Visual Tour: the Consecration Rites and Sacred Architecture at Queen of Angels

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The consecration rites began outside the locked sanctuary doors. Following the traditional Roman Pontifical, Bishop Hanappier circumambulated the building three times, sprinkling the exterior walls with holy water before striking the portal with the base of his pastoral staff. The ritual evokes Psalm 23: "Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in."

Once inside, accompanied only by clergy and servers while the congregation waited outside, the bishop traced two massive intersecting diagonal lines in wood ashes laid across the marble nave floor. With the tip of his crosier, he inscribed the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet along one diagonal and the Latin alphabet along the other.

This rite, known historically as the Saltatorium, signifies the instruction of catechumens in the basic truths of faith. It visually displays the union of both Eastern and Western traditions under Christ, claiming the territory inside the sanctuary walls as holy ground. The bishop then prepared Gregorian water, a consecrated mixture of water, wine, salt, and ash, using it to cleanse the interior walls and purify the floor before allowing the faithful to enter.