SACRISTY (secretarium, sacrarium, salutatorium). – A room adjoining the church where the sacred ministers prepare and vest for the sacred functions and where the furnishings of worship are kept.
It contains distinct areas or compartments: in cathedral churches, besides the ordinary and common sacristy, there is one proper to the canons; in small churches at least one distinct sacristy for the altar servers. In the sacristy, in a prominent place, there is the cross or a sacred icon, the wardrobe or table where the priests don their sacred vestments; nearby, a cupboard for the chalices and the linen necessary for the celebration of Mass, as well as boxes for large and small hosts. There must also be wardrobes of sufficient size and number to hold the sacred vestments, the vestments of the altar servers, the missal, the liturgical books, and the sacred furnishings. A lavabo with towels is prescribed, one for the exclusive use of the sacred ministers before and after the Holy Mass, and another for the use of others. There must also be a kneeler with a tablet of prayers for the preparation and thanksgiving at Mass, and a confessional for men and persons with disabilities. Thus the sacristy is a necessary and integral part of the church.
The history of the sacristy begins with the construction of the church itself, as a necessary place for preserving the furnishings of worship. In the East, in the Syriac and Greek liturgy, there were—and still are—two rooms called pastoforia (cf. Didasc. Apost., II, 57, 3) beside the apse: the prothesis or προσομοιηθή, on the left, with the lavabo (το χρυσό-τήρων) and the diaconicon, on the right, with cupboards for sacred vessels and liturgical books; in one of the pastoforia the Eucharist was kept for the sick (cf. Const. Apost., VIII, 13, 17), just as in the West the Eucharist was kept in the sacristy during the Middle Ages until around the fourteenth century. The great basilicas of the West had the secretarium outside the church (in Rome to the left of the altar), where bishops would go to be greeted by the clergy (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, XXII, 8) for audiences or to prepare for sacred functions (cf. Ord. Rom., II, 23, 29; ed. M. Andrieu, Les Ordres Romains du haut moyen âge, Louvain 1948, pp. 74, 76).
These secretaria were so spacious that synods could be held in them, as at Hippo in the “Basilica Pacis” in 393, or at Carthage in the “Basilica Fausti” in 418. But as a rule, outside these great basilicas, the sacristy was built less organically to the north or south of the choir, often behind the apse. In small churches, on the other hand, the modest furnishings were kept in cupboards placed behind or beside the altar; the priests put on and removed their vestments at the altar itself, not in the middle as bishops and prelates did, but to one side. In the sacristy, on account of its particular function, silence must be observed.
ART. – In the Constantinian basilicas the sacristy is found near the narthex (q.v.), where the pope would vest in pontifical vestments for the celebration of solemn Masses; the same arrangement is observed in smaller basilicas, while in Byzantine churches it was located near the main apse, and in Syrian churches there were two rooms (pastoforia) flanking the apse for this purpose. The secretarium was often joined to the salutatorium, where the bishop received the faithful and listened to their petitions: examples of these arrangements still exist in Rome (S. Maria in Cosmedin), Ravenna (S. Giovanni Evangelista), and Constantinople (SS. Apostoli). In later periods the sacristy was mostly placed at the rear of the church, adjacent to or near the presbytery; it forms a single space of square or rectangular plan, exceptionally trapezoidal (Siena Cathedral); the vaults are covered with frescoes, and individual furnishings, especially lavabos and cupboards, take on artistic expression.
Particular importance in architectural structure and decorative elements is sometimes given to the sacristy in the Renaissance (S. Lorenzo in Florence, by Brunelleschi; S. Marco in Venice, by G. Spavento; S. Biagio in Montepulciano, by A. da Sangallo the Elder). At this time the use of two sacristies began to spread in major churches: one for daily functions, and another reserved for the Chapter or canons, in which relics and the Treasury are kept (S. Ambrogio in Milan, the Certosa of Pavia, the cathedrals of Asti, Chieri, Parma, and Turin, the basilica of S. Francesco in Assisi; for S. Lorenzo in Florence the designation “new sacristy” given to the Michelangelo building is improper, as it is in fact a funerary chapel). Sometimes there are three sacristies (the cathedral of Perugia, where besides the main one there is one for the canons and one for the archpriest); the Basilica of Loreto presents perhaps a unique example, with two main sacristies and four minor ones dedicated to the Evangelists, famous for the frescoes by Signorelli and Melozzo.
The movement of the Catholic Reformation also brought new tendencies to the sacristy, more in keeping with the needs of worship and liturgical prescriptions (cf. the precise and detailed Instructions of St. Charles Borromeo). Beginning in the last decades of the 16th century, the sacristy was arranged according to more functional criteria in relation to the other spaces. In Rome, in S. Maria in Vallicella and S. Maria dei Monti, it is separated from the nave by a vestibule communicating directly with the exterior and corresponding to the entire length of the church; in the Gesù, although adjacent, it does not communicate directly but through intermediate rooms; even in centrally planned churches (such as S. Agnese in Agone), arrangements are noted that ensure ease of movement and convenient access, while the dimensions increase to the point of seeming at times excessive (S. Andrea al Quirinale). The decorative richness also manifests itself in the sacristies.