CIBORIUM

This article appears in Volume V06, Page 352 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CHR-CLI

CIBORIUM , a name in classical Latin for a drinking-vessel. Ii is the latinized form of the Gr. Kiswpwv, the cup-shaped seed-vessel of the Egyptian water-lily, the seeds or nuts of which were known as " Egyptian beans." In the early Christian

CIBRARIO

CIBRARIO, LUIGI, COUNT (1802—1870)

Church the ciborium was a canopy over the altar (q.v.), supported on columns, and from it hung the receptacle in which was reserved the consecrated wafer of the Eucharist. The use of the word has probably been much influenced by the early false connexion with cibos, food, cf. Agatio, bishop of Pisa (quoted in Du Cange,

Gloss

GLOSS, GLOSSARY

. s.v.), " Ciborium vas esse ad ferendos cibos." In the Eastern Church the columns rested on the altar itself, in the Western they reached the ground. The name was early transferred from the canopy to the vessel containing the reserved

sacrament

SACRAMENT

, and in the Western Church the canopy was known as a " baldaquin," Ital. baldacchino, from Baldacco, the Itilian name of Bagdad, and hence applied to a rich kind of embroidered tapestry made there and much used for canopies, &c. At the present day it is usual in the Roman Church to use the term " pyx " (ii s, properly a vessel made of boxwood) for the receptacle for the reserved

sacrament

SACRAMENT

used in administering the

viaticum

VIATICUM (a Latin word meaning " provision for a journey"; Gr. rd E1xe&a)

to the sick or dying. Medieval pyxes and ciboria are often beautiful examples of the goldsmith's, enameller's and metal-worker's craft. They take most usually the shape of a covered chalice or of a cylindrical box with conical or cylindrical cover surmounted by a

cross

CROSS

. An exquisite ciborium fetched 6000 at the sale of the Jerdone Braikenridge collection at Christie's in 1908. It is supposed to have come from

Malmesbury

Abbey, and is probably of 13th-century English make. It is of copper-gilt and ornamented with champleve enamels, apple and chrysoprase green, scarlet, mauve and white,

turquoise

TURQUOISE

and lapis lazuli, the flesh tints being of a

pale

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

jasper. Various subjects from the Old and New Testament, such as the sacrifice of Abel, the "brazen serpent, the nativity, crucifixion and resurrection are represented on circular medallions on the outside. It is illustrated in colours in the catalogue of the exhibition of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1897.

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