The Church Handy Dictionary

by Anonymous

ALMS. Relief given out of pity to the poor. In ecclesiastical language, the money collected during the Offertory. Alms should be collected every Sunday, whether there is a communion or not, as the rubric directs. The disposal of the alms rests with the clergyman and churchwardens, when there is an offertory, i.e., when the offertory sentences are read (see Rubric). Collections made at other times seem to be at the Clergyman's sole disposal.

ALTAR; LORD'S TABLE; HOLY TABLE; COMMUNION TABLE. Disputes have frequently arisen as to whether the Holy Table was to be called the Communion Table or the Altar. Bingham writes—"The ancient writers used both names indifferently; some calling it Altar, others the Lord's Table, the Holy Table, the Mystical Table, the Tremendous Table, &c., and sometimes both Table and Altar in the same sentence. Ignatius, Irenaeus, Origan, and Tertullian all call it Altar. It is certain that they did not mean by Altar what the Jews and heathen meant: either an altar dressed up with images, or an altar for bloody sacrifices. In the first sense they rejected altars, both name and thing. But for their own mystical, unbloody sacrifice, as they called the Eucharist, they always owned they had an altar."

In our Prayer Book it is styled the Table, the Holy Table, and the Lord's Table. The phrase Communion Table occurs in the Canons only. The word Altar is used in the Coronation Service.

Bishop Sparrow, one of the reviewers of the Prayer Book in 1662, writes thus:—"That no man take offence at the word Altar, let him know, that anciently both these names, Altar, or Holy Table were used for the same thing; though most frequently the Fathers and Councils use the name Altar. And both are fit names for that holy thing. Por the Holy Eucharist being considered as a sacrifice, in the representation of the breaking of the bread, and the pouring forth of the cup, doing that to the holy symbols which was done to Christ's body and blood, and so showing forth and commemorating the Lord's death, and offering upon it the same sacrifice that was offered upon the cross, or rather the commemoration of that sacrifice, it may fitly be called an Altar; which again is as fitly called an Holy Table, the Eucharist being considered as a Sacrament, which is nothing else but a distribution and application of the sacrifice to the several receivers."

ALTAR CLOTH. The 82nd Canon provides that the Altar be covered with a carpet of silk, or some other decent stuff; also with a fair linen cloth at the time of the ministration. It is usual in many churches to vest the Altar in different colours to mark the various seasons of the Church. Thus at Christmas, Easter, and festivals, other than the feasts of Martyrs, White is used. For Whit Sunday and feasts of Martyrs, Red is used. For Trinity Sunday White is used, but for the Sundays after Trinity, Green. Violet is the colour for Advent, Lent, Rogation Days, and Vigils.

ALTAR LIGHTS, CANDLES. On this subject, Proctor in his book on the Prayer Book says, "No direction was given upon the subject of the Ornaments of the Church in Edward VI.'s First Prayer Book, or in the Act of Uniformity which sanctioned it: but the publication of the Book was immediately followed by Injunctions (1549), condemning sundry popish ceremonies, and among them forbidding to set 'any lights upon the Lord's board at any time.'" This was especially mentioned because the Injunctions of 1547 had forbidden candles before pictures or images, but allowed "only two lights upon the high altar, before the Sacrament, for the signification that Christ is the very true light of the world." Although these Injunctions (1549) have not the authority of Parliament, yet they were undoubtedly issued with the intention of promoting that uniformity in all parts of Public Worship which had been enjoined by statute, and under the large notions of the royal supremacy which then prevailed. They may fairly be considered as affording evidence of the contemporary practice, and of the intention of the authors of the Prayer Book in matters of rites and ceremonies. Persons who yield the amount of authority to these Injunctions (which never became law) which is readily given to others (which were law), consider that candles upon the Communion Table are ornaments which were forbidden in the second year of Edward VI., and therefore are not authorized by our present Rubric. On the other hand, we may conclude from the terms of Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity, and from the Rubric of her Prayer Book, that it was her intention to distinguish between the customs of 1549, represented by Edward's Injunctions of that year, and those which, not being mentioned and forbidden in the statute, might be considered as authorized by the Parliament of 1549. And she certainly gave this practical interpretation to her own law, since in the royal chapel "the cross stood on the altar, and two candlesticks, and two tapers burning." Hook, in his Church Dictionary, says,—"From the time of Edward there never seems to have been a time when the lights were not retained in Cathedral churches, and wherever we might look for an authoritative interpretation of the Law. And to the present day the candles are to be seen on the Altars of almost all Cathedrals. In Collegiate churches, also, they are usually found; and so also in the Chapels Royal, and in the Chapels of several Colleges in Oxford and Cambridge."

ALTAR LINEN. The rubric at the beginning of the Communion Service provides that "The Table, at the Communion-time," is to have a "fair white linen cloth upon it." And a further rubric declares that "What remaineth of the consecrated Elements" is to be covered with "a fair linen cloth." This latter cloth is called a corporal, although some understand a cloth laid on the altar by that name. Other things used in some churches at the time of the celebration are—(1) a chalice-veil, which is a square of silk embroidered and fringed, varying in colour, according to the season, or of transparent material edged with lace. It is used for covering the chalice. (2) The pall, a small square of card-board, with linen on either side, is sometimes used to cover the chalice till after the people have communicated. (3) The burse is a kind of purse or pocket in which the corporal and pall are kept.

ALTAR RAILS. Archbishop Laud, 1640, ordered that the Holy Table should be placed at the east end of the chancel, and protected from rude approach by rails. They do not appear to have been in general use in the Western Church before the Reformation; although it is probable their use in the side chapels of Cathedrals is early. It is hard to say whether by the Latin word cancelli is meant the chancel-screen or the altar-rails, in some cases probably the latter. The use of altar-rails is ancient in the Eastern Church. The space within the rails, where the altar stands, is called the sanctuary.

ALTAR SCREEN. A screen behind the altar.

ALTAR VESSELS. Flagon, Chalice or Cup, and Paten. To these may be added the cyborium, a covered vessel, placed upon the altar of Roman Catholic churches, and holding the consecrated host. Altar vessels from very ancient times have usually been made of the most costly materials which the congregation using them could afford. The flagon appears to be the vessel in which the wine is placed before consecration. The chalice, or cup, that in which it is consecrated, and administered to the people. The paten is the plate on which the bread is consecrated, and from which it is dispensed to the people. A second plate is used for the unconsecrated bread, and is placed, with the flagon, on the Credence Table.