Altar

St Clares : How to read the church

The Altar

The Altar

Detail to Centre Panel (below)

The altar is the holy heart of the church. It has two principal reference points. First, it is a sacrificial altar. At the time of Jesus' ministry, animal sacrifice as atonement for sin, performed on an altar, was normal Jewish ritual. Christian writers from St Paul onwards saw Jesus as having been like a sacrificial lamb in his crucifixion and death .The altar remembers, and in a sense repeats, that sacrifice. Secondly it is a table for a communal meal, again remembering and repeating the Last Supper, when Jesus shared a meal with his disciples. These threads of sacrifice and a shared meal are joined in the Eucharist. The altar at St Clare's is made of stone. Generally in catholic churches the altar is of stone and in protestant churches of wood. A stone altar will tend to refer more to the sacrifice and a wooden altar more to the meal.

In the last few decades, the altars have been moved away from the east face of the church. In the 1960's the Roman Catholic church changed the practice of having the priest celebrate the Eucharist with his back to the congregation. The priest would instead, stand behind the altar and face the congregation. Therefore, instead of the priest appearing to lead the people, there would be a dialogue and equality between the two.

The altar was constructed during the time of Bishop Dobson who combined his diocesan duties with those of parish priest at St Clare's. Bishop Dobson continued as parish priest from 1922 until 1928 when he was succeeded by Dr McCurdy, a scholar and former professor at Upholland College. Canon McCurdy was parish priest at St Clare's for some 16 years, during which time the alabaster altar - rails were installed. Dr McCurdy died on Christmas Eve on, 1944.