Emptying the tabernacle

On occasion, we return to debates about the placement of the tabernacle in churches. Today, I think most Massgoers and regular adorers of the Blessed Sacrament would prefer to have the Blessed Sacrament reserved in a central place in the sanctuary. They wonder why and how Our Lord's Eucharistic presence was ever moved to a side chapel, especially throughout the 1960s and up through at least the 1990s in many Catholic churches in the United States.

There is much to be said on the history of the reservation of the Eucharist and the placement of the tabernacle. But one point of liturgical history which I don't think is cited enough regards the preparatory instructions for a Pontifical High Mass. In Adrian Fortescue's The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, first published in 1917 (the edition I can easily access online is from 1920), it says that for a Pontifical High Mass at the Throne, "If the Sanctissimum is reserved on the High Altar of the church, it should be removed before the ceremony" (p. 163). Likewise, for a Pontifical High Mass at the Faldstool (p. 183). And for a Pontifical High Mass for the Dead (p. 193).

This is not a terribly obscure reference since it has been readily available since 2013 in the EWTN archives of the Zenit Daily Dispatch, where Father McNamara's column always provides helpful context and commentary.

There are many things which Fortescue describes which are not done today for an episcopal Mass in the reformed Roman Rite. So there is not a one-to-one comparison. But my point is this: the practice of not having the Blessed Sacrament kept on the High Altar for (at least some) Masses did have an immediate pre-Vatican-II theological foundation. (Which was not motivated by a lack of belief in the Real Presence.) And simultaneously, the lived experience of many Catholics regarding how, where, and why the Blessed Sacrament was moved away from the High Altar in many churches was that it was generally detrimental to our understanding of the Real Presence and to regular and full participation in the Mass with worthy, fruitful reception of Our Lord in Holy Communion. In any debate about liturgical history and practice, it's important to maintain charity, patience, and an open historical perspective on all sides.

This article by Helen Hull Hitchcock is quite good and it also notes the specific guidance for episcopal Masses and cathedral architecture, but considers it to be a practical decision and not a theological one. Note that her criticism of Environment and Art in Catholic Worship was heeded by the bishops and EACW is superseded by Built of Living Stones which was published with a much higher level of authority.

To summarize some very disparate thoughts: The rubrics of the "old Mass" on occasion prescribed the movement of the Blessed Sacrament from the High Altar. But this seems to have been experienced as an act of great reverence towards the presence of the bishop himself rather than as a disregard for Our Lord's substantial presence under the appearance of bread. Whatever the motivations of liturgical reformers, moving the Blessed Sacrament to a side altar, adoration chapel, or niche was frequently experienced as a disregard for the Sacrament and a desacralization of the space in which the baptized come together to worship. The lived experience seems to be that the multiple presences of Christ in the liturgy are not at odds with each other but seem to work in a manner that is complementary. Today, except in cathedrals designed in the Roman style where the Blessed Sacrament is always and already kept in a side chapel, I don't know of many bishops who demand the removal of the Most Blessed Sacrament before the celebrating of even the highest of Masses. Generally the faithful are happy to see the tabernacle placed back in the center of the sanctuary—even if there is an adoration chapel (or two) remaining on another part of the church property. But this is less re-winding the clock and more just organic development of the liturgy and of liturgical architecture. Organic development may be halted for a time but as long as the liturgy remains—that is, the Bride of Christ remains in dialogue with her spouse and he leads her in the power of the Spirit in the eternal worship of the Father—organic development cannot be truly stopped!