3/21/2021
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| Lorenzetti, "Bull" |
Nullo 6: The Key
The paragraph starts by reciting the canon from the 1917 Code. It indicates that all precautions are “in vain” if the safe-keeping of the tabernacle key is neglected. It reminds that this responsibility binds its incumbent “sub grave.” Rectors, parish priests, and all those to whom it is entrusted are warned that the key “never be left on the table of the altar, nor in the door of the tabernacle.” It expressly excludes the times of the divine offices or of the distribution of Holy Communion itself, “especially if this altar [of reservation] is not in open view.”
Contemporary practical experience suggest hardly any occurrences of requiring the tabernacle key during the recitation of the Divine Office. But the point is taken, for the distribution of Holy Communion should the tabernacle be somewhere “off to the side” and left rather unattended while the minister is occupied elsewhere in the church with administering the Sacrament. Either way the paragraph’s exclusion of the possibility of keeping the keep on the altar or in the door of the tabernacle is clear.
Nullo 6 refers to three possible locations for the keeping of the key: 1) at the rector’s home; 2) on the rector’s person; 3) in the sacristy under lock and key—“the second key being kept by the rector as above.”
This third option would seem to impact access to the key by extraordinary ministers. We will discuss this later. It also seems that keeping the key in an unlocked cabinet or drawer would be similarly excluded.
