URGENT: Proper way to clean altar/chalice cloths?

[Lepanto]

Hi,

Parishoners at my local church volunteer to take home the cloths used on the altar to clean them in their washing machines and clothes dryers. These are the cloths used to cover the altar as well as the smaller cloths used by the priest to dry the chalice after communion. The priest has provided us with ZERO special instructions on how this supposed to be done.

My gut tells me that such cloths, which probably contain particles of His Body, and which will absolutely contain dried Precious Blood, should not just be treated like normal laundry!

I know that the chalices and ciboria are cleaned in the sanctuary where the water drains into the ground. But even if those altar cloths are washed and dried by themselves at home (away from bathroom towels and underwear), the water drains right into the city sewer, of course.

I need to cite official Church documentation, since that’s the only way to get through to this priest. Can you point out specific documents that regulate the cleaning of altar cloths?

Thanks

 

[netmilsmom]

lepanto:

Hi,

Parishoners at my local church volunteer to take home the cloths used on the altar to clean them in their washing machines and clothes dryers. These are the cloths used to cover the altar as well as the smaller cloths used by the priest to dry the chalice after communion. The priest has provided us with ZERO special instructions on how this supposed to be done.

My gut tells me that such cloths, which probably contain particles of His Body, and which will absolutely contain dried Precious Blood, should not just be treated like normal laundry!

I know that the chalices and ciboria are cleaned in the sanctuary where the water drains into the ground. But even if those altar cloths are washed and dried by themselves at home (away from bathroom towels and underwear), the water drains right into the city sewer, of course.

I need to cite official Church documentation, since that’s the only way to get through to this priest. Can you point out specific documents that regulate the cleaning of altar cloths?

Thanks

OH MY!!!
I’ve been picking up Altar Linens from my old “Catholic Community” for three years. They are just dumped in a bin.
Check this out…

Before soiled corporals, palls, and purificators are given to nuns or lay persons to be laundried, bleached, mended or ironed, they must be first washed, then rinsed twice by a person in sacred orders (Cong. Sac. Rit., 12 September, 1857). (From the Catholic Encyclopedia, “Altar Linens”)

I sure hope this has been changed! I’m not sure that I could get the priest there to do this if my life depended on it!

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

lepanto:

Hi,

Parishoners at my local church volunteer to take home the cloths used on the altar to clean them in their washing machines and clothes dryers. These are the cloths used to cover the altar as well as the smaller cloths used by the priest to dry the chalice after communion. The priest has provided us with ZERO special instructions on how this supposed to be done.

My gut tells me that such cloths, which probably contain particles of His Body, and which will absolutely contain dried Precious Blood, should not just be treated like normal laundry!

I know that the chalices and ciboria are cleaned in the sanctuary where the water drains into the ground. But even if those altar cloths are washed and dried by themselves at home (away from bathroom towels and underwear), the water drains right into the city sewer, of course.

I need to cite official Church documentation, since that’s the only way to get through to this priest. Can you point out specific documents that regulate the cleaning of altar cloths?

Thanks

Corporals should be unfolded carefully over the sink that drains into the ground and rinsed. The Purificators should be rinsed in this sink also to remove any traces of Precious Blood. Both can then be washed as usual.

 

[AltarMan]

Br. Rich SFO:

Corporals should be unfolded carefully over the sink that drains into the ground and rinsed. The Purificators should be rinsed in this sink also. Both can then be washed as usual.

Any sacred linen (altar cloth, purificator or corporal) stained by the Precious Blood needs to be soaked to lift stains prior laundering. The soaking water is poured down the sacrarium (AKA piscina) or in a garden where no one walks.

 

[Lepanto]

Br. Rich SFO:

Corporals should be unfolded carefully over the sink that drains into the ground and rinsed. The Purificators should be rinsed in this sink also to remove any traces of Precious Blood. Both can then be washed as usual.

Can you please cite the church document that describes this. My priest won’t care what I say unless I can point to a church document. THANK YOU.

 

[Lepanto]

AltarMan:

Any sacred linen (altar cloth, purificator or corporal) stained by the Precious Blood needs to be soaked to lift stains prior laundering. The soaking water is poured down the sacrarium (AKA piscina) or in a garden where no one walks.

Can you please cite the church document that describes this? My priest won’t care what I say unless I can point to a church document. THANK YOU.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

lepanto:

Can you please cite the church document that describes this. My priest won’t care what I say unless I can point to a church document. THANK YOU.

Not everything is written down in minute detail. This is just the way we have always done this. To have a priest “not care” unless it’s documented rather than using common sense is really sad.

 

[AltarMan]

lepanto:

Can you please cite the church document that describes this? My priest won’t care what I say unless I can point to a church document. THANK YOU.

This should get you started.

 

[IanS]

This is from the Vatican’s “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” Chapter 5, paragraph 120. I also have a link if you need it. Hope it helps.

[120.] Let Pastors take care that the linens for the sacred table, especially those which will receive the sacred species, are always kept clean and that they are washed in the traditional way. It is praiseworthy for this to be done by pouring the water from the first washing, done by hand, into the church’s sacrarium or into the ground in a suitable place. After this a second washing can be done in the usual way.

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html#Chapter%20V

 

[Lepanto]

Thank you all for your help!

I now understand, from the documents, that the linens should be hand-washed first, with the water drained into a sacrarium, or at least some part untrodded ground. Only then can they be washed/dried in my machines at home.

But another question has arisen: when I wash and dry them at home, can I put them in the machines with my “normal” laundry? You know: my clothes, bath towels, etc.

A separate washing/drying for the altar linen alone would add to my energy costs. I would of course do this if it was inappropriate to mix the altar linens with my normal laundry, but I need to know.

Thanks again.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

lepanto:

Thank you all for your help!

I now understand, from the documents, that the linens should be hand-washed first, with the water drained into a sacrarium, or at least some part untrodded ground. Only then can they be washed/dried in my machines at home.

But another question has arisen: when I wash and dry them at home, can I put them in the machines with my “normal” laundry? You know: my clothes, bath towels, etc.

A separate washing/drying for the altar linen alone would add to my energy costs. I would of course do this if it was inappropriate to mix the altar linens with my normal laundry, but I need to know.

Thanks again.

Most of the people I know who do this do wash them separate from the rest of the laundry.

 

[slewi]

I wouldn’t wash any linen that has a sacred function with my underwear…you could gently launder them in a basin with a little dish detergent if there isn’t enough linen for a full load.

S