Church Requirements for Altars

Planning a new altar or altar rail means getting the liturgical details right as well as the design. This page gathers the Church requirements and traditions that parishes most often ask us about. Your pastor or diocesan office of worship can confirm what your altar needs before it is dedicated or blessed.

Types of altars

A high altar is the main altar of a traditional church. It usually stands at the back of the sanctuary with a reredos (the carved screen behind it), gradines (the steps that hold candlesticks) and often the tabernacle.

An altar of sacrifice is a freestanding altar on which Mass is offered. Many parishes place one in front of an existing high altar, and it can be used for Mass facing the people or ad orientem.

Side altars flank the main altar and are traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, or used for relics and patron saints.

An altar of repose holds the Blessed Sacrament after the Holy Thursday Mass.

Fixed and movable altars

Church law distinguishes a fixed altar, which is attached to the floor, from a movable altar. A movable altar may be made of any solid material suited to liturgical use. Church law treats the two differently.

The altar top (mensa)

By long tradition, and as the Code of Canon Law (can. 1236) still provides, the mensa (table) of a fixed altar is made of stone, ideally a single natural stone, while the base can be another material. In the United States, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (no. 301) also allows worthy, solid, well-crafted wood, provided the altar is structurally immobile.

Relics and the altar stone

Church law preserves the custom of placing relics of martyrs or other saints beneath a fixed altar (can. 1237). For the Traditional Latin Mass, a wooden altar is traditionally fitted with a consecrated altar stone containing relics, set into the mensa. Parishes celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass may also need space for gradines, a tabernacle and a crucifix.

Dedication, blessing and approvals

Church law calls for an altar to be dedicated or blessed, and a fixed altar is dedicated by the bishop. If your altar will be dedicated, tell us early so the design accounts for it. Most projects also go through the pastor and often a diocesan worship or building commission.

Communion rails

An altar rail marks the edge of the sanctuary, dividing it from the nave, and gives the faithful a place to kneel for Holy Communion. Church documents allow the faithful to receive kneeling (see Redemptionis Sacramentum, 90–91). Many parishes, especially those offering the Traditional Latin Mass, are reinstalling rails that were removed in past decades as part of returning their sanctuaries to a traditional design.

How we build for these requirements

  • Our wood altars can be built with a recess for an altar stone or for relics.
  • The tops of our marble altars are a single solid slab, and a relic space can be added on request.
  • We work directly with architects and diocesan commissions.

Tell us what your pastor or diocese requires when you request a quote.

References

  • Code of Canon Law, cann. 1235–1237 (fixed and movable altars, the stone mensa, relics)
  • General Instruction of the Roman Missal (USA), no. 301
  • Redemptionis Sacramentum, nos. 90–91

Related pages

Browse our wood altars, marble altars, wood altar rails, marble altar rails and custom church projects, or read our altar and altar rail FAQs.