Advice and steps on building a home altar/chapel

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AltarSoldier

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I see some people on here and on IG have home chapels or tiny altars. Some even say a priest they know very well sometimes swings by their houses and says mass. Can anyone steer me in the right direction on making a small chapel or altar that can be suitable for mass? Do I need to contact my priest or bishop for special permission for mass to be said at home? Any prayers or specific blessings that need to be done?
 
AltarSoldier said:
I see some people on here and on IG have home chapels or tiny altars. Some even say a priest they know very well sometimes swings by their houses and says mass. Can anyone steer me in the right direction on making a small chapel or altar that can be suitable for mass? Do I need to contact my priest or bishop for special permission for mass to be said at home? Any prayers or specific blessings that need to be done?
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I prefer a simple setup. I’ve seen some pretty elaborate (but highly disorganized) home altars in Filipino homes, and pictures of similar looking setups in Hispanic American homes.

I like the simplicity of English setups. Mine consists simply of a standing crucifix, a beeswax candle, and two icons: of Christ Pantocrator and of the Theotokos (okay so I like the Byzantine touch as well). On a floating shelf on the wall above that I have an image of our Lady of Walsingham, thereby making my little prayer corner a Lady Chapel of sorts.
 
porthos11 said:
home altars
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is there any limitations on what makes an altar an altar (minus the use of oil and priest or bishop)? can it be any type of table or if one is intending for it to sometimes be used for mass a specific kind of material or length?
 
@Dolphin not always.

OP, I know it was more popular practice in the past to have Mass served at someone’s private chapel. I don’t know for situation nowadays.
Just to mention that I know some people who made chapel in their yard (mostly next to the fence so anyone who is walking by can pray) in honor of some saint or Mary because their prayer was answered (popular in Eastern Europe villages and I am not sure about rest of the world).
 
I have done mass in homes with priests before and they have used coffee tables if I am remembering correctly
 
tradntru said:
Can somebody educate me on the purpose and practice of having altars in your own home?
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I suppose it harkens back to the days of the house church in Rome, but also of house masses said in England during the Reformation. My house has a priest hole.

OK not really, I live in a mid-century rambler, but one can dream.
 
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@AltarSoldier

Perhaps you may wish to consider purchasing a portable altar instead of building a chapel?
Portable altars

^^ There are various models shown on the site, and there is also a price list at the top of the webpage too.
 
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tradntru said:
Can somebody educate me on the purpose and practice of having altars in your own home? I understand having “prayer corners” or other special designated spaces to recollect and spend time with God and worship Him and such, but I don’t understand the need or the history for having an actual altar in your own home to say Mass and such. (Perhaps this pandemic would be one but you’d still need a priest who’s able and willing.) Sorry and forgive me if this comes across as ignorant and offensive.
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It is neither ignorant nor offensive.

The term “home altar” is used loosely to describe the home’s prayer corner(s) or shrine. It’s not an altar in the strict sense of “where sacrifice is offered.”

No one should be planning their home with an altar for celebrating Mass. If on the rare occasion that Mass is celebrated in a home, any worthy table will do. Each diocese has its policies on Masses celebrated outside of sacred spaces.
 
In the Byzantine Tradition, the antimension IS a portable altar.
 
Could you please post a picture of your set-up? I’m moving and want to have an icon corner/prayer area.
 
I knew that Latin priests used the antimension during WWII but didn’t know they were used in the Latin Church centuries ago. Thank you for the great article!
 
I don’t have a home altar or chapel. What I have is a home oratory for chanting the Divine Office. Like Porthos11, I kept it simple based on the Benedictine charism I belong to.

What’s important is that the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours if you prefer), is just that, Liturgy and having a dedicated place for it is great.

Here’s a picture of mine:

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And the Blessed Sacrament chapel at our abbey that inspired it:

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Both also face the same direction, by the way: East.
 
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AltarSoldier said:
Some even say a priest they know very well sometimes swings by their houses and says mass.
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Canon law restricts Masses to sacred places unless in a battlefield or missionary area. By saying Mass in a home, this opens the door to nuptial Masses being said at home.

Can. 932 §1. The eucharistic celebration is to be carried out in a sacred place unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in such a case the celebration must be done in a decent place.
 
Sursumcorda1 said:
By saying Mass in a home, this opens the door to nuptial Masses being said at home.
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Not really. That’s a bit of a leap.
Sursumcorda1 said:
unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise;
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If I’m on my day off and visiting my family, that I want to receive communion is enough of a necessity for me to offer Mass privately in their house, which I do quite often.

-Fr ACEGC
 
I’m not ignoring Canon Law, and I would appreciate if you wouldn’t presume on my motives.

Canon Law is meant to be interpreted pretty broadly. We are not to say Mass without the assistance of some member of the faithful without a just and reasonable cause. It is just and reasonable to say Mass privately for the sake of the communion of the priest. It might then be necessary to say Mass somewhere that isn’t a church with a consecrated altar. I’ve done it dozens of times in the years I’ve been a priest.
 
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I’ve withdrawn that part of my comment, as it was unnecessarily snarky.

My apologies.
 
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Mine is not as classy as @OraLabora’s (I have mine in my undeveloped basement, so it’s quite a bit more makeshift), but I’ve tried to apply principles of simplicity from English, Benedictine, and Byzantine influences. Maybe if I have time, I will drape the wall with a cloth or curtain for a bit more ambience.

Like Ora, it’s primariy for my individual celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, and also faces East.

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