no shrines, the}- simply replied, " Shrines and altars
we have not." The more common word employed I fix is placed on the altar. There is a copy, written in a
ALTAR
184
ALTING
legible hand, of the Te igitur, a prayer addressed only to the first Person of the Trinity. * The altar is fur- nished with a little bell, which is rung thrice when the priest kneels down, thrice when he elevates the host, and thrice when he sets it down. There is also a portable altar or consecrated stone, with a small cavity in the middle of the front side, in which are put the relics of saints, and it is sealed up by the bishop. Should the seal be broken, the altar loses its consecra- tion. The furniture of the altar consists of a chalice and paten for the bread and wine, both of gold or sil- ver; a pyx for holding the wafer, at least of silver- gilt ; a veil, in form of a pavilion, of rich white stuff to cover the pyx ; a thurible, of silver or pewter, for the incense ; a holy-water pot, of silver, pewter, or tin ; also corporals, palls, purificatories, etc. About the time of Charlemagne it became common to have several altars in one church, a custom which spread, especially since the eleventh century. The side al- tars were usually erected on pillars, side walls, or in chapels, while the main or high altar stands always in the choir. — The Greek churches have generally only one altar.
3. The portable altar (altare portatile, gestatorium, or itinerariuin) was one that might be carried about at convenience. These altars Martene refers to the very earliest ages of the Church, maintaining, with some reason, that during times of persecution portable al- tars were much more likely to be used than those which were fixed and immovable. The use of such portable altars was afterward retained in cases of ne- cessity. The order of benediction is given by Mar- tene, Be Ant. Eccl. Rit. (ii, 291).— Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. viii, cb. vi, § 11-15; Procter, on Common Prayer, p. 29, 58 ; Collier, Eccl. Hist, vi, 257 ; Butler, Lives' of Saints, iv. 418 ; Neal, Hist, of Puritans, i, 44, ii, 306.
4. The privileged altar (ara prierogativa) was one to which peculiar privilege* are granted ; e. g. an altar at which, by privilege of the pope, masses for the dead may be said on days when they are not permitted at other altars, and where, according to the modern Bo- man doctrine, the Church applies, in a peculiar man- ner, the merits of Jesus Christ and the saints to the souls in purgatory ; " but not so that a soul is infalli- bly delivered from purgatory at each mass that is said, as some may imagine, because indulgences can only avail the dead in the way of suffrages." — Richard and Giraud.
The origin of privileged altars in the Boman Church dates as lately as the time of Gregory XIII ; i. e. be- tween 1572 and 1585, although some writers have en- deavured to assign them to an earlier period. — Landon.
In the earliest ages, the clergy only were allowed to approach the altar; not even the emperor himself, at first, was allowed this privilege, but afterward the rule was relaxed in favor of the imperial dignity (Canon 09, iu Trullo). The approach of women to the altar was, if possible, even more strictly prohibited than that of men (Can. 44 of Laodicea, can. 4 of Tours, etc.). "In these days," says Martene, "the licentiousness of men lias arrived at that pitch in the churches, that not only emperors and princes, but the very common people so fill the choir that scarcely is there sitting room left for the ministering clergy. Kay, more; with shame be it spoken, often women are found no lost to all reverence and shame, as not to hes- itate to sil on the very steps of the altar!"— Martene, Be Ant. Eccl. Hit. lib. i, cap. :i ; Landon, Eccl. Diet. s.v.
Farther literature on tin- subject of altars is con- tained in th,. treatises of Batellus, Ablutio basilica- Vat. (Rom. 170i'): Bebel, De mensis tuck. vett. (Ar- gent. 1668); Chladenius, De altaragio, (Vit. 174C); Clcftel, I) expurg. altaris (Viteb. 1718); Pabricius, De altaribus < Helm. 1698 I ; Fries, Altare in ev. Kirchen (Flensb. 1776); Gattico, De oratoriis (Rom. 1741) ; Ge- ret. Ih- vet. eh,-, altaribus (Onold. 1755); Maii, Dins. (h aria tt altaribus vett. (Giess. 1732); Mizler, be avis
et altaribus (Viteb. 1G9G) ; Molinreus, De altaribus vet. Chr. (Hannov. 1607) ; Orland, De expiando altaria (Flor. 1709) ; Schmid, De altar, jwrtatilibm (Jen. 1695) ; Schonland, Nachricht von Altdren (Leipz. 1716); Sle- vogt, Reclite der Altare (Jena, 1726, 1732) ; Tarpagius, De sepnlchro altarium (Hafn. 1702) ; Thiers, A utels des eglises (Par. 1688) ; Tilemann, De altellis (Ulad. 1743) ; Treiber, De situ altarium (Jen. 1668) ; Voigt, Thysia- steriologia (Hamb. 1709); Wildvogel, De jure altarium (Jen. 1716) ; Hoffmann, De Ara Victoria Imperatori- bus Christ, odiosa (Wittenb. 1760) ; Heideloff, D. Christl. Altar (Niirnb. 1838). See Temple.
Al-tas'chith (Heb. al-tashchelh', nTOFr^tf, de- stroy not ; Sept. /.u) dicKpStipyc.), in the title of Psalms lvii, lviii, lxix, lxxv, seems to have been the com- mencement or name of a kind of poem or song, to the melody of which these Psalms were to be sung or chanted. This is the view taken by Aben-Ezra (Com- ment, on Psa. lvii). Others, however, of the Jewish interpreters (e. g. Bashi and Kimchi) regard these words as a compendium or motto to the contents of the Psalms to which it is prefixed. See Psalms.