RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Altar
cloths, on which the holy vessels stood; the other used to cover the cup and the paten. In time the name corporate was restricted to the first of these, and palla was used for the second. Both were of linen. Among the most elaborate and costly of altar-appendages in the Romanesque period were the antependia or frontalia, which were used as decorations for the altar-front; the back and the sides of the altar also were often adorned in like manner. When altars of gold and silver are mentioned it is probable that in most cases metal plates in the front of the altar are meant. The oldest specimens which have been preserved date from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. They represent scenes from Bible history and the lives of saints, usually with the figure of Christ in the center. Precious stones and glass are inserted. Antependia were also made of costly cloths with gold and silver embroidery, and mosaics and reliefs were built into the sides of the altar. Crosses are represented in these decorations, and stood near altars; they were also placed above or hung below the ciborium, but in the first millennium crucifixes did not stand on the altars. In like manner lamps were hung from the ciboria or stood about the altars, but not on them.
At first there was only one altar in the place of
worship, symbolic of unity. In a basilica without
transepts it stood at the center of the chord of the
apse. The Eastern Church retained the single
altar; but in the West the number increased under
the influence of the custom of private masses and
the veneration of relics. A church in Gaul in the
time of Gregory the Great (d. 604) had
3. Number thirteen; the cathedral at Magde-
and burg, forty-eight. After the year
Varieties 1000 altars received different names
of Altars, according to their position and use. The main altar was. called the altare majus, capitaneum, cardinale, magistrum, or principale, " high altar "; the others were altaria minora. After Alexander VI. began to grant special indulgences at certain altars the term altare privilegiatum came into use; a mass for the dead read at such an altar brought plenary indulgence. Abbey-churches had an altar dedicated to the holy cross (altare sanctce crucis), placed between the choir and the nave, and intended for the lay brothers. Portable altars (altaria viatica, portabilia, itineraria, gestatoria, motoria) are mentioned from the seventh century; they were used by missionaries, prelates, and princes on journeys.
b. Prom the Year 1000 to 1300: The increasing veneration which was paid to relics led early in this period to a desire to place holy remains on the altar —not beneath it or near it as had been done previously. In the thirteenth century, relics on the altar were a part of its regular equipment. When the entire body of a saint was removed from its original resting-place some special provision for its shrine had to be made, and this led to an extension of the altar at the rear (retabulum). Wood or stone was used, and decorations similar to those of altars were provided. In some instances such retabula took the place of the canopies; where the latter were retained they began to be made in two
stories, the relic-case being put in the upper one. Many such cases have been preserved; they are made of copper, silver, gold, and ivory, and are ornamented with enamel, filigree-work, and gems. Altars were surrounded with columns connected by cross-bars from which curtains hung. Railings fencing off tbe altar were known to the earlier time, but were not general. They became more common with the growing distinction between clergy and laity, and as the number of the clergy increased, the size of the chancel became greater. From the thirteenth century, crosses, crucifixes, and candles appear on the altar. The position of the cross and the lights was not fixed, and the latter numbered one or two, seldom more. Other articles which belonged to the altar furniture were gospel-books, often in costly binding, flabella, little bells, and thuribles.
o. From 1300 to the Reformation: The ciborium altar lasted through the period of Romanesque art and even defied the influence of the Gothic. In France the retabulum was retained till toward 1400, but in Germany before that time it gave way to higher structures built upon the altar. The tendency to regard such additions as mere receptacles for the relic-cases disappeared. The holy remains were again placed within the altar, or, if retained upon it, filled only a subordinate part. Wood came to be more generally used as material. Doors were provided for the shrine. Later both shrine and doors were set upon a pedestal (predella), which after 1475 became an integral part of the altar. The earlier altars of this period hold rigidly to the Gothic style, but later more freedom is apparent. Carving, sculpture, reliefs, and painting were freely used as decoration.
2. Since the Reformation: The Reformed Churches undertook to remove all accessories of medieval worship, including the altar, for which they substituted a simple table. The Lutheran churches, however, aiming merely to do away with that which was contrary to Scripture, opposed only the conception of the " table of the Lord " as a sacrificial altar. The secondary altars were no longer used, but were not always removed from 1. Lutheran the churches. The high altar was and generally reserved for the celebration
Reformed of the Lord's Supper, the relic-cases
Churches, with the monstrance and host being removed, and the decorations with the crucifixes and lights, and the antependia and the like being retained. The relics beneath the altar were sometimes merely covered over, not disturbed. New altars built for evangelical churches during the first half of the sixteenth century followed the general plan and structure of those already existing. In the paintings Bible scenes or events of the Reformation took the place of incidents in saints' lives. Portraits of founders and their families were introduced. The general form and structure were made subordinate to the paintings, but in the latter half of the century the architectural features sometimes obscured the paintings. During the baroco period altars and all church furniture shared in the generally depraved taste of the time. From the middle of the seventeenth
Altar Altaian