Definition of "ciborium" [ci•bo•ri•um]

• A vaulted canopy permanently placed over an altar. (noun)
• A covered receptacle for holding the consecrated wafers of the Eucharist. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As has been noted numerous times before, in an age of free-standing altars, the ciborium is one particularly suitable way to lend presence and verticality to our altars -- something the high altar should have, and something which has often been lost in newer or renovated church buildings."
• "While it would be additionally wonderful were the Mass to be celebrated ad orientem (it will be celebrated versus populum) the use of the original high altar with its ciborium is a spectacular bit of news."
• "Atop the ciborium is written "Beati qui ad coenam nuptiarum Agni vocati sunt" taken from the Book of Revelation, chapter 19, verse 9: "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb""