TABERNACLE

An ornamented receptacle for liturgical vessels containing consecrated Bread reserved for the Communion of the sick, for communion services and for adoration.

Historically, the place and manner of the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament have differed at various periods and in different places. Sometimes it was reserved in the church, sometimes elsewhere (e.g., in the sacristy); in some churches, in a fixed mural ambry or in a "Sacrament house," in others, in a movable vessel (casket, tower, pyx, or dove) placed near the altar or hanging

above it. Only in the 16th century did a tabernacle placed on the main altar begin to be the normal manner of reservation, prescribed often by local law, and then by the general prescription of the Roman Ritual of 1614. Not until 1863, by decree of the Congregation of Rites, was the placement of the tabernacle on the principal altar made mandatory, all other ways of reservation forbidden.

Under the 1983 Code of Canon Law, there is to be only one tabernacle in a church or oratory (CIC 938 §1), which should be "situated in some part of the church or oratory which is distinguished, conspicuous, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer" (CIC 938 §2). The rationale for the placement of the tabernacle, if possible, in an area distinct from the place of Eucharistic celebration was first articulated in the Instruction on Eucharistic Worship (Eucharisticum mysterium ) of the Congregation of Rites (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 59 [1967] 539–573, dated 25 May 1967): "In the celebration of Mass the modes by which Christ is present in his Church become successively clearer: first he appears present in the very body of the faithful assembled in his name; then in his Word, when Scripture is read and explained; next, in the person of the minister; lastly, in a special manner under the eucharistic species [see Sacrosanctum Concilium 7]. From the viewpoint of sign, therefore, it is in better accord with the nature of liturgical celebration that the eucharistic presence of Christ not be at the altar where Mass is celebrated, since this presence is the result of the consecration and must appear to be such…" (55). The tabernacle itself "is to be immovable, made of solid and opaque material, and locked in such a way that the danger of profanation is avoided as much as possible" (CIC 938 §3).

Bibliography: j. b. o'connell, Church Building and Furnishing (Notre Dame, IN 1955). p. l. anson, Churches: Their Plan and Furnishing (Milwaukee 1948). h. e. collins, The Church Edifice and Its Appointments (Westminster, Md. 1953). a. bugnini, "Commentarium super decretum De Forma et Usu Tabernaculi, June 1, 1957," Ephemerides litugicae 71 (1957) 442–445. h. von meurers, "Altar und Tabernakel," Litergisches Jahrbuch 3 (1953) 10–28.

[j. b. o'connell/

f. r. mcmanus/eds.]