Altar coverings (since the Middle Ages) in the Roman Catholic Church are: White for Christmas, the ordaining of bishops, etc.; from 24 December till 13 January; green from )3 January to Septuagesima and in Trinity period; red for Easter and for Apostles' and• Martyrs' feasts; black on Good Friday; violet on Ad vent and fast days.
The altar now carries: Crucifix, lights (burning wax candles) first in memory of the Last Supper held at night, but since for fes tivals, weddings, baptisms, etc.; flowers. See also CHALICE, CRUET, OSTENECRIUM, PATEN, PAX, Noted Altars.— Justinian (6th century) pre sented a magnificent altar to the Church of St. Sophie at Constantinople encrusted with pre cious stones and enamels. That at St. Peter's at Rome is no less splendid. The altar in the basilica of St. Ambrose at Milan by Wolvinius (835) is coated with silver plates of repousse work. The oldest extant altar is that found at Auriol (5th century), near Marseilles. The earliest altar with carved antependium is in the church at Cividale (8th century). In St. Mark's Venice, is the famous reredos, °pala d'oro° (10th century) ; it was originally an antepen dium. In Cluny Museum is the golden ante pendiutn presented to Basle cathedral by Em peror Henri Deux. A similar arcaded panel, but of • carved wood, is in the Episcopal Museum of the Minister in Westphalia (12th century). The ciborium altar of St. Apollinari in Classe, near Ravenna, is of the 9th century. The best ciborium example of early Gothic is in the Church of Our Lady in Halberstadt; Ratisbonne and Vienna have two in their cathe drals; Italy has a number of mediaeval cibo rium altars. A magnificent altar by Andrea Ognabene, made for the Cathedral of Pistoja (1316), is of silyer work. A silver antependium (14th century) is in the Museum of St. Maria del Fiore dedicated to St. John, Baptist. A silver altar is in the baptistry of St. John, Florence, by Leonardo and other artists (14th and 15th centuries).
Bibliography.— Arendt, K., 'Sammlung ausgefiihrte Altire' (Luxemburg 1866) ; Au gusti, ‘Denkwiirdigkeiten) (Vol. XI I, Leipzig. 1831) ; Baumgarten, Fritz, 'Der freiburger Hochaltar' (Strassburg 1904) ; Bowerman, Helen Cox, 'Roman Sacrificial Altars' (Lan caster, Pa., 1913) ; Coleman, Caryl, 'Christian Altars and Their Accessories' (in Architectural Record, Vols. IV and V) ; Corblet, de !'Eucharistic' (Paris 1888) ; Ernst, Altare von Olympia' (in KOn. Preuss. Akad. der Wissensrh, Berlin 1882) ; Dearmer, Percy, 'Fifty Pictures of Gothic Altars' (in Alcuin Club collections, London 1910) ; En lart, 'Archeologie francaise' (Paris 1902) ; Fairbank, F. R., 'Portable Altars' (in bourn. Brit. Archa'ol. Assoc., London 1897) ; Hartel, August, 'Altare und Kanzeln' (Berlin 1910) ; Heideloff, Karl Alexander von, 'Der christ licher Altar' (Nuremberg 1838) ; Laib and Schwarz, 'Studien weber die Geschichte des christlichen Altars' (Stuttgart 1857) ; Miinzen berger and Beissel, 'Zur Kenntniss und Wurdigung der mittelalterliche Altare Deutsch lands' (Frankfort-on-the-Main 1890-1901; Reusens, 'Archeologie chretienne) (Paris 1890) ; Roosval, Johnny, in schwedischen Kirchen und Museen by Sculptor Jans Bormann' (Strassburg 1903); Schmidt, 'Der christliche Altar und sein Schmuck' (Regensburg 1871) ; Schreiber, Ellis, 'The Christian Altar' (in American Catholic Quar terly Review, Philadelphia 1906) ; Sydow, Erhart von, 'Die Entwickelungs des figuralen Schmucks der christlichen Altar' (in Zur Kunstgeschichte des Auslandes, Strassburg 1912) ; Tosi and Becchio, 'Altars, Tabernacles and Sepulchral Monuments of the 14th and 15th Centuries Existing at Rome' (Lagny 1843) ; Wright, John, 'Some notable Altars in the Church of England and the American Episco pal Church' (New York 1908) ; Voegelen, M., 'Studien zum Hochaltar von Blaubeuren) (in Monts Heften fur Kunstwissenschaften, Leip zig 1914). _