Article III. On the Reservation of the Eucharist

225. Place of reservation. In ancient times the Eucharist was not rarely reserved among ordinary faithful persons, and especially among monks and virgins consecrated to God.²⁴¹ In our age special indults in this matter are sometimes granted, especially to missionaries.²⁴² According to the common law now in force:

The Eucharist must be reserved: 1. in the cathedral church and in the principal church of an Abbey or Prelature nullius, an Apostolic Vicariate, and an Apostolic Prefecture; 2. in every parish or quasi-parish church; 3. in a church attached to a house of exempt religious, whether of men or of women.

The Eucharist can be reserved with the permission of the local Ordinary: 1. in a collegiate church; 2. in churches having the care of souls which, although not strictly parochial, are subsidiary;²⁴³ 3. in the principal oratory (whether public or semi-public) both of a pious or religious house and of an ecclesiastical college which is governed by secular clerics or by religious.

For it to be reserved in other churches or oratories, an Apostolic indult is necessary; but the local Ordinary cannot grant this permission except to public churches or oratories, and this for a just cause and by way of an act, that is, not permanently.²⁴⁴ In a place where the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved, ordinarily some priest must celebrate Mass at least once a week.²⁴⁵

The ancient practice of traveling priests carrying the Eucharist suspended from the neck has long since been prohibited.²⁴⁶ The Supreme Pontiff alone has the Eucharist with him while traveling.

²⁴¹ Cf. Martène, De antiq. Eccl. rit., l. 1, c. 5, a. 1.

²⁴² Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, August 23, 1850.

²⁴³ Pontifical Commission, May 20, 1923 (Acta Ap. Sed. XVI, 115).

²⁴⁴ Code of Canon Law, c. 1265. If any religious or pious house has an attached public church and uses it for performing ordinary and daily exercises of piety, the Eucharist can be reserved in that church alone; otherwise, in the principal oratory alone of the same religious or pious house. Sometimes, however, it happens that in the same material building there are distinct and separate religious or pious families, for example, a religious community and a seminary of clerics; then each distinct family can reserve the Eucharist in its principal oratory (cf. Acta Ap. Sed. X, 347).

²⁴⁵ Code of Canon Law, c. 1265, § 1.

²⁴⁶ Benedict XIV, constitution Etsi pastoralis, May 26, 1742, § 6, n. 7; cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 1265, § 5.

226. Manner of reservation. Concerning the manner of reserving the Eucharist, the following things especially are to be noted:

a) The custody of the Eucharist belongs to the pastor or another priest.

The key of the tabernacle is to be guarded most diligently by a priest, but not by a lay sacristan or by a nun. Thus the Sacred Congregation of Rites has decreed several times. But the rector of a church can retain the key of the tabernacle in the sacristy or in another safely locked place, the key of which it is lawful to entrust to a faithful lay sacristan or to a religious woman. This practice indeed prevails in several regions, because it can happen that, in the absence of the rector of the church himself, the key of the tabernacle must necessarily be employed by another priest.

b) The Eucharist is to be reserved in a becoming tabernacle upon the altar.

In ancient times the Eucharist was not reserved upon the altar, but in some side cupboard,²⁴⁷ or in some tower,²⁴⁸ or in some suspended bronze dove. But now the Code of Canon Law, c. 1269, § 1, establishes: "The Most Holy Eucharist must be kept in an immovable tabernacle placed in the middle part of the altar." The tabernacle can be made of wood, stone, metal, or another worthy material. Today, to forestall sacrilegious thefts, it is preferable that within it there be a bronze safe to be locked with an ingenious key,²⁴⁹ so that it cannot be opened by thieves or destroyed by fire. Prudently, and for the same reason, in some places the Most Holy Eucharist is carried every evening from the tabernacle of the church into the sacristy or another becoming place, where it is then reserved during the night in a most solid repository, and in the morning it is again carried to the tabernacle. This manner of acting is lawful, provided that a lamp shines throughout the whole night before this repository and provided that the suitability of the place is known by the competent ecclesiastical superior, namely, by the local Ordinary or his delegate.²⁵⁰

Let the tabernacle be blessed and let its interior either be lined with white silk cloth or be gilded;²⁵¹ externally let it be gilded or artistically ornamented and veiled with a canopy.²⁵² Let the color of this canopy be white or, better still, be changed according to the seasons and feasts. Violet is to be employed in place of black. Nothing may be kept in the tabernacle except the Eucharist.²⁵³ Therefore, the abuse of reserving the holy oils, sacred relics, and so forth in the same tabernacle is to be removed.

²⁴⁷ Pastophorium.

²⁴⁸ Sakramentshäuschen (little sacrament house).

²⁴⁹ Commonly coffre-fort (strongbox).

²⁵⁰ Code of Canon Law, c. 1269, § 3.

²⁵¹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, June 20, 1899 (Decr. auth., n. 4035 ad 4).

²⁵² Sacred Congregation of Rites, July 1, 1904 (Decr. auth., n. 437).

²⁵³ Code of Canon Law, c. 1269, § 2.

227. Before the tabernacle several lamps, or at least one, are to shine perpetually by day and night. This precept indeed binds under grave sin, so that according to Busembaum and St. Alphonsus²⁵⁴ it is a mortal sin if through negligence the light of the lamp has been extinguished for an entire day, that is, for the space of twenty-four hours. To supply the lamp, olive oil or beeswax is generally to be used; if these cannot be obtained without great difficulty, the local Ordinary can permit other oils, but, insofar as possible, vegetable oils,²⁵⁵ and in the last place even electric light.²⁵⁶ But the sole reason of reducing ordinary expenses does not suffice for petroleum to be employed, since because of its cheapness and odor it seems to be a material lacking in becomingness. When there are several lamps, they must be odd in number, both for ornament and for mystical meaning. Thus the Ceremonial of Bishops.²⁵⁷ The Eucharist cannot be reserved continuously upon two altars at the same time in the same church,²⁵⁸ nor upon an altar when immediately above it (although ornamented with a canopy) there is a dwelling with a bed.²⁵⁹

In cathedral, collegiate, and conventual churches in which the choral office is recited, it is better and more becoming if the Eucharist is not reserved upon the high altar, but upon a side altar.²⁶⁰

c) The sacred particles are to be kept "in a pyx of solid and becoming material, clean and well closed with its own lid, covered with a white veil." Thus the Roman Ritual and the Code of Canon Law.²⁶¹

It is indeed very becoming (although not prescribed by common law) that the pyx be of copper or silver and gilded within. But material of brass, glass, wood, and so forth is excluded.²⁶² What has been said of the pyx holds also of the lunette of the monstrance. Both the pyx and the lunette are not to be consecrated, but only blessed. Many authors, whose opinion St. Alphonsus²⁶³ thinks not improbable, judge that this blessing is only a matter of fittingness. Nevertheless, in practice the pyx and lunette, and indeed also the monstrance, are to be blessed, because they enclose and immediately touch the Most Holy Eucharist.²⁶⁴ The pyx must be closed with a lid; hence it does not suffice to place a pall or something similar over it. If a host is left in the lunette of the monstrance, it is very becoming that it be placed in some special vessel which is called a "custodia." A pyx containing the Eucharist is to be surrounded with a white silk veil, and a corporal is to be placed beneath it.

²⁵⁴ Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 248. Electric light cannot be employed in place of candles at Mass, but it is lawful to use it to illuminate a church in a becoming manner, every theatrical appearance being excluded. Sacred Congregation of Rites, June 4, 1895. From other decisions of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, namely, those of May 16, 1902; November 22, 1907; and June 24, 1914, it follows that electric light is prohibited: 1. upon the table and steps of the altar; 2. as a light before images or relics of saints; 3. within a monstrance (or throne where the Eucharist is exposed); 4. when electric lamps of various colors are arranged in a manner which does not befit the sanctity of the place (Acta Ap. Sed. VI, 353).

²⁵⁵ Code of Canon Law, c. 1271.

²⁵⁶ Sacred Congregation of Rites, February 23, 1916 (Acta Ap. Sed. VIII, 72). Cf. Cappello, loc. cit., n. 403.

²⁵⁷ L. 1, c. 12, n. 17.

²⁵⁸ Code of Canon Law, c. 1268, § 1.

²⁵⁹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, January 24, 1908 (Decr. auth., n. 4213).

²⁶⁰ Code of Canon Law, c. 1268, § 3.

²⁶¹ Tit. 4, c. 1, n. 5; cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 1270.

²⁶² Sacred Congregation of Rites, January 30, 1880 (Decr. auth., n. 3511).

²⁶³ Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 385.

²⁶⁴ It seems that the blessing for a vessel for reserving the Most Holy Eucharist is to be employed (Roman Ritual, tit. VIII, c. 23). For the blessing of a monstrance, a special blessing is contained in the first Appendix of the new edition of the Roman Ritual.

228. Scholion. On the exposition of the Eucharist. By way of a conclusion, a few things concerning the exposition of the Eucharist are appended. Public and private exposition are distinguished. Public exposition is had if the Eucharist is taken from the tabernacle and elevated in a monstrance upon a throne. On the feast of Corpus Christi and within its octave, this can be done in all churches during the solemnities of the Masses and at Vespers; but at other times only with the permission of the local Ordinary, even if the church belongs to an exempt religious institute. Private exposition, or exposition with the pyx, can be made for any just cause without the permission of the Ordinary.²⁶⁵ After private exposition, Benediction can be given with the veiled pyx.²⁶⁶

²⁶⁵ Code of Canon Law, c. 1274, § 1.

²⁶⁶ Sacred Congregation of Rites, November 30, 1895 (Decr. auth., n. 3875 ad 3).