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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Choir (In Architecture)</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03693a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Church architecture term. Strictly speaking, the choir is that part of the church where the stalls of the clergy are"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="03693a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/c.htm">C</a> > Choir</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Choir</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>There is much ambiguity about the terms <em>choir</em> and <em>presbytery.</em> Strictly speaking, the choir is that part of the church where the stalls of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> are. The term is often loosely used for the whole of the eastern arm, including the choir proper, sanctuary, retro-choir, etc. At <a href="../cathen/15598a.htm">Westminster Abbey</a> the stalls are in the east <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a> and therefore no part of the choir is in the eastern arm. At Canterbury the stalls are in the eastern arm and the choir occupies its western bays, i.e. the space between the crossing and the sanctuary. In non-collegiate churches the eastern arm is called the <a href="../cathen/03572b.htm">chancel</a>, the eastern portion of which is the presbytery or sanctuary. In the earliest <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> churches, e.g. Santa Maria Maggiore at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, there were but two parts, a <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a> and sanctuary; there was no <a href="../cathen/05257a.htm">architectural</a> choir. The sanctuary occupied the <a href="../cathen/01659a.htm">apse</a>, and the <a href="../cathen/01659a.htm">apse</a> was joined immediately to the <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a>, or, in the double-aisled <a href="../cathen/02325a.htm">basilicas</a> of the fourth century, such as those of St. Peter and <a href="../cathen/13369a.htm">St. Paul</a> at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, to the <a href="../cathen/15018a.htm">transept</a>; there was no interposition of a choir between <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a> and <a href="../cathen/01659a.htm">apse</a>. The choir was simply the east part of the <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a>, and was fenced off by low walls, usually of marble, carved or perforated with interlacing patterns  peacocks (the symbol of <a href="../cathen/07687a.htm">immortality</a>), lions, doves, etc. These walls were called <em>cancelli</em>, hence the English word "chancel". The word <em>choir</em> is first used by writers of the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Western Church</a>. <a href="../cathen/08186a.htm">Isidore of Seville</a> and <a href="../cathen/07461a.htm">Honorius of Autun</a> derive it from the <em>corona</em> or circle of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> or singers who surrounded the altar. The choir proper did not exist until the time of Constantine, when the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> were able to develop the services of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. The introduction of the choir, or enclosed space in the centre of the <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a>, attached to the bema or presbytery, as the raised space came to be called, was the last great change of plan. Round three sides of this choir the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a> were allowed to congregate to hear the Gospels or Epistles read from the two <a href="../cathen/12563b.htm">pulpits</a> or ambones, where were built into its enclosure, one on either side; or to hear the services which were read or sung by the inferior order of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> who occupied its precincts. The enclosure of the choir was kept low, so as not to hide the view of the raised presbytery. In the south- western districts of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> and throughout <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, also in St. John Lateran, St. Clement, St. Laurence Without-the-walls, and St. Mary Major in <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, the choir occupies the centre of the <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">nave</a> with an enclosed passage to the sanctuary. In parts of <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> the choir still retains its ancient position behind or eastward of the altar. In the Duomo of <a href="../cathen/06070a.htm">Fiesole</a>, and at <a href="../cathen/09405a.htm">Lucca</a>, there are two choirs, one behind and the other in front of the <a href="../cathen/07346b.htm">high altar</a>. In the north of <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a> choirs are usually elevated upon <a href="../cathen/04558a.htm">crypts</a> (that of <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a> stands over the <em>confessio</em>) and shut in with solid stone screens; the same arrangement exists at <a href="../cathen/03299b.htm">Canterbury</a>, <a href="../cathen/02067c.htm">Auch</a>, <a href="../cathen/02073b.htm">Augsburg</a>, <a href="../cathen/03635a.htm">Chartres</a>, Bourages, St-Denis, <a href="../cathen/01429d.htm">Amiens</a>, and Notre-Dame in <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a>. The finest existing enclosures are those of <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a> and <a href="../cathen/01429d.htm">Amiens</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">BOND, Gothic Architecture in England, 183-85; FERGUSSON, History of Architecture, I, 407; PARKER, Glossary of Architecture, I, 102, 103; WALCOTT, Sacred Archaeology, 146, 147, 148; REBER, History of Medieval Art, 182, 183.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Poole, T.</span> <span id="apayear">(1908).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Choir.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03693a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Poole, Thomas.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Choir."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 3.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1908.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03693a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to choir volunteers from the assembly.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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