How to Be a Sacrastin Minister

The Duties of a Sacristan Minister

A Sacristan minister prepares the mass for Holy Communion. The Sacristan will make sure the sacred vessels and vestments used in mass are prepared, cleaned, and stored properly. Sometimes the detailed role of the Sacristan minister is displayed in the sacristy, along with a suggested prayer before serving. If there is not a Sacristan duty list posted in the sacristy, you may follow these guidelines while keeping in mind Sacristan duties may vary from church to church.

Things You'll Need

• Nice church clothes.

Instructions

Sacristan Duties Before Mass

1. Turn on Mass lighting and sound system. Several lighting options are available for specific services, such as baptisms, wedding, funerals, adoration, cleaning, and sanctuary. Turn on the light switch for Mass. A key will always stay in the church's sound system. Simple directions on the sound system will show you the way to turn on the church's sound system.

2. Get the keys for the ciborium, chalice, and tabernacle. The ciborium holds the ciboria (gold vessels) and hosts, while the chalice door holds all the priests chalices. The big gold key goes into the tabernacle and stays there until the last mass of the day. These keys will be located in the sacristy cabinet with other sacred vessels.

3. Open the tabernacle. The big gold key opens the tabernacle, which holds blessed ciboria from the previous mass. Bow down before opening the tabernacle. See how many ciboria are in the tabernacle. Four ciboria are used every mass. Determine the number of ciboria in the tabernacle to determine how many ciboria you need to prepare. Condense the ciboria, but do not remove the blessed hosts out of the tabernacle. They must remain in the tabernacle until the priest retrieves them at the next mass. Bow after closing the tabernacle.

4. Place four gold vessels and five purificators on the counter. The gold vessels are the gold cups that hold the hosts and the purificators are the white linen clothes with a red small red cross in the center. Four purificators are for the wine glasses and one is for building the Father's chalice.

5. Check the Priest's schedule to see which priest is saying the Mass. Priests use their own chalice, so prepare the chalice for the priest scheduled. The schedule should be on the bulletin board in the sacristy.

6. Build the Father's chalice. Place the chalice with the cross facing you. Put on a purificator, and place the paten on top. Place a large host on the paten and cover this with the pall. Place two corporals on top.

7. Prepare the water and wine. Place one cruet of water on the counter. Take a flagon out of the cabinet and fill it with wine. Notice the fill line. Get the water from the water cooler and the wine from the fridge. If there is less than two bottles of wine in the fridge, place a new bottle in the sacristy in the fridge.

8. Make sure you have altar servers and a lector. If you do not have altar servers ten minutes before mass, you will have additional duties such as candle lighting, and delivering your prepared vessels. The water cruet four gold cups, four purificators, and Father's chalice goes on the credenza, while the wine flagon and ciboria go on the gift table.

Sacristan Duties After Mass

1. Clean and polish the gold cups with the purificators. Put the soiled purificators in the laundry bag. Place the gold cups on the counter for the next mass or put them back in the cabinet, next to the ciborium, if it is the last mass of the day.

2. Repeat the Sacristan duties again after mass. Prepare the ciboria again and build a Father's chalice. Place all of these on the counter in the sacristy for the next mass. The next scheduled Sacristan for mass will fill the wine flagon and water cruet. If this is the last mass of the day, do not leave these items on the counter. Put in them ciborium and put Father's chalice in the chalice door.

3. Turn off lighting and sound system. If this is the last mass of the day, return lights and sound system off. If there is another mass afterwards, leave the lights and sound system on.

4. After mass take the petition book and place it on the podium in the vestibule. If the empty offertory basket is still by the altar, return it to the bottom shelf of one of the table in the back of the church.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the altar servers put the candles out with the snuffer.

• Extra purifications, corporals, towels, host, etc. are located in the main cabinet in the sacristy.

• The purificators are folded into thirds, and the corporals into ninths, and the palls are flat.