Corophites

Corophites is the same as Agonistici (q.v.). Corporal is a word used in the Sacramentaries by Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, and in the capitulars of the Frankish kings in 800, meaning a fine linen, or canvas, cloth of pure white, according to the Council of Rheims, on which the sacred elements are consecrated, and hence called the corporal, in allusion to the body of Christ, of which bread is the sacrament. Isidore of Pelusium called it the eileton, the wrapping-cloth; and Isidore of Damascus speaks of it as the winding-sheet. The centre, on which the chalice and paten stood, were quite plain, the ends alone being of silk, or worked with gold or silver. It was ordered to be used by pope Sixtus I in 125, and Sylvester I, cir. 314, directed it to be of linen and not of stuff, as before. It was also known as the pall-veil, or sindon, and represented the fine linen in which Joseph of Arimathnea wrapped the Lord's body in the garden tomb. The altar, by canon law, had two palls, and one corporal of plain linen cloth. The removal of the cloth from the consecrated elements typified the manifestation of the mysteries of the Old Test. by the death of Jesus. The earliest corporals covered the entire altar, and hung down at each side; two deacons were required to spread them. SEE ALTARCLOTH; SEE ANTIMENSIUM.