ACANTHUS

A plant whose leaves are imitated in the capitals of the Corinthian and composite orders (of columns).

AEDICULE

A house-like niche.

AGAPE

Greek ("love-feast"). Feasts usually celebrated at burial places at which the early Christians met in remembrance of the Last Supper.

AISLE

Lateral divisions of a church flanking the nave.

AMBO, AMBONE

A pulpit or reading desk in early basilicas.

AMBROSIAN RITE

The ancient rite still in use in Milan.

AMPULA or AMPULLA

A flask for sacred oil or wine.

ANATHEMA

A thing accursed (I Cor 16:22); separated from communion of the faithful.

ANCHORITE

One who has retired from the world to live alone.

APSE

The semicircular or polygonal ending of a chancel or chapel, across which the altar forms a chord. The apse is typical of the basilica and of the Byzantine style.

ARCADE

Set of arches on piers or columns.

ARCHIMANDRITE

The abbot of one or more monasteries of monks of the Greek rite, who has received investiture from the patriarch or local bishop.

ARCHITRAVE

The lowest division of the entablature, supported by columns.

ARIANS

Followers of Arius, who denied the Divinity of Christ; condemned at the Council of Nicaea in 325.

ATRIUM

The open outer court of a basilica into which penitents were permitted to enter.

AUMBRY, ALMERY

Usually a cupboard cut into the thickness of a wall and used for the safekeeping of the sacred vessels, but the term is also used of almost any chest or locker.

BALDACHIN or BALDACHINO

A canopy resting on four columns over the altar.

BASILICA

An early Christian church with a broad nave leading up to an apse and flanked by two (or four) aisles; colonnades formed by columns supporting arches which in turn carry an upper nave wall pierced by windows.

BASILIANS

An order founded by St. Nilus di Rossano at Grotioferrata in 1004, with the particular work of helping the return of the dissenting Orient to Catholic unity.

BENEDICTINES

The followers of the monastic rule founded by St Benedict of Norcia (Nursia) (480-543).

CALIDARIUM

The hottest room in a Roman thermal establishment.

CAMALDOLESE

A branch of the Benedictines founded at Camaldole ( Arezzo) by St. Romuald in 1012.

CAMPANILE

A detached bell tower by the side of the church.

CANTHARUS

A fountain for the ritual ablution before entering a church; the forerunner of a holy water font.

CAPITAL

The decorative crowning feature of a column or pilaster.

CARDINAL

The Pope, as Bishop of Rome, is assisted by the College of Cardinals, which is constituted by the suburbicarian cardinals bishops (of the ancient sees in the vicinity of Rome; the Dean of the College of Cardinals adds the title of Bishop of Ostia to his other titles); cardinal-priests; and cardinal-deacons.

CATACOMB

The burial place of the early Christians in passages outside the gates of Rome. Celebrations were occasionally held there.

CATECHUMEN

A person not baptized but under preparation for the Sacraments.

CATHEDRA

The bishop’s throne.

CHARTREUSE

A monastery of the Carthusian Order founded by St. Bruno of Cologne in 1084 near Grenoble. Also, "Charterhouse" in English; in Italian Certosa. Also, a strong liquor produced by the Carthusians of La Grande Chartreuse (green and yellow varieties).

CHANCEL

The choir and sanctuary; also the presbytery.

CHARNEL

A crypt, or other place, in which bones are kept; often a repository for relics.

CIBORIUM

The sacred vessel in which are preserved the consecrated hosts. (Ciboria, pl.)

CISTERCIANS

A monastic order of the Benedictine Tradition founded by St. Robert of Molesmes in 1098 and approved in 1119.

CLERESTORY

The windows of the nave, above the level of the roofs of the aisles.

CLUNIACS

Reformed Benedictines of the now defunct Abbey of Cluny and its daughter houses; known for their liturgical excellence.

COFFERED

Sunken panels of a ceiling.

COLUMBARIUM

Chamber, with niches for burial, normally in catacomb.

CONCLAVE

The College of Cardinals assembled to elect a pope.

CONFESSION

Cell, or chamber, beneath the altar, sheltering the relic of a saint. (Also, confessio.)

CONSISTORY

An assembly of Cardinals convoked and presided over by the Pope, to discuss urgent affairs of the Church; the assembly of newly created cardinals.

CORNICE

The crowning, or uppermost part, of an entablature.

COSMATESQUE

Mosaic work of colored marble, gold leaf and glass paste made by the Cosmati, a family of Roman sculptors of the 13th century.

CORINTHIAN

A late style used in the Renaissance and Baroque architecture and characterized by profuse decoration of column capitals.

CUPOLA

Dome.

DISCALCED

Barefooted, as in Discalced Carmelites, etc.

DOMINICANS

The Order of Preaching Friars founded by St. Dominic in 1215, who are also known as domini canes. [Cave canem!]

DORIC

A form of austere Greek architecture; said of the simple, flat column capitals.

ENTABLATURE

The feature supported by columns, consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice.

FLUTING

The vertical channeling on the shaft of a column.

FRESCO

A painting made upon a plaster wall while it was still wet.

GOTHIC

A style of architecture developed during the 12th to 14th centuries and originating in France and Germany.

GRAFFITI

Drawings or inscriptions scratched on a wall.

HALF-COLUMN

A column, half of which is embedded in a wall.

HOST

The consecrated bread or wafer.

ICONOCLAST

In Greek, "breaker of images". One opposed to the representation and veneration of figures of God, Christ, the Virgin Mary or saints.

ICONOGRAPHY

The study of images of the saints.

ICONOSTASIS

The screen, dividing the Sanctuary from the rest of the Church, on which icons are placed.

ICHTHUS

In Greek: fish. Also, a Greek acronym for "Jesus Christ Son of God the Savior," Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter - an early Christian symbol.

IONIC

The columns are characterized by the volutes of the capital and the concave molding of the shaft.

LATERAN

The Basilica of St. John; the Cathedral Church of the Bishop of Rome; founded by Constantine the Great.

MARTYR

One who voluntarily endures death for the Faith.

MARTYRIUM

A shrine over a martyr’s grave or over the place where he was executed.

MATRONEA

The upper galleries in a church, reserved for women.

MITHRAEUM

Temple of Mithras, the ancient Persian god of light and the sun.

MONSTRANCE

A means of displaying a sacred relic to the Faithful by enclosing it in a small portable shrine. A monstrance is properly said to be the vessel which displays the Body of Christ for public adoration. Also known as Ostensorium.

NARTHEX

The arcaded porch of a basilican church.

NIMBUS

A halo of light surrounding the head of a saint or deity.

ORDER

An order consists of column or pilaster (base, shaft, and capital), with the entablature which it supports. The classical orders are six: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, Tuscan, and Roman Doric.

PALLIUM

A short white liturgical vestment worn around the neck by patriarchs and archbishops. The pallia (plural) are made from the wool of sheep blessed on the Feast of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr (Jan. 21) at the Basilica of Sant’Agnese Fuori Le Mura, shorn by the Benedictine nuns of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.

PIETA

In art, the depiction of the Virgin Mother holding in her arms the body of her Son, brought down from the Cross.

PILASTER

A rectangular variant of a column projecting slightly from a wall and with its capital composed of one of the orders.

PLINTH

A rectangular base of a column. A similar base used to support a statue, vase, etc.

PORTICO

A covered space in front of a church or porch.

PORTICUS

A roofed colonnade.

PRESBYTER

A priest.

PRESBYTERY

The space between the choir and altar in a church, reserved for the bishop and his clergy.

PUTTO

A chubby cherub. (Putti, pl.)

PYX

A small portable vessel for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament.

REBUS

An enigmatical representation, the use of symbol for syllables or words.

RELICS

The dead bodies or bones of holy persons and things which have belonged to them.

RELIQUARY

A case for containing or displaying relics.

SACRISTY

A room in a church where sacred vessels, vestments, etc. are kept, and where clergy vest.

SANCTUARY

The part of the church occupied by the high altar.

SEDILIA

The seat in the sanctuary where the priest sits during liturgical celebrations.

TABERNACLE

The place in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved on an altar or in a wall.

TEPIDARIUM

A warm room in a Roman thermal establishment.

TITULUS

The name given to the earliest meeting places of Christian communities: usually a room in a private house whose owner gave his name to the "title". Certain ancient churches are known as "titular", since their names are given to the cardinals who are attached to them. (Tituli, pl.)

TRANSEPT

The arms of the church, at right angles to the nave.

TRABEATED

Constructed with beams.

TRANSLATION

The transferral of relics from one place to another.

TRICLINIUM

The banquet room of a Roman house.

TRIUMPHAL ARCH

The arch at the end of the nave of a church.