ANTIMENSIA is also applied to other tables, used in offices of religion, besides those whereon the eucharist is administered: such, e. g. are those whereon the host is exposed, &c. The origin of the antimensia is described by Meursius; when the bishop had consecrated a church, the cloth which had been spread on the ground, and over the communion table, was torn in pieces, and distributed among the priests, who carried each a fragment away, to serve to cover the tables in their churches and chapels. Not that it was necessary that such cloths should be laid on all tables; but only on those which either were not consecrated, or at least whose consecration was doubted of.