The Altar

A tall brass altar cross with an ivory corpus towers over a painted wooden tabernacle with brass doors. Three gilded wooden candlesticks stand on eithe side of the tabernacle. The brass altar cross and Easter candle stand (next to the font in the entry except for the Easter season when it stands next to the ambo) were designed by Pollen and are said to have been made by a Dublin craftsman. Without the funding to have the candlesticks executed in brass, Pollen drew the design for them on blocks of wood and local carpenters carved them in a similar style.

The rear wall of the sanctuary is dominated by the five small domes and decorative carvings of the baldacchino that stands above the altar. A latticework of circles filled with a stylized flower motif are arranged on either side of the baldacchino. These circles serve as the logo for University Church and the Notre Dame-Newman Centre today. This band of glazed ceramic tiles above and below the latticework separates the semi-dome above from the inlaid marble of the apse. Circular studs of glass set into the alabaster and marble framework of the apse create a jeweled effect as they reflect the candlelight from the altar.

Look up to the semi-domed apse filled with Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom

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