Heaven and earth meet at the altar
PFARREI ZUM HL. JOHANNES DEM TÄUFER in Toblach
On October 2nd, Bishop Ivo Muser celebrated with the local pastor Josef Gschnitzer and the two local priests Franz Santer and P. Franz Zitturi in the parish church of St. John the Baptist in Dobbiaco held the thanksgiving service for the extensive restoration work and consecrated the new altar.
The baroque church, which goes back to the plans of master builder Rudolf Schraffl, was built in just three years (1769-1771) on the foundations of the previous church. The frescoes are by Franz Anton Zeiller (1769).
The previous sanctuary design largely met the liturgical requirements after the Council, but ultimately represented a provisional solution. The liturgical places were to be emphasized more in their importance and designed accordingly with dignity.
The artist Thaddäus Salcher emerged as the winner of an invited ideas competition. Above all, it was the simple yet present design, the coherent concept and the quality of the work that convinced the jury. At first glance, the choice of material is unusual. Salcher chose Corten steel with its rusty surface to manufacture the ambo and altar. This structural steel, which is popular in the fields of architecture and art, is primarily used outdoors because it is particularly weather-resistant and durable.
In a figurative sense, these two qualities can point to the work of God and the Good News. heaven and earth will pass away; but my words will not perish (Mt 24:35). The walnut wood from which the priest's seat and the sedilia are made is also considered to be very stable, durable and hard-wearing. With their uneven coloring, they blend harmoniously into the church interior and, with their reddish shimmer, create a connection to the altar and ambo and their materiality.
The red patina, which is particularly noticeable on the altar, is characteristic of the refined Corten steel. Red is the color of love, of God's love for people. In the Christian tradition, this color represents the blood of martyrs. Significantly, a relic of the blessed Josef Mayr-Nusser (1910-1945) was placed in the altar, who gave his life to the service of the faith and ultimately died for it. The liturgical color red stands above all for devotion and the suffering and death of Jesus (Good Friday). At the same time, red is the color of Pentecost and stands for the fire and power of God's spirit. It is this Spirit that creates fellowship and a connection between people and God.
In his sermon, Bishop Ivo Muser emphasized this aspect in particular, stressed the importance of communion with God, which is manifested in the altar, and quoted the great church father Augustine: "The altar is the place where heaven and earth touch, the center of Christianity Prayer.” He also underlined the importance of the liturgical places: “The ambo as the place where the word of God is proclaimed, the priest’s seat as the place of the presiding officer of the community and the Eucharist, the baptismal font as the place of becoming a Christian, the tabernacle as the place of the preservation and worship of the Eucharist. But they all remain assigned to the most important place in the church: the altar on which the Lord gives himself to us in his sacramental presence, where he makes us church through his presence, where he allows himself to be broken, divided and distributed, where come to communion, to communion – with him and through him among one another.”
(Peter Schwienbacher, Sunday newspaper, October 30, 2022) Heaven and earth touch at the altar
