Lentorama 2013: There's a Name for That

Day 29: corporal

This is the cloth on which the various Eucharistic vessels are placed while communion is being prepared. Something like this has been in use since early times (there are mentions going back to the fourth century), and was required to be linen in reflection of Jesus's burial cloth (though there are examples of corporals in other materials, like silk or cloth of gold). It's gotten smaller over time, as communion moved from actual loaves of bread to wafers.

There were (and to some extent still are) a variety of rules about the corporal, from blessing it before each use to who can wash it and how, and how it was supposed to be stored. So for a simple white cloth, it's a pretty important piece of kit.