north. Am I doing that right
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You’re right. The Santa Maria Rotonda/Pantheon has the entrance slightly off-north. But then again, it is one of those converted pagan temples.
 
Ignatius said:
http://images.nationalgeographic.co...000/088/cache/pope-st-peters_8847_600x450.jpg

As you can see, the High alter is in the center of the Baldacchino di San Pietro and people can and do sit all the way around it.
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The baldacchino, yes. There’s also the altar near the chair of St. Peter.

In the 4th century St. Peter’s, there was no permanent, fixed altar yet. There was the shrine built over/encasing an earlier structure/complex built over what was believed to be St. Peter’s tomb. The (portable) altar would have been placed in front of this shrine.

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http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ma/images/kd/large/ma_kd_old_sptr_Toynbee_20.gif

Later (7th century), an altar was built over this shrine.

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In the large city where I live, there are a number of older Catholic Churchs that were build decades prior to Vatican II that do not have their altars facing east. It seems like the direction of the street on which the Church was built was the deciding factor since every Church was built with its front facing the street on which it was located. In other words, if a Church were built on the east side of a north-south street, so was its entrance. And its altar faced east. This was the most common design.

However, if a Church were built on an east-west street, its front was facing either north or south. As a result, its altar also faced either north or south. There are a few older Churchs in the city, built years before Vatican II, that are of this design. I would guess this likely had to do with where the diocese wanted to build a new Church and the land that was available. While it is pretty clear that the preference in that era was to build a new Church so that its altar faced east, there were exceptions prior to Vatican II. The high altar of my parish Church, which was built on the northeast corner of an intersection on a north-south street in 1961, faces north.
 
patrick457 said:
Oh yeah, that, and the fact that some churches are really converted pagan temples.

I looked at Google Maps and checked some of the earlier (4th-5th century) Roman churches.

(Church: (date) apse/sanctuary-entrance)

St. John Lateran: (324) west-by-south - east-by-north
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme: (325) west-northwest - south-southeast
St. Peter’s: (324-333) west - east
Sant’Anastasia al Palatino: (early 4th c.) southeast-by-east - northwest-by-west
Santa Costanza: (early 4th c.): southwest-northeast (church in the round)
Sant’ Agnese (4th c): northwest-southeast (ruins)
San Marco (336): north-by-west - south-by-east (!)
Santa Maria in Trastevere: (340) west - east
St. Paul Outside the Walls: (386) east-by-south - west-by-north
Santi Giovanni e Paolo (398): west-by-north - east-by-south
San Clemente: (approx. 4th c.) west-by-north - east-by-south
Santa Pudenziana: (4th c.): northwest - southeast
Santi Nereo e Achilleo: (4th c.) southwest - northeast
Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano: (4th c.) west-southwest - east-northeast (Greek cross church)
San Sebastiano fuori le mura: (4th c.) southwest-by-west - northeast-by-east
Santi Quattro Coronati: (4th/5th c.) west - east

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere: (5th c.) west-northwest - east-southeast
Santa Sabina: (432) northeast - southwest
St. Mary Major: (432-440) northwest - southeast
San Pietro in Vincoli: (439) east-northeast - west-southwest
Santa Maria Antiqua: (mid-5th c.) south-southwest - north-northeast (ruins)
San Giovanni a Porta Latina: (492-498) southeast-by-east - northwest-by-west
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I don’t think that is right. The Roman pagan temple rituals that involved the people took place outdoors. The temples, in contrast to Christian churches, were where the statue of the god and the equipment connected with the cult were kept. Roman basilicas were public gathering places, but not temples, more like our law courts in terms of their intended use. The basilicas were far better candidates for conversion to Christian worship.
 
EasterJoy said:
I don’t think that is right. The Roman pagan temple rituals that involved the people took place outdoors. The temples, in contrast to Christian churches, were where the statue of the god and the equipment connected with the cult were kept.
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That’s right.
Roman basilicas were public gathering places, but not temples, more like our law courts in terms of their intended use. The basilicas were far better candidates for conversion to Christian worship.
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But that didn’t stop Christians from taking over and converting or building above old pagan temples like (just naming examples from Rome; there’s more in other places) the Pantheon (= Santa Maria Rotonda), the Temple of Romulus (= Santi Cosma e Damiano), the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina (San Lorenzo in Miranda), or even Mithras temples like Santo Stefano Rotondo, Santa Prisca and converting them to churches.
 
R_H_Benson said:
But what of Our Lord reposed in the tabernacle? In many churches, the reposed Sacrament is situated right behind the Altar of Sacrifice. Does the priest not show Our Lord his back for the great majority of the Mass when he adopts the *versus populum * orientation? I have often wondered about this.
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I think you might be a little too technical and scrupulous. Did you read the article?

fatherdavidbirdosb.blogspot.com/2010/12/altar.html

Monastic Churches have had freestanding altars around which monks gathered since almost the beginning of Christianity and the tabernacle was off in a side chapel.

Where is your heart facing? Are you contrite? Are you paying attention? Are you praying? Or are you thinking about the pretty girl in the pew in front of you or anxious to get out of there so that you can watch football?

-Tim-
 
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