The High Altar

Church of Santa Corona: liturgical notes

The Christian altar is a table around which the community gathers to participate in the Eucharist: the bread of life and the chalice of unity which give nutrition to and redeem all Christians. The supper which is here consumed is one of remembrance, and recalls that supper with Jesus on the eve of the Passion. In this place of communion the sacrifice of Christ, priest and victim, is represented and offered on high. It is the precious stone from whose side springs blood and water, but it is also the throne of the celestial Jerusalem around which all Christ's disciples will gather and sing his praises for ever and ever. It is consecrated by placing inside it the relics of martyrs and saints, a token of sacrifice and devotion of the whole Church.
Because of the importance that it has in the Liturgy, the altar has always been the centre of attention for artists. The altar of Santa Corona is wonderful in the uniqueness of its decorations, with the splendid marble and mother-of-pearl inlay work with nature and figurative subjects. It was executed by Antonio Corberelli in 1670, but others also took part: the brothers Benedetto and Francesco with their nephew Domenico, important artists of inlay-work in hard stone, of Florentine origin, but who also worked in Padua, Brescia, Modena and Bologna. It consists of a table on which stands a parallelepipedon enclosing the tabernacle and above this a little temple on two levels. On the sides, two angels stand on plinths and on the balustrade which separates the area of celebration from the choir are the statues of Angelo and Francesco Marinali (San Sebastiano, Santa Maria Maddalena, Santa Maria Egiziaca and San Girolamo). The very interesting and complex iconographical programme presents a double range of pictures which wind all round the altar. Access is by three steps where there are ten animals representing ten virtues (among these the symbol of the dog of the Dominicans, guardians against heresy). On the central panel there is "The Last Supper" and on the sides "The Apparition of the Madonna of Monte Berico" (by Corberelli; the character depicted on the side is probably the artist himself) and "The Resurrection". To emphasise the theme of the sacrifice of Christ, on the cornice are visible, together with the figures of the Learned Men of the Church and the Evangelists, all the instruments of the Passion (notice also the splendid portrait of Veronica). On the right side and the left there are portraits of the most important Dominican female saints (Sant'Agnese da Montepulciano, Santa Caterina da Siena, Santa Rosa da Lima and Santa Margherita d'Ungheria) and two of the greatest male Dominicans (San Pietro Martire and San Domenico), while at the back the iconographical programme is all centred upon the precious relic of the Crown of Christ preserved in the church. In the centre there is in fact "The Crowning of Thorns" and to the sides "San Louis King of France presents the precious relic to the Dominican Bartolomeo da Breganze" and "Beato Bartolomeo enters Vicenza with the Holy Crown". On the upper range there unravel scenes from the Old Testament which prefigure the Sacrifice of the Eucharist: opposite, the apocryphal tale of the Prophet Abacuc who, carried by his hair by an angel, bears bread and wine for Daniel in the lions' den, and then "The Sacrifice of Isaac", "The Falling of the Manna", "The Sacrifice of Abel", and "Abraham meeting Melchisedech", the Old Testament episode which prefigures the Last Supper.

By dott. Michela Fantin (Arts Office of the Diocese of Vicenza)