Linens, Clothes and Ornaments. Writing on Altar Textiles

Résumé En

This paper proposes a synthesis of the inscriptions (known or preserved) in the textile elements used in Eucharistic rituals, whether it concerns the ceremony, its location or the officiating priest. Beyond the im- mense variety of inscribed formulas, it first seeks to identify the recurring themes that contribute to the scenography and exaltation of the celebration’s mean- ing, by materializing through writing the theological link between the actuality of the sacrament and the timeless Eucharistic commemoration. It tries then to understand the paleographic and liturgical implications of writing when embodied in a material described by the exegesis of the Mass as Christ’s “veil”, “skin” or “flesh”. Lastly, this communication envisions the documentary questions posed by inscribed textiles, in the broader context of the “epigraphy of objects”, with inscriptions intermittently visible or readable, then removed from the reader’s sight by their folding and storage. The manipulation of these inscribed pieces of fabric creates patterns of hiding and revealing of writ- ing, from the Christian perspective of trans-formation. Towards examples prior to the 13th century, this communication would like to place the epigraphic documentation in line with some major anthropological questions concerning the meaning and use of objects during the Middle Ages.