Revisiting the altar of repose

Staying with Jesus in his agony: ‘Could you not keep watch for one hour?’

It begins with a solemn procession after the Holy Thursday Mass, the priest bearing the Eucharist in a ciborium — a special, covered vessel — with altar servers carrying candles and incense, the congregation singing hymns and following to the altar of repose.

The liturgy itself ends quietly even as the procession continues: no final blessing, no sending out of the faithful. It is in keeping with the beginning of the Triduum, which flows from Holy Thursday’s institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood, into commemorating Christ’s passion and death on the cross on Good Friday, through the quiet waiting of Holy Saturday and finally the joyous celebration of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter.

Some people leave for home after the procession to the altar of repose, which often is set up with candles and flowers in a side altar or chapel separate from the main body of the church. But others stay even until midnight, and sometimes after if they wish and the parish allows, keeping vigil with Jesus in the Eucharist at the special altar, just as the Apostles “kept watch” with Christ in his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane over the sacrifice necessary for people’s salvation.

“All of this is to live with Jesus on the way to the cross,” said Beatriz Lopez, a member of St. Francis de Sales in St. Paul and formation coordinator for the Latino Ministry office of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “The altar of repose is part of that.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the altar of repose was not part of Holy Week at St. Francis de Sales last year. But the tradition will continue this year, with appropriate precautions against spread of the novel coronavirus, said Father James Adams, pastor.

“Certainly, there’s been a huge tradition in the parish,” he said. “It’s the beginning of the Triduum, the three central days of our whole year. He (Jesus) asks, ‘Could you not keep watch for one hour?’” said Father Adams, citing the Lord’s words in the Gospel of Mark’s account of the Passion.

Decorations vary for the altar of repose. At St. Dominic in Northfield, there are lilies and other spring flowers, a white altar cloth and many candles decorating a large classroom area in the basement of the church, said Claudia Bauer, a parishioner there and youth coordinator in the archdiocese’s Latino Ministry office.

The procession to the altar of repose is full of emotion as people follow the Eucharist from Holy Thursday Mass, Bauer said. “It’s impactful. And an amazing reminder that Christ was crucified. It’s very profound.”

The altar of repose at St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi is set up in an altar niche honoring St. Joseph, just off the main altar, said Father Chad Van Hoose, pastor. There are flowers and an altar cloth, a procession through the church and time for adoration, he said.

“It’s important because it’s a matter of staying with the Lord in his agony,” Father Van Hoose said. “It’s a chance to console the heart of Jesus.”

Ancient tradition

It’s an ancient tradition, one that began in about the year 800 with reception of holy Communion by the faithful added to Good Friday liturgies, which had been restricted to readings and veneration of the cross, said Johan van Parys, director of liturgy and the sacred arts at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

At that time, there was no ceremony around reserving the Blessed Sacrament from Holy Thursday to Good Friday. The Eucharist — which is absent from the main body of the church during the Good Friday liturgy — was simply reserved in the sacristy, van Parys said.

But rituals began to form around that simple practice, and the first written description of a procession to an altar of repose dates to the Middle Ages, in the 11th century, he said.

Also during the Middle Ages, candles and flowers were added to the altar of repose, and gradually the altar of repose was equated with the tomb of Christ, rather than a place to reserve and honor the Eucharist, van Parys said. In a time of constant wars and hunger, the plague and other sources of extreme hardship, people wanted to unite their suffering to Christ’s suffering, which led naturally to comparing the altar of repose with Jesus being laid in the tomb, he said.

By the 1600s, the idea of a tomb-like vigil was reinforced as reception of the Eucharist on Good Friday turned from the entire congregation to the priest alone, and on Holy Thursday a second host for the priest was consecrated and reserved after Holy Thursday Mass for this purpose. Over time, a third host was consecrated for the altar of repose, and remained there until Easter, another reinforcement of the idea of a tomb, van Parys said.

The idea of a tomb-like vigil continued, and in 1955, Pope Pius XII reordered Holy Week, maintaining the altar of repose, but solemnly. The pope de-emphasized flowers and candles and stressed that the altar was intended to reserve the Blessed Sacrament for Good Friday services, not be a symbol of Christ’s tomb. The Second Vatican Council continued in that direction, van Parys said.

Many people now compare time spent at the altar to that of the Apostles with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said.

The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship issued a letter in 1988 detailing doctrinal and pastoral norms for Holy Week celebrations. It reads in part: “For the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, a place should be prepared and adorned in such a way as to be conducive to prayer and meditation; that sobriety appropriate to the liturgy of these days is enjoined, to the avoidance or suppression of all abuses.”

The tabernacle is closed, there is no monstrance for eucharistic adoration at the altar of repose, and modest candle and floral arrangements are encouraged, van Parys said. But arrangements for the altar of repose vary widely, and some may be more exuberant than others, he said.
“Liturgical documents are often very precise in how to do things,” he said. “But that will not stop people’s devotions. The Church would not stop people from offering flowers and candles.”

‘Giving back to God’

Flowers and candles, a large piece of art depicting the Eucharist, two hand-fashioned and painted tabernacles — used on alternating years — are part of the altar of repose at St. Francis de Sales. Eva Garnica, the parish’s Hispanic community coordinator, and her husband, Eduardo Vega, created several of the decorations, and they set up the altar each year.

“It is a way of giving back to God for all that he has given to our family without deserving it,” Garnica said. “I am passionate about being able to give a message through art, a message of conversion, of hope, of God’s love for us.”

One faith tradition centered on the altar of repose that is practiced in many countries, including in the United States and in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is praying at the altar of repose at seven churches on Holy Thursday. The Seven Churches Visitation is a strong memory from Mexico for Lopez, who recalls visiting seven churches in Toluca City.

“All of the people are there,” Lopez said. “You can be there five to 10 minutes, and tradition has a small piece of bread and a bunch of chamomile, the flowers.”

The bread is blessed and symbolizes assistance to the poor and the Eucharist, and everyone is invited to take a piece, Lopez said. The chamomile also is blessed and brought home to make tea.

“It unites us with the pain of Christ,” Lopez said of Holy Week. “This is a more deeply felt time.”