I’ve been getting notes about, and seeing chatter about on the interwebs, people setting up home chapels just in case.
I think it is good to have one anyway, not just in case.
In any event, while it is relatively easy to acquire the various accoutrement for Holy Mass in the Vetus Ordo (even easier for the Novus), it isn’t always easy to obtain a chalice and paten that are consecrated.
Remember: When some sacred object that isn’t in itself sacred (like a relic) it loses its consecration. If a previously consecrated chalice is sold, it is “desecrated”, that is, it loses its consecration. It doesn’t mean that it was defiled in a serious way as in misused. When you regild (replate) a chalice or paten, it has to be reconsecrated. If an altar is changed in a major way, e.g., previously fixed down or the mensa was detached for any reason, it must be reconsecrated. So, substantial changes or sales require reconsecration.
I think I have a solution for that. If you are in a situation where the local bishop has refused to consecrate your chalice and paten with the older form in the Pontifical, you might drop me a line.
And I, frankly, don’t go for the line that all you have to do is use the chalice and paten once for it to be consecrated. I hold an unconsecrated chalice used for Mass may thereafter be considered sanctified in some way but it is not consecrated. A chalice that is consecrated and then used for Mass is also sanctified. By consecration a chalice is formally, by special rites, set apart for a particular use.
“But Father! But Father!”, some of you are pewling. “This is just merciless nitpicking. You are nitpicking merciless nitpicker! You hate mercy and compassion and all those…. those… errrr… things that Pope Francis talks about … like… the Earth’s climate and fairness and … and you hate Vatican II!”
We have to make the distinction. Qui distinguit bene docet.
And, quaeritur, why not consecrate the chalice with the special rite that Holy Church provides? Why not?
I’ll tell you “why” since you are asking.
My I rant a little?
One exorcist I have had contact with suggested that multiple problems in the Church result from improper sacred liturgical worship. Part of the problem is that things being used for Holy Mass (vestments, chalices, candles, linens, etc.) have not been duly consecrated.
What is consecration?
This world, as Jesus said, has its Prince. The created realm fell in the fall of our First Parents and came under the domination of the Enemy. Consecration rips things away from the Enemy and hands them over to God alone. There are consecrated things, places and persons. Harming them or using them wrongly is not just vandalism or assault or theft, etc. It is also the sin of sacrilege. Steal a consecrated chalice and, when you go to confession (if you are lucky) you have to confess not only the theft, but also the sacrilege.
It makes sense that everything used for sacred liturgy should be properly consecrated.
How is it that we lost sight of this? It makes sense, right? If I am not in a gulag, I want to do it right… with the right rite. We are our rites!
Modernism has infected large swathes of the Church, including clergy. Modernists (whether they know they are or not) reduce the supernatural to the natural (whether they know it or not).
Now think about what it means to say that we don’t have to, under normal circumstances, use blessed and consecrated things for Holy Mass.
Think about the ripple effect that has in the Church.
You might remember a school experience with a wave table, where you create waves of certain frequencies. Then you create waves with a matching or harmonic frequency from another direction. They cancel out.
That happens to priests too, by the way. They get cancelled by priests and bishops who are going the opposite direction. Believe me. I know.
Thus endeth the rant.
UPDATE:
BONUS ROME SHOT:
Here is a shot of the late Card. Pell, re-consecrating my chalice from my ordination. He passed away soon after. I treasure the chalice and paten, consecrated by two great men, Card. Mayer and Card. Pell.
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Beautiful just beautiful. Thank you.
Yes I resemble the one asking about private Altars.
in re: something vaguely related, on Saturday my pastor is coming to my house. I’ve asked him to bless it, some salt, and some holy water. i have a bottle that i purchased new and have used for no purpose but holy water. ought i do the same thing for blessed salt?
This was very informative. The two great themes this blog has conveyed to me are: go to confession, and, we are our rites. It makes so much sense that so much of the world’s issues stem from liturgical issues. I have heard it said by a man who knew Cardinal Mayer that he was deeply holy, possibly a saint. Again, thanks for the post.
Greg: That seems like a good idea. Appropriate.
Beatify: Yes, Mayer was amazing. I also knew Card Stickler back in the day. He was kind to me.
Stickler gave me my first Holy Communion. He was a part of the Indult crew. Eternally grateful, I am an Indult kid.
Thank you, Father, for pointing this out. I agree this is important. In the NO, there isn’t really an excuse for the use of patens, chalices, vestments, altar linens etc. that aren’t blessed, since (in the NO) every priest is allowed to bless them. Although I can see the value of doing it in the presence of the faithful, most of the prayers come across to me as underwhelming. At least during the blessing of paten and chalice outside of Mass, the Sign of the Cross is to be made and the prayer is decent, but in the other prayers I haven’t got a clue what is going on. Needless to say, I prefer the rites prescribed in the old Rituale, after which there isn’t room for any doubt about the consecrated status of the object. I remember well being in awe when you described the reconsecration of your paten and chalice by the anonymous Bishop, who later turned out to be Cardinal Pell, of happy memory.
Quaeritur: Can loss of consecration be prevented by obtaining a consecrated object by other means than sale, like acquiring it as a gift?
“But Father! But Father!”, some of you are pewling. “This is just merciless nitpicking. You are nitpicking merciless nitpicker! You hate mercy and compassion and all those…. those… errrr… things that Pope Francis talks about … like… the Earth’s climate and fairness and … and you hate Vatican II!”
Dear Nitpicking Merciless Nitpicker.
Parts of this excellent Post (see, above) have me laughing so much.
Although amid a serious Liturgical discussion, and most important if one is to install a Home Altar, these little amusing anecdotes keep me from being too despondent in today’s happenings.
You Nitpicking Merciless Nitpickers are all the same . . .
We worship the same God Who, in the Old Testament, laid down very particular details about how He was to be worshipped, down to priestly vestments. Doesn’t the Book of Leviticus record that two of Aaron’s sons were struck dead for offering God an unauthorized fire of incense? Yet we think that this same God is pleased by Bauhaus liturgies offered by priests in gunny sacks in front of a ragbag congregation.
If one were to purchase a new travel Mass set, for example, just to have on hand in case it is ever needed, should a traditional priest be sought to arrange for its consecration?
Does anyone know where I could buy a “CATHOLIC EMERGENCY HOME KIT”.
Real Bees Wax Candles (18) …… blessed
5 pounds of Sea Salt………. blessed
5 Liters of Holy Water……… Blessed
1 Liter of Chrism Oil….
Multiple Medallions for Posting over all windows and doors.
Several Crucifixes
Incensor and good Incense with 7 days worth of Incense.
4 Rosaries
A MASS KIT for a visiting priest all inclusive but basic.
Traditional book of Prayers for just such an event as the end of the world.
” How too instructions” for proper use of the kit.
Ok so I do not know what I am talking about but hey I am asking…
Maybe I should build them and offer them for sale but I need some advice for sure.
Jim
Jim: If you buy blessed things, they lose their blessing.
Keep that in mind.
We ought to strategize about it.
I thought that would be the case FR Z. …. bummer.
Ok so the buyer would need to find a reliable source for the blessing of said items. I am assuming there is a correct Say the Black, DO the red.
I suppose one way to approach it would be to have some agent buy everything, take it all to a priest/bishop for blessings/consecrations (ideally for the chalice and paten) who would then box it, fill out the necessary customs forms and then ship it.
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