The Iola register., 1885-12-11
ABOUT AFFAIRS.
A Few words on sahjss4 AAsat which
Bot Little r Known.

a EeW words on Q euhlOs4 AboAt which
Bvt Iittle b Known.
However little people may understand
about matters architectural, archeolog-
ical, and ecclesiastical, they usually
fancy that at any rate they know all
about affairs. The altar, they would say,
is an O5long table resting upon sub
structure of steps, and placed either
against or near wall. At the back it
should have retable or suitable or su-
peraltar, which may or may not be sur
mounted by rercdos. Roman Catho-
lies, they would add. either make the
whole of the table of stone or let small
oblong slab into a wooden table. This
would be an accurate description OF
many, and probably most altars; but II
would not apply to large number OF
ancient altars, or ''autcrs," as they used
tu be called.
To begin with, . very large number
OF old affairs were square. There were
many such in England, and there are
some still remaining in Italy. The altar.
stone which used to be let into the large
wooden table of many of the affairs in
old English churches was also sometimes
oblong and sometimes square, and even
now in the Roman Catholic Church al
tar-stones are made either square or Oh.
long as convenience may suggest. Be-
sides square and Oblong affairs, there is
at the present moment ut least one
semicircular altar in use in Italy; but this
shape is very rare. The ancient British
affairs were probably small square slabs
resting upon two columns, or even upon
one. It is hard to assign an exact date
to the introduction of retables; but it
is probable that they were rare before
the reformation. and there are engrav-
ings of Roman Catholic altars of later
date on which they are wanting. Arch
aeolOgists have occasionally been misled
into supposing rctablcs to be of ancient
use by finding the word superaltar in
early mediaeval documents, where it
means a portable altar that might be
laid upon any table. Now, of course, it
is used in different sense. A shelf or
ledge was sometimes placed at the back
of high affairs in the sixteenth century.
when it used to be called kalpas. but
on side affairs it was probably very un-
usual in those days. Steps before the
altar were not only unused, but actually
prohibited in England in the early part
of the seventh century. although they
were introduced soon aftcrward. 1t Is
certain that most of the affairs in this
country were formerly very small. The
side altars were sometimes even fastened
with brackets to the pillars of the church,
and they were occasionally placed in the
gallery or the tr;forium that ran round
.he church. The number of affairs in
some of the churches was very large in
British and Saxon times. A document
written about 725 mentions fourteen
affairs in one church, and another eighth
century document states that there were
in York Cathedral thirty altars.
Portable altars-aitarid gestGtoriG, or
observation-disclosures used at any rate in
the days of St. Anselm. Over these,
with the leave of the ordinary. mass
could be said in private house or else
where. In some armies portable al
tar, few inches square, used to be laid
upon large drum, covered with flag,
and on this mass was said in camps. At
one time it was not unusual to make
these small portable altars of precious
stones, such rs jasper or jet, and to set
them in gold or silver. On the other
hand, during times of prosecutions, both
in England and in France, they were
often made as plain and as unlike altar
stones as was compatible with their sa-
cred purpose-sOme being not unlike
children's plates--lest their discovery
should lead to the conviction of their
possessors; and although the Roman
Catholic Church requires that relics of
saints should be placed in even the
smallest portable altars, this rule was
dispensed with in certain cases during
he French Revolution, not only for the
safety of their owners, but also as
preeaution against the sacrilege which
would probably follow their discovery. In
;he Decretals a portable altar is called a
viaticum. Ordinary altars have borne a
good many names. AS we have al
ready said, they used until compara-
lively late times, to be called Guters;
shough they had the earlier English
name of sUoefod, Wemede, or WcUed.
Goods board was common name for