waste not want not

From a priest reader:

Finally, a good use for a glass chalice.

 

Thanks, Father!  And Cheers!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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21 Comments

  1. MichaelD says:

    Very cool! You made my day. Thanks!

  2. awesome :), though a giant stained glass window wouldn’t hurt either.

  3. Biff says:

    Better than a Waterford ashtray as was my suggestion!

  4. That’s about the ONLY use, wouldn’t you say?!? LOL

  5. TA1275 says:

    How does one properly dispose of such vessels as they were once used to hold the blood of Christ?

  6. Rob says:

    True hilarity.

  7. Geoffrey says:

    “How does one properly dispose of such vessels as they were once used to hold the blood of Christ?”

    I wondered that myself, since all chalices are consecrated for a sacred purpose. Can you melt down glass as easily as gold?

  8. Hawksey says:

    That’s not a chalice! That’s just a glass! Anyone who says differently needs a mental exam…

  9. Christian says:

    I read a story once about Dorothy Day — in ‘My Life with the Saints’ I believe. During the early 1970’s a priest came to the Catholic Workers house and celebrated Mass in their kitchen. He used a coffee cup in place of a chalice. Afterwards, Dorothy carefully took the coffee cup, cleaned it, and buried it in the back yard lest an object that had held the blood of our Lord be profaned through a future ordinary use.

  10. chironomo says:

    “Afterwards, Dorothy carefully took the coffee cup, cleaned it, and buried it in the back yard lest an object that had held the blood of our Lord be profaned through a future ordinary use.”

    True! And a beautiful story at that… but propping up an altar card (I assume that’s what we’re looking at?) is hardly a “profane use”…even if an unintended one!

  11. Ottaviani says:

    How does one properly dispose of such vessels as they were once used to hold the blood of Christ?

    During the Calles’ anti-Catholic persecution in Mexico, priests who said mass for the Los Cristeros (like Blessed Miguel Pro) would often smash a wine glass that he had to use for mass and then have it buried, in order to avoid profanation. I believe Pius XI gave them an indult to also miss out some parts of the mass, in cases of “grave necessity”, where mass had to be celebrated in a hurried fashion for fear of the police.

  12. Dan says:

    Looks like a good Chimay glass.

  13. ssoldie says:

    There was a woman who had read that the Chalice and Patin should be made of precious metal and should be durable and not broken easly. At the Catholic church she attended there was a ceramic goblet and a plate that looked like a quiche dish and also two ‘puter’ chalices. Yes! they had been used as a chalice and patin at Mass. The woman remembered what she had read, and while cleaning in the sacristy she took the goblet and held it up as Father had, and let it drop, yup! it broke, therefore not durable, did the same thing with the quiche dish, same thing happened, not durable either. She cleaned up the pieces and put all in a sack, as our Lord had been in both, called the deacon,told him what happened and would he please burn and bury them on his farm. The ‘puter’ chalices that were also used are now gilded.

  14. CDN Canonist says:

    If that “glass chalice” was duly blessed according to the prescribed rite, it is a sacred vessel – whether or not one approves of the construction or material. Is that really an appropriate use?

  15. irishgirl says:

    Oooo-I like that! Not the ‘chalice’…just the new ‘purpose’!

    Don’t like the use of fragile vessels for Mass, anyway….

  16. Romulus says:

    Even though the glass chalice is not now illicitly employed, there is still the chance that it could be, or else converted to profane use. It should be carefully purified and then destroyed.

  17. Joe says:

    That’s not a chalice – Hawksey

    True, a chalice should have a base, stem, nodule, and cup.

  18. Brian says:

    There were some pretty awful ceramic and glass chalices uncovered when my seminary was moving into our new facility. Luckily I was chosen to reverently dispose of them. I have to be honest, it felt a bit conflicting since they did at one time hold the Blood of Christ, but at the same time it felt so good to definitively purge our sacristy of such unworthy vessels. I think the shards are now buried in the garden.

  19. Ian says:

    CDN Canonist,

    Can am object to be used as a chalice or paten, not made of the correct material and in the correct fashion, be validly consecrated or blessed?

    I understand that using improper material does not invalidate the sacrament at all, and it would not be illicit when used out of necessity.I also understand why people would want to dispose of anything which held the sacred species, licit material or not, with some reverence.

    Another question to Father or anyone: should a chalice or paten blessed by a priest or bishop using the simple blessing in the Book of Blessings and a chalice or paten consecrated by a bishop or priest with faculties using holy oil be treated differently?

  20. CDN_Canonist says:

    Ian,

    Use of glass chalices was not necessarily illicit. While the present GIRM explicitly states a preferance for metal chalices (n. 328), this was not the case in the earlier edition of the GIRM (n. 290). Consequently, in some places, glass chalices were permitted.

    When is a chalice or paten “consecrated with oil”? The Roman Pontifical, Dedication of a Church and Altar, chapter VII: blessing of a chalice and paten, does not include the use of oil – whether by a priest or a bishop.

  21. Michael J says:

    CDN_Canonist,

    I may be mistaken, but I believe that you are significantly understating what is contained in the GIRM. As I recall, the GIRM specifically *excludes* glass chalices. If you would be so kind as to post the relevant portions with a hyperlink, I am sure this will be cleared up.

    As to your second point, I think it better to say that some glass chalices “snuck in through a loophole” rather than “were permitted”. The GIRM says nothing about whether composite-material chalices are allowed so I suppose, by your reasoning, that if Boeing used some material leaft over from the stealth fighter and made it into a cup, it could be consecrated?

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