Autels

Autels is the plural form of autel, the French word for altar. The term is used in religious and architectural contexts to denote a raised place or table used for offerings, sacrifices, prayers, or religious rites. The French word autel derives from Latin altarium, passed into Old French as autel and later standardized in Modern French. In discussions about religious spaces, autels commonly refer to the principal altar in a church as well as additional altars used for various rites.

In French usage, autels appear in descriptions of church architecture, domestic devotion, and liturgical practice. The main autel, or grand altar, is typically located at the eastern end of a church and serves as the focal point for the Eucharist in Catholic and some Anglican contexts. Lateral or side altars (autels secondaires) may be devoted to saints or specific intentions. In homes and private chapels, people may set up autels domestiques as focal points for daily prayers or commemorations.

Across cultures, altars serve as structures or tables that designate a space for offerings, prayers, or memorialization. While the concept exists worldwide, the design and use of autels differ by tradition: in many Christian settings they are symbolic and ritualized, in other traditions altars may be used for ancestral veneration or ritual offerings without a fixed architectural form. Today, autels remain a common term in French-language discourse for both historical and contemporary sacred spaces, and the plural form is used when referring to multiple such structures.