Canopy, Altar
canopy, altar
(Greek: konops, gnat: originally used as a protection against insects)
An ornamental covering of cloth, stone, wood, or metal, used to crown an altar , throne, pulpit, statue, etc. In liturgical use: the structure covering an altar , called also baldachinum ; the covering suspended over the throne occupied by dignitaries of the Church or princes; the covering, always white, under which the Blessed Sacrament is sometimes borne in processions. For transporting the Blessed Sacrament from one altar to the other, or for taking the Holy Viaticum to the sick, it is customary in some places to use a small canopy with a single staff. Relics excepting rarely those of the True Cross or some instrument of the Passion are not carried under a canopy in processions. A processional canopy is used for a bishop at his solemn reception into his cathedral city and when he makes his first pastoral visit to any town or parish within his jurisdiction.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Canopy, Altar
The “Caeremoniale Episcoporum (I, xii, 13), treating of the ornaments of the altar, says that a canopy (baldachinum) should be suspended over the altar. It should be square in form, sufficiently large to cover the altar and the predella on which the celebrant stands, and if it can easily be done, the colour of the material, silk velvet or other cloth, with which it is covered, should vary with the colour of the ornaments of the altar. It is either suspended from the ceiling by a movable chain, so that it may be lowered or raised when necessary, or it may be attached to the wall, or to the reredos at the back of the altar. It may also be a stationary structure, and this is usually the case in large churches, and then it is made of marble, stone, metal, or wood beautifully carved and overlaid with gold or silver, in the form of a cupola erected on four pillars. In liturgy it is called the ciborium. The canopy or ciborium is, according to the decision of the Cong. Sac. Rit., to be erected over the altar of the Blessed Sacrament (23 May, 1846), and over the other altars of the church (27 April, 1697), but as contrary custom has so far prevailed that even in Rome it is usually erected only over the high altar, and the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. The purpose of this canopy is to protect the altar from dust or other matter falling upon it from the ceiling, which, being usually very high, cannot be conveniently or easily cleaned. On solemn festivals, or at special solemnities, a temporary canopy is sometimes placed over an altar in or outside the church. The framework on which such a canopy is erected is called the “altar-herse”, a word probably derived from hearse, a frame covered with cloth, and formerly set up over a corpse in funeral solemnities.
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A.J. SCHULTE Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler Image scanned by Wm Stuart French, Jr.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York