From a transitional deacon…
QUAERITUR:
I am searching for an altar stone because I am in the process of ordering one of those beautiful St. Joseph the Apprentice altars like the one you posted a number of years ago.
As you know altar stones are hard to come by these days and I am on the search. I know you are very busy but if you had any suggestions, advice, or contacts I would be very thankful.
St. Joseph’s Apprentice! Good choice. He makes beautiful portable altars. I warmly endorse him and I am grateful for what he has made for me.
At his website, he wrote (my emphases):
Part of our mission statement here at St. Joseph’s Apprentice is to put as many altar stones back into the service of Our Lord as we can. This remains our goal and we have been very successful. Of the 300 + altars I have built thus far, probably 95% have altar stones. Many of these stones are from the basements of churches or backrooms in rectories. Most altar stones were removed from the altars when the many changes came about with the Sacrifice of the Mass in the 1960’s. The altars, instead of representing a place of sacrifice, became more like a banquet table. Because it was so hard to find suitable altar stones, with much discussion and encouragement of several priests, I started making simple altar stones with empty sepulchers. These altar stones are not consecrated, so a priest will either have to get permission from his Diocesan Offices (Bishop) to consecrate his own stone, or he will have to ask his Bishop to consecrate it himself. I am also willing to sell my altar stones to those priests who only want a stone, not a complete altar.
NB: The cavity into which a relic is placed and then sealed in is called a “sepulcher”.
In addition to rectory basements, sometime there are stones in chancery archives or in parish vaults of churches which are old and at some point wreckovated. I suspect that some lay people have rescued stones.
I recall how at my hell hole US seminary we seminarians were told by a super heretic traitorous dog of a disgusting priest to dumpsterize vestments and stones from the chapel’s side altars. We rescued a lot of stuff. Horrid days. I digress.
Another solution could be to use an antimension, sometimes called a Greek corporal since Eastern eparchs consecrated then pretty often. They are like a corporal with a relic sown into or placed in a pocket. They are spread out like a corporal and are, in effect, a portable altar.
An antimension would cut down on the weight of a St. Joseph’s Apprentice (SJA) altar.
I have a couple antimensia – two sizes, one small enough for my SJA altar – consecrated by Card. Burke using the rite for the consecration of a portable altar. That rite is not easy to find, so here it is as a public service.
Blessing of ONE – HERE
Blessing of MORE than one – HERE (NB: You will need to change the name of the saint in the text from St. Justin to whosever relic you have)
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“a super heretic traitorous dog of a disgusting priest”
The thought of Father Z sitting at a big round table in a fancy hotel ballroom with a bunch of polyester nuns and blue jean clad Jesuits with a chandelier hanging overhead having a synodal discussion makes me smile.
I am one of those laics who have rescued – and redeployed – altar stones (having served my apprenticeship in Ecclesiastical Recycling under the late, great Archscavenger Fr. Santos in Providence). One question that always comes up it: “whose relic(s) are in it?” I once assisted in the recovery of relics from the fixed altars (shamefully) left intact when a church building was sold, my recollection is that there may have been a label inside. With that in mind, I’ve thought of taking hammer and chisel to the sepulcher “lid” of a recovered altar stone to see if there is any identifying info within, but it feels a bit unseemly. And of course the practical problem of getting it resealed properly. Father, have you got any thoughts or advice on dealing with these situations?