Eucharistic Reservation in the current day Church of England
Many years ago I read a novel about a rural parish in England where the parish priest was in trouble with his bishop over his practice of reserving the sacrament. He was also considered a bit of an odd ball by his parishioners for wanting to celebrate the Eucharist on a daily basis, but they loved him so made sure every day someone was in church so he could celebrate. (by the way if anyone recognizes this book and the author, please enlighten me as I would love to read it again, but can't seem to remember title or author.). I know that neither of these is controversial in the present day, but how common are they? Are they usual in the evangelical wing of the church? Encouraged or discouraged?
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Our local charismatic-evo neighbours were recently chastised by the Bishop's Chaplain (on whom be peace) for over-use of the Reserved Sacrament, presumably on a Sunday, or, possibly, on a weekday (they have one mid-week Communion service).
Larf? O, 'ow we did LARF!
Re rural UK parishes - I suspect that, in these days of multi-church benefices, the Reserved Sacrament may well be kept, for convenience, in the priest's house, rather than in any of the churches themselves.
Daily celebration would tend to indicate an Anglo-Catholic parish. The will usually have the sacrament quite visible reserved - tabernacle on the high altar, or a noticeable aumbry.
Cathedrals usually have daily celebrations, but tend to be MOTR-High in tradition. They will also reserve usually in a discrete aumbry in a side chapel.
MOTR parish churches are likely to reserve the sacrament, usually in an aumbry in a side chapel, but the usual frequency of celebration is Sundays, and probably one day midweek, though things like the minister serving several churches will affect this.
Evangelicals might reserve for a few hours or a day or two to take communion to the sick and/or housebound, and they tend to call this 'communion by extension.' This is something that seems to have started in the last twenty years or so, as when I was trained reservation of any kind was almost always frowned on by the Evangelicals. I find the more 'conservative' in outlook an Evangelical parish happens to be the less likely they are to do communion by extension, or to have weekly communion.
Bradford used to be a Simeon Trustees parish, which would explain the lack of reservation. I seem to recall that the Trustees still appoint the Vicar of Bradford, which makes me think that the incumbency is attached to one of the Canonries not to the Dean/Provost's job.
Thinking of the Places that used to have daily Masses around my way 30 years ago - one has closed, one has gone liberal Evangelical, and two are down to Sunday and Wednesday plus major holydays. The remain parish has been merger with another congregation and there is a daily mass in the benefice, but not in any particular church.
Has anyone ever seen an Anglican church where the reserved sacrament is kept in a conspicuous tabernacle that is not part of any altar and not set in a side wall in the chancel? Is this almost exclusively a post-Vatican-II Roman Catholic thing? I can think of one Anglican example but it was small and hanging from the ceiling above the main altar so rather unlike any of the RC ones that are quite common in churches built or renovated in that era.
Do any churches of any denomination reserve consecrated wine (in liquid form, not dried up mixed with the bread) in the worship space (not in the sacristy, where I know some churches of some denominations store it)? Are any allowed to?
I am familiar with one fairly A-C C of E place that reserves the sacrament in a vessel suspended above the high altar.
With respect to your other question, our TEC shack reserves both kinds in an aumbry in the wall behind the altar.
The vessel above the High Altar - IIRC, it's called a 'hanging pyx' - is apparently a former English tradition, still to be found here-and-there. One example was reintroduced to a church in the Diocese of Durham as part of the re-ordering after a fire some years ago.
I know of a village church in Suffolk which has a free-standing 'sacrament house', made of iron, atop a neat stone pillar in the chancel, near the altar. This dates, I believe, from a re-ordering back in the 80s - not sure what they did before that!
I know of one or two C of E churches which reserve consecrated wine, in a small bottle, and keep it in the aumbry along with the consecrated hosts. I guess they have to renew it fairly frequently, if it isn't used up within a week or so.
Yes. St Matthew's Carver Street has it in the Lady chapel behind the Altar on a specially built light fitting. It really is not on the altar despite how that looks. Secondly the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Walsingham, from inside the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and from inside the main church (the square Gold box above the candles holds the reserved sacrament in this view).
I can't find the authority for this, but I'm fairly sure that as a result of a series of instances 60-70 years ago of people, assumed to be satanists or other sorts of occultists, stealing consecrated elements, any aumbry must be a locked metal safe and either set into the wall or otherwise solidly, permanently and irremovably attached to to the structure of the building. You're thinking of a hanging pyx, as in The Little Sisters of the Hanging Pyx immortalised by the late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman in 'Felixstowe or the Last of Her Order'.
If any still exist in use, as @Leorning Cniht has seen, I suspect they date from before the faculty jurisdiction developed in such a way as to allow aumbries rather than forbid them. No idea. But in the CofE clergy and parishes have little black boxes for taking communion to the sick. I'd imagine the same applies elsewhere.
Photo here https://www.flickr.com/photos/markcharter/2795754505
As to in use, do you know whether there was a light burning? I can't see one in the photograph. This is not my expertise, but I'm fairly sure you're meant to have one lit if the consecrated elements are being reserved devotionally.
Apologies for any confusion - I can't find any online pix (sic)...
I believe aumbries need a faculty, and permission from the Bishop. I guess this still applies to newly-built (or rebuilt) churches?
Also, yes, a white light is de rigeur if the Sacrament is reserved, whether or not it's used devotionally - IOW, if you only use the BS for Communion of the Sick, and it's reserved in church, the light should be provided.
Holy Innocents', Fallowfield, in the Manchester diocese. In terms of prominence, it's to the liturgical north of the altar (the reordering means that the altar is now at the west end of the building), and is the thing you face when you enter the nave. Here's a view from the choir loft, directly above the main entrance. This might give some idea of the placement.
William Temple, Wythenshawe, used to in the late nineties and early noughties. The wine was reserved in the aumbry, in the chalice in which it had been consecrated, and the same wine would be consecrated again at the mid-week Eucharist.
The aumbry is in the Transfiguration Chapel rather than the sanctuary in the main church.
Things have changed there since.
Our Place started off with a simple aumbry in the north wall of the chancel, but a vicar with spiky tendencies in the 1920s made this rather more pretentious-looking by placing an 'altar' (just a wooden table, really) in front of it, along with some rather baroque hangings, and four ornate wooden candlesticks. One of the latter was found to have active woodworm a while ago, and has been destroyed, so that there are now only two (the third being kept as a spare).
The said spiky vicar brought the High Altar forward into the chancel, but retaining the eastward position for Mass, enabling the space behind to be turned into a sort of Blessed Sacrament chapel, with seats facing the aumbry and 'altar' towards the north. It serves as a quiet space for prayer and devotion, and, indeed, Sunday Morning and Evening Prayer are now usually said here (there's room for 10 people).
Personally, I'd prefer NOT to have an 'altar' here, but to have something more like the Fallowfields arrangement.
They are comparatively rare in the C of E, but they are more than a handful. As far as I know, the legal position is that they need a faculty, and there is no reason to suppose one should be refused. Episcopal permission is needed to reserve in the first place but I don't think that says anything about the place of reservation. I may be wrong.
There is a hanging pyx in Gloucester cathedral and I am pretty sure in a few others. The Community church at Mirfield has had one for many years. Meanwhile Southwark cathedral outdoes most others with a magnificent tabernacle/ sacrament house designed by Pugin.
What's in the picture from Fallowfield appears to be a side altar. From its positioning, the two candles on it etc it should probably be classed as one even if it never or hardly ever gets used as such. It's not unusual where public reservation is part of the parish tradition for the aumbry to be in a side chapel rather than at or by the main altar.
Anyway, what am I doing pontificating about this? I'm fairly low. It's not really part of my tradition.
I think this was one of the swarm of Sarum bees in his bonnet...
Yes, there is a light and the sacrament is certainly reserved in St Mary’s Aisle (which effectively functions as the Lady chapel in Truro) I just do t know if the sacrament is actually in the hanging pyx or if there’s a discreet aumbry I haven’t noticed.
From conversations I've had with a few people I think that communion for the sick is sometimes from the reserved sacrament as a couple of the older ladies are licenced to do that so they can take it when they visit certain people from the congregation who are now in residential care.
I have myself in the past taken Communion to housebound/sick people on a fairly regular basis, although nowadays Father NewPriest does the job, using the hosts consecrated at the Sunday Parish Mass.
* abstruse connection yes, but if you saw this week's episode you'd know.
Surely not re-consecrated? One, by mistake, a small carafe of consecrated wine was placed on the corporal at St Sanity at the set-up. The other server and I took the sensible approach that as the stopper had not been removed, it was not re-consecrated.
Common sense gets you through all sorts of other problems. On another occasion, we were running out of consecrated wine in the chalices and no-one had an aumbry key. Rather than take the time to consecrate more, we decided that the addition of some more water did not need any further action.
But now I'm dying of curiosity: what exactly is the huge problem with an accidental reconsecration? And how precisely could you un-do such a thing?
Considers: Does it maybe open a wormhole in time and space back to the cross, or something? Because I'm pretty sure we've had multiple acts of communion (same elements, different worshipers involved) within, say, a one hour period. It has to do with some of the logistics of a multi-cultural/linguistic church.
It definitely isn't an altar. It's a purpose-built pedestal for the tabernacle, and is too tall to be used comfortably as an altar, even if there were enough surface area to do so, (which there isn't).
I understand your surprise but I kid you not. It was treated as unconsecrated and was used afresh. This was nearly 20 years ago, though, and I know more recent clergy there would never have done that.
It was indeed.
The chancel was divided into two floors, part of the upper of which serves as the choir loft.
The portion directly above the original sanctuary was unused when I used to go there and there had been plans to have it developed into meeting space that could be hired out. To me it looked an ideal space for a chapel but this was absolutely ruled out.
More recent pictures show it being used as a chapel. This pleases me.
I'm pretty sure you can't undo it if it's a single consecration, too....
If reservation is needed, I have always tended to prefer the approach of the less uptight members of the British Museum school, which is an aumbry in the north wall of the chancel or chapel. Both of the main churches in the parish I grew up in had such aumbries when I was growing up, so I tend to identify that as being the normal method of reservation. They were provided with the obligatory little white light, though at one point there were plans to provide something a little more elaborate on the lighting front.
Yes, I can see that--but then why worry over an accidental double consecration--or even an intentional one done by folk with a different opinion? I should think it would be like washing your hands twice--at worst a waste of time.
I still treasure the vintage Ship inquiry into the blast radius of the consecration.
When I had to look at communion of the sick for a course I was one, I found there were actually two ways communion of the sick could happen.
I can always tell which wafers these are. Not only do they glow with a supernal lambency, but the sick who receive them arise and go forth, walking and leaping and praising God. YMMV.
There’s a sermon in there.
Meanwhile, @Robert Armin: :notworthy:
Is Outrage!
Now there's an interesting thought - does the act of multiple consecration somehow increase the efficacy of the MBS?
It would seem so...
In the old-fashioned MOTR-Low Anglican circles I was trained in we had pretty much the same option A and option B. However, not having elders of that type, we would recruit some random lay person, or a member of the family. Using either method, we are supposed to read the collect, epistle and gospel appointed either for the day or the Communion of sick, use the general confession and absolution, the humble-mumble, and say the blessings at the end. The only difference is whether or not we actually consecrate on site, as it were.
It's complicated by the way a higher level caster can designate certain targets within the area of effect to be unaffected. It's usually used to avoid frying your mates when fireballing zombies, but you could use it, for example, to exclude the crusts for particularly picky congregations who won't eat them.
But it's only Bishops and above who can do that, right?