ciborium

American  

[si-bawr-ee-uhm, -bohr-] / sɪˈbɔr i əm, -ˈboʊr- /

noun

• ciboria
  plural

1. a permanent canopy placed over an altar; baldachin.

2. any container designed to hold the consecrated bread or sacred wafers for the Eucharist.

3. Archaic. a severy.

---

ciborium British  

/ sɪˈbɔːrɪəm /

noun

1. a goblet-shaped lidded vessel used to hold consecrated wafers in Holy Communion

2. a freestanding canopy fixed over an altar and supported by four pillars

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ciboria
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ciborium

1645–55; < Latin: drinking-cup < Greek kibṓrion literally, the seed vessel of the Egyptian lotus, which the cup apparently resembled

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ciborium ciboria

At St. Alphonsa’s on Monday, the police said they believed the break-in was a burglary, and noted that a DVD player was taken with the two ceremonial vessels, a monstrance and a ciborium.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2015

Its next choice, a ciborium given to “France or Germany” and assigned a date in the late 14th or early 15th century, was less inspired.

From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2011

Although many U. S. Catholics consider him a self- possessed, even arrogant man, his voice choked when he presented to Archbishop O'Doherty the Pope's gift to the Congress, a gold ciborium.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the first of the Schatzkammer's ten rooms stands a gaunt, Carolingian ciborium, or altar canopy, wrought in gold for King Arnulf of Carinthia about A.D.

From Time Magazine Archive

The church of St Dionysius dated from the 13th century, and possesses a fine screen and a ciborium of 1486.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various

The last chapel contains two fine fifteenth century ciboria, and the tomb of Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini, 1507.

From Walks in Rome by Hare, Augustus J. C.

We find plate, hammered chalices and ciboria crusted with uncut jewels.

From Là-bas by Wallace, Keene

There are also fragments of ciboria, altar frontals, or sarcophagi, while a column sawn in two has furnished decorated jambs to the door of the upper church.

From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by Jackson, F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton)

It opened, and my candle reflected a blaze on gold and silver vessels, consecrated chalices; a dazzling monstra, and several richly-carved ciboria of solid gold, set with precious stones.

From The Shame of Motley: being the memoir of certain transactions in the life of Lazzaro Biancomonte, of Biancomonte, sometime fool of the court of Pesaro by Sabatini, Rafael

Medieval pyxes and ciboria are often beautiful examples of the goldsmith’s, enameller’s and metal-worker’s craft.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various