Just Too Cool: Time Lapse video of decorating a church for Easter

This is pretty spiffy, from St. John Cantius in Chicago!

39 views as I post this.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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13 Comments

  1. Giuseppe says:

    Thank you for sharing this. It’s wonderful.

  2. GypsyMom says:

    It’s beautiful! And they used something from God’s own creation to glorify Him–flowers. I always call flowers “God’s accessories.”

  3. Kevin says:

    Yes it’s beautiful, but they could have avoided standing on the altar top.

  4. Former Altar Boy says:

    I’m guessing that was last year (or earlier) and that the Holy Eucharist had been removed from the tabernacle as no one genuflected as they walked back and forth in front of it. Holy Saturday seems likely.

  5. Giuseppe says:

    Flower by flower…

  6. Cantor says:

    A wonderful presentation. The best thing in the whole scene is the several young servers who may someday return in a different role!

  7. Stephen Matthew says:

    Very nice and well done, but…

    What is the odd business with the flags?

    I was always under the impression national flags, even those of the Vatican City State, were not appropriate within the sanctuary proper.

    (There is also a Papal flag that is used by the Pope and Papal Household that is also white and gold, but it is arranged differently and tends to have the Coat of Arms of the reigning Pope, so an entirely different flag in fact.)

    Now admittedly the Holy See is an odd entity, in that it encompasses both the ecclesiastical governance under the Pope and also the civil/temporal governance of the Vatican City State, but the flags of the Holy See are not really flags of the entire Catholic Church, so I am uncertain that the liturgical use of them is really appropriate.

    Otherwise, rather fine bit of video and a very nicely decorated church.

  8. jbazchicago says:

    WHAT DECORATING????

    I don’t see any banners!! Where are the bannners? Where’s the barren Lenten Tree blossoming with buds?

    Where’s the white and gold cloth draping from the altar?

    They are depriving themselves of Easter joy.

    BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..

  9. Hank Igitur says:

    For anyone who likes time lapse videos of altar preparation this is an old one but a good one from France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUNfbgRJOe8

  10. NoraLee9 says:

    This little film makes me want to visit Chicago.

  11. Militans says:

    @Stephen Matthew

    I thought the difference between the Vatican City & Holy See flags was the (gold and silver) keys swapping places – the personal standard / coat of arms of the pope may change, but the man is not the office (eg UK Royal Standard remains the same no matter the reigning monarch) – and indeed Holy See is the main diplomatic entity.

  12. Mary Martha DM says:

    Thank you, Father Z , for this inspiration for Holy Week — how magnificently and reverently executed! Our Guild will prepare our little St. Mary Catholic Church (founded in Alexandria, Virginia in 1795) on Holy Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, we do not have the church architecture — or the budget –for what St. John Cantius accomplishes but we follow a similar plan. The blessing for the Altar Guilds across the country is that the Most Blessed Sacrament is “in repose” out of the church at Midnight on Holy Thursday — making it easier to move around the sanctuary during the Holy Saturday Easter decorating — not the case during the decorating for the Christmas Season.

  13. Stephen Matthew says:

    Militans,

    You are correct about the theoretical distinction between the Vatican City and Holy See Coat of Arms regarding the reversing of the gold and silver keys. (The Flag of the Holy See would, in theory, have the upper portion of the gold key towards the hoist and the upper part of the silver key towards the fly.) Universally the Flag of the Vatican City State is used everywhere and always with only the rarest of exceptions, even when it seem the flag of the Holy See would be more fitting.

    There really isn’t a big enough market for both Vatican City and Holy See flags to be produced, especially since the distinction is unknown to most, so flag makers only bother with the Vatican City State flag.

    As to the papal pennant, it is not a flag per se, but a personal/household standard. It has the traditional gold and white colors of the flag, has the tapered triangular shape of a pennant and carries the Coat of Arms of the Pope. This is very rarely seen. It is roughly equivalent to the standards flown by general officers while in the field with an army, that sort of thing.

    I would argue a Catholic parish would be well justified in flying the flag of the Holy See, or a red banner with the Holy See Coat of Arms, but to split hairs the flag of the Vatican City State is that of a particular territorial and temporal nation and seems unfitting as a general use “Catholic flag” except for the fact it is the only one commercially available.

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