Portable Altars Through the Centuries

Guest post by Fr Andrew Marlborough

Here is the latest piece from Fr Andrew Marlborough, a priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, based in Germany. He has continued to scour auction houses and museum catalogs on both sides of the Atlantic for interesting pieces of liturgical furnishings. Fr Andrew writes:

Some of you may have seen the articles I wrote previously about portable altars. One of these detailed the design and manufacture of a new portable altar. The other article looked at historical examples used by military chaplains in the two World Wars.

Since then, I have conducted further research and monitored examples on the open market. This has been fascinating and has revealed a longer, more established tradition than I initially realized, as well as a wide variety of designs.

The tradition of portable altars began in earnest during the Medieval period. Surviving examples from this time are very rare and often in museums. For these early pieces, I would direct readers to the excellent work of Dr. Sarah C. Luginbill. She has cataloged more than 120 medieval portable altars, as well as studying 20th-century examples used by military chaplains. For more information, see her website: www.medievalportablealtars.com

What follows is a selection of examples from the 16th century to the 20th century. The first group are table-top altars and are far more portable. The second group are full pieces of furniture which can be more or less easily transported to different locations.

The first table-top example is a rather crude but historically important 16th century English portable altar. Its significance derives from its use by missionary priests under persecution during the English Reformation. It originates from Devon, and Bishop Vaughan of Plymouth gave it to Charles Weld in 1874. The Welds were an important recusant family who later built the shrine to Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs and St Ignatius at Chideock in Dorset. The family still cares for this beautiful little church, which has a small museum where the portable altar is kept.

Photo credit: Chideock Church

The basic design appears similar to late medieval table-top box designs. It is designed to sit on a surface and open for us. The lifting cover reveals a mensa with an integral altar stone. The interior cover functions as a reredos with applied altar cards. Below the mensa is a cavity for storage of sacred vessels and other items. It is compact, measuring around 70cm x 30cm x 15cm when closed.

The next example is a more sophisticated 18th-century tabletop piece made for Spanish royal patronage. It is currently housed in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Spain. It is a rare documentary piece bearing the signature of the court painter, Andres de la Calleja (1705-1785), and is dated 1734. Interestingly, Calleja also manufactured other portable altars. This shows the popularity of these objects and a certain specialization in manufacture.

(Credit: Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando)

The whole structure is finer and more ornate than other extant table-top altars. It is also large for this type, measuring 224cm in length. When closed, the box is ornately decorated with studwork and locks, and carries handles at each end. The top opens to reveal a sumptuous velvet-lined interior with a painted reredos triptych by Calleja. The central panel shows the Trinity and Holy Family with Saints Anne and Joachim. The right panel depicts Saint Francis, and the left panel shows Saint Anthony of Padua.

The challenge of making a portable altar is creating the aesthetic of a full-sized altar, and the necessary ritual space, in a compact size. This can range from very simple practical examples to highly ornate pieces. The Spanish altar above represents a high point of this type. It could be fruitful to study the other portable altars by Andres de la Cajella in more depth.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Portable Altars at Auction; Guest Post by Andrew Marlborough

This week, I present another guest article by my friend, Andrew Marlborough, who worked in the art gallery business for 10 years before joining seminary in England. The hope here is that more people will start to look at auction houses so that such pieces might remain in Catholic hands.

Andrew writes: It was a great joy to discover the superb portable altars crafted by Rick Murphey at St Joseph’s Apprentice, which Dr Peter Kwasniewski has already written about.

The inspiration for these most likely came from examples used by First and Second World War Catholic and Anglican military chaplains. These were often cleverly designed to fold into a small flush-sided rectangular shape and be as strong and lightweight as possible, with compartments for candles, chalice, paten, linens etc. Several surviving examples have appeared at auction in the UK over the past year, at good value.

The first was sold by John Goodwin auctioneers in Ledbury in October 2020. It was of plain form but made of fine oak and velvet-lined. The interior contained a small silver chalice and paten, along with a host-box. An accompanying letter of provenance affirmed that it had been used by a chaplain in WWI. It realized just £190 (excluding buyer’s premium). 

On 7th October this year, Swan Fine Art in Tetbury offered a very fine example, also in oak, and with a beautifully carved reredos. The interior was velvet-lined to accommodate many accessories, including a silver chalice and paten, spoon, candlesticks, host-boxes, cruets, and linens. The case was made by Mowbray & Co., of Oxford and London, a well-known firm for small ecclesiastical work, whilst the silver was by Frederick Wray of London and hallmarked for 1910. It sold for £500 (excluding buyer’s premium).

A third portable altar was sold on 27th October by Plymouth Auctions. This example was later in date and more compact, though also made of oak, and contained in a leather carrying case. It included candlesticks, Crucifix, pyxes, paten, and other items, and realised just £150 (excluding buyer’s premium).

Andrew Marlborough is a 6th-year seminarian for Plymouth Diocese in the UK, studying at Allen Hall in London. Before entering seminary he worked for 10 years in the auction and art gallery business.

World War I Army Mass Kit

Many readers will be familiar with the site Sancrucensis, where they will find the learned lucubrations and edifying epigrams of Pater Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist., not to mention a fair share of uplifting photographs of the yearly round of monastic life at the thriving Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

Recently Pater Edmund shared with me the exciting news that he had received the gift of a portable Mass kit that once belonged to a World War I chaplain, which an antique store in Oberösterreich had put up for sale.[1] It features a built-in altar stone and altar cards that fold out, and in the compartments inside there are not only chalice and linens, etc., but even four chasubles in different colors (!). The chalice seems to have been made in Fulda, while the Missal is from Regensburg. The whole set-up is typical of kits in the World War I era.

Pater Edmund asked that I share these pictures at NLM. I must say, it is both a pleasure and a challenge to do so. A pleasure, for obvious reasons; how could a more complete and better portable kit ever be devised? A challenge, because this war-time worst, this compact gear meant to be carried through mud and bullets, is more complete and more appropriate than what one might find in many peace-time sacristies today!

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Portable Altars & Roadside Shrines

Recently David Clayton recommended that Catholics think seriously about ways to decorate with holy imagery buildings, gardens, businesses, and other places where non-Catholics might see them and either be prompted to a conversation or simply take that image into their souls and start living with it, a seed of a possible future response to grace. When I posted his article on Facebook, the carpenter who makes what must certainly be the world's most beautiful portable wooden altars, Rick Murphey, responded with a photo of a crucifix he had built in the style of European roadside shrines, and said that people could order such shrines from him.

Mr. Murphey had come to my attention in another way, when a priest a few weeks ago shared with me photos of his new portable altar — the work for which St. Joseph's Apprentice is best known. This altar was described to me as one-of-a-kind, made of cherry wood instead of hemlock but dyed with a red mahogany. It weighs 20 lbs.

Mr. Murphey wrote to me: "I am approaching altar #300. The good St. Joseph seems to send me a steady supply of orders, so I am always working about 2-3 months out."

Here is his contact information if you are interested in either a portable altar or a roadside shrine:
Rick Murphey
St. Joseph's Apprentice
17310 W. Left Fork Rd.
Hauser, ID 83854
(208) 773-1733
Email is preferred contact: stjosephsapprentice@gmail.com