Covering Statues and Images During Lent?
It’s not required but, in many places, Catholic churches veil their images and statues for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. This is Lent’s final stretch as it moves toward Holy Week, when the Crucifixion will come fully into view. After the Good Friday services, the crucifixes will be unveiled. The remaining images are uncovered just before the Easter Vigil.
Many believe this veiling developed out of a now peculiar ninth-century practice. In some places, a huge violet cloth was erected in front of the altar deliberately obstructing the congregation’s view. This was done not just for these final weeks, but for the whole of Lent.
Lent is a time to fast. Medieval Christians veiled the altar in order to “fast their eyes.” Indeed, they called the veil a “hunger cloth.” It increased their hunger to witness the liturgical mysteries again.1
It’s similar with temporarily covering images today. This veiling is not meant to direct our attention away from the images or to direct us toward some more important place for our focus. This practice is not iconoclastic, as if the images are distracting or excessive. The crucifix, for instance, helps us contemplate the very center of Christian faith.
We cover up depictions of the Christian mysteries, rather, precisely to draw our attention to their absence and to thereby increase our hunger for what they depict. By hiding the crucifix, we attend to its absence. And so we are invited to desire — to hunger — not just for a return of the physical crucifix, but also for a return to having the Cross as a central feature of our life.
For more on the hunger cloth, see Jennifer Gregory Miller, “Passiontide and Veiling of Images,” CatholicCulture.org.