> Can any member of the list advise me at which Council it was that it was
> decreed
> that altars had to contain relics, as I have been unable to trace it?
> I have tried The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church and the Catholic
> Encyclopaedia but found only that the English Synod of Chalcut decreed in
> canon 22 that where relics could not
> be found consecrated Hosts could be used and that it became the rule not to
> dedicate a church without relics in the altar.
Dear John,
I'm not sure if it deals with altars at that early a period,
but you might find something in Julian Gardner, 'Altars, Altarpieces,
and Art History: Legislation and Usage', in Eve Borsook and Fiorella
Superbi Gioffredi (eds), Italian Altarpieces 1250-1550 (Oxford,
1994), pp. 5-40.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
PS. It was splendid to meet you last summer in Bristol!
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