Cathedral of Puebla de los Ángeles in Mexico is ready for the consecration of Nuevo Altar

On October 6, at the Blessed Juan de Palafox and Mendoza party, the new altar of the Cathedral of Puebla (Mexico) will be consecrated, erected in 1532 as “City of Los Angeles.” That day will also blessed the new Ambón and the new headquarters.

Consecration and blessing will be carried out during a solemn Eucharist at 12:00 (local time).

The Archbishop of Puebla de los Ángeles, Mons. Víctor Sánchez Espinosa, explained in his pastoral letter entitled I will approach the altar of Godwhich will be officially promulgated on October 6, that Altar, Ambón and headquarters “have been arranged in harmony against the Ciprés (Baldaquino) by Manuel Tolsáof unmistakable neoclassical language “and whose tabernacle is” crowned by the statue of the Purísima Concepción. “

“The challenge was not less: to harmonize these new elements with the style of the bucket and with the whole of the cathedral, without stridency or ruptures, so that everything breathes unity, sobriety and continuity,” says the prelate.

The new elements of the Poblana Cathedral were made in Verona (Italy) by the Sacred Art Workshop “Art Poly”. “Marbles and ónices were selected that faithfully reproduce the tones and veins present in the Tolsá cypress; the profiles and terminations were taken care of, and a sober and classic design was adopted that dialogues with the bucket without competing with its prominence,” says Mons. Sánchez Espinosa.

“The result is a symphony of styles at the service of the mystery, destined to enliven faith, sustain the prayer of the people and glorify the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice and the Divine Word in the Mother Church of Puebla.”

A historical cathedral

The Cathedral of Puebla has its most remote predecessor in a small church that was built between 1536 and 1539. A few decades later, in 1579, it was decided to start building the current temple.

However, it would not be until the arrival in Puebla of the best known of its bishops and one of its greatest benefactors, the Blessed Juan de Palafox, that the works would not seriously advance. Thus, between 1640 and 1649 most of the temple would be completed. The then prelate consecrated the cathedral on April 18, 1649, before leaving his native Spain.

The southern tower of the cathedral, the last to be lifted, was completed in 1678.

One of its most imposing details is La Campana María, in the North Tower, which weighs about eight tons and that, it has a local tradition, was raised and placed instead by the angels themselves.

Why a new altar for the cathedral of Puebla?

Fr. Manuel Fernando Sedano López, a doctor in Sagrada Liturgy and Master in Art and Architecture at the service of the Liturgy by the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of San Anselmo in Rome, explained that the need for a new altar arises from “the liturgical reform and promotion proposed by the Second Vatican Council”, which “raised a new liturgical theology, which is based on the communion and participation of the faithful”.

In the case of Puebla, he recalled, after the liturgical provisions that arose from the Council, adaptations were made “provisionally” for the altar, the ambony and the chair or headquarters, “in what deepened about the adaptation of these places”.

“We had a wooden altar, that is, mobile, we had an ambony that was practically a small lectern and as a chair a chair,” said the priest incardinated to the archdiocese of Puebla.

With the new adjustments to the cathedral, said Fr. Sedano López, “three fundamental aspects are expressed: the centrality of the altar, not geometric, but as a point of convergence of an entire assembly that participates in the bread and wine that is consecrated; the approximate ambony to the community as a sign of incarnation, the word that is embodied, which is introduced within the community and produces grace; and the chair Bishop, who is the pontiff, the bridge between God and the community, between the community and God. ”

“You have to give your best”

Far from responding to an aesthetic “of a fashion”, the new altar, the ambony and the headquarters aim to respect “the artistic-architectural context” of the cathedral, explains the also teacher in the Athenaeum of Sant Pacià in Barcelona (Spain) and in the Palafoxian seminar in Puebla.

“This Tolsá cypress, which is marble, green and golden columns, truly demanded an altar of these characteristics, marble and also bronze. Because if not, that was going to be totally in a disagreement with the artistic-architectural monument. Even all the symbology that is used is typical of the altar, it is typical of the Ambon and is also typical of the chair.”

On the beauty of these works, the Mexican priest stressed that “people of faith see him as an offering for God, God must give his best.”

“This is a treasure of the same church and for the same church,” he said.