[Rationale divinorum officiorum]

Again, sometimes paradise is depicted in churches, so that looking toward the delight of rewards, it may entice them. And sometimes hell, so that it may deter them from the fear of punishments. Sometimes flowers and trees with fruits, to represent the fruits of good works coming forth from the roots of virtues. The variety of paintings designates the variety of virtues. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another of knowledge, etc. Virtues are depicted in the form of a woman, because they soothe and nourish. Again, through carvings which are called ceilings, which are for the adornment of the house, the simpler servants of Christ are understood, who adorn the church not with doctrine but with virtues alone. Moreover, the sculptures protruding and coming out from the walls are seen to be such, because when virtues have come into such custom among the faithful that they seem naturally implanted in them, they are exercised by their manifold operations. But how the Synagogue is depicted will be said in the fourth part under the title concerning reverence. How the pallium of the Roman pontiffs is painted will be said in the third part under the title concerning the pallium. But how the year and the twelve signs and months are depicted will be said at the beginning of the eighth part and where the month will be dealt with. But also diverse histories of both the New and Old Testament are depicted according to the will of the painters. For there was always an equal power to painters and poets to dare anything. Furthermore, the ornaments of the church consist in three things, namely in the adornment of the church, the choir, and the altar. The adornment of the church consists in curtains, hangings, and cloths of silk, purple, and the like. The adornment of the choir consists in dorsals, floor rugs, and bench cloths. Dorsals are cloths hanging in the choir at the back of the clerics. Floor rugs are what are placed under the feet. Tapestries are also cloths which are placed under the feet as if a spreading for the feet, and especially for the feet of bishops, who ought to trample worldly things under their feet. Bench cloths are cloths which are placed upon the seats or benches in the choir. The adornment of the altar consists in pyxes, and palls, phylacteries, and candelabras, in crosses, in gold embroidery, in banners, in books, in veils, and in curtains. And note that the pyx in which the consecrated hosts are kept signifies the body of the glorious Virgin, of whom it is said in the psalm: "Arise, O Lord, into your resting place, you and the ark of your sanctification," which is sometimes of wood, sometimes of white ivory, sometimes of silver, and sometimes of gold, and sometimes of crystal, and according to its various properties, it expresses the various dignities of the body of Christ itself. Again, the pyx itself containing the hosts, whether consecrated or not consecrated, designates human memory. For man ought to record unceasingly the benefits received, both temporal, which are designated by the unconsecrated hosts, and spiritual, which are designated by the consecrated ones, which was figured in the urn in which God commanded the manna to be stored, which although it was temporal, nevertheless prefigured this spiritual sacrifice of ours, commanding that it should be an everlasting memorial for future generations, as is read in Exodus. The palls upon the altar which are placed are the apostles and martyrs. The palls and vestments are the confessors and virgins or all the saints, of whom the prophet says to the Lord: "You shall be clothed with them as with a garment." And about this, it was said in the preceding title. But a phylactery is one thing, and phylacteries another. A phylactery is a scroll on which the ten precepts of the law are written; the Pharisees were accustomed to carry such scrolls before them as a sign of religion. Whence in the Gospel: "They widen their phylacteries, etc." And it is said philaterium from philare which is to keep, and torat which is law. But philateria is a vessel of silver or gold or crystal or ivory and the like, in which the ashes or relics of the saints are stored. For when the faithful called them "ash-holders," for the reason that they kept the ashes themselves against his terror, it was established in the church that they should be kept honorably and in precious vessels, which name is comprehended from philare which is to keep, and teron which is extremity, because something of the extremity of the body of the saints is kept there, for instance, a hair or a finger or something such. Upon the altar, also, in some churches, the tabernacle is placed, about which it was said under the title concerning the altar. On the horns of the altar, two candelabras are placed to signify the joy of two peoples rejoicing over the birth of Christ, which candelabras, through the thread, carry lit torches. For the angel said to the shepherds: "I announce to you a great joy which shall be for all the people, because today the Savior of the world is born to us." This is the true Isaac, who is interpreted as "laughter."