MATERIAL

According to the present discipline of the Church the Altar must be made of stone, or at least that part of it upon which the chalice and its appurtenances are placed. When not entirely of stone the rubrics require that an appendage called an antipendium should hang always in front of it to cover its anterior surface.

In ancient times, especially during the days of persecution, altars were for the most part made of wood; in fact, it would have been loss of time and useless to make them of any more durable material, for the reason that the pagans might have desecrated and destroyed them at any moment; but after peace was restored to the Church the costliest materials sometimes entered into their composition.