"For much of Church history, the priest was accustomed to face the altar in the same direction as the people. This meant that when the priest was reciting the Eucharistic Prayer,
the host and chalice were hidden from view.
Initially this did not pose any problem for the people, but by the 13th century, many saints were seeking ways to deepen the Eucharistic faith of the people."
The priest elevates the host and the chalice during Mass in order for the people to see and adore Jesus present in the newly consecrated elements.
aleteia.org
"From the earliest days of Church, Christians also faced east when at prayer. In fact, Tertullian (160-220 AD) actually had to defend Christians against the pagans who accused them of facing east to worship the sun. Many Church Fathers, such as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Basil and St. Augustine, also speak of the practice of facing east. In the 3rd century, the
Didascalia, a treatise on church order from northern Syria, set down the rule of facing east during the Eucharist. It said, "Let the place of the priests be separated in a part of the house that faces east. In the midst of them is placed the bishop's chair, and with him let the priests be seated. Likewise, and in another section let the laity be seated facing east" (
Didascalia, Chapter 12)."
The Kabba of Mecca is Islam’s most holy shrine. It is said to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. It is considered “the House of Allah.” Mosques throughout the world are built with a wall niche, known as mihrab, pointing toward this shrine to indicate the direction that Muslims...
www.catholicnewsagency.com
Before a Catholic named Gutenberg printed the first book, and he chose the Bible, the vast majority of people were illiterate. Not only did the Catholic Church preserve and preach the Bible century after century, many Catholics translated Biblical text into the common languages of the people, even though, as I said, for most of the history of Christianity most people were illiterate. After Latin surpassed Greek as the common language of the people, the Latin Vulgate under the direction of Saint Jerome became by far the standard Bible. "Vulgate" comes from "vulgar" or "common," meaning the common language of the people. Eventually Latin morphed into various languages such as Italian, Spanish, and French, and then came more translations by Catholics. There were Catholic translations of Biblical text in French, Bohemian, Danish, Polish, Hungarian, and Norwegian to name just some of the other languages.
In England long before Wycliffe and Tyndale, there were many translations of Biblical text by Catholics. To mention just a few of them, Venerable Bede, a Catholic monk, is perhaps best known for his translation in the 700s. King Alfred the Great had not finished his translation of Psalms before he died, that would have been in the 800s. Now a lot of Biblical texts by Catholics have been destroyed, remember Protestants in England seized Catholic monasteries and gave the land to wealthy Protestants and much that was Catholic was sold off or destroyed. But some do exist, you can find some of Alfred’s translations in a manuscript dated as around 1050. These are in the English of the Saxons:
The Illustrated Psalms of Alfred the Great: The Old English Paris Psalter When the Normans took over the English changed, the paraphrase of Orm is dated around 1150 and is an example of a Catholic translation into Middle English. In later years, Catholic fled to France in order to publish the Douay-Rheims BIble, but penalties were severe for those who tried to get this English translation of the Bible to the people of England.
thecatholicherald.com
