Cleaning Sacred Vessels

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GwenL

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Not purifying. I’m not asking about purifying. I know that only Deacons and Priests may purify the vessels after Mass, and that’s how it’s done at our parish.

My question is about cleaning the vessels after the purification. At our parish, the sacristans may do this. My question is, what kind of soap do people use? We have gold-plated cups, chalices, and ciboria. I’m more concerned about the cups–they will naturally get the most cleaning. Is there a specific soap that people use? I’ve heard that regular dish soap (such as palmolive, ivory, etc.) can be too harsh and can cause pitting. But this may be an urban legend. I’ve also been told that regular dish soap can be too harsh for inset jewels and the exterior surface of chalices and cups. I’m at a cathedral, and our bishop has a gorgeous chalice with inset jewels. I don’t want to be the one to explain to him why it’s a mess…

None of our sacristans seem to know. For several years, EMHCs were incorrectly purifying the sacred vessels after Mass. Our new rector put a stop to that on his first day here. But nobody has been cleaning the cups, especially after daily Mass (after the priest purifies them). I think that previous EMHCs and sacristans got the two mixed up, that is, they confused “purifying” and “cleaning.” and thought they were doing both.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Hot water for the first step as you don’t want to use soap in the special sink that goes to the ground.

We use dawn I believe but we don’t put the whole chalice in there. The bottom of our chalice looks like it is one piece but its not and water can get in and damage the inside. We just fill the sink with hot water and soap and clean the inside and rims and then rinse again in hot water. You just really really need to dry them well to make sure the water drops don’t set and to make sure no damage is being done.

Good to hear that you guys are doing it right!!
 
Ditto what Vico said. That is exactly what w do, right down to paying special attention to the rim of the cup and rinse the cruets without using soap.

We use liquid Ivory dish soap and hot water. I think the soap is mild and will not harm the gold. The key is to be gentle – no abrasive rubbing, and do not immerse the entire chalice in water.
 
Man, I’m kinda jealous of a parish where only the priest or deacon does the purifying, and they even use the proper term EMHC rather than “Eucharistic Minister”! Would that my parish could get that far…
 
You wouldn’t be able to put your bare hand in something capable of causing pits in gold. Mild dish soap is fine. Don’t knock the jewels loose against the side of a sink.

If your church has a chalice that is two pieces and not water tight, a custom jeweler may be able to solder the joints to allow you to immerse the vessel. It doesn’t cost anything to ask.🙂
 
Saburo said:
You wouldn’t be able to put your bare hand in something capable of causing pits in gold. Mild dish soap is fine. Don’t knock the jewels loose against the side of a sink.

If your church has a chalice that is two pieces and not water tight, a custom jeweler may be able to solder the joints to allow you to immerse the vessel. It doesn’t cost anything to ask.🙂
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That is true of pure gold, but not necessarily true of gold alloys. While those might not literally dissolve in the wrong cleaning solution, they could discolor. But you’re right, a mild dish soap ought to be fine.

The main thing with gold is to avoid unnessary abrasion. Gold is very difficult to dissolve, but it can be plated on very thinly and it scratches if you look at it crossways. I have seen many chalices that were scratched through to the base metal from which the chalice was cast. So be careful about what you used to rub the soap around with, and be gentle about it.

Oh, and for some reason we’ve found it necessary to tell people to carry no more than one vessel to a hand and not to stack them, no matter what metal they’re made from. Even if ciboria are made with lids and bottoms so it is clear they are meant to be stacked, that means they may be stacked in the tabernacle. Don’t stack them while carrying them, even if empty, unless they have a soft cloth between them. They do scratch each other.
 
GwenL said:
Not purifying. I’m not asking about purifying. I know that only Deacons and Priests may purify the vessels after Mass, and that’s how it’s done at our parish.

My question is about cleaning the vessels after the purification. At our parish, the sacristans may do this. My question is, what kind of soap do people use? We have gold-plated cups, chalices, and ciboria. I’m more concerned about the cups–they will naturally get the most cleaning. Is there a specific soap that people use? I’ve heard that regular dish soap (such as palmolive, ivory, etc.) can be too harsh and can cause pitting. But this may be an urban legend. I’ve also been told that regular dish soap can be too harsh for inset jewels and the exterior surface of chalices and cups. I’m at a cathedral, and our bishop has a gorgeous chalice with inset jewels. I don’t want to be the one to explain to him why it’s a mess…

None of our sacristans seem to know. For several years, EMHCs were incorrectly purifying the sacred vessels after Mass. Our new rector put a stop to that on his first day here. But nobody has been cleaning the cups, especially after daily Mass (after the priest purifies them). I think that previous EMHCs and sacristans got the two mixed up, that is, they confused “purifying” and “cleaning.” and thought they were doing both.

Thanks in advance for your help.
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If you want to take really good care of the vessels use natural sponges and a soap like Ivory (not a detergent.) Extremely soft towels to dry. No one should ever clean vessels while wearing rings – diamonds scratch horribly.
 
GwenL said:
Not purifying. I’m not asking about purifying. I know that only Deacons and Priests may purify the vessels after Mass, and that’s how it’s done at our parish.

My question is about cleaning the vessels after the purification. At our parish, the sacristans may do this. My question is, what kind of soap do people use? We have gold-plated cups, chalices, and ciboria. I’m more concerned about the cups–they will naturally get the most cleaning. Is there a specific soap that people use? I’ve heard that regular dish soap (such as palmolive, ivory, etc.) can be too harsh and can cause pitting. But this may be an urban legend. I’ve also been told that regular dish soap can be too harsh for inset jewels and the exterior surface of chalices and cups. I’m at a cathedral, and our bishop has a gorgeous chalice with inset jewels. I don’t want to be the one to explain to him why it’s a mess…

None of our sacristans seem to know. For several years, EMHCs were incorrectly purifying the sacred vessels after Mass. Our new rector put a stop to that on his first day here. But nobody has been cleaning the cups, especially after daily Mass (after the priest purifies them). I think that previous EMHCs and sacristans got the two mixed up, that is, they confused “purifying” and “cleaning.” and thought they were doing both.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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Gwen, I think you are on the right track. My son is a Pharmisutical Engineer and we were talking about this very thing, we have a beautiful chalice that is only 4 or 5 years old. It is pitted. My son said that we would be better off if we were to wipe the edge with alcohol to eliminate any germs, then rince with distilled water. The distilled water has no minerals in it so it shouldn’t spot. Either let them air dry or pat the water off with a real absorbant cloth. Don’t rub, that can also take off plated gold a little at a time.
Your city water has minerals in it that can eventually pit also any kind of soap can do the same.
 
surritter said:
Man, I’m kinda jealous of a parish where only the priest or deacon does the purifying, and they even use the proper term EMHC rather than “Eucharistic Minister”! Would that my parish could get that far…
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Perhaps you need to either get on the Liturgy Committee ir at least attend with documents you need to stress your point.Call or e-mail your Office of Worship and ask them to send or e-mail what you need to take to the Liturgy Committee. Be brave son.I know there are others in your parish that know tha it is being done improperly.
 
Petergee said:
Cups? What cups?
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I think she means to distinguish between the sacred vessels used for administering the Precious Blood to the faithful from the main (and often more ornate) sacred vessel used by the priest at the elevation. Often, that main vessel alone is referred to as the chalice and the others are referred to as common cups or merely as cups. Since the Church uses the term “cup” rather than “chalice” in the Eucharistic prayers to translate the term for the vessel holding the Precious Blood , “cup” is not a demeaning or overly-common term for such a vessel.

In any event, it is useful to have the different terms in order to make it clear which vessel you mean. They’re all noble and sacred vessels, but there is a difference.
 
fall_fox said:
Gwen, I think you are on the right track. My son is a Pharmisutical Engineer and we were talking about this very thing, we have a beautiful chalice that is only 4 or 5 years old. It is pitted. My son said that we would be better off if we were to wipe the edge with alcohol to eliminate any germs, then rince with distilled water. The distilled water has no minerals in it so it shouldn’t spot. Either let them air dry or pat the water off with a real absorbant cloth. Don’t rub, that can also take off plated gold a little at a time.
Your city water has minerals in it that can eventually pit also any kind of soap can do the same.
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Be careful about alcohol. I’ve always thought alcohol should be totally safe on metals, but we’ve found that if the EMHC use alcohol-based germicides immediately prior to touching the brass handrail to the sanctuary, it puts marks on the brass that are really hard to remove. I’m thinking that the same can also discolor gold cups, since those are usually plated with an alloy, and not 24-carat gold.

As an inorganic chemist, I’m wondering if the alcohol and/or soap doesn’t dissolve the naturally-occurring chemicals out of our skin and that it is those acids or sulfur compounds are the real chemical culprits, rather than the alcohol or soap. Maybe the cleaning solutions aren’t what is causing the problem.
 
fall_fox said:
Perhaps you need to either get on the Liturgy Committee ir at least attend with documents you need to stress your point.Call or e-mail your Office of Worship and ask them to send or e-mail what you need to take to the Liturgy Committee. Be brave son.I know there are others in your parish that know that it is being done improperly.
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I am on the Worship Commission. This goes to show you how the buck really stops with the pastor, despite the (name removed by moderator)ut of a commission which is considered “advisory.” My strategy in the parish is a little more subtle, and writing it to the bishop or marching to my pastor with the appropriate documents in hand will not be helpful, believe me (unless the violation were egregious, such using altar breads with honey as an ingredient).

See this other thread for an example of my strategy and how it has worked with my pastor.

I don’t mean to paint too bad of a picture; our parish is following the norms in other regards. My point was that a parish that uses the term EMHC is showing excellent signs of fidelity to the Church, even in lesser matters. Hooray!
 
surritter said:
My point was that a parish that uses the term EMHC is showing excellent signs of fidelity to the Church, even in lesser matters. Hooray!
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I used the terms extraordinary ministers and ordinary ministers, as a short-hand to refer to EMsHC and clergy, respectively, and one of our EMsHC had no idea what I was talking about. If a short-hand term is needed, I much prefer extraordinary minister or ordinary minister to eucharistic minister.

For an all-inclusive term, use I’d use minister of Holy Communion, I guess, but only when I specifically meant to include the clergy in what I was saying. Come to think of it, maybe “ordinary and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion” is worth the extra breath!!
 
Petergee said:
Cups? What cups?
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EasterJoy hit it right on. “Cups” are those sacred vessels use to contain and distribute the Precious Blood to the lay faithful, and we say “cups” to differentiate them from the chalice which the priest or deacon uses for his communion.

I don’t know how to do more than one quote, so a few comments follow…

Hot water alone won’t cut it. You can’t put your hand in water hot enough to kill germs or viruses, and that’s why we wash after purification.

We don’t put soap down the sacrarium. Our sink is a double sink; the right side is the sacrarium and has a cover on it. You have to raise the cover to pour anything down; you can’t just inadvertently splash soapy water into it.

Alchohol: I am leery.

Cleaning technique: I think we need to clean around the rim as well as inside the cup. It’s germs we’re after, after all. I do take the point about chalices being two-piece, and not wanting to get water (or soap) inside the stem or base. Also, I’m less worried about cleaning chalices. Those are used by one, or at most three, at the vast majority of our Masses. If the priests and deacons are worried about passing colds/flu around to one another, they can either wash their chalice or ask me to specifically.

Pitting: our gold-plated cups get pitted, over time, from the wine. It’s just acidic enough to react with the alloy.

Materials: thanks for the idea of a natural sponge and soft cloth. I use a special microfiber detailing cloth for cleaning my airplane (the fabric and plexiglas canopy/windshield are quite prone to scratching) so maybe I’ll try that on the cups and chalice.

Cruet: I assume that you mean the vessel that we put the wine in; the priest or deacon pours the wine out of the cruet into the chalice and cups prior to the consecration. IF so, we do wash this, especially the one we use for daily Mass. It gets real sticky otherwise.

Water/spotting: Our city water would probably pit the concrete steps into the church!

I saw a very interesting procedure throughout Italy on my recent pilgrimage. I saw this everywhere, among Franciscans, Benedictines, and diocesan priests. Concelebrants intincted the host in the chalice, rather than lifting the chalice and drinking directly. Now that’s how to avoid passing germs!
 
GwenL said:
EasterJoy hit it right on. “Cups” are those sacred vessels use to contain and distribute the Precious Blood to the lay faithful, and we say “cups” to differentiate them from the chalice which the priest or deacon uses for his communion.
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What document can you cite that describes this terminology and distinction?
 
GwenL said:
EasterJoy hit it right on. “Cups” are those sacred vessels use to contain and distribute the Precious Blood to the lay faithful, and we say “cups” to differentiate them from the chalice which the priest or deacon uses for his communion.
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The Church says smaller chalices can be used to distinguish the celebrant’s chalice from the others but she does not use “cups” to distinguish between them. Chalices don’t suddenly become something else simply because they are used to give Communion to the laity.
 
Phemie said:
The Church says smaller chalices can be used to distinguish the celebrant’s chalice from the others but she does not use “cups” to distinguish between them. Chalices don’t suddenly become something else simply because they are used to give Communion to the laity.
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umm…I didn’t say that the Church used the term “cups.” I said that WE use “cups.” And everybody in our sacristy understands that. Your sacristy may differ. It works for us. It’s not a term used outside of the sacristy.

The Church does recognize that there are sacred vessels intended for the Precious Blood that are not chalices, though. GIRM 330: “As regards chalices and other vessels that are intended to serve as receptacles for the Blood of the Lord, they are to have a bowl of material that does not absorb liquids…”

It is clear and understood when the priest tells me, “place two more cups for communion at the 9:30 Mass.” He doesn’t say “two more chalices,” which could be misunderstood, or “two more other vessels” which would be nutty.

Probably your pastor or rector should determine the best vocabulary to use in this instance, in your sacristy.
 
Elizium23 said:
What document can you cite that describes this terminology and distinction?
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See my reply to Phemie. I’m not trying to change the official designation of specific vessels. We use the term “cups” in our sacristy to more clearly communicate what is needed for Mass. Furthermore, I don’t see this as even a remotely important thing to be discussing, or otherwise worrying about!
 
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