page_title: Versus populum
hierarchical_section_title: Versus populum
caption_attribution_description: English: scanning of a (now deteriorated) slide taken by me in the late 1960s (I would have obediently followed the strong recommendation about Wikimedia Commons, but I have encountered a difficulty in logging in there.) Lima 12:57, 19 January 2007 (UTC) Русский: Алтарь. Italiano: Roma, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere: altar maggiore, con ciborio di Arnolfo di Cambio del 1293. In basso si intravede la scultura di Santa Cecilia (1600), capolavoro di Stefano Maderno. La scultura venne modellata sul corpo della Santa, così come rinvenuto nel 1595, quando la sua tomba venne aperta.
context_page_description: Versus populum is the liturgical orientation in which the priest celebrates Mass facing the people. The opposite orientation, whereby the priest faces in the same direction as the people, is called ad orientem or ad apsidem.
  In the early history of Christianity it was considered the norm to pray facing the geographical east. From the middle of the 17th century, almost all new Roman Rite altars were built against a wall or backed by a reredos, with a tabernacle placed on the main altar or inserted into the reredos. This meant that the priest turned to the people, putting his back to the altar, only for a few short moments at Mass. However, the Tridentine Missal itself speaks of the option of celebrating versus populum, and gives corresponding instructions for the priest when performing actions that in the other orientation involved turning around in order to face the people.
context_section_description: Versus populum (Latin for "towards the people") is the liturgical orientation in which the priest celebrates Mass facing the people. The opposite orientation, whereby the priest faces in the same direction as the people (thereby having his back to them), is called ad orientem ("towards the east" − even if the priest is not facing eastward) or ad apsidem ("towards the apse" − even if the altar is unrelated to the apse of the church or even if the church or chapel has no apse).
  In the early history of Christianity it was considered the norm to pray facing the geographical east. From the middle of the 17th century, almost all new Roman Rite altars were built against a wall or backed by a reredos, with a tabernacle placed on the main altar or inserted into the reredos. This meant that the priest turned to the people, putting his back to the altar, only for a few short moments at Mass. However, the Tridentine Missal itself speaks of the option of celebrating versus populum, and gives corresponding instructions for the priest when performing actions that in the other orientation involved turning around in order to face the people.
caption: Altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, as arranged in 1700. It is one of many churches in Rome whose altar, placed at the western end of the church, was positioned so that the priest necessarily faced east, and so also towards the people, when celebrating Mass. The first Roman churches all had the entrance to the east.[1]
exif: {}