Whether the Mass or the Divine Office is prayed with the monks in-person or via our live-streaming efforts, the layperson should not be distracted in any way by thoughts about the liturgy’s behind-the scenes preparatory work. Still, a glimpse into the workings of the sacristy may be of interest to those who join in our liturgical life. These tasks fall to the various monastic sacristans and, at this point, four of us out of a community of eight have divided the labor among ourselves. Trips off-campus to replenish supplies have been reduced considerably and we keep an ample inventory on hand of the consumables needed, namely the various-sized wafers, and the altar wine. Other items include candles, incense, and charcoal. These preparations generally take place in the area of a church called the sacristy, often called the vestry in Episcopal or English churches. This is also storage for vestments, as well as rooms where priests and servers get vested. Perhaps “vestry” is related to the word “vestibule”, a sort of anteroom where the celebrants gather before processing into the main church. Also, a sacristy might serve as a small chapel, as we have at Portsmouth, where quieter Masses may be celebrated with centuries-old stained-glass windows adding their amber glow to the soft candlelight.

The sacristy chapel

Once, while living in Rome, I received a call from a good friend, an archdiocesan monsignor visiting from St. Louis.  He was staying at the Casa Santa Maria, a residence near the Pantheon for priests pursuing graduate level studies as part of the Pontifical North American College.  I had planned to extend the usual Benedictine hospitality to him by inviting him for dinner at Sant’ Anselmo, the monastery where I was living, atop the Aventine Hill.  He beat me to the punch and insisted that I meet him at the Casa and “visit the sacristy”.  Knowing that the Casa building dated to 1601, originally a Dominican monastery for young women, I took up the offer, excited to see a 400-year-old sacristy. What the monsignor had in mind, in fact, was a very nice dinner at La Sagrestia (The Sacristy), a respectable and well-reviewed ristorante-pizzeria. I was never able to ascertain if the space might indeed have actually been a sacristy at one time.  (But the next time you’re allowed to travel, I suggest you check it out at Via del Seminario, 89, near the Pantheon in Rome.)

Albs at the ready

While living in Italy I also made frequent trips to Florence for ordinations and for general sightseeing with visiting friends and students. One sacristy there which I had heard about intrigued me, but I was never fortunate enough to see it. It is the sacristy which contains the mausoleum of the Medici Family at the Church of San Lorenzo, possibly the oldest church in Florence having been consecrated by St. Ambrose of Milan in 393. Why the intrigue? The mausoleum is in the ‘Old Sacristy’ designed by Brunelleschi and is the resting place of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici. If you intuited that its designation as the ‘Old Sacristy’ indicates that there exists a ‘New Sacristy’ nearby, you’d be correct. The ‘new’ 16^th-century iteration comes with a highly-regarded pedigree having been designed by Michelangelo.

Returning now to Portsmouth, it should be noted that the Portsmouth Abbey sacristy is not an add-on or an extension, not an afterthought, neither particularly old nor new. It was designed by the American-Italian architect Pietro Belluschi as part of the original fabric of the 1960 church structure in a vernacular New England architectural style. With its original cabinetry and floor plan still intact, it continues to serve its original purpose quite satisfactorily. Celebrants vest there daily, sacristans go about their work of setting up the necessary vessels for Mass, and the water used to purify sacred vessels afterwards is poured into the sacrarium which carries it into the earth. Our work continues in photographing and cataloguing for our archives many of the items which we have uncovered, some of which were gifted by individual donors as memorials or by the grateful parents and families of school alumni. We are happy when we come across vestments, a Communion paten or four, or a chalice perhaps, which are marked with names and dates. It’s a treasure hunt which keeps us busy.

Necrology bulletins (below is the sacristy’s lavabo, a hand sink used before Mass)

The idea of a treasure hunt reminds me of one more special European sacristy worthy of note, this one in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. No longer used as an actual work area, especially since the tragic fire of April 15, 2019, the space had become a small museum known as le Tresor, The Treasure or Treasury. I spent two weeks during Lent of 2001 in Paris, and one of the highlights was attending a performance in Notre-Dame of Bach’s “St. John’s Passion” featuring the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. Their musical director and that evening’s conductor was an old friend, John Nelson, from my years at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He and his wife, the late Anita Nelson, were living in Paris at the time in a film-set-perfect apartment on the Ile de la Cite’ overlooking the Seine, where I attended a post-concert reception that night, not realizing it was the last time I would see them. Earlier that day as I stopped by Notre-Dame to pick up my concert ticket, I visited the former sacristy created between 1845 and 1850 by the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The holdings are priceless and include many liturgical objects which were moved out of the Sainte-Chapelle after its de-consecration as a church following the Revolution. King St. Louis IX built the church as a repository for his many acquisitions, including the collection known as the Most Holy Relics of the Passion of Christ. On display during my visit was an under-tunic worn by the sainted king and other treasures too numerous to mention here. Many of us remember the day almost two years ago when the smoke-filled skyline of Paris appeared on our various screens as flames blazed through the attic of Notre Dame with its ancient wooden beams feeding the fire.  Perhaps miraculously, time allowed the sacristans and volunteers to save the relics and treasures, moving them to safety.

Brother Sixtus exploring

Although we are unable to open our Portsmouth sacristy as a museum to the public, the monks are conscious of and appreciative of the treasures which have been entrusted to us. We pray that your appreciation of them comes properly and reverently through the beauty of our liturgies.