A team of Catholic University of America (CUA) students have won the contest to design an altar Pope Francis will use at his outdoor Mass in Washington D.C. this fall.
The winning students will have a chance to see it used on their own campus when the pope celebrates Mass outdoors on the Basilica steps overlooking the Catholic University Mall on Sept. 23.
At an event Tuesday, the Archbishop of Washington publicly unveiled the altar's design, which features a simple high arch that mimics the architecture of the Romanesque-Byzantine style Basilica.
The designers are students in CUA's School of Architecture and planning -- and two are locals. Ariadne Cerritelli is a native of Bethesda; Joseph Taylor hails from Eldersburg, Maryland. Rounding out the team is Matthew Hoffman of Pittsburgh.
"[The altar] was designed to bring focus not on itself, but on the Vicar of Christ himself who will preach from it," the team said, according to a release from CUA.
A six-member jury composed of representatives from the archdiocese, the Basilica and Catholic University awarded the winning team $6,000 and the opportunity to see their design come to life.
The jury selected the winner from a pool of 18 student teams who presented their designs for an altar that could also be used permanently in the university's Basilica.
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During the Sept. 23 Mass, Pope Francis will canonize the Blessed Junipero Serra, declaring him a saint, an occasion that will happen on U.S. soil for the first time in history.
This visit will mark the third time a pope has visited the university, and the second time a pope has used furnishings designed by CUA students.
In 2008, architecture students designed the furnishings used at a Mass at CUA.
"History repeats itself!" Dean Randall Ott said in a release. "Never would I have thought that seven years later we would have the opportunity to do this again."
