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Views from the Choir Loft

A Whale of a Pulpit

Fr. David Friel · November 30, 2020

ULPITS come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, colors and styles. From the early examples at San Clemente in Rome and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople to more recent examples in 21st-century churches, ambos have always been marked by significant variety. There are wooden pulpits and marble pulpits, Baroque pulpits and art deco pulpits, flimsy pulpits and bully pulpits. Some are set up high above the congregation, some are out in the midst of the nave, and some sit meekly beside the altar.

There are also whale pulpits.

Recently, a friend sent me a couple photos of this genre of ambo, previously unknown to me. The images were quite striking, and they led me to do a little Internet investigation. This search revealed that there are actually quite a few such appointments in Catholic churches, particularly in 18th-century churches in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Check out this photo gallery, which highlights some examples of whale pulpits.

Ss. Peter & Paul Church, Duszniki (Poland)
Ss. Peter & Paul Church, Duszniki (Poland)
Ss. Peter & Paul Church, Duszniki (Poland)
Ss. Peter & Paul Church, Duszniki (Poland)
St. James the Greater Church, Kratonohy (Czech Republic)
St. James the Greater Church, Kratonohy (Czech Republic)
St. Hedwig Church, Dobroszów (Poland)
St. Hedwig Church, Dobroszów (Poland)
St. Marin Church, Bošilec (Czech Republic)
St. Marin Church, Bošilec (Czech Republic)
Church of Our Lady, Mnichovice (Czech Republic)
Church of Our Lady, Mnichovice (Czech Republic)
Lovrečka Varoš (Croatia)
Lovrečka Varoš (Croatia)

Most of these images are drawn from the website of a Polish art historian (here). She also gives what strikes me as a sound theological reading of these unusual ambos.

In the first place, these ambos allude to the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament. While fleeing to Tarshish in order to avoid his prophetic call to announce the word of the Lord in Nineveh, Jonah ends up being thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. (Scripture scholars are always quick to point out that the text, strictly speaking, does not say “whale.”) After three days in the belly of the fish, Jonah is spit up onto the dry land and goes forth to announce God’s message—with astonishing success—to the Ninevites. For a preacher to stand at the mouth of the whale, therefore, is to assume a prophetic posture.

Second, it is important to remember the Christological interpretation of the story of Jonah, wherein the three days he spent in the belly of the fish represent the Lord’s three days in the tomb. Speaking from the mouth of the fish, therefore, the preacher stands also as an image of the Risen Christ.

Beyond their theological significance, these whale pulpits also have the potential to serve practical ends. Consider the problem of a preacher who goes on too long. These ambos could be outfitted with a congregant-operated mechanism that would cause the mouth to snap shut!

Not all of these whale pulpits are of equal artistic merit. Some of them, frankly, are a bit goofy. But the theological idea underlying these ambos is nevertheless very sound and quite interesting. They testify, moreover, to the beautiful diversity and creativity that are possible in Catholic architecture.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Sacred Architecture Last Updated: November 30, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

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6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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