What is a tabernacle?

The Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence

The function of the tabernacle is grounded in the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence: the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist are not symbols of Christ but are truly his Body and Blood, by the change called transubstantiation that takes place at the Mass (see What is the Eucharist? and the Institution of the Eucharist).

Because the consecrated Host remains the Body of Christ as long as the appearances of bread persist, the consecrated Hosts not consumed at Mass are reverently reserved in a place of honor. That place is the tabernacle.

The form of the tabernacle

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) prescribes the requirements for the tabernacle:

• It must be immovable, made of solid and opaque material, and locked in such a way as to protect against profanation (GIRM 314).
• It should be in a prominent and noble place, suited to prayer.
• A sanctuary lamp (typically a red lamp) burns continually in the presence of the reserved Eucharist, signifying to the faithful that the tabernacle contains the Body of Christ. When the tabernacle is empty (between the Mass of the Lord's Supper and the Easter Vigil during the Sacred Triduum), the sanctuary lamp is extinguished.
• A tabernacle veil (in the liturgical color of the season, or white) traditionally covers the tabernacle.¹

The traditional placement is on or near the main altar, on a side altar in a Eucharistic chapel, or in the sanctuary of the church. Recent guidance has favored a prominent location that does not compete liturgically with the altar of sacrifice during Mass; both arrangements are permitted.

What is reserved in the tabernacle

The tabernacle reserves the consecrated Hosts (small wafers of unleavened bread that have been consecrated at Mass and not consumed). The consecrated wine is not ordinarily reserved (the precious Blood is consumed during the Mass at which it is consecrated, as a precaution against the spilling or alteration of the species).

The reserved Hosts are kept in a ciborium (a covered vessel, typically of precious metal). The ciborium is placed inside the tabernacle.

What the tabernacle is for

Three functions:

1. Communion of the sick. Hosts are taken from the tabernacle to bring Holy Communion to those who cannot attend Mass: the elderly, the infirm, the dying. This pastoral practice goes back to the early Church.
2. Eucharistic adoration. The faithful pray in the church before the tabernacle, knowing that Christ is truly present there. Many parishes have hours of Eucharistic adoration during which the consecrated Host is exposed in a monstrance for direct adoration; in other contexts the tabernacle is the focus of prayer without exposition.
3. Reverent disposition of consecrated species. The Eucharistic species cannot simply be left in the open. The tabernacle preserves the Body of Christ from profanation and accident.

Catholic etiquette in the presence of the tabernacle

When entering a Catholic church and noting the lit sanctuary lamp, Catholics traditionally genuflect (touching the right knee to the ground) toward the tabernacle as an act of adoration of the Real Presence. When passing the tabernacle during the celebration of Mass on the main altar, ministers genuflect or bow as the rubrics direct.

Sources

Footnotes

1. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, third typical edition (2002), nn. 314 to 317. See also Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1378 to 1381. ↩