Credence

Credence We add the following particulars from Walcott, Sac. Archaeol, s.v.:

"It either takes the form of a little table covered with a linen cloth — at Brabourne it is on the south side, and formed of black marble, with a cross in a circle carved on it — or is made like an aumbry in the wall. In some churches a second table held the mass vestments of the bishop. The wall credence is often connected with a drain, is rare in the 12th (one occurs at Lausanne), but is usual in the following century. Sometimes it occurs on the north and south sides of an altar; often it is divided by a thin slab of stone. When the pope celebrates on Easter-day there are three credences — two on the epistle side, one containing the deacon's plate, the second supporting two candles and necessaries required by the sacristan. The third, or pope's credence, is on the gospel side, where, at the end of the Creed, the sacristan washes the sacred vessels, drinks of the wine and the water, and finally, at the offertory, tastes the particles from which the hosts are prepared, at the command of the cardinal deacon, as a precaution against poison. The first use of credences in the Roman ritual occurs in the time of Leo X, in 1516, and apparently was introduced when the custom of personal offering fell into desuetude."