FALDISTORY. – From the German *Falstuhl* (folding chair). It is an armchair without a back, placed on the steps of the altar on the Epistle side for the bishop or abbot when he cannot use the throne, as on Good Friday and at pontifical Masses for the dead or in the presence of an apostolic legate or a cardinal, or at sacred ordinations. Other bishops use it when they have not obtained permission from the diocesan bishop to use the throne; auxiliary and coadjutor bishops must always use it (S. Congregation of Rites, decree 4023); apostolic protonotaries *de numero* and *supra numerum* use it when celebrating pontifically according to the *motu proprio* *Inter multiplices* of Pius X (1905).
It is already mentioned in the *Ordo Romanus XIV* of the 14th century (PL 78, 1159). It does not have steps, but simply a podium or a stool. According to the *Caeremoniale Episcoporum*, it must be covered with silk (originally with a cloth: Pacian, 4th century, *Epist. 2 ad Sympneumonium* calls it a “linteatam sedem”). According to traditional usage, it is covered with fabric of the color of the day’s office and has a cushion of the same color.
The origin of the faldistory is probably to be found in the practical need to have a comfortable seat near the altar, since the throne, or episcopal cathedra, was at the back of the apse behind the altar. In collegiate churches, the abbot’s chair was beside the altar.