SACRIST (Prefect of the Apostolic Sacristy) — This is a titular bishop (traditionally of Porphyreon) who has charge of the Apostolic Sacristy and the custody of all the furnishings, ornaments, utensils, vessels, and vestments of the papal chapel, as well as the precious adornments of the Holy Father, including mitres, the black mozzetta, and the blessed Golden Rose (v.), the sword, and the black biretta (v. BERETTA). He is assistant to the Papal Throne, a prelate official of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and resides in the Vatican.
Until the 15th century this office was combined with other duties of the Apostolic Palace; the sacrist was also the pope’s confessor and penitentiary. In 1316, for example, John XXII assigned the office of papal confessor together with that of sacrist and librarian.
From 1352, by custom—though with some exceptions in the second half of the 15th century—the sacrist and his subordinate (sub-prefect of the Apostolic Sacristy), who assisted the former in the exercise of the prefecture of the papal sacristy, were almost always chosen from among the Augustinian Hermits, until Alexander VI confirmed their exclusive privilege. The office of sacrist was joined to the dignity of abbot of the church of St Sebastian outside the walls, a dignity that ranked the abbot above the bishop at papal coronations.
When popes used to be preceded by the Blessed Sacrament on their journeys, the key to the small casket containing It was entrusted to the sacrist, who followed on horseback, carrying a white staff as a sign of jurisdiction; this occurred on some solemn processions in Rome, especially those of possession (v.).
Clement VIII raised the sacrist to the dignity of bishop, and Leo XII (1824) established that he should be parish priest of the Apostolic Palaces. Pius XI, with the constitution *Ex Lateranensi pacto* of 30 May 1929 (AAS, 21 [1929], p. 309), decreed that the sacrist should be his perpetual vicar in the State of the Vatican City (where the only parish is St Anne’s, run by the Augustinians), with jurisdiction extending also to the Lateran Palace, the Villa Cybo, and the Villa Barberini at Castel Gandolfo, while exempting the basilica and canons of St Peter’s and the Ethiopian College located in the Vatican City. As a secret chamberlain participating in the person of His Holiness, the sacrist belongs to the papal household (v.) and to the Papal Chapel (v.), often accompanying the Holy Father at audiences and being present at papal functions. When assisting at the pope’s Mass, he tastes the Host and the wine according to the pontifical rite, presents the candle, and shows him everything that must be said.
As palatine parish priest, he brings the Viaticum to the dying Holy Father and administers Extreme Unction. During a sede vacante he enters the conclave (cf. no. 48 of the constitution *Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis* of Pius XII, 8 Dec. 1945: AAS 38 [1946] p. 65), where each morning, before the Sacred College, he recites the hymn *Veni Creator* with the prayer to the Holy Spirit (cf. no. 65 of the cited constitution).