Altar (in Liturgy)

In the New Law the altar is the table on which the Eucharistic 
Sacrifice is offered. Mass may sometimes be celebrated outside a 
sacred place, but never without an altar, or at least an altar-
stone. In ecclesiastical history we find only two exceptions: St. 
Lucian (312) is said to have celebrated Mass on his breast whilst 
in prison, and Theodore Bishop of Tyre on the hands of his deacons 
(Mabillon, Praef. in 3 saec., n. 79). According to Radulphus of 
Oxford (Prop. 25), St. Sixtus II (257-259) was the first to 
prescribe that Mass should be celebrated on an altar, and the 
rubric of the missal (XX) is merely a new promulgation of the law. 
It signifies, according to Amalarius (De Eccles. Officiis, I, 
xxiv) the Table of the Lord (mensa Domini), referring to the Last 
Supper, or the Cross (St. Bernard, De Coena Domini), or Christ 
(St. Ambrose, IV, De Sacram. xii; Abbot Rupert, V, xxx). The last 
meaning explains the honour paid to it by incensing it, and the 
five crosses engraved on it signify His five wounds.

Position

In the ancient basilicas the priest, as he stood at the altar, 
faced the people. The basilicas of the Roman Empire were, as a 
rule, law courts or meeting places. They were generally spacious, 
and the interior area was separated by two, or, it might be, four 
rows of pillars, forming a central nave and side aisles. The end 
opposite the entrance had a semi-circular shape, called the apse, 
and in this portion, which was raised above the level of the 
floor, sat the judge and his assessors, while right before him 
stood an altar upon which sacrifice was offered before beginning 
any important public business.

When these public buildings were adapted for Christian assemblies, 
slight modifications were made. The apse was reserved for the 
bishop and his clergy; the faithful occupied the centre and side 
aisles, while between the clergy and people stood the altar. Later 
on the altar was placed, in churches, in the apse against, or at 
least near, the wall, so that the priest when celebrating faced 
the east, and behind him the people were placed. In primitive 
times there was but one altar in each church. St. Ignatius the 
Martyr, Cyprian, Irenaeus, and Jerome, speak of only one altar 
(Benedict XIV, De Sacr. Misssae, no. 1, xvii). Some think that 
more than one altar existed in the Cathedral of Milan in the time 
of St. Ambrose, because he sometimes uses the word altaria, 
although others are of opinion that altaria in this place means an 
altar. Towards the end of the sixth century we find evidence of a 
plurality of altars, for St. Gregory the Great sent relics for 
four altars to Palladius, Bishop of Saintes, France, who had 
placed in a church thirteen altars, four of which remained 
unconsecrated for want of relics. Although there was only one 
altar in each church, minor altars were erected in side chapels, 
which were distinct buildings (as is the custom in the Greek, and 
some Oriental Churches even at the present day) in which Mass was 
celebrated only once on the same day in each church (Benedict XIV, 
Ibidem). The fact that in the early ages of Christianity only the 
bishop celebrated Mass, assisted by his clergy, who received Holy 
Communion from the bishop's hands, is the reason that only one 
altar was erected in each church, but after the introduction of 
private Masses the necessity of several altars in each church 
arose.

Material of Altars

Although no documents are extant to indicate the material of which 
altars were made in the first centuries of Christianity, it is 
probable that they were made of wood, like that used by Christ at 
the Last Supper. At Rome such a wooden table is still preserved in 
the Lateran Basilica, and fragments of another such table are 
preserved in the church of St. Pudentiana, on which St. Peter is 
said to have celebrated Mass. During the persecutions, when the 
Christians were forced to move from one place to another, and Mass 
was celebrated in crypts, private houses, the open air, and 
catacombs, except when the arcosolia were used (see below, FORM OF 
AN ALTAR), it is but natural to suppose that they were made of 
wood, probably wooden chests carried about by the bishops, on the 
lid of which the Eucharistic Sacrifice was celebrated. St. Optatus 
of Mileve (De Schismate Donatistarum) reproves the Donatists for 
breaking up and using for firewood the altars of the Catholic 
churches, and St. Augustine (Epist. clxxxv) reports that Bishop 
Maximianus was beaten with the wood of the altar under which he 
had taken refuge. We have every reason to suppose that in places 
in which the persecutions were not raging, altars of stone also 
were in use. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus in the third century built a 
vast basilica in Neo-Caesarea in which it is probable that more 
substantial altars were erected. St. Gregory of Nyssa speaks of 
the consecration of an altar made of stone (De Christi 
Baptismate). Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II, presented an 
altar of gold to the Basilica of Constantinople; St. Helena gave 
golden altars ornamented with precious stones to the church which 
was erected on the site where the Cross had been concealed for 
three hundred years; the Popes St. Sixtus III (432-440) and St. 
Hilary (461-468) presented several altars of silver to the 
churches of Rome. Since wood is subject to decay, the baser metals 
to corrosion, and the more precious metals were too expensive, 
stone became in course of time the ordinary material for an altar. 
Besides, stone is durable and, according to St. Paul (I Cor., x, 
4), symbolizes Christ -- "And the rock was Christ". The Roman 
Breviary (9 November) asserts that St. Sylvester (314-335) was the 
first to issue a decree that the altar should be of stone. But of 
such a decree there is no documentary evidence, and no mention is 
made of it in canon law, in which so many other decrees of this 
Pope are inserted. Moreover, it is certain that after that date 
altars of wood and of metal were erected. The earliest decree of a 
council which prescribed that an altar which is to be consecrated 
should be of stone is that of the provincial council of Epeaune 
(Pamiers), France, in 517 (Labbe, Concil. tom. V, col. 771). The 
present discipline of the Church requires that for the 
consecration of an altar it must be of stone.

Form of an Altar

In the primitive times there were two kinds of altars:



* The arcosolium or monumentum arcuatum, which was formed by 
cutting in the tufa wall of the wider spaces in the catacombs, an 
arch-like niche, over a grave or sarcophagus. The latter contained 
the remains of one or several martyrs, and rose about three feet 
above the floor. On it was placed horizontally a slab of marble, 
called the mensa, on which Mass was celebrated. 

* The altar detached from the wall in the cubicula, or sepulchral 
chapels surrounded by loculi and arcosolia, used as places of 
worship in the catacombs or in the churches erected above ground 
after the time of Constantine. This second kind of altar consisted 
of a square or oblong slab of stone or marble which rested on 
columns, one to six in number, or on a structure of masonry in 
which were enclosed the relics of martyrs. Sometimes two or four 
slabs of stone were placed vertically under the table, forming a 
stone chest. In private oratories the table was sometimes made of 
wood and rested on a wooden support. Within this support were 
placed the relics of martyrs, and in order to be able to expose 
them to view, folding doors were fixed on the front.

The Liber Pontificalis states that St. Felix I decreed that Mass 
should be celebrated on the tombs of martyrs. This no doubt 
brought about both a change of form, from that of a simple table 
to that of a chest or tomb, and the rule that every altar must 
contain the relics of martyrs. Usually the altar was raised on 
steps, from which the bishop sometimes preached (see ALTAR-STEPS). 
Originally it was made in the shape of an ordinary table, but 
gradually a step was introduced behind it and raised slightly 
above it (see ALTAR-LEDGE). When the tabernacle was introduced the 
number of these steps was increased. The altar is covered, at 
least in basilicas and also in large churches, by a canopy 
supported by columns, called the ciborium (see ALTAR- CANOPY), 
upon which were placed, or from which were suspended, vases, 
crowns, baskets of silver, as decorations. From the middle of the 
ciborium, formerly, a gold or silver dove was suspended to serve 
as a pyx in which the Blessed Sacrament was reserved. Veils or 
curtains were attached to the columns which supported the 
ciborium. (See ALTAR-CURTAIN) The altar was often encircled by 
railings of wood, or metal, called cancelli, or by low walls of 
marble slabs called tranennae. According to the present discipline 
of the Church, there are two kinds of altars, the fixed and the 
portable. Both these denominations have a twofold meaning, i.e. an 
altar may be fixed or portable either in a wider sense or in the 
liturgical meaning. A fixed altar, in a wider sense, is one that 
is attached to a wall, a floor, or a column whether it be 
consecrated or not; in the liturgical; sense it is a permanent 
structure of stone, consisting of a consecrated table and support, 
which must be built on a solid foundation. A portable altar in a 
wider sense is one that may be carried from one place to another 
in the liturgical sense it is a consecrated altar-stone, 
sufficiently large to hold the Sacred Host and the greater part of 
the base of the chalice. It is inserted in the table of an altar 
which is not a consecrated fixed altar.

The component parts of a fixed altar in the liturgical sense are 
the table (mensa), the support (stipes) and the sepulchrum. (See 
ALTAR-CAVITY.) The table must be a single slab of stone firmly 
joined by cement to the support, so that the table and support 
together make one piece. The surface of this table should be 
perfectly smooth and polished. Five Greek crosses are engraved on 
its surface, one at each of the four corners, about six inches 
from both edges. but directly above the support, and one in the 
centre. The support may be either a solid mass or it may consist 
of four or more columns. These must be of natural stone, firmly 
joined to the table. The substructure need not, however, consist 
of one piece, but should in every case be built on a solid 
foundation so as to make the structure permanent. The support may 
have any of the following forms:

* at each corner a column of natural stone, and the spaces between 
the columns may be filled with any kind of stone, brick, or 
cement; 

* the space between the two columns in front may be left open, so 
as to place beneath the table (exposed) a reliquary containing the 
body (or a portion of the body) of a saint; 

* besides the four columns, one at each corner, a fifth column may 
be placed in the centre at the front. In this case the back, and 
if desired the sides also, may be filled with stone, brick, or 
cement; 

* if the table is small (it should in every case be larger than 
the stone of a portable altar), four columns are placed under it, 
one at each corner and, to make up the full length required, 
frames of stone or other material may be added to each side. these 
added portions are not consecrated, and hence may be constructed 
after the ceremony of consecration; 

* if the table is deficient in width, four columns are placed 
under it, one at each corner, and a frame of stone or other 
material is added to the back. This addition is not consecrated, 
and may be constructed after the consecration of the altar.

In the last two cases the spaces between the columns may be filled 
with stone brick, or cement, or they may be left open. In every 
case the substructure may be a solid mass, or the interior may 
remain hollow, but this hollow space is not to be used as a closet 
for storing articles of any kind, even such as belong to the 
altar. Neither the rubrics nor the Sacred Congregation of Rites 
prescribe any dimensions for an altar. It ought, however, to be 
large enough to allow a priest conveniently to celebrate the Holy 
Sacrifice upon it in such a manner that all the ceremonies can be 
decorously observed. Hence altars at which solemn services are 
celebrated require to be of greater dimensions than other altars. 
From the words of the Pontifical we infer that the high altar must 
stand free on all sides (Pontifex circuit septies tabulam 
altaris), but the back part of smaller altars may be built against 
the wall.

A.J. SCHULTE Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler