Skip to main contentAccessibility feedback
Dear catholic.com visitors: This website from Catholic Answers, with all its many resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. A fully independent, lay-run, 501(c)(3) ministry that receives no funding from the institutional Church, we rely entirely on the generosity of everyday people like you to keep this website going with trustworthy, fresh, and relevant content. If everyone visiting this month gave just $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.

How long can the consecrated host remain in a pyx or lunette before it must be replaced?

Question:

How long can the consecrated host remain in a pyx or lunette before it must be replaced?

Answer:

Canon 939 states: “Consecrated hosts, in a quantity sufficient for the needs of the faithful, are to be kept in a pyx or ciborium and are to be renewed frequently, the older hosts having been duly consumed.”

Concerning the meaning of “renewed frequently,” The Canon Law: Letter and Spirit commentary says, “The hosts are to be renewed ‘frequently,’ in order to avoid danger of corruption” (512). To prevent corruption of the sacred species, canon 934 §2 requires that “[W]here the blessed Eucharist is reserved there must always be someone who is responsible for it, and that as far as possible a priest be available to celebrate Mass at least twice a month.”

According to Redemptionis Sacramentum

:

It is highly recommended that at least in the cities and the larger towns, the diocesan bishop should designate a church building for perpetual adoration; in it, however, Holy Mass should be celebrated frequently, even daily if possible, while the Exposition should rigorously be interrupted while Mass is being celebrated. It is fitting that the host to be exposed for adoration should be consecrated in the Mass immediately preceding the time of adoration, and that it should be placed in the monstrance upon the altar after Communion. (RS 140, emphasis added)

 

Did you like this content? Please help keep us ad-free

More from Catholic.com

Enjoying this content?  Please support our mission!Donate