Friday 16 March 2007

Lighting Effects

You can see in the photograph of the funeral of Cardinal Griffin (?) in 1956 that the windows in the apse, behind the Baldacchino and above the choir, have been blocked to enable the twin beams of sunlight from the windows in the sanctuary dome to illuminate the Cathedral to striking effect.

Note also his cataflaque in the middle of the Cathedral, with his Cardinal's Hat resting upon it, and the large candles, noted earlier in this blog, surrounding it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the (?) ?

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photograph.

I feel it is so evocative of the solemnity and beauty of the rite as it was then.

I watched Cardinal Hume's Requiem and it didn't have the same sort of feel to it.

Mark Langham said...

The (?) because I'm guessing the photograph is of Cardinal Griffin's funeral - it could just be Cardinal Hinsley, or Cardinal Godfrey (one of our chaplains told me he was at Cardinal Godfrey's funeral in 1962, and the apse windows were similarly covered, but the photograph looks older than that).

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting this wonderful phoograph. The strange thing is that the rite looks so simple and dignified compared with the complicated looking concelebrations we see now and everyone appears to be concentrated on and towards the Altar.One Christ,One Priest,One Mass,One Altar.
Can we see,please,more of the Cathedral liturgy from the past ?
Alan Robinson

Anonymous said...

The walls are not yet covered in marble, and there is what looks like a huge 1950s television camera on the pulpit - so it's probably Cardinal Griffin's funeral in 1956.

And it is indeed a wonderful photograph.

Anonymous said...

There is no marble revetment on the piers on either side of the sanctuary. Perhaps this might give some indication as to the date of the photo.

Archistrategos said...

Glorious photo.

And that is a wonderful catafalque.

Anonymous said...

Have you seen the newsreel footage of the cathedral available from www.britishpathe.com, including the lying-in-state of Cardinal Griffin, as well as Cardinal Hinsley's funeral?

Anonymous said...

Is (has?) the catafalque been used on All Souls Day?