Question about that large golden object at Eucharist adoration

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The large gold thing is called a Monstrance

Yes, it is the Host in there, usually encased in a gold and glass frame that is inserted into the Monstrance.

The Host is reserved in the tabernacle and consumed by the priest after some time ( it might remain a week or so, depending on how often a parish has adoration)

Inside the tabernacle, the frame with Host rests on a semi circular stand called a luna, though some frames have an accompaning gold case like a very large pyx
 
The large golden object your referring to is properly called an Ostensorium (Monstrance)

The clear glass/crystal center piece inside the Monstrance that contains a large consecrated host is called a Lunula.

After Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament the Lunula containing the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the Monstrance from an opening at the back of the Monstrance and placed in a special ciboria and placed inside the Holy Tabernacle.

The consecrated Host inside the Lunula is consumed and replaced with a fresh consecrated Host at the parish priest discretion. Usually; in my parish the host in the Lunula is consumed on the Wednesday before Holy Thursday and a new host is consecrated for the Lunula at the Holy Thursday Mass and placed in the Tabernacle of Repose until Holy Saturday for the Easter Vigil Mass.

Hope this helps somewhat.
 
centurionguard said:
The large golden object your referring to is properly called an Ostensorium (Monstrance)

The clear glass/crystal center piece inside the Monstrance that contains a large consecrated host is called a Lunula.

After Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament the Lunula containing the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the Monstrance from an opening at the back of the Monstrance and placed in a special ciboria and placed inside the Holy Tabernacle.

The consecrated Host inside the Lunula is consumed and replaced with a fresh consecrated Host at the parish priest discretion. Usually; in my parish the host in the Lunula is consumed on the Wednesday before Holy Thursday and a new host is consecrated for the Lunula at the Holy Thursday Mass and placed in the Tabernacle of Repose until Holy Saturday for the Easter Vigil Mass.

Hope this helps somewhat.
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Your parish only changes the host in the monstrance once a year?
 
YoungTradCath said:
Your parish only changes the host in the monstrance once a year?
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Sadly yes; seemly its an oversight. But really I’m not so sure if their is a ruling on this somewhere in Church documents that I have never seen before regarding the consecrated host in the Lunula.

At the very least I would think its appropriate for (“all remaining consecrated hosts”) should be reverently consumed in the Tabernacle before Holy Thursday Mass.

When we had a deacon, now retired in his 80’s, he would regularly check the Tabernacle on a weekly basis and consume all broken particles of hosts before the weekend Solemnity.

Now I believe there’s an allocated EMHC who fulfills this duty every week except of course for the host inside the Lunula which I think should solely be the priest responsibility. I don’t even like the idea of an EMHC having access to the sacred Tabernacle when you really get down to it. Only an ordained minister of the Eucharist should have privildged access to the Tabernacle.

When I served as a former sacristan for almost ten years, never had I seen the host inside Lunula consumed and replaced with a new consecrated host except for Holy Thursday.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Your parish only changes the host in the monstrance once a year?
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Actually, unleavened bread in the form of a Host would have nothing to cause rot and, in air tight, moisture free conditions COULD actually last quite a long time… I’m not sure on a year, but 🤷 I have a box of matzoh bread (unleavened bread) from the passover dinner I held nearly a year ago and it’s still okay… maybe not as “fresh” but still edible. That’s one of the major reasons the Jews took only matzoh with them on the exodus… because it’s easy to cook, consumes very little volume (in terms of transporting it), and lasts for a LOOOOOOOONG time.

There’s also the possibility that the Host is replaced more often than seen, just not in public forum or where a Sacristan would necessarily have seen it.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Your parish only changes the host in the monstrance once a year?
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We used to replace the Eucharist in the two monstance lunars anually too. Since I have been assigned to my parish, we have begun to replace the Eucharist on a quarterly basis.

It is true that the hosts most use now can last more than a year, it is possible for corruption to occur, so replacing the Eucharist is a relatively easy way of decreasing the possibility of corruption. I do not believe there is a document that mandates a particular cycle of replacement, although I could be wrong.
 
promethius said:
There’s also the possibility that the Host is replaced more often than seen, just not in public forum or where a Sacristan would necessarily have seen it.
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As a former sacristan just shy of ten years my job entailed more than just the duties of a full time sacristan. I was also custodian of my parish. There was very little I didn’t know what went on in my parish working five days week and sometimes six.

I was on-call for sacristan duties even on my days off. Monday’s there was no Mass except for occasional Funerals. Saturdays entailed Weddings or Funerals in the morning. More frequent from Spring to late Fall.

My mentioning what I did in my last post was not mere incidental knowledge. Fulfilling the duties and services of both Sacristan and Custodian is very demanding job the majority of Catholics would have very little idea about.

I was privileged to see many inner workings of the Church function behind the scenes that most Catholics would never know. It also helped tremendously in my spirituality and greater love for the Catholic Church.

Former priests I was humbled to serve offered Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament numerous times during the year.

Now; once a year with our last two parish priests only on Holy Thursday.
As one who is wholeheartedly devoted to the Eucharistic Presence is hurts inside when you witness diminished Faith in your own beloved clergy.

You cannot give spiritually in Faith to others what you do not possess within your own soul. This applies equally to both the laity and the clergy.

Many Catholics take their faith for granted. In the past I used to see Catholic Churches filled to the rafters during a Benediction service. Now I feel like Mary Magdeline who said to the Gardener; please tell me where have you hid my Lord.
 
centurionguard said:
As a former sacristan just shy of ten years my job entailed more than just the duties of a full time sacristan. I was also custodian of my parish. There was very little I didn’t know what went on in my parish working five days week and sometimes six.

I was on-call for sacristan duties even on my days off. Monday’s there was no Mass except for occasional Funerals. Saturdays entailed Weddings or Funerals in the morning. More frequent from Spring to late Fall.

My mentioning what I did in my last post was not mere incidental knowledge. Fulfilling the duties and services of both Sacristan and Custodian is very demanding job the majority of Catholics would have very little idea about.

I was privileged to see many inner workings of the Church function behind the scenes that most Catholics would never know. It also helped tremendously in my spirituality and greater love for the Catholic Church.

Former priests I was humbled to serve offered Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament numerous times during the year.

Now; once a year with our last two parish priests only on Holy Thursday.
As one who is wholeheartedly devoted to the Eucharistic Presence is hurts inside when you witness diminished Faith in your own beloved clergy.

You cannot give spiritually in Faith to others what you do not possess within your own soul. This applies equally to both the laity and the clergy.

Many Catholics take their faith for granted. In the past I used to see Catholic Churches filled to the rafters during a Benediction service. Now I feel like Mary Magdeline who said to the Gardener; please tell me where have you hid my Lord.
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😛 I’m not saying that you didn’t do your job(s) or in other ways missed out on your duties.

What I’m saying is that it’s possible that you weren’t there for certain things. If I were a priest of a parish, I certainly wouldn’t confine my time in the sanctuary to ONLY the times when the sacristan/custodian was present… in fact, I think I would spend time alone in the sanctuary late every night. All I’m saying is that it is POSSIBLE that the priest replaced the Eucharist for adoration privately during a private devotion that he didn’t feel the need to share.

And the point still stands that Eucharist Hosts, properly produced and maintained, will last for a LOOOOOOOONG time without corruption.
 
promethius said:
😛 I’m not saying that you didn’t do your job(s) or in other ways missed out on your duties.

What I’m saying is that it’s possible that you weren’t there for certain things. If I were a priest of a parish, I certainly wouldn’t confine my time in the sanctuary to ONLY the times when the sacristan/custodian was present… in fact, I think I would spend time alone in the sanctuary late every night. All I’m saying is that it is POSSIBLE that the priest replaced the Eucharist for adoration privately during a private devotion that he didn’t feel the need to share.

And the point still stands that Eucharist Hosts, properly produced and maintained, will last for a LOOOOOOOONG time without corruption.
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I can’t speak for my last two present parish priests now in their early 60’s.

However; the beloved priest I served with for almost ten years had bad health and I know he wouldn’t have come in the late hours of the evening to say Mass himself.
Besides he was very uncomfortable being alone in the church by himself.
He would always call me in from home when he was hearing confessions at night just to safe-guard his presence given the vicinity of my parish being situated in the downtown core of the city where strangers and drunkards often dropped by to steal or cause a disturbance. I might add that most priest have their own private chapels in their residents or homes where they privately say Mass.
 
We replace the host in the luna approximately once a month. Our monstrance is very old and accepts a host size which nobody makes anymore. We’ll take a large priest’s host before the Mass where it will be consecrated and punch it with a cookie-cutter-like device to make it the right size. During Holy Communion, the old host is consumed and the new one is inserted into the luna.
 
followingtheway said:
Pardon my ignorance but they doesn’t it ever spoil?
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I would imagine there is a time interval when the species of the host begins to deteriorate perhaps years and/or possibly decades if left undisturbed for unknown reasons.

The most famous miraculous Eucharistic Miracle of the longest surviving consecrated Host
dates back to the 8th century.

Eucharistic Miracle
Lanciano, Italy 8th Century A.D.

therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html
 
Lapey said:
We used to replace the Eucharist in the two monstance lunars anually too. Since I have been assigned to my parish, we have begun to replace the Eucharist on a quarterly basis.

It is true that the hosts most use now can last more than a year, it is possible for corruption to occur, so replacing the Eucharist is a relatively easy way of decreasing the possibility of corruption. I do not believe there is a document that mandates a particular cycle of replacement, although I could be wrong.
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Do you have perpetual Adoration in your parish? We only have Adoration once a month and always with a Host consecrated at the Mass immediately preceding it. The only exception is if Fr. is away on the regular adoration day, then the people in charge would use the one consecrated the month before.
 
Phemie said:
Do you have perpetual Adoration in your parish? We only have Adoration once a month and always with a Host consecrated at the Mass immediately preceding it. The only exception is if Fr. is away on the regular adoration day, then the people in charge would use the one consecrated the month before.
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Yes we do have a perpetual adoration chapel, it is separate from the parish church so this requires us to keep two separate monstrance’s and two large consecrated host for adoration; one in the tabernacle at our parish church and one at the adoration chapel where the Eucharist is always in the monstrance in the tabernacle where one can come in and open the tabernacle and adore Christ’s Sacramental presence.

The chapel is locked always, combination lock for limited access, and the tabernacle has a second locked door of glass so there is no possibility for anyone to access the Eucharist.

The Eucharist at our parish church is used for 1st Friday devotion and we often have adoration with the youth as part of their catechism program. My wife and I are the confirmation teachers, we have adoration with the class at least once a month usually more often than that. We also bring the other grades in for adoration regularly. Last Sunday I lead adoration and taught meditative prayer as part of adoration with the 7th through 9th grades. It went very well. I was 35 years old before I experienced adoration, my vow as deacon at whatever parish I serve, is to make sure this is not the case for our young people, or as Jesus called them, “My little ones”.

I know that’s not exactly what you were asking; I just wanted to give you an idea of what we do here. My pastor has been pastor at my home parish for almost 40 years; to say that he is a little stuck in his ways would be an understatement. But he is coming around; he used to replace the Eucharist in both lunars at the Holy Thursday Mass, I pushed to replace them every month at the 1st Friday Mass. The compromise was quarterly. That is much better than it was. The danger of corruption is pretty small, I admit, but it is still a risk. So quarterly is much better than annually, however, monthly would be an even better improvement.
 
I saw the Luna on the corporal at Mass on day and asked about it. Our deacon told me that the accidents of the host get stale and it needs to be consumed and replaced every 4-6 weeks.

During renovations, we had Adoration in a different location, where there was no tabernacle, so a host was consecrated and placed in the monstrance every day. When Adoration ended for the night, the last person there would consume the host and put away the monstrance.
 
EvelynEVF said:
I saw the Luna on the corporal at Mass on day and asked about it. Our deacon told me that the accidents of the host get stale and it needs to be consumed and replaced every 4-6 weeks.

During renovations, we had Adoration in a different location, where there was no tabernacle, so a host was consecrated and placed in the monstrance every day. When Adoration ended for the night, the last person there would consume the host and put away the monstrance.
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I have seen the same host for the past six months. Each priest has their own policy regarding replacement times!
 
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