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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 4981 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Wed Dec 6th, 2006 02:53 pm |
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The little room, usually next to or behind the altar, where the priest gets dressed is called the Sacristy. Inside the sacristy is a special, covered sink called the sacrarium. It has a separate drain line that goes directly to ground, and not to the sewer system or septic tank.
When soiled altar linens are washed, they are first rinsed in clean water to make sure any remaining Eucharist (Precious Body or Precious Blood) is cleaned from the fabric. Then the linens, which must be of natural fabric like cotton or linen, are washed, dried, and ironed normally. The water which was used to rinse the linens is poured down the sacrarium rather than being poured into a regular sink where it might mix with less noble elements.
Sometimes, volunteers who clean the linens take them home to wash them. In this case, the linens are rinsed in a pan and the water is poured directly onto the ground rather than down the drain.
As Catholics, we treat the Precious Body and Precious Blood of our Lord with such great respect that even the water used to clean the linens is given special treatment.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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BettyBoopToo
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Camas/Washougal, Washington USA |
| Posts: | 538 |
| First Name: | Betty | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Fist Baptist/Calvary Babtist/Secular Confusion/ Roman Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Dec 6th, 2006 08:37 pm |
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I've never noticed this topic before?
That's a good thing to tell folks, I'd not be aware except for my Mom-inlaw is a sacristen & my sis-inlaw is a Extrodinary (sp) minister. My mom in-law cleans the church on friday's and she is an amazing cleaning lady, She had issues with the other's not cleaning the holy water fonts, She learned from the other's where to dump the excess old water and told me about it.
Thanks
Betty
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Patience
"Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent."
St. John of the Cross
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 4981 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Wed Dec 6th, 2006 08:48 pm |
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BettyBoopToo wrote: I've never noticed this topic before?
It's new. Just another way we can pass along information. Think of it as answers to the questions you didn't know you didn't know!
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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topcat71
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 10th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 1 |
| First Name: | Tony | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | St Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church |
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Posted: Sun Nov 18th, 2007 09:28 pm |
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When I went up to the Altar for Eucharistic Adoration I noticed a piece of the Eucharist on the floor. I picked it up and took it to the sacristy and flushed it down the Sacrarium. Later I found out we have a jar with water in it for this kind of thing.
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David W. Emery
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1714 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Sun Nov 18th, 2007 10:28 pm |
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Correct, Tony. The jar should be used first, until the piece of host has dissolved (usually several weeks) and it is no longer the Body of Christ. Then it can be flushed down the sacrarium. In like manner, you will notice that the residue in the chalice is first diluted with water until it is no longer the Blood of Christ. Then it is consumed by the priest. Later, the chalice, already having been cleansed in preliminary fashion, can be washed out more thoroughly with pure water, and the water poured down the sacrarium. This procedure is known as an “ablution,” or “cleansing.”
David
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JillD
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Visalia, California USA |
| Posts: | 600 |
| First Name: | Jill | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | heathen, EvFree, Messianic, LC-MS, Catholic 2007 |
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Posted: Mon Nov 19th, 2007 12:11 am |
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This reminds me of something I've noticed that's not so good and maybe I should ask if I could help out rather than just complain.
Often, the water in the holy water fonts is very yucky, like left from the day before with hundreds of people dipping their fingers in it and left overnight to grow "stuff." How should these be cleaned out? Is there something special done with the remaining holy water?
Jill
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"The alternative to obedience is to turn the conversation into a cacophony of Christians making it up as they go along." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus
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David W. Emery
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| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
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| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Nov 19th, 2007 01:10 am |
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Holy water is not considered “sacred,” Jill. It’s had prayers said over it, but so has your meal if you say grace. A holy water font can be cleaned in the ordinary way with no special precautions.
David
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HermitpatOCDS
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| Joined: | Wed Nov 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Denison, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 39 |
| First Name: | Patricia | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Born: Presbyterian / became Disciples of Christ in 1986 / ... |
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Posted: Thu Nov 22nd, 2007 01:26 am |
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Vinegar is good to clean out a holy water font. It gets rid of any mineral build up and kills germs too! Just be sure to rinse away any vinegar so the font doesn't smell like a jar of pickles.
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"Ecce ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum." Luke 1:38
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EMarshallBuckles
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| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 524 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Wed Mar 12th, 2008 07:15 pm |
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Thanks to good ol' (or, I should say, "good YOUNG"  ) CajunRick for referring me to this thread from the earlier thread about Monstrances. This brings up another question for me, in view of the mention of linens. My wife, daughter and I live on St. Peter's Church Road, in western Hanover County, Virginia between a villiage called Montpelier and a village called Rockville. Over near Rockville, not too far from here, on Bienveniue Road, is a Monastery of the Sisters of the Visitation. They prayerfully make the "host" bread ("Communion wafers" as some might call them) for the Diocese of Richmond and others who order from them. They used to be in a monastery building on a hill, called "Church Hill" which overlooks the City of Richmond and the Capitol Building of Virginia but moved out here several years ago (an interdenominational Christian retreat center now occupies their old 1860s building). Anyway, when we first came out here, from nearby Henrico County in 1997, we learned that the well water which we have has a lot of iron deposits in it so it has to be filtered. We learned this after our white linen, such as sheets, turned different colors. At one point, I happened to meet (now late, she has gone on to be with the Lord) Mother Mary McGuire who was the then Mother Superior of the Rockville Monastery. We chatted, she welcomed us to western Hanover County and we got to chatting about life out here and about the well water. I told her what happened with our linens. She sympathized and said that the Sisters of the Visitation had the same problem when they came out here. They were shocked, during their first week here, to learn that all of their white linens, including altar linens, had gotten iron stains in them (a sort of copper brown if you can imagine that) so they had to get water filters. Anyway, your information about the Sacrarium and washing linens, etc. reminded me of the conversation I'd had with Mother McGuire. I was wondering, in a case like that, where something happened to the linens - something like a permanent iron stain for example, what would be done with the altar linens? Would they be destroyed in some appropriate manner? How would they be handled?
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 4981 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Thu Mar 13th, 2008 12:06 am |
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EMarshallBuckles wrote: I was wondering, in a case like that, where something happened to the linens - something like a permanent iron stain for example, what would be done with the altar linens? Would they be destroyed in some appropriate manner? How would they be handled?
To the best of my knowledge, there is no requirement that altar linens be white. Especially in the Third World, where linens might well have to be washed with well water or in a stream, a requirement that they not be naturally stained might well make them impossible to reuse.
Linens that contact the Eucharist, notably the corporal and the purificators, are made of natural fibers (cotton, linen, etc.) and rinsed in clean water which is then poured into the sacrarium or directly to the ground, as indicated above. Then they, and any other altar linens such as the altar cloth, finger towels, etc., are laundered in the "usual way". When linens become worn, they are treated as any other sacramental. Corporals and purificators are first rinsed in clean water, then they may be burned or buried as is fitting to a cloth which has come in contact with the Precious Body and Precious Blood fo our Savior.
The important thing to remember is that we treat the Eucharist with such respect that even the articles that come in contact with it are sacred and are treated with great reverence. Everything that is used in worship is treated reverentially. As we speak (write), I am burning the stub of an altar candle, and every bit of wax will be burned even though there is no longer enough remaining to use on the altar. It has been used in the Lord's service and it deserves a better end than to be discarded in the trash.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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