Blessed Sacrament Chapel
This
chapel's altar of stone is adorned with a decorative baldachin. A
baldachin (also known as a ciborium) is a canopy, usually of woven
fabric, over an altar. Sir Ninian
Comper designed the baldachin in 1952 and it cost £2,000.
Around the front and side of the baldachin is the inscription: In
principio erat verbum et verbum caro factum est ('In the
beginning was the Word, and the word became flesh') from the first
Chapter of St John's Gospel.
On the roof of the canopy there is a depiction of Our Lady in Glory, as Queen of Heaven following her Assumption at the end of her earthly life.
On
the altar, a white sanctuary light burns to indicate the perpetual
presence of the Body of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The sacrament
is reserved so that it is always available to enable the Priests or
other ministers to minister to the sick or dying. The Blessed Sacrament
is kept in the tabernacle, a safe usually covered with a veil. It is
called a tabernacle because this was the Old Testament word for the
place where God was believed to make himself present in the closest
way.
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