Altar stone

“ In the first elliptical area, in which the apsidal ends are divided from the central space by means of walls of vertical slabs, a remarkable group of objects was found. In front of a well-cut vertical block stood what must be an altar, cut in one piece of stone. It is square in section except for the top, which is circular. On the four vertical edges are pilasters in relief, and in the front between these is cut in relief what looks like a plant growing out of a pot or box. ”

“ A plan exists drawn by Mr. Blight before the well was as ruined as at present. It is a crying scandal that it should be allowed to remain unrestored. The altar-stone remains with a square depression in the middle to receive the portable altar placed there on such occasions as the chapel was used for mass. ”

“ As to the stone which after our Lord's crucifixion and burial was rolled to the mouth of the said monument by the united efforts of many men, Arculf relates that he found it broken in two parts. The lesser part, squared by the chisel, forms the altar which stands before the entrance of the aforesaid round church, while the larger, also chiselled like the former, is the square altar, covered with linen cloths, on the eastern side of the same. ”

“ Fitted into the oak table was the little marble altar-stone, without which one may not say Mass. In the top of the upright part was a square hole in which the crucifix fitted to stand above the altar; on either side were holders to attach the candlesticks. From the wall that formed a compartment in the upright portion, where the vestments were kept, the altar cards unfolded; these were kept in place by small brass clips attached to the upright. Chalice, ciborium, missal and stand, cruets, wine, altar-breads, bell, linens, etc., were in compartments beneath the altar table. ”

“ The best, and indeed the only remedy we can suggest, especially where there are many communicants, is to procure a large altar-stone. We have heard of some bishops declining to consecrate any stone that was under fourteen inches in length, and twelve inches in width, at least. It is unnecessary to observe that there is great danger, and irreverence too, in placing a large number [287] of particles on a very small space or corner of an altar-stone, where an accident, and that of the most serious nature, is likely to take place at any moment. ”

“ The altar is of stone of the thirteenth century, with five detached shafts in front, supporting the slab or mensa. The whole church is groined. It is worthy of notice that the choir makes a great bend out of the straight line towards the north—so much, indeed, that it is impossible to avoid noticing it as one enters the church. The steps from the nave to the choir lack dignity. But it is true that if they had been in the centre, and the entrances to the crypt on each side, the crypt would not have been seen, as it now is, from the nave, and a striking effect would have been lost. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Hoagland fairly shook him. “Got what? Where?”
“The plates. Don't! You're hurting my shoulder where Peña bit it! I mean I know where they are. Listen! In every Catholic altar there is a piece of metal or a thin mortared stone—the altar stone that covers a cavity. They put relics of a saint in it. This chapel's not used now, but the altar stone—that hole—that must be here; it's just the place. ”

“ While keeping the same general form, the others vary in size down to half these dimensions. All have a blackened grayish appearance, with spots of thin moss on them. Several of them are set like posts in the ground, some perpendicular, others aslant. Some rest on the top of these, reaching from one to another. Some stand alone; others have fallen, and lie flat. Some of them are broken or lean against others. To complete the scene is a flat stone called the altar, inside of the inner oval. This is a slab about fifteen feet long and four feet wide. ”

“ It would almost seem as if here an altar had been reared to each god in the American pantheon; for not the least remarkable feature observed in reference to this class of mounds is, that they do not disclose a miscellaneous assemblage of relics, like the Indian’s ossuary or grave-mound. On the contrary, the sacrificial deposits are generally nearly homogeneous. On one altar sculptured pipes are chiefly found, to the number of hundreds; on another pottery, copper ornaments, stone implements, or galena; on others, only an accumulation of calcined shells, carbonaceous ashes, or burnt bones. ”

“ Altar-mounds are always found within or near 774 enclosures, and each one is found to contain something like an altar, made of burned clay or stone. The altars are generally of fine clay brought from some distance, burned hard sometimes to a depth of twenty inches. They were not burned before being put in place, but by the action of fires built upon or round them. Such as were very slightly burned had no relics. The stone altars are very rare, and are formed of rough slabs, and not hewn from a single block. ”

“ Old fragments of tapestry, torn from the walls of other apartments, had been hastily and partially disposed around those of the chapel, and mingled inconsistently with scutcheons and funeral emblems of the dead, which they elsewhere exhibited. On each side of the stone altar was a monument, the appearance of which formed an equally strange contrast. ”

“ Possibly this altar contained a sepulchrum for the reception of relics, as a stone is evidently removed from the face of it for this purpose. In the corresponding position in the south transept, which, like the north transept, is Early English work, only the base of a former raised altar remains. ”

“ When vibrated this stone produces musical notes, and it was regarded as expressive of music and harmony, poets singing its praises. It was the emblem of love, beauty, protection and charm, and it graced the holy altars. For the altar of earth the symbolic jade stone was of yellowish hue, whilst during lunar festivals white jade was employed. Black—mentioned, but doubtful indeed—was the North Jade, and red the South. White was the West and green the East. It was said that in sickness the heat of the body drew out virtues from the jade, healing virtues soothing and life protecting. ”

“ The paint is very perfect, and has preserved the stone, which makes it more to be regretted that it is broken. The altar is buried with the top barely visible, which, by excavating, we made out to represent the back of a tortoise. The next engravings, Nos. 25, 26, 27, exhibit the front, back, and one of the sides of the monument N, distant twenty feet from the last. It is twelve feet high, four feet on one side, three feet four inches on the other, and stands on a pedestal seven feet square, with its front to the west. There is no altar visible ”

“ To the right of the main door stood a kind of altar, consisting of a block of granite, surmounted and covered by large oak branches freshly cut. A little copper bowl lay on the stone in which seven twigs of mistletoe stood. From above, on the wall, the following inscription looked down:
Abundance and Heaven
Are for the Just and the Pure. ”

“ All antique religion is essentially altar-worship (see Sacrifice) , and for ritual purposes the altar always continued to be the true centre of the sanctuary. But the altar is only a modification of the sacred stone (comp. Priest, vol. xix. p. 726) , and it has already been observed that, even in later times, the chief altar of a sanctuary stood outside the temple. In the oldest and most primitive forms of religion the sacred stone is at once the place where gifts are offered and the material sign of the presence of the deity ”

“ All the old altars remain, though the church is Protestant. There is one in each apse, and one against the west side of the two easternmost of the nave columns. All the altars have closets in their ends, and the one against the south-east column of the nave has a portion of a very good middle-pointed stone reredos and is itself richly panelled below the mensa. Behind another altar in the north-eastern apse, there is the remnant of a very fine middle-pointed rood of wood, which is now nailed up behind a late triptych. ”

“ On one side of the enclosure rises the altar, about sixteen feet square and eight feet high, the ascent to the top being accomplished by means of a stone stairway. The foundation stones and the first few courses give evidence of extreme age. They are as moss-grown and seamed by time as the native rock of the mountain from which they seem to grow. ”

“ It is in fact no more than a simple adaptation of the old notion, that the ark stood upon that stone and that the stone took the place of the altar. To identify the altar in the church and the sacrament with the fundamental events in the life and the teachings of Jesus is in perfect accord with the allegorical and mystical interpretations indulged in since ancient times. The mass in the oriental church has throughout only a symbolical meaning, and the Grail partakes thus of a double interpretation. ”

“ The Cathedral departs from the type of plan just mentioned, but is, I think, the only exception to the rule. It has a very wide nave without aisles some 55 or 60 feet in the clear, but it has been so much repaired and altered that it is now very uninteresting. Good effect is obtained by the very great elevation of the altar which is raised above a crypt, the entrance to which is by flights of steps on each side of the steps which lead up to the choir. The exterior is mainly of brick save at the west end, which has an arcade of stone with a doorway in the centre division.{129}
19. ”

“ The Altar is described as standing "on four globes cut out of the stone,"—now a globe conveys the idea only of a perfect sphere, but from the drawings of the Altar these "globes" are [158] distinctly oval, and consequently represent the form of Eggs and not "globes!" On the Coin above alluded to, the Egg is a principal emblem, and that of life,—and those symbols forming the Corner-stones, or foundation of the Altar, seem to illustrate that the story of the Sculpture represents the very existence,—or rather the birth of the Nation in its present locality, (i. e. Copan) . ”

“ While the dancing-ring is very wonderfully preserved, the moon altar, which is the distinguishing feature of most pre-druidistic piles, is missing. The moon altar in all similar ruins discovered is a huge stone carved in the shape of a new moon. From all evidence we can gather, the victim, or the sacrifice, to term it more fitly, was tied between the horns of these altars, and then sacrificed by the sacred knife that is shown in many carvings. ”

“ There remain two odd cavities, with very small wooden screens on each side the altar, which seem to have been confessionals. The outside is a mixture of grey brick and stone, that has a very venerable appearance. ”

“ In the centre of the inner circle is a stone which is believed once to have been the altar; while beyond the outmost ring, quite away to the northeast upon the open plain, still stands a solitary stone, set up there evidently with some special object by the same unknown builders. Seen under ordinary circumstances, it is difficult to divine its connection with the others; but we are told that once in each year, upon the morning of the longest day, the level shadow of this distant, isolated stone is projected at sunrise to the very centre of the ancient sanctuary, and falls just upon the altar. ”

“ The dimensions appear, as nearly as I can make out, to be precisely the same as at S. Germain, but less than in the S. Chapelle, being about twenty-seven feet six inches in the clear between the groining shafts, and between seventy and eighty feet in length. The original altar of stone, supported on a trefoiled arcading, remains fixed against the east wall. This is six feet five and a quarter inches long by three feet three inches high. In the museum at the Hôtel Cluny, at Paris, one of the most valuable relics is a stone retable, painted and gilded, formerly in this chapel. ”

“ Red and spotted maculation in agates have been utilized by incisori to represent the flame of an altar fire.
Even to this day many of these objects in stone are treasured and valued by men and women in secluded villages in the East; they hold and guard them as religious heirlooms. ”

“ Before it at the distance of about eight feet, is a large block of sculptured stone, which the Indians call an altar. The subject of the front [i. e. of the Idol-obelisk] is a full-length figure, the face wanting beard, and of a feminine cast, though the dress seems that of a man. On the two sides are rows of hieroglyphics [i. e. the sacred or religious language] which probably recite the history of this mysterious personage. Following the wall, is another monument or idol of the same size, and in many respects similar. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And when matins and the first mass was done, there was seen in the churchyard, against the high altar, a great stone four square, like unto a marble stone, and in midst thereof was like an anvil of steel a foot on high, and therein stuck a fair sword naked by the point, and letters there were written in gold about the sword that said thus:—Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England. ”