Liturgical Vessels
LITURGICAL VESSELS
Containers used in liturgical worship. Most of them originated from practical utensils that, because of their use in the liturgy, came to be set apart from non-liturgical use by blessings or consecrations, and were often elaborated artistically. The most important liturgical vessels are the chalice and paten, which contain the Eucharistic elements both before and after Consecration at Mass; the ciborium, to contain the consecrated hosts intended for distribution in Communion; the monstrance, which enables the faithful to venerate Blessed Sacrament at Exposition, Benediction, or during processions; and the pyx, used for taking Communion to the sick. Cruets are vessels used to carry wine and water to the altar. The censer or thurible is used to contain burning incense at high Masses, at Vespers, Benediction, and other services. At first censers were mere pots fitted with perforated lids, but by the 4th century some were made of metal and suspended on chains so that they could be carried in procession and swung.
Bibliography: j. braun, Das christliche Altargerät (Munich 1932). r. aigrain, "Les vases sacrés." Liturgia (Paris 1930) 261–299, passim.
[c. w. howell/
a. d. fitzgerald/eds.]