Glass on Altar

[Apostle6]

We have an altar with a wide top - 84"x48" We have down each side a runner and in the front we have both a frontal and a superfrontal. We were not able to find a practical way to secure these so that they did not move around. So we place our altar cloth over all of these and then we have a piece of glass on top of everything which holds everything in place very well. The candles and cross are on top of the glass along with the corporal and everything else. I cannot find anything that says that we cannot use the glass. Is there something in tradition or in the rubrics that I am missing that says we should not have the glass on the altar?

 

[malphono]

Traditionally there were 3 altar cloths, although nowadays I guess one is sufficient. The altar cloths are meant to do double-duty, meaning keep dust off the mensa and absorb any spills. In the situation described, it would make more sense to me to place the altar cloth(s) atop the glass. Then there would be no problem at all.

 

[pianistclare]

We have an altar with a wide top - 84"x48" We have down each side a runner and in the front we have both a frontal and a superfrontal. We were not able to find a practical way to secure these so that they did not move around. So we place our altar cloth over all of these and then we have a piece of glass on top of everything which holds everything in place very well. The candles and cross are on top of the glass along with the corporal and everything else. I cannot find anything that says that we cannot use the glass. Is there something in tradition or in the rubrics that I am missing that says we should not have the glass on the altar?

If it were me, I’d sew the edges of the frontal and the superfrontal to a plain white piece of linen that hangs down the back of the altar and stitch within the hem, some drapery weights on that back side…they are good for this purpose.
Then you could simply place the main altar cloth (plain white or decorative white) over top of those weighted pieces. It should hold pretty well. I have never seen glass used…that would be a question for some of the priests here…I would think it wouldn’t be the optimum thing to do…
Peace.

 

[L_Marshall]

I understand your difficulties. When altars were secured to walls or raredoses, there were usually special clamps that held the cloths in place, but I haven’t seen any ways of incorporating these into a free-standing altar.

I would suggest trying to place weights into the sides of the altar cloth that hang off. If the ends are heavy enough, and evenly weighted, it should hold it down.

I understand using the weight of the glass to hold things down, but I think it may be preferable if the glass isn’t used.

That having been said, the one thing that must be above the glass is the corporal. This cloth cannot be underneath.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Fr. Edward McNamara (who often answers questions like this on ZENIT) thinks that such a cover should not be used during the Mass (link).