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Choir (architecture)
A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, so at right-angles to the seating for the congregation in the nave. Smaller medieval churches may not have a choir in the architectural sense at all, and they are often lacking in churches built by all denominations after the Protestant Reformation, though the Gothic Revival revived them as a distinct feature. As an architectural term "choir" remains distinct from the actual location of any singing choir – these may be located in various places, and often sing from a choir-loft, often over the door at the liturgical western end. In modern churches, the choir may be located centrally behind the altar, or the pulpit. The place w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choir
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words is the music performed by the ensemble. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the Medieval music, medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conducting, conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures. The term ''choir'' is very often applied to groups affiliated with a church (whether or not they actually occupy the Choir (architecture), quire), whereas a ''chorus'' performs in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is not rigid. Choirs may sing without instruments, or accompanied by a piano, accordion, pipe organ, a small ensemble, or an orchestra. A choir can be a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembrance, supplication, or repentance. It forms a basis for establishing a relationship with God. Technically speaking, liturgy forms a subset of ritual. The word ''liturgy'', sometimes equated in English as " service", refers to a formal ritual enacted by those who understand themselves to be participating in an action with the divine. Etymology The word ''liturgy'' (), derived from the technical term in ancient Greek (), ''leitourgia'', which means "work or service for the people" is a literal translation of the two affixes λήϊτος, "leitos", derived from the Attic form of λαός ("people, public"), and ἔργον, "ergon", meaning "work, service". In origin, it signified the often expensive offerings wealthy Greeks made in serv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chapter House
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole community often met there daily for readings and to hear the abbot or senior monks talk. When attached to a collegiate church, the dean (religion), dean, prebendary, prebendaries and canon (priest), canons of the college meet there. The rooms may also be used for other meetings of various sorts; in medieval times monarchs on tour in their territory would often take them over for their meetings and audiences. Synods, ecclesiastical courts and similar meetings often took place in chapter houses. Design When part of a monastery, the chapter house is generally located on the eastern wing of the cloister, which is next to the church. Since many cathedrals in England were originally monastic foundations, this is a common arrangement there also. Else ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liturgy Of The Hours
The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official set of prayers "marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer." The term "Liturgy of the Hours" has been retroactively applied to the practices of saying the canonical hours in both the Christian East and West–particularly within the Latin liturgical rites–prior to the Second Vatican Council, and is the official term for the canonical hours promulgated for usage by the Latin Church in 1971. Before 1971, the official form for the Latin Church was the '' Breviarium Romanum'', first published in 1568 with major editions through 1962. The Liturgy of the Hours, like many other forms of the canonical hours, consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, and other prayers and antiphons prayed at fixe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In Byzantine architecture, Byzantine, Romanesque architecture, Romanesque, and Gothic architecture, Gothic Architecture of cathedrals and great churches, Christian church architecture, church (including cathedral and abbey) architecture, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building at the liturgical east and west, liturgical east end (where the altar is), regardless of the shape of the roof, which may be flat, sloping, domed, or hemispherical. Smaller apses are found elsewhere, especially in shrines. Definition An apse is a semicircular recess, often covered with a hemispherical vault. Commonly, the apse of a church, cathedral or basilica is the semicircular or polygonal termination to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the largest Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. The shrine is dedicated to the Blood of Jesus Christ and is the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The original site on which the cathedral stands in the City of Westminster was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, Diocese of Westminster in 1885, and construction was completed in 1903. Designed by John Francis Bentley in a 9th-century Christian Neo-Byzantine architecture, neo-Byzantine style, and accordingly made almost entirely of brick, without steel reinforcements, Sir John Betjeman called it "a masterpiece in striped brick and stone" that shows "the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete." The cathedral merited an Apostolic Visit from Pope John Paul II on 28 May 1982 and Pope Benedict XVI in 18 September 2010. History In the late 19th century, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presbytery (architecture)
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Overview The chancel is generally the area used by the clergy and choir during worship, while the congregation is in the nave. Direct access may be provided by a priest's door, usually on the south side of the church. This is one definition, sometimes called the "strict" one; in practice in churches where the eastern end contains other elements such as an ambulatory and side chapels, these are also often counted as part of the chancel, especially when discussing architecture. In smaller churches, where the altar is backed by the outside east wall and there is no distinct choir, the chancel and sanctuary may be the same area. In churches with a retroquire area behind the altar, this may only be included in the broader definition of chancel. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Clemente Al Laterano
The Basilica of Saint Clement () is a Latin Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings: (1) the present basilica built just before the year 1100 during the height of the Middle Ages; (2) beneath the present basilica is a 4th-century basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had in the 1st century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had in the 2nd century briefly served as a mithraeum; (3) the home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of republican era villa and warehouse that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of AD 64. History This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the 1st century to a grand public basilica by the 6th century, reflecting the emerging Catholic Church's growing legitimacy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lectern
A lectern is a standing reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of support. To facilitate eye contact and improve posture when facing an audience, lecterns may have adjustable height and slant. People reading from a lectern, called lectors, generally do so while standing. The word has its origins in the medieval Latin term ''lectrum'', related to ''legere'' which means 'to read'. In pre-modern usage, the word ''lectern'' was used to refer specifically to the "reading desk or stand ... from which the Scripture lessons (''lectiones'') ... are chanted or read." One 1905 dictionary states that "the term is properly applied only to the class mentioned [church book stands] as independent of the pulpit." By the 1920s, however, the term was being used in a broader sense; for example, in reference to a memorial se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bema
A bema is an elevated platform used as an orator's podium. The term can refer to the raised area in a sanctuary. In Jewish synagogues, where it is used for Torah reading during services, the term used is bima or bimah. Ancient Greece The Ancient Greek ''bēma'' () means both 'platform' and 'step', being derived from '' bainein'' (, 'to go'). The original use of the bema in Athens was as a tribunal from which orators addressed the citizens as well as the courts of law, for instance, in the Pnyx. In Greek law courts the two parties to a dispute presented their arguments each from separate bemas. By metonymy, bema was also a place of judgement, being the extension of the raised seat of the judge, as described in the New Testament, in and , and further, as the seat of the Roman emperor, in , and of God, in , when speaking in judgment. Judaism Etymology The post-Biblical Hebrew ''bima'' (), 'platform' or 'pulpit', is almost certainly derived from the Ancient Greek word fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honorius Of Autun
Honorius Augustodunensis (c. 1080 – c. 1140), commonly known as Honorius of Autun, was a 12th-century Christian theologian. Life Augustodunensis said that he is ''Honorius Augustodunensis ecclesiae presbyter et scholasticus''. "Augustodunensis" was taken to mean Autun (''Augustodunum''), but that identification is now generally rejected. There is no solid reasoning for any other identification (such as Augst/''Augustodunensem praesulem'' near Basle, Augsburg/''Augusta Vindelicorum'' in Swabia, or ''Augustinensis'', from St Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury), so his by-name has stuck. It is certain that he was a monk and that he traveled to England and was a student of Anselm's for some time. Toward the end of his life, he was in the Scots Monastery, Regensburg, Bavaria. Works Among Honorius's works are: *'' Elucidarium'': a survey of Christian beliefs (written in England). It was translated frequently into vernacular. *''Sigillum sanctae Mariae'': a set of lessons for how to c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidore Of Seville
Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montalembert, as "the last scholar of the ancient world". At a time of disintegration of classical culture, aristocratic violence, and widespread illiteracy, Isidore was involved in the conversion of the Arianism, Arian Visigothic kings to Chalcedonian Christianity, both assisting his brother Leander of Seville and continuing after Leander's death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, Visigothic king of Hispania. Like Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. His fame after his death was based on his ''Etymologiae'', an etymology, etymological encyclopedia that assembled extracts of many books from classical antiquity that would otherwise have been lost. This work also helped to standardise the use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
