Altar of repose

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The altar of repose is an altar in a Roman Catholic or Anglo-Catholic church where the Communion hosts, consecrated in the Mass on Holy Thursday, are reserved for Holy Communion to be given the following day which is Good Friday. This day, on which the death of Christ is observed, there is never a Mass celebrated, so communion must be given from Hosts consecrated at Mass on the previous day. In the Roman Catholic Church it is prescribed that the altar of repose be in the church or other suitable location, and that it be a different altar from the one where the Mass is celebrated. In the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday sufficient hosts are consecrated for the faithful to receive at that celebration and for the next day. These consecrated Hosts remain in a ciborium on the corporal in the centre of the altar till the end of Mass, which is then carried in solemn procession to the altar of repose, often featuring use of the Humeral Veil, the Canopy and Candle Bearers carrying Flambeaux. The Blessed Sacrament remains in the temporary tabernacle at the altar of repose. The Holy Thursday service concludes with the stripping of all altars except the altar of repose.

Catholic piety has made Holy Thursday a day of exceptional devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and the repository is the centre of the love and aspirations of the faithful.

After the Good Friday service, the Blessed Sacrament remains available as viaticum for the dying, and for Communion given on Good Friday at the service called The Veneration of the Cross. While the Blessed Sacrament remains in this temporary tabernacle at the Altar of Repose,a lamp or candle is kept burning before it.

Mention of the altar of repose and the procession thereto is not found before the close of the fifteenth century. The reservation of the Consecrated Species in the Mass of Holy Thursday, spoken of in earlier liturgical works, was for the distribution of Holy Communion, not for the service on the following day.