Is opening the tabernacle a mortal sin?

[Exorcist]

Today I was helping at my parish. We had to set up a small adoration chapel in our 2nd grade room.

Well at the end of the day, I decided I wanted to go and pray. No one was in the room so I decided to pray close to the Blessed Sacrament. I opened the tabernacle(the key was in it), didn’t touch the ciboria, other to turn it straight.

I prayed in front of it.

Did I commit a mortal sin?
I didn’t know it was a mortal sin or a sin at all, until I started thinking about it.

Thanks.

The key should never be left in the tabernacle. That’s unacceptable as the Blessed Sacrament needs to be secured when in repose. But that was not your question.

Why on Earth would you ask if you committed a “mortal sin” under those circumstances? You wanted to pray before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. You did so by opening the tabernacle. You didn’t commit a mortal sin for heaven’s sake…

You may well need to discuss the subject of scrupulosity to your confessor…

 

[PacoG]

The tabernacle shouldn’t never be open for adoration or really for any extended period of time.

Citation please?

 

[mfrances]

I know it’s a mortal sin to leave the blessed sacrament unattended.

Is this really true? In a chapel?

 

[thomas_jd]

I know our perpetual adoration chapel has a large sign clearly indicating that only a Priest is permitted to re-open the tabernacle and expose the blessed Sacrament. I know it’s a mortal sin to leave the blessed sacrament unattended.

The priest posted those rules as is his right. Reopen tends to tell me that when an emergency has occured and Our Lord was reposed, only the priest can Expose a second time. That does not stop a adorer from reposing in an emergency.

Mortal sin …? One must understand the rules first that require the safeguarding of the Eucharist. Unlikely in these circumstances.

 

[Irishgal49]

I would encourage you and anyone who sees a key in a tabernacle and no clergy, deacon around to report it immediately. It should not be left with a key in it. And…it cannot be mortal if you don’t know–FULL knowledge is the factor.

 

[Irishgal49]

Citation please?

CHAPTER II : THE RESERVATION AND VENERATION OF THE BLESSED EUCHARIST

Can. 934 §1 The blessed Eucharist:

1° must be reserved in the cathedral church or its equivalent, in every parish church, and in the church or oratory attached to the house of a religious institute or society of apostolic life

2° may be reserved in a Bishop’s chapel and, by permission of the local Ordinary, in other churches, oratories and chapels.

§2 In sacred places where the blessed Eucharist is reserved there must always be someone who is responsible for it, and as far as possible a priest is to celebrate Mass there at least twice a month.

Can. 935 It is not lawful for anyone to keep the blessed Eucharist in personal custody or to carry it around, unless there is an urgent pastoral need and the prescriptions of the diocesan Bishop are observed.

Can. 936 In a house of a religious institute or other house of piety, the blessed Eucharist is to be reserved only in the church or principal oratory attached to the house. For a just reason, however, the Ordinary can permit it to be reserved also in another oratory of the same house.

Can. 937 Unless there is a grave reason to the contrary, a church in which the blessed Eucharist is reserved is to be open to the faithful for at least some hours every day, so that they can pray before the blessed Sacrament.

Can. 938 §1 The blessed Eucharist is to be reserved habitually in only one tabernacle of a church or oratory.

§2 The tabernacle in which the blessed Eucharist is reserved should be sited in a distinguished place in the church or oratory, a place which is conspicuous, suitably adorned and conducive to prayer.

§3 The tabernacle in which the blessed Eucharist is habitually reserved is to be immovable, made of solid and non-transparent material, and so locked as to give the greatest security against any danger of profanation.

§4 For a grave reason, especially at night, it is permitted to reserve the blessed Eucharist in some other safer place, provided it is fitting.

§5 The person in charge of a church or oratory is to see to it that the key of the tabernacle in which the blessed Eucharist is reserved, is in maximum safe keeping.

 

[curlycool89]

“Shouldn’t never” ?

Sorry, something got mixed up between the brain and the hands (as they say in IT, “problem is between chair and keyboard” ). I think I meant to say “shouldn’t ever” and somehow that became “should never” (which is the same as the other one) and then the two conflated when I typed. Mea culpa.

Why should it never be left open, if the host is placed in the monstrance for adoration ?

If the host is in the monstrance, then there’s no need for the tabernacle to be open at all (normally, there will be other ciboria in there holding more consecrated hosts).

I already know that one - as many as want to - angels do not have mass. (They do come to Mass, though … )

As incorporeal beings, angles do not have extension (take up space) either, so the answer could be infinite.

Citation please?

Common sense. If there no need to open the tabernacle, then it should be closed.

 

[jmcrae]

Is this really true? In a chapel?

It wasn’t a chapel; it was a Grade 2 classroom. Children could have found it and thought it was a toy of some kind.

 

[TimothyH]

Someone else could better qualify whether or not this was ‘okay.’ But I’m pretty sure everyone will agree that, especially in this case, it CAN’T be a mortal sin because, as you said, you ‘didn’t know.’ If you don’t know something to be sinful, then you didn’t really commit a sin at all.

No, sin is objective. Sin is sin, whether we know it to be sin or not. God’s laws are immutable.

What you are talking about here is culpability to sin - how much blame we bear for comitting the sin - but not knowing that some act was a sin does not change that act into not being a sin.

Sin is always sin, but sometimes our knowlege of what constitutes sin causes us to bear more or less blame.

The OP may have sinned. I really don’t know. But if he didn’t know that it was a sin, or if he thought it was OK for some reason, then he bears much less, even possibly no blame. If we think we have sinned, we should bring it to the confessional. A good confessor will be able to determine if it is a sin or not, and then based on circumstances, how much blame we bear for the sin.

-Tim-