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As Brother Sixtus turns our attention in this issue to what we may find hidden in the sacristy, let us also consider a part of the sacristy that lies open before our eyes in the church. The careful eye will discern a series of ledges subtly protruding from the stone of the church walls. In Our Lady’s Chapel, a bouquet of flowers is often seen adorning this “shelf.” On closer look, one notices that such a “shelf” can be found in each side chapel, throughout the church, including the Blessed Sacrament chapel in the sanctuary. Each stone protrusion is actually designed to serve an important liturgical function and is called a “sacrarium.”

One of ten stone sacraria in the abbey church.

What is a sacrarium? It may be defined as a “special sink used for the reverent disposal of sacred substances…” Those who have served as sacristan know that all objects of the altar must be cleaned in a special way, the water handled separately from the regular plumbing. And the sacrarium itself is to be dedicated to serving only that purpose: “This sink has a cover, a basin, and a special pipe and drain that empty directly into the earth, rather than into the sewer system” ((USCCB, Built of Living Stones, 236). Baptismal water, holy oils, and other sacred materials are to be disposed of in this way. Father William Saunders notes that the same principal applies to all sacred objects:

Thus, the sacrarium plays its distinctive liturgical role. J.B. O’Connell writes: “The sacrarium is mentioned from about the 9th century for the disposal of the water which the celebrant of Mass has used to cleanse the chalice and his hands (Leo IV, about 850, directed that a sacrarium should be built near the altar). It was Innocent III (1216) who first ordered that two piscinae be used, one for the wine and water with which the chalice was cleansed, the other for the water the celebrant used to wash his hands. Later he ruled that the priest should drink the ablutions, but only gradually did this practice obtain, and it was not widespread until the 14th century…. In some of the medieval churches, [the sacrarium] was quite an architectural feature—encased with elaborate moldings, sometimes surmounted by a canopy.” Church Building and Furnishing (University of Notre Dame Press)

The sacrarium in the Saint Benedict Chapel

In the present day, a sacrarium is typically located within the sacristy, most often resembles a typical sink, and the disposal of any materials that have been blessed will be taken care of out of the purview of the general assembly. Our church has made the less common architectural gesture of incorporating its sacraria throughout the church. When the church was first constructed, the side chapels provided much needed altars for priests celebrating Mass on their own, a practice discouraged after the Second Vatican Council, which emphasized the community aspect of liturgical celebration. The principal use of these individual sacraria was to allow the water used to purify the hands of the priest during Mass to make its way directly from the church, running down to the foundation and making its way to the ground. Brother Sixtus notes: “…you can imagine the effort it would require for a fully-vested priest (young or old) having to carry their personal chalice and the necessary cruets and lavabo bowl up the stairs and then down the stairs, or even from the main-floor chapels back to the sacristy. It lightened their load a bit to be able to drain the water into the stone slab ledges.” The sacrarium of the Blessed Sacrament chapel remains the most active, allowing egress of the waters of purification used for the celebrant for Mass which is now celebrated in our church primarily at the High Altar.

The sacrarium offers proximity to the altar