Altar at St. John’s Catholic dedicated by bishop in time-honored ceremony

As Bishop David W. Bacon dedicated St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor back in 1856, so Bishop Joseph John Gerry dedicated the new altar of the restored church on the Solemnity of St. John, Dec. 27, 1991.

Bishop Gerry welcomed some 1,000 people to the ceremony, “as we draw near to Christ, in whom we become god’s holy temple.”

The new altar is made of marble, resting on a base of onyx and bronze from a portion of the communion rail installed in 1906. After the prayer of dedication, one of the most ancient rites in the Catholic Church was carried out in four parts:

Bishop Gerry anointed the altar by pouring on it sacred chrism, a mixture of olive oil and balsam. Consecrated each year during Holy Week, chrism is used in the administering of baptism, confirmation and ordination, and in dedicating churches and altars.

Each Catholic present had received chrism on the forehead during baptism, and each of the priests had received chrism on his hands during ordination by the bishop.

A brazier was placed on the altar, and the bishop then incensed the altar. “The altar is incensed because it represents Christ, our sacrifice,” as Archbishop John P. Foley had explained during the telecast of the midnight Mass on Christmas Eve from St. Peter’s Basilica.

The smoke rising from the brazier also represents prayers of the people, as explained in Revelation 8:3-4: “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quanity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel.”

After the incensation, the bishop and the congregation were incensed by the Rev. John Allen, parochial vicar at St. John’s.

The co-chairmen of the Restoration Committee, J. Normand Martin and Eric Zelz, covered the altar with an antependium and an altar cloth.

Aime and Laurianne Simoneau, co-chairmen of the parish Worship and Spirituality Committee, placed flowers in front of the altar as a sign of joy.

According to the Roman Pontifical, the covering of the altar signifies “that it is the Lord’s table” where people “joyously meet to be refreshed with divine food, namely, the body and blood of Christ sacrificed.”