Chapter IV. Reservation of the Eucharist

THE Ritual prescribes that the parish priest, or one who has the cure of souls, should take care that some consecrated particles, in sufficient number for the use of the sick and for the Communion of the rest of the faithful, should be always reserved in a clean, pyx of solid and decent material, well closed with its own lid, covered with a white veil, and as far as possible in an ornamented tabernacle kept locked with a key. This key should be in the keeping of the priest, not in that of the sacristan or other person. As a rule the pyx or ciborium is of silver, and gilded inside. There seems to be no strict law prescribing that it should be consecrated or even blessed, though there is a form for blessing it in the Ritual.

The Blessed Sacrament, then, must be thus reserved for the use of the faithful in all cathedrals, parish churches, and chapels of ease attached to parochial churches. Religious orders of men and women who take solemn vows have the privilege of reserving the holy Eucharist in their churches. It can only be reserved in other churches or oratories by special indult from the bishop, or from the Holy See in the case of strictly private oratories (Can. 1265).

The Ritual further prescribes that the tabernacle should be decently covered with a veil, that nothing else besides the Blessed Sacrament should be put in it, and that it should be placed on the high altar, or on another if this would conduce to greater reverence toward the holy Eucharist, so that it would be no obstacle to sacred functions or ecclesiastical offices. Several lamps, or at least one, should always be kept burning before it night and day. The lamps should be fed with olive oil, but if the church is very poor the bishop may allow vegetable or mineral oil to be used. Gas or electric lamps should not be tolerated. One lamp must be kept burning under pain of grievous sin.

The veil of the tabernacle should be white or in keeping with the colour of the day, but never black (Can. 1269-1271).

The particles taken for consecration should be fresh, not more than fifteen days or at most a month old, and they should be renewed every eight, or at most fifteen, days, though in this matter regard should be had to the dampness or dryness of the place and season (cf. Can. 1272).