Nowadays “dish patens” are all the rage, which means you add some shallow sides (say, .75 in.) to the paten and you can fill it with roughly 100 hosts. Because of the much greater variance among designs in modern use, the general rule of thumb is simply, as a priest once told me, “If it has a lid, it’s a ciborium; if not, it’s a paten.”The knob did at one time differentiate the two and patens should look like little plates they also come with handles for altar servers to hold under the chin of the person receiving and be gold plated on the top surface which comes into contact with the Blessed Sacrament. Again patens should not be used to distribute Holy Communion, a ciborium should hold the Hosts for Holy Communion.
I have seen the “potato chip bowls” in use, however they also must be gold on the inside.Nowadays “dish patens” are all the rage, which means you add some shallow sides (say, .75 in.) to the paten and you can fill it with roughly 100 hosts. Because of the much greater variance among designs in modern use, the general rule of thumb is simply, as a priest once told me, “If it has a lid, it’s a ciborium; if not, it’s a paten.”
The Tabernacle is required for protection of the Blessed Sacrament to be secure. In other words someone should not be able to access the Blessed Sacrament by use of a baseball bat. I often wondered how secure those Tabernacles were with the key hanging out of the lock? I suppose no more secure then a glass one.I feel HORRIBLE about me Church now! The EMHCs always place the extras in the tabernacle. I saw someone said it should not be made of glass. Well, both the patens and the bowl things I described are both made of glass. I was not describing a ciborium. The “bowls” we have do not have any covers. I surely hope that my Church isn’t disrespecting the Body of Christ!
I bleive the ban was on them purifying the vessels.Wasn’t there a ban placed on the laity, “Communion Ministers” or otherwise, going to the Tabernacle back in 2005? Only the priest should be doing that.
It also requires the Priest or Deacon to go to the Tabernacle.I bleive the ban was on them purifying the vessels.
There is quite a lot of variation allowed.III. SACRED VESSELS
327. Among the requisites for the celebration of Mass, the sacred vessels are held in special honour, especially the chalice and paten, in which the bread and wine are offered and consecrated, and from which they are consumed.
328. Sacred vessels are to be made from precious metal. If they are made from metal that rusts or from a metal less precious than gold, then ordinarily they should be gilded on the inside.
329. In the judgement of the Conference of Bishops, after its decisions have received recognitio of the Apostolic See, sacred vessels may also be made from other solid materials that are precious according to the common estimation in each region, for example, ebony or other hard woods, provided that such materials are suited to sacred use. In such cases, preference is always to be given to materials that do not easily break or deteriorate. This applies to all vessels which hold the hosts, such as the paten, the ciborium, the pyx, the monstrance, and other things of this kind.
330. As regards chalices and other vessels that are intended to serve as receptacles for the Blood of the Lord, they are to have bowls of non-absorbent material. The base, on the other hand, may be made of other solid and worthy materials.
331. For the consecration of hosts, a large paten may appropriately be used; on it is placed the bread for the priest and the deacon as well as for the other ministers and for the faithful.
332. As to the form of the sacred vessels, the artist may fashion them in a manner that is more in keeping with the customs of each region, provided each vessel is suited to the intended liturgical use and is clearly distinguishable from those intended for everyday use.
333. For the blessing of sacred vessels, the rites prescribed in the liturgical books are to be followed.136
334. The practice is to be kept of building a sacrarium in the sacristy, into which is poured the water from the purification of sacred vessels and linens (cf. no. 280).
This is what we used to have. They were made of glass.There is a vessel commonly used in churches that is neither a paten (which is a slightly concave flat disc for holding the priest’s host) nor a ciborium (a chalice-shaped vessel with a lid). It is a large, short sided bowl that may or may not have a lid, and is called a “host dish” by the catalogs that sell them. Often, the lidded variety are designed to stack upon themselves to maximize space inside the tabernacle. Some of these even include a miniature chalice that can be screwed into a central stud inside the dish for the purpose of facilitating intinction.
These are problematic, because with their shallow sides, it is easier for a host to fall out or get flipped out by the EEM’s errant finger. Also, some parishes will stack lidless “host dishes” inside the tabernacle, causing host particles to stick to the undersides. At one parish I attended that used these, the floor of the tabernacle was covered with crumbs dislodged by the stacked dishes, which was componded by the fact that they used extra-thick, crumbly hosts. Those particles are still the Body of Christ as long as they can be recognized as such.