University of Virginia Library

HIGH ALTAR: ST. MARY AND ST. GALL

Raised as it is by seven steps above the level of the transept,
the presbytery with its high altar dominates the entire
Church. The liturgical pre-eminence of this part of the
building is emphasized by a hexameter in capitalis rustica:

The "holy structures" are the high altar of the Church,
dedicated jointly to St. Mary and St. Gall (altare sc̄ē mariae &
scī galli) and the tomb of the holy body (sacrophagū scī

[ILLUSTRATION]

89. MEROVINGIAN CARVED STONE

POITIERS, MUSÉE DU BAPTISTÈRE, FRANCE

[photo: Photomecaniques]

The stone may have come from the
church of Notre-Dame l'Ancienne.

[ILLUSTRATION]

90. MARBLE SLAB WITH CROSS
& SIX-LOBED ROSETTES (8TH CENT.)
LUCCA, MUSED DI VILLA GRININI

Associated with the cross, as in many
Syrian, North African and Visigothic slabs
of earlier periods, the six-lobed rosette
probably retained its original meaning as a
symbol of light overcoming evil forces allied
with darkness. In the Middle Ages the
symbol went underground.

[after Arte Lombarda, suppl. vol. 9:1]

[ILLUSTRATION]

92. HEX SIGNS

On Pennsylvania Dutch barns, they often are several feet in diameter

[after Sloane, 1954, 67]

[ILLUSTRATION]

91. SIX-LOBED ROSETTE IN MASONRY OF
MONASTIC BARN (1211-1227) PARCAY-MESLAY, FRANCE

[photo: Horn]

The rosette was cut into masonry or timber work of many medieval
tithe barns as a spell to ward off harm to livestock or harvest.

corporis) which on the Plan is located immediately behind
the altar.

The joint patrocinium of Mary and St. Gall has its
explanation in the fact that Mary was the patron of the
original oratory of St. Gall. The deeds of the Monastery
disclose how in the course of the eighth century the name
of St. Gall began to be associated with that of Mary with
increasing frequency until it eventually replaced it entirely
and became the local place name (coenobium sancti Galli, or
sancti Galloni).[56] The altar is raised on a plinth, a distinction
not accorded any other altars in the Church. We must
expect it to have been surmounted by a canopy. A capitulary
issued by Charlemagne in 789 directs that altars should
be surmounted by such superstructures (Ut super altaria
teguria fiant vel laquearia).[57] An ancient symbol of the
celestial dome and hence, by implication, of universal
rulership, this motif had been transmitted from the Roman

gods (fig. 102.A)[59] to the Roman emperor, as he rose into the
rank of the gods (fig. 102.B),[60] and from the emperor to Christ
as Christ acquired the status of a Roman state god. It was
no lesser person than Constantine the Great who set a
conspicuous precedent for this transmission of celestial
prerogatives to the new God of Heaven when he adorned the
high altar of the latter's prime apostle with a pedimented
canopy richly revetted with silver and gold, in the Church
of St. Peter's in Rome (fig. 104).[61]