the arrival of the clergy to carry out any requests or changes. They should not go into the sanctuary after the service is over until the congregation has left the church.
After the Morning or Evening Prayer service is concluded, the prayer cloth should be removed from the altar and the dust protector put upon it. The candles should be trimmed or straightened, if necessary, and the sanctuary carefully checked and made tidy. Kneeling cushions should be put straight and books closed.
The Bible usually stays permanently on the lectern and is left closed. Some ministers prefer the open Bible and have it left so at all times.
There should be a special box or bank bag in which to put the offerings after the service. Alms basins, if brass, should be kept in felt or flannel bags to protect the metal.
THE HOLY COMMUNION
For this primary service of the Church, the altar is vested in its standard coverings of cerecloth, frontal or superfrontal or both, and fair linen, spotlessly clean. This is the only service at which the fair linen is exposed, that is without a protecting prayer cloth. Upon the fair linen go the two eucharistic candlesticks. On a free-standing altar these are placed toward the front of the altar and equidistant from the ends.
The altar service book, or missal, upon the missal stand, is placed on the epistle side near the normal side for celebration. It should be marked with a ribbon, placed at the beginning of the communion service at locations specified by the clergy, and the book left closed.
Appropriate flowers should be carefully arranged in the vases or containers, brought to the altar and placed at one side, or on the retable, or in a suitable niche, according to the altar design.
If there are two credence tables, the offering plates are put upon the one on the gospel side of the altar. If there is but one credence table, it should be upon the epistle side of the altar and the alms basins may be put on the shelf underneath it or in a suitable niche.
On the epistle side credence table go the two cruets of wine and water, the wine customarily on the right, the water on the left with the handles facing rearwards. The bread box, with sufficient bread, is placed between them at the back, with the lavabo bowl and lavabo towel beside it at the left.
At an early celebration of the Holy Communion, the vested chalice may be put upon the altar and the corporal spread, or it may be put upon the credence and brought to the celebrant at the proper place in the service, usually by the acolyte. If a guest priest is celebrating, it is wise to ascertain beforehand just what the procedure will be because some priests prefer to carry the vested chalice to the altar themselves. When a bishop is the celebrant, the chalice should be put upon the altar before the service and the corporal spread. When the vested chalice is in the sacristy in readiness for a service, it should be placed front in with the veil folded over it so that the priest may more readily grasp it.
If a second chalice is needed, it may be put on the credence and brought by the server to the celebrant before bringing the elements. In this case the veiled chalice should be put on the altar beforehand and the corporal spread. A pall and purificator must be provided for the second chalice.
On occasions when especially large congregations are being prepared for and third and fourth chalices needed, there may not be room for them on the credence. They may then be placed on the altar in a row behind the veiled chalice and covered with palls or their own patens, or some with the one, some with the other. Lace veils are sometimes used for the supplementary chalices, but experience has proved palls more satisfactory, since there is always danger of the soft veil getting into the sacrament. For services where three or more chalices are used it is well to have a corporal large enough to accommodate all, perhaps thirty inches square. Whatever size, it must be made square. If none so large is immediately available, two smaller ones may be used in order that all chalices may rest upon them. Extra purificators must be provided for the chalices, and rather than having so many in the burse, it seems more convenient to put them to the right of the chalices on the fair linen, not on the corporal.
The burse, if used, stands to the side of the chalice and near one of the candlesticks.
It should be remembered, however, that “during the Great Thanksgiving it is appropriate that there be only one chalice on the Altar, and, if need be, a flagon of wine from which additional chalices may be filled after the Breaking of the Bread” (Prayer Book, p. 407).
The celebrant may wear a surplice and a stole in the color of the Church season, or eucharistic vestments if it is the custom. Eucharistic vestments are laid out in the sacristy. A white linen cloth should be put first on the table or vestment chest where the vestments are to be placed. If there are frequent daily services, the vestments may properly be laid out in a drawer of the vestment chest if preferred. Eucharistic vestments are laid out in the following order:
1. Chasuble, front down.
2. Maniple, when used, laid in the center on the orphrey of the chasuble. This forms the “I” of the sacred monogram “IHS.”
3. Stole, laid with the neckband across the maniple and the ends raised on each side to form the “H.”
4. White rope girdle, folded evenly together and curled around to form the “S” of the monogram.
5. Alb, front down, unbuttoned, with the skirt folded up and then back so that the hem will be at the edge of the table.
6. Amice, if used, front down with strings crossed.
A linen cloth, matching the bottom cloth, should be laid over the vestments if they are not to be worn immediately. It should have a plain colored cross upon it, preferably blue, about three inches square. This cloth is removed by the Altar Guild worker before the priest arrives to vest for the service.
After the service is over and the congregation dispersed, the vessels and linens are removed from the altar to the sacristy. The chalice and paten should be rinsed with cold water and the water poured into a piscina or the ground. The vessels should then be thoroughly scalded, wiped dry with a soft cloth used for no other purpose, and put away in their cases. The used linens should be rinsed, wrapped together and taken home to be carefully laundered. The eucharistic candles are removed from the altar (unless they are the only candles) and the altar book and its stand put in the sacristy or placed on the credence. The altar is then covered with the dust protector, carefully spread.
If for any reason the flowers are to be left until the next day they should have fresh water. Flowers should not be left upon an altar after they start to wither, and empty vases should be removed, not left as ornaments.
The alms should be put in a bank bag or suitable container for the church treasurer to pick up.
Used vestments should be put away to be pressed or laundered and both sanctuary and sacristy left in perfect order.
In churches with traditional altars against the wall there will be little change as far as the Altar Guild is concerned. The priest will decide how best to make any adjustments. For churches with the altar standing free so that the celebrant may face the people from behind it, here is a suggested form of procedure.
The priest may begin
