1. Early and Western Church: By paramentum was meant in the Middle Ages the possessions of the churches in the shape of materials which served in the cultus, including the altar vessels and carpets and hangings. But in the course of time the word became differentiated and carried only the idea of textiles other than vestments.
r. The In the larger and richer churches large General quantities of these materials accumu-
Structure. lated, as inventories prove. In archi tecture the models for the early Church were found generally in classical antiquity, and these forms governed the development of the pars, menta; the entrance first demanded treatment, then the intercolumnar spaces, then the choir, and so on, hangings being applied. This was very early. For the transition to the Middle Ages the Liber pon tificalis (q.v.) is a rich source, showing, as it does, that, e.g., Adrian T. assigned to St. Peter's sixty seven, to St. Paul's seventy-two, to S. Maria Mag giore's forty-four altar cloths, carpets, and hang ings, and to other churches in proportion, the material being silk, half-silk, and linen. The orient was the source whence these materials were drawn, the ornamentation being of geometrical figures, plants, Biblical illustrations, and figures from hagi ology, while the cross was especially affected. When architecture emancipated itself from the old models, adornment with these materials developed; the choir and the side chapels especially came in for ornamentation, though on festival occasions nave and entrance afforded place for carpets and hang ings, while the Altar (q.v., III.) gave itself easily to treatment. When these materials were made in the West, the stuff used was wool or linen, fashioned upon earlier models, the monastic institutions being places of manufacture, while later the cities took it up. In the manufacture embroidery took a large, sometimes a luxurious part, at first upon oriental models, but afterward in more independent style. In the fourteenth century needlework on the Rhine, in Burgundy, and in Flanders reached its highest development. While naturally at first the models used were those from the East, in which the ani mals employed in decorations (griffin, peacock, eagle, lion) testified to the derivation, the tendency to independence was strong; so ornamentation based upon Scriptural stories, upon ecclesiastical material, and even drawn from common life, because usual. Some of the results are impressive, and follow the lead of Painting (q.v.). The Renaissance, too, had its influences both in weaving and in embroidery.While the decoration of the structure as such was being developed, the individual parts also received attention. Naturally, among these the altar was emphasized. By early custom the altar table
Parables o/ our l"d, L Vale., Mlaburgh, 1eSM-lib; b. Goebel, Die Parabeln Jesu, Goths, 1880, Eng. trawl., Edinburgh, 1884; S. D. F. Salmond, Parables of our Lord, ib. 1893; W. H. Thomson, The Parables and their Homes, New York, 1895; B. W. Martin, Practical Studies on the Parables of our Lord, London, 1897; 1. Stoekmeyer, ExeDetische and praktisehe Erkldrunp auspewdhlter Gleichnisse Jesu, ed. B. Stockmeyer, Basel, 1897; C. A. Bugge, Die Haupt-Pambeln Jesu, mit edner Einleitunp aber die Methode der Parabeln-Ausleyung, Giessen, 1903; C. Ricketts, Parables from the Gospels, New York, 1903; P. Fiebig, Alljftdischs Gleichnisse and die Gleichnisse Jesu, Tiibingen, 1904; G. C. Morgan The Parables of the Kingdom, New York, 1907; and literature on the Life of Christ, and the commentaries on the Gospels.
PARABOLANOI: A brotherhood at Alexandria in the fifth oenturv devntad to tha enm of tha %&L-
was covered with white linen, which fell with a greater or a lesser margin over the edge. This overhang easily lent itself to decoration either by embroidery or in the weaving. In the development of the cloth covering of the altar s. Separate there was by the Middle Ages the
Parts. greatest advance, in the larger struc tures the materials being very rich silks or cloth of gold, often richly figured. The gen eral development was away from the early simplicity, and the structure itself of the altar and its appurte nances changed so that t6re were costly additions in the way of shelves and suspended parts made of gold or silver plate or leaf, adorned even with precious stones. In connection with these the hangings took on new importance and magnificence, were used often to set off the other decorations, and were hung between the pillars and at the sides. For the holding of the hangings framework of wood or iron was often employed. Present liturgical prescrip tions of the Roman Catholic Church, which have their antecedents in the Middle Ages, require three linen altar cloths, two cover the altar table, while the third covers the entire altar and falls nearly to the foot. Upon the stone lies the chrismal, serving really as a protection for the other cloths. The service of the altar further requires the palla cor Porcalis, a linen cloth about twenty-three inches square, used by the priest after the consecration of the bread to spread the latter upon and after to wrap it up. While it was formerly used also for the cup, the latter has now its own covering, the palla calicis, from which is to be distinguished the velum calicis which conceals the cup till the beginning of the offertory. Other pieces which have been em ployed were the Palls dominicalis and the purifica torium, the latter'a fine linen cloth for cleansing the cup.In the Ambo and Chancel (qq.v.) the readingdesk was adorned with a narrow piece of cloth which hung down in front, in festal seasons the ornamentation was more elaborate. But in early and medieval times ambo and chan-
3. Ambo eel were decorated rather with plas and Chancel. tic material. In the early Church, as baptism was generally of adults and by immersion, the baptismal font was naturally enclosed by hangings; if the baptistery had col umns about it, the hangings were suspended be tween the columns. The episcopal chair lent itself in festal seasons to this kind of adornment, espe cially after the thirteenth century when its position was changed. In the Middle Ages there was in use a large curtain shutting off the choir from the nave during fasting seasons, often ornamented with scenes from the passion. Carpets were a direct in heritance from early times and were used in the choir, and these were until a late period brought from the East or patterned after oriental models. The Western Church lacked prescriptions regard ing all these adornments, and freedom in materials, color, and design was therefore exercised. The free dom of the early Middle Ages in all these matters has vanished before the growing restrictions of liturgical directions, with the result that a certain monotony has come in. This has in recent times,creation and the Paradise, found much that was derogatory of God, Paradise was a picture of the human soul, in which flourish the seeds of Christian virtues; or a picture of heaven, wherein the " trees " represent the angels, and the " rivers " the outgoings of wisdom and other virtues. He did not, however, deny a literal Paradise; he only sought in allegory the harmonization of the Mosaic and New-Testament conceptions. To Ambrose, the Pauline Paradise was the Christian soul. He also distinguished between the literal and the Pauline Paradise.
In the second place, Paradise was interpreted mystically. The Mosaic and the New-Testament ,nn,nann*.o*.;nna of 'P.-,I;- -- -n-e;Ae..,.a;.7....
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BIBLIOGRAPHY: Memoirs (ed. Mrs. Pattison), London, 1885; L. A. Tollemache, Recollections of Pattison, ib. 1885; Althaus, in Temple Bar, Jan.. 1885; DNB, xliv. 58-83; literature cited under ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.
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