Our annual ritual followed an order. First, we would open the side door of the altar and turn on the light. Then we would remove the altar cloths and slightly lift up the wooden altar mensa in order to remove the wooden altar frontal by sliding it out and carefully placing it off to the side. This exposed the statue, seen inside the altar, resembling the deceased body of Christ laying in the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
For every day of the year, except this day, the statue was always covered in a painted canvas sheet that was crumpled up and used as a dust cover. My job was to remove it and place it in front of the statue's base, as a decoration. I would then proceed to dust off the statue, while kneeling in awe. Christ laying down on a slab of stone in his tomb touched my heart. There was not a year that went by that I was not overcome with emotion at the sight of this unsurpassed artistic excellence.
My grandfather had been entrusted this job when he was a young altar boy in the 1920s. The School Sisters of Notre Dame were his teachers at Assumption School and they depended upon the older altar boys to help with such projects. My grandfather was the organist and choir director, and when the nuns left in the 1960s, his duties expanded to arranging flowers. Under his direction, we carefully placed dozens of Easter lilies around the altar, creating a heavenly aroma that reflected in some way the sweet balm of Heaven.
The statue was created by the famed Daprato statuary company in Chicago. Founded in 1860 by Italian brothers, Daprato has been well-known for generations in the United States, known for their life-like religious statues. The artists, known to God, did a fine job. The placement of this recumbent Christ had one purpose - to enhance the devotional prayer of the faithful. The life-like features and rich color have indeed stirred hearts and the religious fervor of many countless faithful who have come here to pray on Good Friday.
When visitors and parishioners enter by the side door of the church and first turn and see the altar, I recall in my youth an almost audible gasp by those who see the statue. The mood is then enveloped in a hushed silence, creating an environment conducive to prayer on such a sad day of mourning - the mood before the joy of the Easter Vigil. On the following day, Saturday morning, the statue was once again covered in its dust sheet and the altar was closed again with the same wooden altar frontal.
The statue with its hidden sepulchre is an outstanding example of ecclesiastical art in the United States. The custom designed wooden altar and reredos behind it date to about 1880. The wood carvings and decorations are a feast for the eyes, a garland of beauty, made of linden wood by German immigrants at the end of the nineteenth century. This is the same wood that has been traditionally used for cuckoo clocks. Quite popular for church decoration due to its softness and the ease of which it can be carved.
As a side note, in the Byzantine tradition Holy Week is called the Great Week or the Week of the Bridegroom. Christ is depicted as the Bridegroom, while His suffering and death on the cross are seen as the culmination of His love for humanity, His "bride." This imagery takes on new meaning with the mystery of Pascha (Easter), when during the Resurrection Matins, Eastern Catholics proclaim (taken from Psalm 19:5): "Christ as emerged from the tomb like a Bridegroom from the bridal chamber, filling the women with joy!"
This brings to mind the twentieth century Liturgical Movement, and its desire to promote studies of the Eastern traditions. The godfather of the movement in the United States was Fr. Virgil (George) Michael, OSB, who grew up at the Assumption parish and was an altar boy here in his youth.
In those years the Assumption parish was under the care of Benedictine monks from nearby St. John's Abbey. Fr. Michel was born in 1890, and like many male graduates of the Assumption school in his generation, he was sent to St. John's Abbey Preparatory High School. He went on to become a Benedictine monk and in 1925 founded a liturgical review known as Orate Fratres.
A big thank you to the next generation of curators at the Assumption church, including Simon Peck and Bill Tierney and all the many helpers who work hard to decorate and prepare this liturgical space for a rich and memorable Easter Triduum. By their many hours of service, these helpers give glory to God and help inspire all present to a deeper piety and personalized religious experience. It brings great joy to see this tradition continuing, without interruption, through the generations. I know how powerful the experience is to pray before this holy statue, knowing that the original tomb of Christ in Jerusalem is today empty.
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| The recumbent statue of Christ, produced by the Daprato Statuary Company |
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| The altar decorated for Good Friday services |
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| The same altar on Maundy Thursday, with the altar frontal in place |
