Bishops and the Tabernacle

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frankk
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Frankk

Guest
I understand that when bishops offer Mass the tabernacle should be empty and the Hosts removed. If this is correct what happens to the Hosts during Mass? Is it kept at the rear of the church and brought forward during the Offertory? Is it placed in a dignified place outside the body of the church?

Also what are the practicalities of providing unconsecrated bread for the bishop to use and ensuring there is enough for everyone present. I know some churches where people take bread from one container and put a host into another in preparation for later consecration as Canon Law says all the Faithful have the right to receive the Eucharist which has been consecrated at the Mass they are attending - is this what happens in this case?
 
Frankk said:
I understand that when bishops offer Mass the tabernacle should be empty and the Hosts removed. If this is correct what happens to the Hosts during Mass? Is it kept at the rear of the church and brought forward during the Offertory? Is it placed in a dignified place outside the body of the church?
Click to expand...
Whence do you receive this understanding? :confused:
Frankk said:
Also what are the practicalities of providing unconsecrated bread for the bishop to use and ensuring there is enough for everyone present. I know some churches where people take bread from one container and put a host into another in preparation for later consecration as Canon Law says all the Faithful have the right to receive the Eucharist which has been consecrated at the Mass they are attending - is this what happens in this case?
Click to expand...
Can you be more specific about this canon? :confused:

tee
 
tee_eff_em said:
Whence do you receive this understanding? :confused:
Click to expand...
I think it’s the way it’s done for a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the EF. If I recall, it is because there is so much movement that it would make all the reverences impractical. But someone with more knowledge can correct me if I’m wrong.
 
If the tabernacle is emptied, the consecrated hosts would probably be taken to the tabernacle in the sacristy. Care would have to be taken to ensure that unconsecrated hosts and not mixed up with the consecrated ones.

I don’t see what the issue would be with someone receiving a host consecrated at a previous Mass. Consecration by the bishop does not make the host “super consecrated”. The bread is either bread or the true Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ no matter what the title of the priest who does the consecration.
 
Mrs_Sally said:
I don’t see what the issue would be with someone receiving a host consecrated at a previous Mass. Consecration by the bishop does not make the host “super consecrated”. The bread is either bread or the true Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ no matter what the title of the priest who does the consecration.
Click to expand...
The issue here is not who consecrates them, but when. It is preferred that the faithful receive hosts consecrated in the same Mass as they are attending.

[85.] It is most desirable that the faithful…receive the Lord’s Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass… so that even by means of the signs Communion may stand out more clearly as a participation in the sacrifice actually being celebrated.
 
I read the OPs question to say that if the tabernacle is empty than the previously consecrated hosts are not used at all that Mass. That would truly not be practical.

Even with a practiced eye, the priest cannot know exactly how many people will receive at any one Mass. There many be some left over, or they may run out. The preference is that there are sufficient hosts for everyone at the Mass, even if that means that more than enough are consecrated.

Those “excess” consecrated hosts may not be used up during the week for the sick and so they should be distributed at the next Mass. The accidents of bread still remain, and even in a closed ciborium in a locked tabernacle, the hosts can and will spoil.

The cannon is speaking of an ideal situation. It is not forbidding the use of previously consecrated hosts at a Mass.
 
TheMc said:
The issue here is not who consecrates them, but when. It is preferred that the faithful receive hosts consecrated in the same Mass as they are attending.

[85.] It is most desirable that the faithful…receive the Lord’s Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass… so that even by means of the signs Communion may stand out more clearly as a participation in the sacrifice actually being celebrated.
Click to expand...
That is my understanding as well, which is why I questioned the OP’s statement:
Frankk said:
… Canon Law says all the Faithful have the right to receive the Eucharist which has been consecrated at the Mass they are attending …
Click to expand...
tee
 
The Blessed Sacrament is removed from the high altar when a bishop celebrates Mass, as the Ordinary Bishop is the source of the sacramental life of his diocese.
Click to expand...
Source: institute-christ-king.org/gallery/album-10/67/

At a Pontifical Mass the Introit is read by the Bishop when he pontificates at the faldstool or at the throne. The focal point of the Mass takes place here until the offertory.

At Masses celebrated by a priest the priest reads the introit (entrance antiphon) at the epistle side of the altar from the Missal.

The faldstool is placed on the epistle side and is used by auxiliary, extern and titular bishops.

The throne is placed on the gospel side and is used by Ordinary bishops and bishops outside their diocese who have been given permission by the local Ordinary to pontificate at the throne.

Reading: The Ceremonial of Bishops
the Diocesan Bishop is the source of all the sacraments which are celebrated within his diocese
Click to expand...
 
Thanks TheMc,

Sorry, it isn’t Canon Law. Your quote is from the General Instruction ot the Roman Missal which is based on Eucharisticum mysterium, no.31 and this comes from VII, Session XXI, Decree on EucharistIc Communion.

The query about the tabernacle comes from the Liturgistat at a seminary who was emphasising that the altar is the most important thing in a Catholic Church, not the Tabernacle. He cited two occasions when the Tabernacle is empty. On Holy Thursday and at Masses where a Bishop presides.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top