SACRED FURNISHINGS. - 1. LITURGY. - These are the objects used for worship, especially those that relate most closely to the Most Holy Eucharist and serve either for the person of the priest (sacred vestments) or for the confection and preservation of the Most Holy Sacrament (sacred vessels), or also for adorning the altar and the church where the celebration takes place.
In imitation of Christ, who instituted the Eucharistic Sacrament in an ordinary room, with garments and in vessels of common use, the first Christians were accustomed to celebrate it without special apparatus and in places lacking any particular distinction. Only later, when the Eucharistic celebration began to take on a solemn character, did sacred furnishing acquire the principal liturgical elements of today. With the barbarian invasions, Roman life underwent a radical transformation, including in the manner of dress. Hence the origin of that separation which gradually became more pronounced between the laity and the clergy, the latter retaining the ancient garments in the celebration of the sacred rites. The same may be said of the sacred vessels, whose form and material were established little by little by particular customs and prescriptions. With the Middle Ages the tendency toward a simplification in the form of sacred furnishing spread. But the art of embroidery, of chasing and of inlay was always lavishly employed, especially in the epochs in which great geniuses enriched the churches with so many admirable masterpieces, so that whatever was directly and indirectly necessary for the liturgical service should stand apart, by richness and exquisite workmanship, from objects of common use.
The material with which sacred vessels and vestments are made must be more or less precious according as they are in more or less direct contact with the Most Holy Eucharist. Thus for chasubles, tunicles, the cope, the humeral veil, silk is required; linen or hemp for the alb, the purificator, the pall, the altar cloths, the amices; gold and silver for the chalice, the pyx, the paten, the monstrance. For the latter, other metals may also be used; however, the paten and the interior of the cup of the chalice and of the pyx must be gilded. For the sacred vestments a blessing is required, whereas for the chalice and paten consecration by the bishop or by another delegated priest is required. For the preservation of the sacred vessels and vestments there exists in every church the sacristy or another place destined for this purpose; the most precious ones are sometimes kept in a special treasury. Fuller information under the respective entries.
Bibliography2 works
Silvério Mattei
2. LAW
The juridical discipline of sacred vessels and vestments - or sacred furnishings - is contained in title XVIII of book III of the CIC. It is provided there first of all (can. 1207) that the obligation of providing the furnishings necessary for worship falls, as a rule, on those who are bound by law to repair the church (cf. can. 1186); and therefore, in order: on the fabric committee, on the bishop, on the canons and on the diocesans if it is a question of a cathedral church; on the fabric committee, on the patron, on the holders of revenues and on the parishioners where it is a question of a parish church.
Regarding the matter and form of sacred vessels and vestments, can. 1296 § 3 limits itself to recalling generically the liturgical prescriptions, ecclesiastical tradition and the laws of sacred art. Particular importance is attributed, instead, to their custody and preservation (cann. 1296 § 1 and 1302); to better guarantee this, can. 1296 § 2 requires that a regular inventory be made of them.
Cardinals domiciled in Rome, even if suburbicarian bishops or abbots nullius, may dispose by donation or by will of their own sacred furnishings in favor of a church (preferably one of those of which they held the title, administration or commendam), of a pious place or of an ecclesiastical or religious person; but if they die without having provided for this, all the sacred vessels and vestments belonging to them, with the exception of the ring and the pectoral cross, pass to the pontifical sacristy (can. 1298). Similarly, the sacred furnishings of residential bishops, even if invested with cardinalitial dignity, become, at their death, the property of the cathedral church, excepting the ring, the pectoral cross and all those objects which can be proven to have been acquired by the deceased with goods not belonging to that same church (can. 1299 § 1). For the case in which a bishop has successively governed two or more dioceses or has been at the same time head of two or more united dioceses, can. 1299 § 2 provides the procedures for attributing the sacred vessels and vestments to the individual cathedral churches. What is said for bishops also holds for clerics who have obtained at some church a secular or religious benefice (can. 1300). Cardinals, residential bishops and the other benefited clerics therefore have the obligation to ensure, by will or other valid act, that the aforementioned canonical provisions may from time to time receive full execution also for civil effects; and they must moreover designate in good time a person of unblemished reputation who, after their death, shall consign to the proper authority not only the sacred furnishings, but also the books, documents and other things belonging to the church, which may eventually be found in their dwelling (can. 1301).
The use of the sacred vessels and vestments and, in general, of all that is necessary for the celebration of Mass and for pontifical functions, must be granted gratuitously to the bishop by the cathedral church (can. 1303 § 1). As for the other priests, it is within the power of the ordinary to permit that a modest fee be charged to them for the use of the sacred vessels and vestments, whenever the church where they, for their own convenience, celebrate Mass, is in conditions of particular indigence (can. 1303 §§ 2-4).
The blessing of sacred vessels and vestments, when the liturgical norms require it, may be imparted: a) by cardinals and bishops, without exception; b) by the ordinarii locorum who are not bishops, for the churches and oratories existing in their territory; c) by parish priests, for the churches and oratories situated within the bounds of the parish; d) by the rectors of churches, limited to those churches themselves; e) by priests delegated by the ordinary, within the limits of the delegation and of the jurisdiction of the delegator; f) by religious superiors and by priests of the same religious order delegated for this purpose, for their own churches and oratories, as well as for the churches of the nuns subject to them (can. 1304).
Sacred furnishings that have been blessed or consecrated lose the blessing or the consecration: 1) if they suffer such injuries or changes as to lose their original form and no longer be able to be considered suitable for the use proper to them; 2) if they have been devoted to undignified uses or publicly offered for sale (can. 1305 § 1). It should be noted, however, that the chalice and paten do not lose their consecration merely by reason of the consumption or renewal of the gilding (can. 1305 § 2).
Particular provisions are directed, finally, at protecting certain sacred vessels and vestments - and especially the chalice, the paten, the purificators, the palls and the corporals - from sacrilegious or impure contacts (can. 1306 §§ 1-2). - See Plates III-IV.
Bibliography3 works
Ferruccio Liuzzi