Altäre Deutschlands (Frankfurt, 1885); Fleury, La Messe (Paris); Thiers, Les principaux autels; Corblet, Histoire de l'Eucharistie (Paris, 1885).
Altar, Portable; Privileged. See Altar.
Altar, Stripping of the. See Holy Week.
Altar of the Rood. See Holy Rood.
Altar-Cover. See Altar; Altar-Protector.
Altar-Herse. See Altar-Canopy.
Altar-Thane. See Altar.
Alteserra, Antonio. See Hauteserre.
Altmann, Blessed, the friend of Gregory VII and Anselm, conspicuous in the contest of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, as Bishop of Passau and Papal Legate. He was born at Paderborn about the beginning of the eleventh century, presided over the school there, was chaplain at the court of Henry III, and then became Bishop of Passau. The Bollandists find that, because of these successive occupations, it is impossible to make him out a Benedictine monk. As a Bishop he was famous for his care of the poor, his vigour in the reformation of relaxed monasteries, the building of new ones, and the splendour with which he invested divine worship—Henry IV himself contributing lavishly to enrich the church of Passau, chiefly through the intervention of the Empresses Agnes and Bertha, his wife and mother—and finally for the opposition which he aroused in enforcing Gregory's decree of celibacy of the clergy. With the help of Henry the recalcitrants succeeded in driving him from his see. He was recalled, however, shortly after the death of Hermann the intruder, at whose death-bed he is said to have appeared. Hermann begged for absolution, and asked not to be buried as a Bishop. Altmann's second possession of his see lasted only a short time. He was again expelled, and died in exile ten years after. He was one of the four South German bishops who sided with Gregory, and defied Henry, in refusing to take part in the Diet of Worms to depose the Pope.
Acta SS., II, August; Baring-Gould, Lives of the Saints, 8 August (London, 1872).
Alto, Saint, recluse and missionary in Bavaria, c. 750. Alto has been variously described as an Anglo-Saxon and an Irishman (Scotus), but the name Alt is undoubtedly Irish. We know little of his life except the broad facts that he lived for some time as a hermit, reclaiming the wild forest-land around him, and that he afterwards founded a Benedictine monastery in this spot, now called Altomünster, in the Diocese of Freising, having previously obtained a grant of land from King Pepin. St. Boniface is said to have come to dedicate the church about the year 750. A charter still exists bearing the subscription Alto reclausus [Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (1904), I, 541], which probably dates back to Alto's hermit days. We do not know the year of his death, but he is commemorated on 9 February. The monastery of Altomünster suffered much from the Huns and the depredations of the tyrannical nobles, but about the year 1000 it was restored again as a Benedictine monastery. Later it was tenanted by Benedictine nuns and these at the end of the fifteenth century gave place to a community of Brigittines, in whose hands it still remains despite many vicissitudes.
The only sketch of Alto's life preserved to us is a document of the eleventh century, printed in the Acta SS., II, Feb., and in Mon. Germ. Script., XV, 843; Maclear in Dict. Christ. Biog.; Sachs in Kirchenlex.; Binder, Geschichte der bayerischen Brigitten-Klöster (Ratisbon, 1896), 249–345.
Alton, The Diocese of, includes that part of Illinois lying south of the northern limits of the counties of Adams, Brown, Cass, Menard, Sangamon, Macon, Moultrie, Douglas, and Edgar, and north of the southern limits of the counties of Madison, Bond, Fayette, Effingham, Jasper, and Crawford. It was created, 29 July, 1853, by the division of the Diocese of Chicago, then embracing the whole state of Illinois. The new see was first located at Quincy, but was transferred, 9 January, 1857, to Alton. Its German Catholic population came largely from Cincinnati and settled at Quincy, Teutopolis, and Germantown. Swiss Catholics founded Highland, and Alsatians Sainte Marie. The building of railroads brought Irish Catholics in growing numbers. Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Prairie du Rocher, which now belong to the Diocese of Belleville, had been settled by French Catholics at an earlier period. Prominent among the lay Catholics of the early period were Peter and Sebastian Wise of Alton, Mr. Shepherd of Jerseyville, Mr. Picquet of Sainte Marie, Charles Routt and his nephew of Jacksonville. Fathers Ostrop, Hinsen and Hickey were energetic missionaries.
Bishops.—Henry Damian Juncker (1857–68), b. 22 August, 1809, at Fenestrange, in German Lorraine; d. at Alton, 2 October, 1868, attended the Pont-a-Mousson Seminary, but emigrated to Cincinnati, where he found an opportunity of continuing his studies in view of the priesthood to which he was raised, 16 March, 1836, by Bishop Purcell. He filled several charges in Ohio previous to his consecration, at Cincinnati Cathedral, 26 April, 1854 by Archbishop Purcell. At Alton the bishop found before him 58 churches, five in course of erection; 30 stations visited by 28 priests; six young men studying for the ministry; two female academies, and a population of about 50,000. This population was made up of old French settlers, some Kentuckians, but especially of Irish immigrants driven away from their country by famine, and Germans, by political disturbances. In Illinois they were finding fertile prairie to till, and railroads to build. Thus they enhanced the prosperity of the State, hitherto only partly cultivated, and depending on the rivers and county roads for its means of communication. The non-Catholic population was not particularly hostile. Priests were very scarce, and vocations to the ministry very limited. In such an emergency the Bishop could only look up to Europe for help. In the fall of the same year he crossed the ocean and secured followers in France, Rome, Germany, and Ireland. After his return, he enlarged his cathedral, erected the present Bishop's House, encouraged the building of churches, schools, convents, and academies. He attended the Second Plenary Council and went to Rome (1867) for the Centenary of the Holy Apostles. His subsequent missionary labours brought on a severe sickness, which proved fatal. He was buried in a vault under his cathedral. He was succeeded by one of his vicars-general, the Very Rev. Peter Joseph Baltes (1869–86), elected 24 September, 1869, and consecrated, 23 January, 1870, in the present Belleville Cathedral (built by him), by Bishop Luers, of Fort Wayne, while the Vatican Council was in session. He was born, 7 April, 1820, in Ensheim, Rhenish Bavaria. At the age of six years he emigrated with his parents to Oswego, N.Y. He attended school at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass.; St. Mary's of the Lake, Chicago; and the Grand Seminary of Montreal, where he received ordination, 21 May, 1853. His missionary charge were Waterloo and Belleville. At the time of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866) he was made vicar-general, and theologian to Bishop Juncker. Bishop Baltes soon made himself felt by the indomitable energy with which he introduced order and uniformity in matters of liturgy and discipline. Under his administration was enacted the special law under which most of the church property
