Try Gratian's Decretum, De consecratione D. 1 c. 26, attributed to an
African council. It is not an exact match, but relics are among the
legitimate evidences that an altar in memory of a martyr is on a legitimate
site. A later annotator, possibly Gratian, however, gave it this
caption: Evertantur altaria que sine sanctorum reliquiis eriguntur.
Tom Izbicki
At 09:37 AM 2/9/2001 +0000, you wrote:
> > 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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