An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship. Altars in Christianity are the focal points upon which eucharistic bread and wine are ...
The Asterisk is one of the holy vessels used in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches. The asterisk symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem.
The Aquamanile is a ewer or jug-type vessel in the form of one or more animal or human figures. It usually contained water for the washing of hands over a basin, which was part of both upper-class meals and the Christian Eucharist. Most surviving examples are in metal, typically copper alloys, as ...
A Chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony. In Christian terms, chalices are used to hold the wine that is believed to become the Blood of Christ.
The humeral veil is one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Rite, also used in some Anglican and Lutheran churches. It consists of a piece of cloth about 2.75 m long and 90 cm wide draped over the shoulders and down the front, normally of silk or cloth of gold. At the ends there are sometimes ...
A flabellum is a fan made of metal, leather, silk, parchment or feathers, intended to keep away insects from the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ and from the priest, as well as to show honour.
A ciborium is a vessel, normally in metal. It was originally a particular shape of drinking cup in Ancient Greece and Rome, but later used to refer to a large covered cup designed to hold hosts for, and after, the Eucharist, thus the equivalent for the bread of the chalice for the wine.
The corporal is a square white linen cloth, now usually somewhat smaller than the breadth of the altar, upon which the chalice and paten, and also the ciborium containing the smaller hosts for the Communion of the laity, are placed during the celebration of the Catholic Eucharist.
