PALLA. — In its current liturgical sense, a small square of linen measuring approximately 20–25 cm, used to cover the chalice, especially from the Offertory to Communion.
Until the 11th century, the chalice was covered with the folded rear part of the corporal, called the palla grande (v.); this Franco-Italian usage is still followed by the Carthusians. For convenience in private Masses without a deacon, the chalice was initially covered with another folded corporal («panno complicato instar sudari»), and later with a small piece of linen almost detached from the corporal, «corporale minus» or «p. corporalis», or simply p. This piece of linen, trimmed around the edges with lace and formerly limp, is now stiff or starched; in Belgium and Germany it is doubled and supported in the middle by cardboard. The p. must always be made of pure linen, like the corporal from which it was detached (Decr. auth., 4174); if double, the upper part may also be made of silk and variously decorated or embroidered (ibid., 1882, 4). S. Carlo Borromeo calls the p. «animetta», because it is enclosed in the corporal as the soul is in the body; in the Mozarabic rite it is called «filola», because it derives from the p. grande. The p. is blessed with the same formula as the corporal, from which it derives; its first washing, like that of the corporal, must be performed by a priest or a subdeacon. Medieval allegorism sees the shroud in which Christ was wrapped symbolized in the corporal, and especially the sudarium in the p. (Jo. 20, 7).
In a broader and original sense, p. was the name given to the altar cloth: two types are distinguished: «p. altaris» and «p. corporalis», that is, the present-day corporal, from which the p. was detached
. Sometimes, indeed, the veil of the chalice is called p. In the preparation of the chalice, the p. is placed over the paten. The Theatines use a second p. to cover the paten.