Since introduced by pope Zephyrinus, early in the third century, priests have celebrated the mass over the relics of the saints, either on fixed altars or portable stones or Greek corporals. Before an altar could be used for Mass, it had to have an altar stone inset - if it wasn't already above a crypt - and consecrated by a bishop. The liturgical commissions and canon lwayers that worked in the immediate Vatican II/Post-Vatican II era deemed that altar stones were no longer necessary and so many modern churches - anything built since the 1970's - have opted for wooden or stone altars that have no altar stone, and/or relics. Some pastors and bishops have even gone so far as to remove relics from older altars, with particular attention to side altars, and have either reposed them in a crypt, sold them, or disposed of them.
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