Liturgical device

The liturgical utensils include the utensils used for worship. The device listed in this overview is used primarily for the dispensing of the sacraments in the Roman Catholic , Anglican , Old Catholic and Evangelical Churches (books, pictures and movables are not included in the devices listed here ).

Vasa sacra

As vasa sacra (sacred vessels) in Catholic and Protestant literature on liturgical vessels are designated to come up with the Eucharist in contact. If possible, they should be made of precious metal; other precious materials are rarely used.

• Chalice
• Paten ( paten )
• Ciborium (cup)
• Monstrance with lunula
• Custodia (sacraments)
• Pyxis (box for the consecrated hosts )
• Goblet spoon (also Protestant)

Of more historical importance are:

• Peristerium (liturgical dove)
• Fistula (tube)
• Colum (sieve for the Eucharistic wine)

Vasa non sacra and other devices

See also : Sacred device

Partly as Vasa sacra in the broader sense , partly as Vasa non sacra , other liturgical vessels and devices are connected to the sacrament devices:

• Measuring jug (for wine and water)
• Vessels for the sacred oils
• Aspergill (holy water sprinkler)
• Altar bells
• Lavabo (rite) , hand washing vessel
• Trowel
• Altar candlesticks , Easter candlesticks
• Censer (turibulum)
• Incense boat (vessel for grains of incense)
• Wafer box (container for unconsecrated hosts)
• Altar cross
• Lecture cross

Of more historical importance are:

• Aquamanile (watering vessel)
• Flabellum (liturgical fan)

Protestant altarpieces

In addition to the altar cross and altar candlesticks, the typical Protestant altar equipment includes:

• Wine can
• Communion chalice , pouring chalice and individual chalices
• Sacrament plate

Liturgical device of the Eastern Church

See also: List of liturgical implements of the Orthodox Church

• Asterisk
• Dikirion and Trikirion

protection

The vasa sacra are often valuable objects. Because of their proximity to the acts of worship, sometimes also because of their origin and history, they are of particular ideal value for the faithful. The legal system in Germany takes this into account. For example, Section 243 of the Criminal Code knows the rule example of church theft , a particularly serious case of theft. The state also has increased protection for the so-called res sacrae . Sometimes it is a matter of public matters because religious communities can dedicate them as a public matter through a church administrative act .

See also

• Parament

literature

• Sigmund Benker: Liturgical implements, crosses and reliquaries of the Christian churches / Objets liturgiques, croix et reliquaires des eglises chretiennes . Systematic specialist dictionary (=  Glossarium Artis . Volume 2 ). Walter de Gruyter, 1972 ( online in the Google book search [accessed December 17, 2015]).
• Adolf Reinle : The equipment of German churches in the Middle Ages. Darmstadt 1988, ISBN 3-534-08803-4
• Christhard Mahrenholz : The liturgical objects and devices of the church interior (= liturgical guidelines for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, Vol. 3), Hanover 1949
• Joseph Braun: The Christian altarpiece in its being and in its development . Olms, Hildesheim u. a. 1973 (reprint of the Munich 1932 edition).
• Georg Stuhlfauth : Communion device. In: Real Lexicon on German Art History. Vol. I (1933), Col. 46-48; also digital in: RDK Labor [2. February 2017].
• Johann Michael Fritz: The evangelical device of the Lord's Supper in Germany: from the Middle Ages to the end of the Old Kingdom , Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, 2004

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Victor Schultze: Gefäß, Gottesdienstliche , in: Realenzyklopädie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche , Vol. 6, Leipzig 1899, pp. 412-415
2. ↑ Glossarium Artis , Index Universalis Multilingualis: German - French - English of the Comité International d'Histoire de l'Art, Munich 2004, also digital here
3. ↑ Georg Stuhlfauth: Last Supper Plate. In: RDK , Vol. 1, 1933, pp. 64-70