What is a catafalque?

[spinbaby]

In the paper they keep refering to Reagan's coffin riding on a catafalque. Is that the cart with the horses? How does one pronounce it?

I'd probably know this if I had watched the TV coverage.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. I think

Its what they used to put really big guns on top of to transport them from place to place on the battlefield. They stopped using them and now they're used to transport coffins around.

I think that's what I heard on the tv yesterday. I could be wrong though because I felt my brain cells dying just watching yesterday's coverage.

[chenGOD]

2. Google-your friend and mine...

Link to search results

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. The catafulque

The catafalque was hastily constructed in 1865 to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln while the president's body lay in state in the Rotunda. The catafalque has since been used for all those who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda, as listed below. When not in use, the catafalque is kept below the Crypt in a small vaulted chamber called Washington's Tomb, which was originally intended, but never used, as the burial place for the first president.
No law, written rule, or regulation specifies who may lie in state; use of the Rotunda is controlled by concurrent action of the House and Senate. Any person who has rendered distinguished service to the nation may lie in state if the family so wishes and Congress approves. In the case of unknown soldiers, the president or the appropriate branch of the armed forces initiates the action.

Senators and representatives have lain in state on the catafalque elsewhere in the Capitol. The catafalque has been used five times in the Supreme Court Building, for the laying in state of former Chief Justice Earl Warren on July 11-12, 1974; former Justice Thurgood Marshall, January 27, 1993; former Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger, June 28, 1995; former Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., July 28, 1997, and Justice Harry A. Blackmun, March 8, 1999. It was also used in the Department of Commerce building on April 9-10, 1996, for the laying in state of Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown.

The catafalque is a simple bier of rough pine boards nailed together and covered with black cloth. Although the base and platform have occasionally been altered to accommodate the larger size of modern coffins and for the ease of the attending military personnel, it is basically the same today as it was in Lincoln's time. Presently the catafalque measures 7 feet 1 inch (216 cm) long, 2 feet 6 inches (76 cm) wide, and 2 feet (61 cm) high. The attached base is 8 feet 10 inches (269 cm) long, 4 feet 3-1/2 inches (131 cm) wide, and 2 inches (5 cm) high. The platform is 11 feet 1 inch (338 cm) long, 6 feet (183 cm) wide, and 9-1/4 inches (23.5 cm) high. Although the cloth covering the catafalque has been replaced several times, the style of the drapery is similar to that used in 1865.

A list of those who have lain in state on the catafalque in the Capitol Rotunda appears below; a list of all persons who have lain in state or in honor in the Rotunda is also available.

Name Lay in State
Abraham Lincoln
April 19-21, 1865
Thaddeus Stevens August 13-14, 1868
Charles Sumner March 13, 1874
Henry Wilson November 25-26, 1875
James Abram Garfield September 21-23, 1881
John Alexander Logan December 30-31, 1886
William McKinley, Jr. September 17, 1901
Pierre Charles L'Enfant (re-interment) April 28, 1909
George Dewey January 20, 1917
Unknown Soldier of World War I November 9-11, 1921
Warren Gamaliel Harding August 8, 1923
William Howard Taft March 11, 1930
John Joseph Pershing July 18-19, 1948
Robert Alphonso Taft August 2-3, 1953
Unknown Soldiers of World War II and
the Korean War May 28-30, 1958
John Fitzgerald Kennedy November 24-25, 1963
Douglas MacArthur April 8-9, 1964
Herbert Clark Hoover October 23-25, 1964
Dwight David Eisenhower March 30-31, 1969
Everett McKinley Dirksen September 9-10, 1969
J. Edgar Hoover May 3-4, 1972
Lyndon Baines Johnson January 24-25, 1973
Hubert Horatio Humphrey January 14-15, 1978
Unknown Soldier of Vietnam Era May 25-28, 1984
Claude Denson Pepper June 1-2, 1989

[chenGOD]

4. Or....

Catafalque

Catafalque, derived from the Italian word catafalco, literally means a scaffold or elevation, but in its strictly liturgical sense the word is employed to designate the cenotaph-like erection which is used at the exequial offices of the Church, and takes the place of the bier whenever the remains are not present. It is covered with a black cloth or pall, on which there is a cross either of white or some other colour (De Herdt, Praxis Sac. Lit., II, 328). The catafalque is usually placed immediately outside the sanctuary, and is the centre of the ceremonies of that part of the exequial office known as the absolution, receiving the same attention as the corpse would if present. Hence it is that lights burn around the catafalque during the function, and it is aspersed with holy water and incensed. During the absolution at the catafalque the cross-bearer should always stand between it and the door of the church, the celebrant or officiant being at the other end, between it and the sanctuary. When it is not possible for any reason to have a catafalque, its place may be supplied by a square piece of black cloth (pannus niger), which should be laid in front of the lowest step of the altar, and be sprinkled with holy water and incensed at the proper time by the officiant. Formerly the word was used to designate the bier or structure on which the corpse rested. No flowers should be used in connection with it, but it is allowable in the case of deceased prelates to mount their insignia to show the dignity, and in the case of nobles to display the family coat of arms, together with coronets, orders, and other insignia, to show the rank of the deceased. A very notable monument of this kind was that erected to the memory of Michelangelo by his brother artists on the occasion of his funeral in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence.

[spinbaby]

5. So was it the wagon?

Or is it the thing the coffin is sitting on now?

[Richardo]

7. 'Catafalque' is the stand. The wagon is a 'caisson'.

Used to transport large guns to the battlefield, and the casualties back from the battlefield.

Celebrated in the Army song "And the caissons go rolling along".

[supernova]

6. It's a gun carriage

the thing that carries a cannon, normally.

Same thing that Diana's casket rode on.