Sorry - one more question...TWO tabernacles?

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Elzee

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Sorry for one more question guys I feel so stupid this week. It seems I’ve been asked several things I’ve been at a loss for.

Can a church have more than one tabernacle? My cousin’s parish has a chapel attached to the church. The chapel is basically 3 wall ‘jut out’ from the nave of the church - it’s not a separate building or even a separately enclosed room. There is a tabernacle in the ‘main’ sanctuary, behind the altar, and *another *tabernacle in the chapel (less ornate, but it’s still a tabernacle with a red candle). The priest said the bishop gave him permission to have 2 tabernacles. You can see both tabernacles from just about any place in the main church and the chapel.

Is this allowed? I haven’t been able to find anything on the USCCB site that says a church can have 2 tabernacles??? Does a bishop have the authority to allow this if the second tabernacle is in a ‘chapel’?

Thank you!

Edit - I forgot to add this:
I did find the text below in the GIRM: Does the word ‘regularly’ allow wiggle room for the possibility of more than one tabernacle?

§ 72 § The general law of the Church provides norms concerning the tabernacle and the place for the reservation of the Eucharist that express the importance Christians place on the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The Code of Canon Law directs that the Eucharist be reserved "in a part of the church that is prominent, conspicuous, beautifully decorated and suitable for prayer."94 It directs that regularly there be “only one tabernacle” in the church.95
 
Elzee said:
Does the word ‘regularly’ allow wiggle room for the possibility of more than one tabernacle?
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I can’t imagine why else it would be there but to provide such wiggle room.
 
Maybe it was a silly question, but I really thought I had read there can only be one tabernacle in a church. Maybe it was on a thread on this forum and I either read it wrong or the person was mistaken.
 
Ideally, there would be one tabernacle. But if there are nultimple chapels or even side altars, there can be additional tabernacles with the Blesseed Sacrament there reserved.
 
The Blessed Sacrament should only be in one tabernacle in a church.

According to the Code of Canon Law, canon 938 §1: “The blessed Eucharist is to be reserved habitually in only one tabernacle of a church or oratory.” (From The Code of Canon Law: New Revised English Translation, HarperCollins Liturgical, 1997, ISBN 0-00-599375-X.)

An exception to this is canon 938 §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.” Even here the Blessed Sacrament is either in the tabernacle or the other place. Not in the two places.

One tabernacle is also emphasised in the 2002 General Introduction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :

“314. … The one tabernacle should be immovable …”
 
Elzee said:
Maybe it was a silly question, but I really thought I had read there can only be one tabernacle in a church. Maybe it was on a thread on this forum and I either read it wrong or the person was mistaken.
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From the quote you gave, it sounds like your recollection is correct. There can regularly be only one tabernacle in a church.
 
Digitonomy said:
From the quote you gave, it sounds like your recollection is correct. There can regularly be only one tabernacle in a church.
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My Cathedral has a chapel though, where Mass is said at least once daily, with other daily Masses being said in the main body of the Cathedral. It has two tabernacles.

I think the daily saying of Mass in the two different locations would probably be sufficient reason, since priests saying Mass in the chapel would otherwise be put to the (not inconsiderable) inconvenience of fetching hosts from the main body of the Cathedral for Communion.
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LilyM said:
My Cathedral has a chapel though, where Mass is said at least once daily, with other daily Masses being said in the main body of the Cathedral. It has two tabernacles.

I think the daily saying of Mass in the two different locations would probably be sufficient reason, since priests saying Mass in the chapel would otherwise be put to the (not inconsiderable) inconvenience of fetching hosts from the main body of the Cathedral for Communion.
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I think I’m totally confused now…are priests/bishops ignoring Canon Law, or does the word ‘regularly’ in the GIRM provide a ‘loophole’ so to speak, in regard to the text John cited? John - any thoughts?
 
I have seen a LOT of older churches and cathedrals, where there was not just two, but as many as five tabernacles. One would be on the main or high altar, which was against the west wall. There would also be tabernacles on each of four side altars, all with different statues of the Saints those altars were dedicated to.
I don’t know if all the various tabernacles actually held the blessed sacrament, but they were all there.

It has been a few years since I have been there, but the Immaculate Comception Cathedral in Springfield Illinois at late as 1983, had actually nine altars, one high altar against the west wall with a tabernacle, one free standing altar, four side altars against the wall, two chapels with coloured marble altars on the side, and then two more altars against the back wall. All of those altars except for one were attached to the wall. There was also still standing, but no longer used the old fashioned communion rail.

I haven’t been there in years, but I hope the cathedral still stays the same, and hasn’t been stripped and protestantised.
 
Maybe I need to be more specific - can more than one tabernacle house the Blessed Sacrament permanently? In the church I mentioned, they both do.

Perhaps a church - according to Canon Law and the GIRM - can have more than one tabernacle, but the *Blessed Sacrament can only be permanently housed in one at a time? *
 
Elzee said:
I think I’m totally confused now…are priests/bishops ignoring Canon Law, or does the word ‘regularly’ in the GIRM provide a ‘loophole’ so to speak, in regard to the text John cited? John - any thoughts?
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I’d say the word regularly must indeed be there by design to provide loopholes in cases such as we’ve already described (multiple chapels or altars, with Mass regularly said in/on them, in the one church etc).

Edit: and yes indeed, the Blessed Sacrament apparently can be PERMANENTLY housed in multiple locations within the same Church. I know it is in my Cathedral. Like I said, this is probably only permissible in cases where it would be otherwise inconvenient to only have it in one location.
 
Elzee said:
Sorry for one more question guys I feel so stupid this week. It seems I’ve been asked several things I’ve been at a loss for.

Can a church have more than one tabernacle? My cousin’s parish has a chapel attached to the church. The chapel is basically 3 wall ‘jut out’ from the nave of the church - it’s not a separate building or even a separately enclosed room. There is a tabernacle in the ‘main’ sanctuary, behind the altar, and *another *tabernacle in the chapel (less ornate, but it’s still a tabernacle with a red candle). The priest said the bishop gave him permission to have 2 tabernacles. You can see both tabernacles from just about any place in the main church and the chapel.

Is this allowed? I haven’t been able to find anything on the USCCB site that says a church can have 2 tabernacles??? Does a bishop have the authority to allow this if the second tabernacle is in a ‘chapel’?

Thank you!

Edit - I forgot to add this:
I did find the text below in the GIRM: Does the word ‘regularly’ allow wiggle room for the possibility of more than one tabernacle?

§ 72 § The general law of the Church provides norms concerning the tabernacle and the place for the reservation of the Eucharist that express the importance Christians place on the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The Code of Canon Law directs that the Eucharist be reserved "in a part of the church that is prominent, conspicuous, beautifully decorated and suitable for prayer."94 It directs that regularly there be “only one tabernacle” in the church.95
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Our church has an unique setup. One tabernacle that has doors on both sides. One opens to the main Church for Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation and the other side opens to the small chapel reserved for daily Mass. We also have an Divine Mercy Adoration chapel 24/7 with the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the montrance (Ostensorium). Holy Thursday, after the altars are striped, they move the Blessed Sacrament to the Adoration Chapel which is then locked until Easter Vigil is over.
 
I think the two tabernacles with the Blessed Sacrament in the cathedral is ignoring canon 938 “The Most Holy Eucharist is to be reserved regularly in only one tabernacle of a church or oratory.” (Code of Canon Law: Latin-English Edition, Canon Law Society of America, 1995, ISBN 0943616204.)

There can be exception circumstances. For example, a deacon is planning to take Communion to the sick at 12.30 pm. A Mass will be on then, so some of the consecrated hosts are transferred from a tabernacle behind the altar to another tabernacle so that there will not be a disturbance during Mass.

If a priest saying Mass was handicapped, say in a wheelchair, and unable to access the main tabernacle. Perhaps the solution would be to also use another tabernacle he could access.

I think this is the sort of flexibility intended by “regularly” or “habitually” or the Latin “habitualiter” in canon 938.
 
In citing canon law, perhaps we ought to be mindful first that it was revised in 1983. Offhand, I believe that it is a recent trend to get back to having the Sacrament housed in only one permanent tabernacle regularly. Yet I’m sure that for good reason the bishop could probably give permission to allow at least a second (such as if there is a side chapel as has been noted). Really, I wouldn’t fret too seriously about it all. It’s for the pastor to worry about. Unless you have Jesus Jesus everywhere, then maybe it’s worth questioning.
 
One thing that can be causing confusion is the definition of church. Some people on here seem to be calling the building a church. I know the Bascilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is one building but it has two churches within the building and numerous chapels. Both the upper church and the crypt church have their own tabernacles. Both churches are within the same building but are both called churches.

There are numerous altars throughout the National Shrine but as far as I know there are only the two tabernacles.

My parish church has two tabernacles but only one actually has the Eucharist in it. I know they used the 2nd tabernacle when they were remodeling the main altar.
 
Marauder said:
One thing that can be causing confusion is the definition of church.
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I was wondering about this myself.

If a chapel is considered a seperate church or oratory then it would seem to follow that it could have its own tabernacle. (I’m no canon lawyer so I’m speculating.)

I wonder if those ‘churches’ with two tabernacles have a different name for the chapels. By that I mean that the ‘main church’ is dedicated to St. John but the ‘chapel’ is dedicated to St. James.
 
SMHW said:
I was wondering about this myself.

If a chapel is considered a seperate church or oratory then it would seem to follow that it could have its own tabernacle. (I’m no canon lawyer so I’m speculating.)

I wonder if those ‘churches’ with two tabernacles have a different name for the chapels. By that I mean that the ‘main church’ is dedicated to St. John but the ‘chapel’ is dedicated to St. James.
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You may perhaps be thinking of the case described in c. 936 regarding the house of a religious institute or any other pious house. There, the Most Holy Eucharist is to be reserved only in the church or principal oratory attached to the house, but, for a just cause the ordinary can permit that it be reserved in another oratory of the same house.

The existence of an infirmary, for example, in a religious house may justify having a special oratory for the infirm and the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament there for them and those who care for them. The ordinary would determine the existence of the just cause.

While common language often equates oratory and chapel and sometimes what is called a chapel is actually an oratory, they are distinguished in the code. Canons 1205 and following would make the distinctions among church, oratory and chapel and treat shrines.
 
I’ve been to several churches that have two, one off to the side and the other in the sanctuary, although not necessarily on or near the altar.

In those Parishes, the consecrated oosts re moved from the tabernacle outside of the Sanctuary during the first Sunday Mass. During the rest of the Masses the Hosts are retreived from the second tabernacle in the sanctuary.
 
Many times you will see some odd remodeling where the High Altar is still in place, but the Tabernacle is now in a side chapel. Dunno why people do this, but they do.
 
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