History of the Christian Altar

The Christian altar consists of an elevated surface, tabular in 
form, on which the sacrifice of the Mass is offered. The earliest 
Scripture reference to the altar is in St. Paul (I Cor. x, 21); 
the Apostle contrasts the "table of the Lord" (trapeza Kyriou) on 
which the Eucharist is offered, with the "table of devils", or 
pagan altars. Trapeza continued to be the favourite term for altar 
among the Greek Fathers and in Greek liturgies, either used alone 
or with the addition of such reverential qualifying terms as iera, 
mystike, The Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii, 10) refers to the 
Christian altar as thysiasterion, the word by which the Septuagint 
alludes to Noah's altar. This term occurs in several of the 
Epistles of St. Ignatius (Ad Eph. v; Magnes. iv, 7; Philad. 4), as 
well as in the writings of a number of fourth and fifth century 
Fathers and historians; Eusebius employs it to describe the altar 
of the great church at Tyre (Hist. Eccl., X, iv, 44). Trapeza, 
however, was the term most frequently in use. The word bomos to 
designate an altar. was carefully avoided by the Christians of the 
first age, because of its pagan associations; it is first used by 
Synesius, Bishop of Cyrene, a writer of the early fifth century. 
The terms altare, mensa, ara, altarium, with or without a genitive 
addition (as mensa Domini), are employed by the Latin fathers to 
designate an altar. Ara, however, is more commonly applied to 
pagan altars, though Tertullian speaks of the Christian altar as 
ara Dei. But St. Cyprian makes a sharp distinction between ara and 
altare, pagan altars being aras diaboli, while the Christian altar 
is altare Dei [quasi post aras diaboli accedere ad altare Dei fas 
sit (Ep. Ixv, ed. Hartel, II, 722; P. L., Ep. lxiv, IV, 389)]. 
Altare was the word most commonly used for altar, and was 
equivalent to the Greek trapeza.

                            I. MATERIAL AND FORM

The earliest Christian altars were of wood, and identical in form 
with the ordinary house tables. The tables represented in the 
Eucharistic frescoes of the catacombs enable us to obtain an idea 
of their appearance. The most ancient, as well as the most 
remarkable, of these frescoes, that of the Fractio Panis found in 
the Capella Greca, which dates from the first decades of the 
second century, shows seven persons seated on a semi-circular 
divan before a table of the same form. Tabular-shaped altars of 
wood continued in use till well on in the Middle Ages. St. 
Athanasius speaks of a wooden altar which was burned by the Count 
Heraclius (Athan. ad Mon., lvi), and St. Augustine relates that 
the Donatists tore apart a wooden altar under which the orthodox 
Bishop Maximianus had taken refuge (Ep. clxxxv, ch. vii, P. L., 
XXXIII, 805). The first legislation against such altars dates from 
the year 517, when the Council of Epaon, in Gaul, forbade the 
consecration of any but stone Altars (Mansi, Coll. Conc., VIII, 
562). But this prohibition concerned only a small part of the 
Christian world, and for several centuries afterwards altars of 
wood were used, until the growing preference for altars of more 
durable material finally supplanted them. The two table altars 
preserved in the churches of St. John Lateran and St. Pudentiana 
are the only ancient altars of wood that have been preserved. 
According to a local tradition, St. Peter offered the Holy 
Sacrifice on each, but the evidence for this is not convincing The 
earliest stone altars were the tombs of the martyrs interred in 
the Roman Catacombs. The practice of celebrating Mass on the tombs 
of martyrs can be traced with a large degree of probability to the 
first quarter of the second century. The Fractio Panis fresco of 
the Capella Greca, which belongs to this period is located in the 
apse directly above a small cavity which Wilpert supposes (Fractio 
Panis, 18) to have contained the relics of a martyr, and it is 
highly probable that the stone covering this tomb served as an 
altar. But the celebration of the Eucharist on the tombs of 
martyrs in the Catacombs was, even in the first age, the exception 
rather than the rule. (See ARCOSOLIUM) The regular Sunday services 
were held in the private houses which were the churches of the 
period. Nevertheless. the idea of the stone altar, the use of 
which afterwards became universal in the West, is evidently 
derived from the custom of celebrating the anniversaries and other 
feasts in honour of those who died for the Faith. Probably, the 
custom itself was suggested by the message in the Apocalypse (vi, 
9) "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for 
the word of God." With the age of peace, and especially under the 
pontificate of Pope Damasus (366-384), basilicas and chapels were 
erected in Rome and elsewhere in honour of the most famous 
martyrs, and the altars, when at all possible, were located 
directly above their tombs. The "Liber Pontificalis" attributes to 
Pope Felix I (269-274) a decree to the effect that Mass should be 
celebrated on the tombs of the martyrs (constituit supra memorias 
martyrum missas celebrare, "Lib. Pont.", ed. Duchesne, I, 158). 
However this may be, it is clear from the testimony of this 
authority that the custom alluded to was regarded at the beginning 
of the sixth century as very ancient (op. cit., loc. cit., note 
2). For the fourth century we have abundant testimony, literary 
and monumental. The altars of the basilicas of St. Peter and St. 
Paul, erected by Constantine, were directly above the Apostles' 
tombs. Speaking of St. Hippolytus, the poet Prudentius refers to 
the altar above his tomb as follows:

     Talibus Hippolyei corpus mandatur opertis
      Propter ubi apposita est ara dicata Deo.

Finally, the translation of the bodies of the martyrs Sts. 
Gervasius and Protasius by St. Ambrose to the Ambrosian basilica 
in Milan is an evidence that the practice of offering the Holy 
Sacrifice on the tombs of martyrs was long established. The great 
veneration in which the martyrs were held from the fourth century 
had considerable influence in effecting two changes of importance 
with regard to altars. The stone slab enclosing the martyr's grave 
suggested the stone altar, and the presence of the martyr's relics 
beneath the altar was responsible for the tomblike under-structure 
known as the confessio. The use of stone altars in the East in the 
fourth century is attested by St. Gregory of Nyssa (P. G., XLVI, 
581) and St. John Chrysostom (Hom. in I Cor., xx); and in the 
West, from the sixth century, the sentiment in favour of their 
exclusive use is indicated by the Decree of the Council of Epaon 
alluded to above. Yet even in the West wooden altars existed as 
late as the reign of Charlemagne, as we infer from a capitulary of 
this emperor forbidding the celebration of Mass except on stone 
tables consecrated by the bishop [in mensis lapideis ab episcopis 
consecratis (P. L., XCVII, 124)]. From the ninth century, however, 
few traces of the use of wooden altars are found in the domain of 
Latin Christianity, but the Greek Church, up to the present time, 
permits the employment of wood, stone, or metal.

                             II. THE CONFESSIO

Martyrs were Confessors of the Faith -- Christians who "confessed" 
Christ before men at the cost of their lives -- hence the name 
confessio was applied to their last resting-place, when, as 
happened frequently from the fourth century, an altar was erected 
over it. Up to the serenth century in Rome, as we learn from a 
letter of St. Gregory the Great to the Empress Constantia, a 
strong sentiment against disturbing the bodies of the martyrs 
prevailed. This fact accounts for the erection of the early Roman 
basilicas, no matter what the obstacles encountered, over the 
tombs of martyrs; the church was brought to the martyr, not the 
martyr to the church. The altar in such cases was placed above the 
tomb with which it was brought into the closest relation possible. 
In St. Peter's, for instance, where the body of the Apostle was 
interred at a considerable depth below the level of the floor of 
the basilica, a vertical shaft, similar to the luminaria in some 
of the catacombs, was constructed between the Altar and the 
sepulchre. Across this shaft, at some distance from each other, 
were two perforated plates, called cataractae, on which cloths 
(brandea) were placed for a time, and afterwards highly treasured 
as relics. But the remains of St. Peter, and those of St. Paul, 
were never disturbed. The tombs of both Aposties were enclosed by 
Constantine in cubical cases, each adorned with a gold cross (Lib. 
Pont., ed. Duchesne, I, 176). From that date to the present time, 
except in 1594, when Pope Clement VIII with Bellarmine and some 
other cardinals saw the cross of Constantine on the tomb of St. 
Peter, the interior of their tombs has been hidden from view. 
Another form of confessio was that in which the slab enclosing the 
martyr's tomb was on a level with the floor of the sanctuary 
(presbyterium). As the sanctuary was elevated above the floor of 
the basilica the altar could thus be placed immediately above the 
tomb, while the people in the body of the church could approach 
the confessio and through a grating (fenestella confessionis) 
obtain a view of the relics. One of the best examples of this form 
of confessio is seen at Rome in the Church of San Giorgio in 
Velabro, where the ancient model is followed closely A modified 
form of the latter (fifth-century) state of confessio is that in 
the basilica of San Alessandro on the Via Nomentana, about seven 
miles from Rome. In this case the sanctuary floor was not elevated 
above the floor of the Basilica, and therefore the fenestella 
occupied the space between the floor and the table of the altar, 
thus forming a combination tomb and table altar. In the fenestella 
of this altar there is a square opening through which brandea 
could be placed on the tomb.

                             III. THE CIBORIUM

From the fourth century altars were, in many instances, covered by 
a canopy supported on four columns, which not only formed a 
protection against possible accidents, but in a greater degree 
served as an architectural feature of importance. This canopy was 
known as the ciborium or tegurium. The idea of it may have been 
suggested by memoriae such as those which from the earliest times 
protected the graves of St. Peter and St. Paul; when the basilicas 
of these Apostles were erected, and their tombs became altars, the 
appropriateness of protecting- structures over the tomb-altars, 
bearing a certain resemblance to those which already existed, 
would naturally suggest itself. However this may be, the dignified 
and beautifully ornamented ciborium as the central point of the 
basilica, where all religious functions were performed, was an 
artistic necessity. The altar of the basilica was simple in the 
extreme, and, consequently, in itself too small and insignificant 
to form a centre which would be in keeping with the remainder of 
the sacred edifice. The ciborium admirably met this requirement. 
The altars of the basilicas erected by Constantine at Rome were 
surmounted by ciboria, one of which, in the Lateran, was known as 
a fastigium and is described with some detail in the "Liber 
Pontificalis". The roof was of silver and weighed 2,025 pounds; 
the columns were probably of marble or of porphyry, like those of 
St. Peter's. On the front of the ciborium was a scene which about 
this time became a favourite subject with Christian artists: 
Christ enthroned in the midst of the Apostles. All the figures 
were five feet in height; the statue of Our Lord weighed 120 
pounds, and those of the Apostles ninety pounds each. On the 
opposite side, facing the apse, Our Lord was again represented 
enthroned, but surrounded by four Angels with spears; a good idea 
of the appearance of the Angels may be had from a mosaic of the 
same subject in the church of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, at Ravenna. 
The interior of the Lateran Ciborium was covered with gold, and 
from the centre hung a chandelier (farus) "of purest gold, with 
fifty dolphins of purest gold weighing fifty pounds, with chains 
weighing twenty-five pounds". Suspended from the arches of the 
ciborium, or in close proximity to the altar, were "four crowns of 
purest gold, with twenty dolphins, each fifteen pounds, and before 
the altar was a chandelier of gold, with eighty dolphins, in which 
pure nard was burned". Seven other altars were erected in the 
basilica, probably to receive the oblations; Duchesne notes the 
coincidence of the number of subsidiary altars with the number of 
deacons in the Roman Church (Liber Pont., I, 172, and note 33, 
191). This splendid canopy was carried away by Alaric in 410, but 
a new ciborium was erected by the Emperor Valentinian III at the 
request of Pope Sixtus III (432-440). Only fragments of a few of 
the more ancient ciboria have been preserved to our time, but the 
ciborium of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna (ninth century), 
reproduces their principal features.

                                IV. CHANCEL

In his description of the Basilica of Tyre the historian Eusebius 
says (Hist. Eccl., X, iv) that the altar was enclosed "with wooden 
lattice-work, accurately wrought with artistic carving", so that 
it might be rendered "inaccessible to the multitude". The 
partition thus described, which separated the prebyterium and 
choir from the nave, was the cancellus or chancel. In a later age 
the name "chancel" came to be applied to the presbyterium itself. 
Portions of a number of ancient chancels have been found in Roman 
churches, and from reconstructions made with their help by 
archaeologists a good idea of the early chancel may be obtained. 
Two of these restored chancels, made from fragments found in the 
oratories of Equizio and in the Church of San Lorenzo, show the 
style of workmanship, which consisted of geometrical designs. 
Chancels were made of wood, stone, or metal.

                             V. THE ICONOSTASIS

Constantine the Great, according to the "Liber Pontificalis", 
erected in St Peter's, in front of the presbyterium, six marble 
columns adorned with vine-traceries. Whether these columns were 
originally conacted by an architrave is uncertain, but in the time 
of Pope Sergius III (687-701) this feature existed. They seem to 
have served for no special object, and therefore were probably 
intended to add dignity to the presbyterium. In the Church of the 
Resurrection at Jerusalem, also erected by Constantine, there were 
twelve similar columns, corresponding with the number of the 
Apostles. The iconostasis of the Greek Church and the rood-screen 
of Gothic churches are evidently traceable to this ornamental 
feature of the two fourth-century basilicas. The iconostasis, like 
the chancel in the Latin Church, separated the presbyterium from 
the nave. Its original form was that of an open screen, but from 
the eighth century, owing to the reaction against iconoclasm, it 
began to assume its present form of a closed screen decorated with 
paintings. A colonnade of six columns (seventh century) in the 
Cathedral of Torcello gives an idea of the colonnades in the 
Constantinian basilicas referred to.

                          VI. THE DOVE; TABERNACLE

During the first age of Christianity the faithful were allowed, 
when persecution was imminent, to reserve the Eucharist in their 
homes. (See ARCA.) This custom gradually disappeared in the West 
about the fourth century. The Sacred Hosts for the sick were then 
kept in churches where special receptacles were prepared for them. 
These receptacles mere either in the form of a dove which hung 
from the roof of the ciborium, or, where a ciborium did not exist, 
of a tower (the turris Eucharistica) which was placed in an 
armarium. In a drawing of the thirteenth-century altar of the 
Cathedral of Arras an arrangement is seen which is evidently a 
reminiscence of the suspended dove in those countries where the 
ciborium had disappeared: the Eucharistic tower is suspended above 
the altar from a staff in the form of a crosier. The more ordinary 
receptacle for this purpose, up to the seventeenth century, was 
the armarium near, or an octagon-shaped tower placed on the Gospel 
side of, the altar. Tabernacles of the latter kind were generally 
of stone or wood; those of the dove class of some precious metal. 
Our present form of tabernacle dates from the end of the sixteenth 
century.

                             VII. CONSECRATION

No special formula for the consecration of altars was in use in 
the Roman Church before the eighth century. In substance, however, 
what we understand by consecration was practiced in the fourth 
century. This original form of consecration consisted in the 
solemn transfer of the relics of a martyr to the altar of a newly 
erected church The translation of the bodies of Sts. Gervasius and 
Protasius, made by St. Ambrose, is the first recorded example of 
the kind. (See AMBROSIAN BASILICA.) But such translations of the 
mortal remains of martyrs were at this time, and long afterwards, 
of rare occurrence. Relics, however, by which we must understand 
objects from a martyr's tomb (the brandea mentioned above), were 
regarded with only a less degree of respect than the bodies of the 
martyrs themselves, and served as it were to multiply the body of 
the saint. This reverence for objects associated with a martyr 
gave rise to the custom of entombing such relics beneath the 
altars of newly erected churches, until it ultimately became the 
rule not to dedicate a church without them. An early example of 
this practice was the dedication of the basilica Romana by St. 
Ambrose with pignora of St. Peter and St. Paul brought from Rome 
(Vita Ambros., by Paulinus, c. xxxiii). St. Gregory of Tours (Lib. 
II, de Mirac., I, P. L., LXXI, 828) mentions the dedication of the 
Church of St. Julian in his episcopal city with relics of that 
saint and of another. When relics of the saints could not be 
procured, consecrated Hosts and fragments of the Gospels were 
sometimes used; concerning the use of the former for this purpose 
the English Synod of Calchut (Celicyth, Chelsea, 816) made a 
regulation (can. 22). Up to the middle of the sixth century in the 
Roman Church the solemn celebration of Mass was the only form of 
dedication. If, however, it had been decided to place in the altar 
the relics of a martyr, this ceremony preceded the first solemn 
function in the new edifice. Duchesne points out (op. cit., 406) 
that the liturgical prayers of the Gelasian Sacramentary recited 
for the consecration of altars bear the unmistakable stamp of the 
funeral liturgy, this fact is evidently attributable to the Custom 
of entombing relics, regarded as representing the bodies of the 
saints, at the time of dedication. The translation of relics was a 
second solemn interment of the saint's body, and hence the 
liturgical prayers composed for such occasions appropriately bore 
the characteristics of the burial service. The principal features 
of the earliest form of consecration in the Roman Church, as given 
in the Gelasian Sacramentary, are as follows: The bishop with his 
clergy, chanting the litany, first proceeded in solemn procession 
to the place where the relics were kept. A prayer was then chanted 
and the relics were borne by the bishop to the door of the church 
and there placed in the custody of a priest. The bishop then 
entered the church, accompanied by his immediate attendants, and 
after exorcising the water and mixing with it a few drops of 
chrism, he prepared the mortar for enclosing the sepulchre. With a 
sponge he then washed the table of the altar, and returning to the 
door he sprinkled the people with what remained of the holy water. 
After this he took the relics and re- entered the church, followed 
by the clergy and people chanting another litany. The sepulchre 
was then anointed with chrism, the relics were placed therein, and 
the tomb sealed. The ceremony concluded with the solemn 
celebration of Mass. The Gallican liturgy of consecration, unlike 
that of Rome, partook of the character of the liturgy for the 
administration of baptism and confirmation rather than that of the 
funeral liturgy. "Just as the Christian is dedicated by water and 
oil, by baptism and confirmation, so the altar first, then the 
church, is consecrated by ablution and unction" (Duchesne, op. 
cit., 407-409). In the eighth and ninth centuries attempts were 
made by Frankish liturgists to combine the two liturgies of Rome 
and Gaul, from the result then achieved has developed the actual 
consecration ritual of the Western Church. In the Greek Church the 
dedication of the altar was a ceremony distinct from that of the 
deposition of relics, the two functions were ordinarily performed 
on different days. On the first day the table of the altar was 
placed on its support of columns by the bishop in person. After 
this he proceeded to the consecration which consisted of washing 
the table, first with baptismal water, then with wine. The altar 
was next anointed with chrism and incensed. The following day the 
relics were placed in the sepulchre with the greatest solemnity. 
Duchesne calls attention to the close resemblance between the 
Gallican and the Byzantine liturgy for the consecration of altars 
(op. cit., 416).

                             VIII. ORIENTATION

The custom of praying with faces turned towards the East is 
probably as old as Christianity. The earliest allusion to it in 
Christian literature is in the second book of the Apostolic 
Constitutions (200-250, probably) which prescribes that a church 
should be oblong "with its head to the East". Tertullian also 
speaks of churches as erected in "high and open places, and facing 
the light (Adv. Valent., iii). The reason for this practice, which 
did not originate with Christianity, was given by St. Gregory of 
Nyssa (De Orat. Dominic., P. G., XLIV, 1183), is that the Orient 
is the first home of the human race, the seat of the earthly 
paradise. In the Middle Ages additional reasons for orientation 
were given, namely, that Our Lord from the Cross looked towards 
the West, and from the East He shall come for the Last Judgment 
(Durand, Rationale, V, 2; St. Thomas, Summa Theologica II-
II:84:3). The existence of the custom among pagans is referred to 
by Clement of Alexandria, who states that their "most ancient 
temples looked towards the West, that people might be taught to 
turn to the East when facing the images" (Stromata, vii. 17, 43). 
The form of orientation which in the Middle Ages was generally 
adopted consisted in placing the apse and altar in the Eastern end 
of the basilica. A system of orientation exactly the opposite of 
this was adopted in the basilicas of the age of Constantine. The 
Lateran, St. Peter's, St. Paul's, and San Lorenzo in Rome, as well 
as the Basilicas of Tyre and Antioch and the Church of the 
Resurrection at Jerusalem, had their apses facing the West. Thus, 
in these cases the bishop from his throne in the apse looked 
towards the East. At Rome the second Basilica of St. Paul, erected 
in 389, and the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, erected 
probably in the latter half of the fourth century reversed this 
order and complied with the rule. The Eastern apse is the rule 
also in the churches of Ravenna, and generally throughout the 
East. Whether this form of orientation exercised any influence on 
the change of the celebrant from the back to the front of the 
altar cannot well be determined but at all events this custom 
gradually supplanted the older one, and it became the rule for 
both priest and people to look in the same direction, namely, 
towards the East (Mabillon, Museum Italicum, ii, 9). Strict 
adherence to either form of orientation was, necessarily, in many 
instances impossible, the direction of streets in cities naturally 
governed the position of churches. Some of the most ancient 
churches of Rome were directed towards various points of the 
compass.

                      IX. ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ALTARS

Few ancient altars have survived the ravages of time. Probably the 
oldest of these is the fifth- century altar discovered at Auriol, 
near Marseilles. The stone table, on the front of which the 
monogram of Christ, with twelve doves, is engraved, rests on a 
single column. Similar in construction to this are three altars in 
the confessio of the Church of St. Caecilia in Rome, which are 
attributed to the ninth century. In two sixth-century mosaics of 
San Vitale and Sant' Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, two table 
altars of wood, resting on four feet, are represented. They are 
covered by a long cloth which completely hides the tables. Enlart 
regards it as probable that the tables enclosed in the altars of 
the Lateran and Santa Pudenziana are similar in appearance (Manuel