21 February 2013

Lentorama 2013: There's a Name for That

Day 8: piscina

The piscina is the basin used to wash the chalice and other eucharistic vessels after mass. The piscina is designed to return holy water and any bits of consecrated host directly to the ground rather than have them enter the sewer system, septic tank or the like. There's even a special name for the drain, the sacrarium, that feeds the washing water from the piscina to the ground.

The one thing that can't get washed down the piscina is consecrated wine. The priest or one of the lay eucharistic ministers has to polish that off. Washing wine down the drain can apparently get you excommunicated (though not hosts, though in the few times I've seen a priest have leftover hosts that couldn't be properly stored he just ate them).

The real question, though is can any old plumber work on the piscina, or is there a deacon or some Brothers of the Blessed Pipe Wrench who take care of things? 

1 comment:

Allyson said...

At our (Episcopal) church, the leftover wine is taken outside and poured into the memorial garden. Matt is a lay eucharistic minister, so he gets to pour it out when he's on duty. He fears spilling it on the white robe he wears, not because of it being consecrated, but because then he'll have to dry clean the robe.

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