page 33 note 32 See Grabar, A.: Martyrium (Paris, 1943–1946Google Scholar). For the altar as arca, see Durandus, : Rationale I, chap. 2, vi–viiGoogle Scholar, in which the claim is advanced that the original Ark of the Covenant, which Titus had brought from Jerusalem, was preserved with the Seven-branched Candlestick in S. John Lateran. See also chap. 7, xxiii ff., ‘The Dedication of the Altar’, for the importance of relics, with reference to the Ark of the Covenant. Durandus died in 1296, and is buried in S. Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome. The use of similar ideas in early liturgical drama in Italy is discussed in Young, K.: The Drama of the Medieval Church (1933), vol. I, pp. 218–220Google Scholar.
Compare also the arca of S. Dominic in Bologna; the cover for the arca containing the body of the saint has a carving of the dead Christ in the tomb —the tomb of the saint and of Christ are united at the arca of the altar where Mass is celebrated. Similarly, compare the relief by Donatello at the tomb-altar-arca of S. Anthony at Padua; S. Anthony was himself known colloquially as ‘L'Arca del Testamento’. A further colloquial use of arca foederis for altar will be found in Skelton's ‘Ware the Hawk’.
Perhaps the most important parallel is to be seen in Suger's window at S. Denis, with the arca of Abinadab including not only Aaron's rod and the tablets of the Law but also a great Cross, with the inscription:
Foederis ex area Christi cruce sistitur ara
Foedere majori vult ibi vita mori
(On the ark of the Covenant is established the altar with the cross of Christ; here life wishes to die under a greater covenant). See E. Mâle: Religious Art of the Thirteenth Century (1913), p. 171; and E. Panofsky: Abbot Suger on … S. Denis and its Treasures (Princeton, 1946), pp. 72–5Google Scholar.
For the arca as a type of the Eucharist, see for example, Rhabanus Maurus: Allegoriae in Sacram Scripturam, MPL 112, col. 864: Arca est Corpus Domini. See also Maurus, Rhabanus: Commentaria in Genesim II, xviGoogle Scholar; MPL 107, col. 540. These ideas are well-known, appearing in the Canon of the Mass.
For the use of the word arca, see Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch (Munich, 1963), cols. 872–873Google Scholar: e.g. 1.4 arca: foederis Dei e.g. ecclesia et Christi arca Dei legitur (Rhabanus Carm. 16.54); Christus qui est arca testamenti (Albert min: apoc 12 p. 256); arca significat eucharistiam (Albert M. sacram. 73 p. 52); I.5:mortuoram, reliquarium i.q sarcophagus e.g. duo presbiteri tollant arcam cum reliquiis (Rituale Flor. p. 36–26), &c.