15. DETAILS COMMON TO MAJOR AND MINOR CHAPELS AND ALTARS
After briefly furnishing instructions regarding the minor chapels and altars, the elements that main and minor chapels and altars have in common and which are to be respected in construction will now follow.
The altars must not be of wood, but of stone or brick. They must be solidly built in all their parts, without any openings or holes, in which anything could be stored or concealed, on any side.
Altars supported by four or more columns or stone corner piers, as seen in the province of Milan, will however not be prohibited. To the contrary it will be well that the altars, even if built in solid masonry, be supported at the corners by piers of this sort, so that the part consecrated with chrism, if in brick will not easily crumble away. Even so nothing should be placed beneath them.
The individual altars, including the space occupied by the celebrating priest, which are not completely covered by a vault or a coffered ceiling, or with a vault that is so high that it cannot be easily and often cleaned, will also be protected by a baldachin known as “capocielo”.
This can consist of four columns, if it is the high altar, in marble or solid stone, or even in brickwork, or of two columns or some other adequate support if it is a minor or side altar, not far from the wall, towards the interior of the church, one on the right side and one on the left. The baldachin, vaulted or of some other shape, or the inlaid wooden panels or decorously painted blue cloth, will be set on the columns.
The baldachin, whether of wood or cloth, will be suspended by iron chains attached to the ceiling or the wall, or by some other solid structure. Whatever the case, it will be large enough to completely cover the altar and the priest celebrating Mass, so as to protect both from dust and any dirt that may fall from up high.
The covering will be neither too close to, nor too high from, the altar, as required by decorum, so that it can also be conveniently and easily cleaned.
The cruet niche
A niche lined where possible with marble or solid stone will be made, well and with care, in the wall behind the altar, on the side where the Epistle is read.
It will be two cubits above the floor, sixteen ounces wide, twenty-four high, and will be horizontally divided by a small shelf of marble or stone. The lower part will serve to dispose of the water with which the priest, during the rite, washes his hands. Therefore it will have a small hole at the center, through which the water can drain into a small cistern put in below. The upper part will be used to hold the tray with cruets, during Mass.
Since the main altar is sometimes rather far from the back wall, against which the choir stalls are often set, and if therefore the niche cannot be set in the place indicated, a stone basin, nicely decorated, in which to pour the water, can be set in its stead against the wall on the epistle side, or in some place near, or further from, the altar, as long of course as it does not spoil the allover effect.
The iron nail on which to hang the biretta
On the Epistle side, near the niche discussed above, or in some other suitable place, there will be an iron nail with some ornament, preferably in brass, upon which to hang the biretta of the celebrating priest. It will not be more than two cubits above the floor.
The bell
Every altar will have a small bell attached to the side wall on the side where the Gospel is read. It will be equipped with a cord long enough so that at the elevation of the Host the cleric can ring it by pulling hard. If the altar has no chapel, the bell will be at a distance and will project as much as possible from the wall, so that the cord will not be in the way of the altar or the priest.
With regard to the high altar, it will be more convenient to have the cleric use the portable bell, brought from the sacristy, rather than the suspended bell. There is therefore no reason to hang a bell near the high altar, especially in the larger churches.
Railings enclosing chapels and altars
On the front part at the entrance to every chapel, including the main chapel, iron railings will be set on the topmost step. They will be three cubits high, or even more where it is advisable that they be safer and more secure.
Where possible, all the railings must be decorated at the top and bottom and in the middle with ornamental motifs, such as small pillars or small vase-shaped swellings, well made, to obtain a nice aesthetic effect.
If the chapel is octagonal or hexagonal, so that it can be larger, there will still be railings on the topmost step, which are in keeping with the shape of the chapel.
The rather artistic ironwork on the lower part, about a cubit high, will be compact so that dogs cannot enter.
There will be a double gate at the center of the railing. It will also be of iron and in the same style, and will close on both sides with bolt and lock.
Where finding the amount of iron needed for the chapel railings is difficult, then small columns in marble or solid stone, if that material is available, can be used. Called “balustrio” or balustrade, it is surmounted by a cornice, and is much lower than the railings, and will enclose and decorate the front part of the chapels.
In those churches, chapels or altars where the limited funds make it impossible to have either iron railings or balustrades in marble or stone to enclose and decorate as described above, and as the Bishop sees fit and with his permission, finely turned wood can be used. The wooden barriers must be much lower and simpler than the iron railings and will have a molding at the top as decoration.
Where the chapels of the minor altars are large enough to hold a certain number of faithful during Mass, even if they already have iron railings at the entrance, they must also be furnished with wooden barriers inside, near the altar. These barriers will enclose the altar and keep the crowd at a distance from the celebrating priest, leaving the space necessary for the assistant cleric.
The wooden molding of the altar
A small molding in wood no higher than three fingers will be added to each footpace [where it is contiguous with the altar], including that of the main altar. It will surround it on three sides, so that on the front the lower ends of the frontal and at the sides those of the altar cloths will be hidden under the molding. It will also be used there where the footpace projects only on the front of the altar.
The frame of the altar
A wooden structure, called “telare” [frame], will also be used for the altar, by means of which the frontal stretched and hung on small hooks will be fitted to the altar.
The frame will be made of oak or walnut laths, smoothly polished, four ounces wide, and made so as to surround the altar table on the front and on both sides. The ends of the frame will be nailed or inserted into the wall against which the altar is set.
There will be two supports for the frame, also formed of walnut or oak laths, one at the front right corner, the other at the front left corner of the altar. Both must be four ounces wide. Where the altar is at rather a distance from the wall, the frame will enclose the altar on all sides, and there will be two other supports at the back corners.
On the top at the level of the altar table the frame will have a few slightly hollow indentations, in each of which will be a slender hooked nail on which the cords or rings of the frontal can be hung, but it must not rise above the surface of the altar. One of these indentations must be centered, and the others, on either side, in groups of two or three, or more, depending on the size of the altar, can be at equal intervals from each other.
The wooden gradine at the back part of the altar
There can be only one wooden gradine [altar shelf] on the back part of the table of the minor altar.
It will be as long as the altar, eight ounces wide, and just as high. There can also be one on the high altar, if it is only two cubits or less from the back wall, In that case one or more gradines, of decorous aspect, can be built, as long as the movement around the altar under this structure is not hindered.
The table of the high altar
Particular care should be devoted to the altar table, in marble or solid stone, of the high altar in any church, cathedral, collegiate or parish church, and also of the minor altar which is to be consecrated.
Where possible it should be as long and wide as the altar. Where it is not possible to have one of this width, it must still be at least one and a half cubits wide. As for the length, it will equal that of the altar. If, for particular characteristics of the region, a table of the same size as the altar cannot be found, it can be completed at the back, where a piece is missing, with cement or brickwork.
The relic niche in the altar to be consecrated
A sepulcher, fourteen or sixteen ounces large, is to be made at the front or back of the altar, below the altar table. Or, depending on the criteria of consecration, prescribed in the Pontifical book, which the Bishop may prefer to use, a sepulcher-like depression will be made in the side supports of the altar table, with the same function, but in a much smaller space. The sacred relics will be placed in the sepulcher or in the depression when the altar is consecrated.
The sepulcher is to be closed with a marble or solid door-like stone panel, on which a cross is carved, along with the names of the holy relics concealed in the altar. Where there is no sepulcher, but a depression, this inscription will be engraved on one side of the altar or on the table. The depression in the table will also be tightly closed by a small marble panel, which does not project at all above the altar table itself.
The altar table and the waxcloth
Even if part of the consecrated altar table is in brick, it will be completely covered by waxcloth, secured with nails to the prescribed frame and inserted therein.
The top of each unconsecrated altar will be covered by a table in well-smoothed wooden panels, sufficiently large to cover it completely.
A portable altar will be set into the central part equidistant from the sides of the table and no more than eight ounces away from the front. The length of this portable altar will not run from left to right, but will go from the front to the back. It will be set into the table so that it barely projects from the surface so that the celebrating priest may distinguish it by touch.
The stone of the portable altar
The top part of the stone of the portable altar will have a cut on all sides towards the top surface, called “smussum” [bevel], half a finger wide crosswise. The stone will be twenty ounces long and sixteen ounces wide, in addition to the size of the case into which it is set.
This case will be made of a single walnut panel, two ounces or more thick, depending on the thickness of the stone.
The stone will be set into this panel, which will be hollowed out on top from all sides in proportion to the length and thickness of the stone. The beveled edge will be covered by the projecting edge of the hollowed panel. The known names of the holy relics will be clearly inscribed on the case.
When a consecrated altar has to be moved, the following criteria may be used so as not to have to reconsecrate it. It must be carefully removed from its place after having been encased in closely fitting wooden boards and panels, so that the support, raised from the floor of the church, does not in the least become detached from the altar table, but remains perfectly joined and adherent, so as not to violate the consecration.
Altars that are narrower and shorter than as prescribed in shape, can be widened or lengthened with additions in stone, brick or wood, carefully and appropriately made and set at the sides or front, whichever is most useful. If they are lower than they should be, they can be raised by means of a table high enough to let them come up to the established height. A consecrated stone of the prescribed form will be embedded in this table.