Altar, Ambo, & Tabernacle Pedastal & Wall

The Altar, Ambo, Tabernacle, and stand are not merely functional items; they are profound symbols of our faith. Each piece is crafted to reflect the sanctity and reverence of the sacraments they represent. These furnishings are designed to be from the same family, using consistent materials and intricate details to convey their interconnectedness and importance. This unity in design ensures that even a child can recognize their significance and the sacred narrative they collectively tell.

By maintaining a cohesive aesthetic, these elements not only enhance the visual harmony of our worship space but also deepen the spiritual experience for all who enter. They stand as a testament to our commitment to honoring God through beauty, craftsmanship, and tradition.

The Ambo was hand-crafted in Italy primarily from white Carrara marble, using a richly veined marble, Macchia Vecchia, for the columns. The Ambo is adorned with images of the Four Creatures from Scripture that represent the four writers of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This is referred to as a Tetramorph and is one of the most common motifs in Christian art.

In Christianity, the four living creatures are symbols of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John:

• The Lion: Represents Mark, who emphasizes Christ’s royal dignity.
• The Calf: Represents Luke, who stresses Christ’s sacrificial ministry.
• The Man: Represents Matthew, whose book opens with Jesus’ human descendants.
• The Eagle: Represents John, whose Gospel opens with a heavenly vision.

The four living creatures (literally “beings”) are based on Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim. They are also like the beings in Isaiah 6:1–3, Ezekiel 1 and 10, and in the Book of Revelation. The winged creatures worship God by singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:8-11).

Handcrafted in Italy, the Tabernacle Stand and Wall uses white Carrara marble, but with less visible graining than that used in the Sanctuary floor.  As in the Ambo and the Altar, the columns are carved from a richly veined Macchia Vecchia marble with finely detailed capitals.

The wall behind the Tabernacle was fabricated from special quarried marble slabs from the same region of Italy and is referred to as Statuarietto Marble. This white marble has a particularly interesting, delicate veining. The beautiful diamond pattern results from using a special technique called diamond matching, where four slabs of marble are symmetrically matched. As with the Tabernacle Stand, the wall is framed with matching marble columns of Macchia Vecchia and contains the Hand of God symbol in the arch above. The wall and columns weigh over 4,000 pounds.

One of the most common symbols in Christian art is the Chi-Rho. It is created by superimposing the first two letters (XP) of the Greek word for Christ, ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. 

The first public use of the Chi Rho symbol was on the labarum, the shield of Constantine’s warriors in the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 213 AD. Emperor Constantine and his troops saw a miraculous sign in the sky the day before the battle.

Emperor Constantine won the Battle of Milvian Bridge and believed he won because of the symbol of Christ, the Chi Rho, upon the shields of his men. Several months later, Constantine’s Edict of Milan declared Christianity legal in the Roman Empire. The almost three hundred years of Imperial Persecution against Christians were over.

However, the use of the Chi Rho symbol preceded Constantine’s use. In the first hundred years of the faith, it was a secret sign for Christians to identify themselves to each other and was used in catacomb art from the c. 150’s through the 350’s AD – predating even the use of the Cross as the primary Christian symbol.