People's altar

The term people's altar is generally used to refer to the free-standing altar in Catholic churches, where the priest celebrates the Eucharistic part of Holy Mass turned towards the faithful (versus populum), so that those who join in the celebration can experience themselves as gathered around the altar. As a result of the Liturgical Movement in the 19th and early 20th century and the (now sometimes disputed[1][2]) work of Theodor Klauser[3] and Otto Nußbaum,[4] people's altars where set up especially after the liturgical reform (Inter Oecumenici, No. 91)[5] following the Second Vatican Council and became ″the symbol of the new liturgy″.[6]

Notre Dame de Paris: Modern people's altar by Jean Touret and Sébastien Touret, built by order of Cardinal Lustiger in 1989
Notre Dame de Paris: Choir and altar rail in 1903 without people's altar
Notre Dame de Paris: Former high altar (Viollet-le-Duc) with pietà (Nicolas Coustou) today

Catholics consider it as the "center of the thanksgiving that is accomplished through the Eucharist".[7] If a people's altar is a fixed, consecrated altar, it is regarded as the actual main altar (altar maius, high altar) of the church, even if the high altar, standing against the apsidal wall and formerly used for worship, is still located in the church, for example due to its artistic value.[8]

Notes
  1. Metzger, Marcel (1971). "La place des liturges à l'autel". Revue des Sciences Religieuses: 113–145.
  2. Jungmann, J. A. (1966). "Reviewed Work: Der Standort des Liturgen am christlichen Altar vor dem Jahre 1000. Eine archäologische und liturgiegeschichtliche Untersuchung. (Theophaneia 18) by O. Nußbaum". Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie. 88 (4): 445–450.
  3. Kirsch, Johann Peter; Klauser, Theodor (1950). Altar, in: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. pp. Tl. 1 S. Sp. 334–354.
  4. Nußbaum, Otto (1965). Der Standort des Liturgen am christlichen Altar vor dem Jahre 1000: Eine archäologische und liturgiegeschichtliche Untersuchung. Hanstein.
  5. "Inter Oecumenici No. 91".
  6. Reid, Dom Alcuin (2014). Sacred Liturgy: The Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church. Ignatius Press. pp. 104 sq. ISBN 9781586177867.
  7. "General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 296".
  8. "General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 300".
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