Altar Cloths

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sacristan1

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Hi Everyone:
I am the lead Sacristan at my parish. I have found that I have so very much to learn and am always looking for new information with regard to taking care of the most Sacred vessels and linens. My question is this: A parishioner has just recently made a beautiful altar covering to be used for Adoration. It is made of a very ornate fabric which has a lining. I have checked the GIRM and the Redemptionis Sacramentum and can’t find anything saying whether an altar covering can be lined. I have covered this with a regular linen altar cloth for Mass which precedes Adoration. Can someone tell me if there are any rubrics that covers this topic and where I can find out if we can place a lined altar covering directly on the altar?

Thanks for your help.

Sacristan1:)
 
It sounds like what you are doing is fine, as long as a plain white cloth is uppermost during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I have seen lined/colored/patterned altar cloths used, but always covered with a white cloth. From the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM):
  1. Out of reverence for the celebration of the memorial of the Lord and for the banquet in which the Body and Blood of the Lord are offered on an altar where this memorial is celebrated, there should be at least one white cloth, its shape, size, and decoration in keeping with the altar’s design. When, in the dioceses of the United States of America, other cloths are used in addition to the altar cloth, then those cloths may be of other colors possessing Christian honorific or festive significance according to longstanding local usage, provided that the uppermost cloth covering the mensa (i.e., the altar cloth itself) is always white in color.
 
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