Sacrarium
| Also called | Piscina |
|---|---|
| Drain | Directly into the earth |
| Location | Ordinarily the sacristy |
Sacrarium is a special basin, traditionally called a piscina, whose drain leads directly into the earth for the reverent disposal of certain blessed water and residue from sacred use.
Purpose and construction
A sacrarium is a basin designed so that its contents pass directly into the ground rather than into an ordinary sewer. It is commonly installed in a sacristy and marked or constructed to prevent its use as a normal handwashing sink. The direct return to earth expresses reverence for water and residue associated with sacred rites.[1]
Historical piscinas were sometimes wall niches near the altar with a drain through the church fabric. Modern building practice may locate the sacrarium beside an ordinary utility sink, but the drains must remain distinct and ministers and sacristans should know which is which.
Lawful uses
The sacrarium is commonly used for disposing of blessed water that cannot reverently be returned elsewhere and for water used in the first washing of purificators, corporals, or other linens after any sacred particles have been consumed or removed according to liturgical discipline. Ashes from blessed objects or other residue may be buried or disposed of as competent norms direct.[2]
Local liturgical books, diocesan norms, environmental rules, and the nature of the material govern particular cases. The principle is reverent disposition, not the belief that every molecule that once touched a blessed object remains a sacred object forever.
What is never poured away
The Precious Blood is never poured into a sacrarium. It must be wholly consumed according to the rites. A consecrated host or recognizable Eucharistic particle is likewise consumed or handled under the norms for the Blessed Sacrament; the sacrarium is not a disposal mechanism for the Eucharist.
Holy oils are ordinarily consumed by burning, buried, or otherwise disposed of reverently under diocesan direction when replaced. Ordinary chemicals, cleaning waste, coffee, and sewage do not belong in the sacrarium, both out of reverence and because its direct-to-earth drain bypasses normal treatment.
References
- Back to citation General Instruction of the Roman Missal — The authoritative ordering and rubrics of Mass in the ordinary form of the Roman Rite.
- Back to citation Code of Canon Law, canons 1205–1243 — Sacred places, churches, oratories, shrines, altars, and cemeteries.