Altar piece

“ Horizontally the whole altar-piece is divided into three portions. The central panel of the middle tier is occupied by the Adoration of the Lamb. Like the rest of the picture, it is treated in a decorative spirit, the grouping of the figures, the architecture, and the foliage being almost geometrically arranged and balanced. In a very beautiful and peaceful landscape is set up, on a green mound in the centre, an altar, upon which stands the Lamb of God. ”

“ The church, a spacious edifice, crowns the height above the market-place. After walking twice round it, I discovered a small door in an angle, which being unfastened gave me admittance. The interior, with its worn and uneven brick floor, has somewhat of a neglected look, not unusual in Protestant churches; but there are a few good paintings, and the altar-piece, representing the Crucifixion, shows the hand of a master. I was quite alone, and could explore as I pleased. The altar rises to a great height, adorned with statues, and crowned by figures of angels. ”

“ In the daytime a rich shadowy light is thrown into the church by the excellent disposition of its windows; at eventide the sheen of the setting sun, caught by the western window, falls like a bright flood down the nave, and makes the scene beautiful. The high altar is a fine piece of workmanship; is of Gothic design, is richly carved, is ornamented with marbles, has a canopy of most elaborate construction, and is in good harmony with the general architecture. ”

“ This magnificent altar-piece is in cloisonné enamel. A typical example is the ciborium and chalice belonging to the South Kensington loan collection. The design entirely covers the whole of the surface in one rich mass composed of circular or vesica-shaped medallions filled with sacred subjects and foliated scrolls. These are engraved and enamelled, and the metal bands of the scrolls and figures are engraved and gilt. The characteristic quality of the colour scheme is that it is composed almost wholly of primaries. Red, blue and yellow predominate, with a little white and black. ”

“ If the altar is a fixed or immovable altar, the relics are placed in a reliquary of lead, silver, or gold, which should be large enough to contain, besides the relics, three grains of incense and a small piece of parchment on which is written an attest of the consecration. ”

“ Martyrdom of various Saints. (Altar piece of the third altar in the South aisle.) A moderately sized picture, and now a very disagreeable one, owing to the violent red into which the color that formed the glory of the angel at the top is changed. It has been hastily painted, and only shows the artist’s power in the energy of the figure of an executioner drawing a bow, and in the magnificent ease with which the other figures are thrown together in all manner of wild groups and defiances of probability. Stones and arrows are flying about in the air at random. ”

“ Piece of Woven Orphrey; ground, crimson silk; design, in gold, an altar, with an angel on each side clasping a column, and above, other two angels worshipping; and upon the step leading to the altar, the words “sanctus, sanctus.” Florentine, early 16th century. 9 feet 7 inches by 9 inches.
The design is evidently meant to express the tabernacle at the altar, where the blessed sacrament is kept in church, for administration to the sick, &c., and, like all similar textiles, was made of such a length as to be applicable to copes, chasubles, and other ritual uses. ”

“ The altar strikes the keynote, so to speak, for the whole church. To it, as the culminating point, all the decoration is directed; and by it we are led through the different seasons of fast and festival, marking these seasons by the change of vesture as definitely as by the changes in the ritual and service.
An altar-frontal is rather a large piece of work for one person to undertake, unless she has had considerable practice (which enables her to work quickly) and has plenty of time to devote to it, and is also possessed of sufficient patience to keep on with one thing till it is finished. ”

“ Portable Altar.—A portable altar consists of a solid piece of natural stone which must be sufficiently hard to resist every fracture. It must be consecrated by bishop or other person having faculties to do so. By virtue of Facultates Extraordinariæ C., 6., the bishops of the United States may delegate a priest. It is inserted in, or placed on, the table of the altar, about two inches from the front edge, and in such a manner that, by its slight elevation above the table, the celebrant can trace its outlines with his hand and thus recognize its location beneath the altar-cloths. ”

“ The table and supports on which the portable altar rests may be constructed of any suitable material, wood or stone, provided they have the proper dimensions. For the portable altar the Greeks generally use the antimensium, a consecrated altar-cloth of silk or linen, after the manner of our corporals. When a church is consecrated, a piece of cloth large enough to form several antimensia is placed on the altar. It is consecrated by the bishop pouring wine and holy chrism on it and stiffening it with a mixture consisting of relics pounded up with wax or fragrant gum. ”

“ It is the beautiful emblem of faith, springing from and surviving the ruins of its earthly temple. Passing through the gateway, over columns of porphyry and massive fragments of sculptured marble, we came to a broad pedestal near the upper end, which must have been the site of the grand altar. How it moves the heart to its inmost depths to reflect, that before that high altar have stood the Beloved Disciple and the Apostle of the Gentiles! In fancy, one hears the tremulous tones of the first, as he repeats over and over his favourite exclamation, “My children, love one another.” ”

“ Easily imagined is the hallowed aspect of the lofty fane when the last rays of the sun shot redly within, suffused the altar in a crimson haze, and glowed upon the burnished ornaments and the carvings of veined marble and whitest stone ”

“ We offer on the earthly Altar the same Sacrifice that is being perpetually offered on the Heavenly Altar. There is only one Altar, only one Sacrifice, one Eucharist—"one offering, single and complete". All the combined earthly Altars are but one Altar—the earthly or visible part of the Heavenly Altar on which He, both Priest and Victim, offers Himself as the Lamb "as it had been slain". The Heavenly Altar is, as it were, the centre, and all the earthly Altars the circumference. We gaze at the Heavenly Altar through the Earthly Altars. ”

“ Near the statue is that altar which is esteemed one of the wonders of the world. It is not gold or marble which is admired in it; horns of animals, forcibly bent, and artfully interwoven, form a whole equally solid and regular. Some priests, whose employment it is to adorn it with flowers and boughs, made us observe the ingenious contexture of its parts. ”

“ The high altar, if one wished to examine it minutely, would require as much time as the interior of a church: it is itself a church—a miracle of little columns, statuettes, traceries, and ornaments of endless variety, creeping along the iron frames, rising above the architraves, winding about the niches, supporting one another, climbing and disappearing, presenting on every side a thousand outlines, groups, combinations, effects in gilding and color, every sort of grace that art can devise—giving to the whole an effect of magnificence, dignity, and beauty. ”

“ In one corner of the nave clung a few swallows' nests, the occupants of which had remained for the service, and in their own way were joining in the Sanctus. It was evident that the floor of the choir above, the confessional, chancel, and praying-benches, had been made by common home carpenters. The baptismal font had never seen a stone-cutter, nor the high altar a sculptor. But there were taste and design in everything. The altar was a high, dignified table, reached by three broad steps. ”

“ Here, over the altar, stands the famous statue of Christ, one of the most striking in the world; the face radiates divine compassion, the hands are stretched out to all who come. In front an angel holds a font-shell, and against each pier is the figure of one of the Apostles. The supreme excellence of these glorious statues in white marble with their effective drapery and the absence of any other attempt at ornament renders the interior of this church striking in an extraordinary degree. ”

“ Careful engravings of a hundred years ago show a very different state of things. The organ is on a massive classical screen. The stalls are also classical and very massive. There is a baldacchino of wood over the altar, with urns upon its corners. Farther east is a solid altar screen, classical in design, of wood, with a pediment, in which is a triangle surrounded by rays, enclosing certain Hebrew letters in gold. ”

“ The high altar, inclosed by a balustrade of colored marble raised on steps richly carpeted, glitters with gemmed chalices and crosses. Behind, countless wax-lights illuminate the rich frescoes of the tribune. The Chapel of the Holy Countenance (midway up the nave) , inclosed by a gilded net-work, is a dazzling mountain of light flung from a thousand golden sconces. A black figure as large as life rests upon the altar. It is stretched upon a cross. The eyes are white and glassy; the thorn-crowned head leans on one side. The body is enveloped in a damascened robe spangled with jewels. ”

“ Overcome at so awe-inspiring a sight, the vast loveliness of which thrills the nerves like a glance from beauty’s eyes, you turn to the central golden altar, in the midst of which, though you cannot see it now, there burns a pale but steady flame crowned with curls of faint blue smoke. It is of marble overlaid with pure gold, in shape round like the sun, four feet in height, and thirty-six in circumference. Here also, hinged to the foundations of the altar, are twelve petals of beaten gold. ”

“ Altar.—The floor of the Altar (immediately under the communion-table) consists of a slab of marble, eight feet long by four feet wide, which is most beautifully carved with rose-wheel circles and hexagonal elongated departments, sustaining what would seem to have been an altar-stone, about six inches in height, the sides of which are deeply grooved or fluted, in one hollow, with roses interlaced with leaves carved thereon in bold and beautiful relief. The Altar is ascended from the nave by three steps ”

“ Silk, satin, and velvet ornament the interior of the elegant edifice; the most delicate perfumes burn in each of its corners, and, in order further to embellish the altar on which the Holy Eucharist is to rest for a few minutes, there is a perfect coquetting with chaplets, festoons of gauze, crystal lamps of various colours, and transparencies through which the subdued rays of the sun shed their softened light. ”

“ In addition to this, after the anointing of the altar, the altar itself and the church are ornamented; the lamps lighted up; a Mass is said, in which the priest useth different vestments from those which he hath used in the aspersion, as shall be explained in the sequel. ”

“ When I stand at Thine Altar, grant that I may have the profoundest sense of Thy Presence; take me, as it were, out of the world; shut the gate of my heart against it; lift up my spirit; let the house of prayer be unto me as a heavenly place; let the very rails of the altar remind me of my especial separation from the world; may I feel myself to be on holy ground; I cannot draw nearer unto Thee on the earth, may I feel Thy nearness. Till me with a sense of my own sins and Thy great love, of my own unworthiness and Thy mercy; for who can tell the love wherewith Thou hast loved us ”

“ The high altar, or retablo, alone might pass for a church; it is an enormous accumulation of small columns, niches, statues, foliage, and arabesques, of which the most minute description would give but a faint idea; all this sculpture, which extends up to the vaulted roof and all around the sanctuary, is painted and gilded with unimaginable wealth. ”

“ Still holds an altar to her consecrate!
There burns the lamp, if lit by love or hate,
Though thou fling stones where flowers were placed before.
'T is not for the forgetting, be it said,
That savages heap stones above their dead! ”

“ The sacred vessels—the chalices, the flagons, the patens—were of the same metal; the hangings of the altar were of cloth of gold embroidered with gems; the candlesticks on the altar, the ambo, in the women's gallery and elsewhere, six thousand in number, were all of gold, as were the crosses on the bema, the covers of the holy books, the pillars of the iconostasis screening off the bema. In the altar itself pious ingenuity had surpassed itself. ”

“ Statues of angels in an attitude of worship on each side of the altar, as if adoring the sacrifice—or bearing in triumph the instruments of Christ’s passion, the cross, the nails, the spear, the crown of thorns—or carrying tapers—are more common, and must be regarded not merely as decoration, but as a presence in the high solemnity. ”

“ From the very earliest times the Altar has always been the most prominent object in the Church, being placed at the end of the chancel and elevated, being approached by three or more steps. Architecturally as well as devotionally the Altar is the distinctive feature, the objective point of the building to which all else conforms. ”

“ When sculptured decorations were added they frequently took the form of imitations of the actual festoons with which it was usual to ornament altars, or of symbols, such as crania and horns of oxen, referring to the victims sacrificed. As a rule, the altars which existed apart from temples bore the name of the person by whom they were dedicated and the names of the deities in whose service they were, or, if not the name, some obvious representation of the deity. Such, for example, is the purpose of the figures of the Muses on an altar dedicated to them, now to be seen in the British Museum. ”