Editing Rood screen (section)

===Parochial rood screens===
For most of the medieval period, there would have been no fixed screen or barrier separating the congregational space from the altar space in parish churches in the Latin West; although as noted above, a curtain might be drawn across the altar at specific points in the [[Eucharist|Mass]]. Following the exposition of the doctrine of [[transubstantiation]] at the fourth [[Lateran Council]] of 1215, clergy were required to ensure that the [[eucharist|reserved sacrament]] was to be kept protected from irreverent access or abuse; and accordingly some form of permanent screen came to be seen as essential, as the parish [[nave]] was commonly kept open and used for a wide range of secular purposes. Hence the origin of the chancel screen was independent of the Great Rood; indeed most surviving early screens lack lofts, and do not appear ever to have had a rood cross mounted on them. Nevertheless, over time, the rood beam and its sculptures tended to become incorporated into the chancel screen in new or reworked churches. Over the succeeding three centuries, and especially in the latter period when it became standard for the screen to be topped by a rood loft facing the congregation, a range of local ritual practices developed which incorporated the rood and loft into the performance of the [[liturgy]]; especially in the [[Use of Sarum]], the form of the [[missal]] that was most common in England. For example, during the 40 days of "Lent" the rood in England was obscured by the [[Lenten Veil]], a large hanging suspended by stays from hooks set into the chancel arch; in such a way that it could be dropped abruptly to the ground on [[Palm Sunday]], at the reading of Matthew 27:51 when the Veil of the Temple is torn asunder.