 |
| Duccio, "Appearance of Christ" |
Today is the 83rd Anniversary of the SRC’s Instruction “Nullo Unquam Tempore” on the safeguarding of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Pius XI had ordered it to be published after confirming and ratifying it on the seventh of May, earlier the same month. The SRC had approved the Instruction in a plenary session on March 30th.
Nullo is a comprehensive review of the details of safeguarding the MBS. It is referred to explicitly by the current General Instruction of the Roman Missal as well as by the Congregation for Divine Worship’s 2004 Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum.” It regulates the way bishops and parish priests are to execute their responsibility to reserve the MBS in their dioceses and in their parishes. The Instruction aims at “the safest possible keeping of the Holy Eucharist and its entire preservation from injury of any kind.”
It proceeds principally interpreting the paragraphs of Canon 1269 of the 1917 Code. Its interpretation focuses on three main considerations: the tabernacle, its custody, and its key. It concludes by instructing bishops on how to regulate the observance of the prescriptions laid down.
Nullo is normative for reserving the MBS today. It’s relevance goes beyond a curious historical insight into late-modern preconciliar Church discipline. Rather, the Church has subsequently standardized its prescriptions in the current Missal and CIC.
Priests and bishops who take Nullo seriously will secure a central part of their responsibility to ensure that the Eucharist is kept at the heart of their flock.
"Nullo Unquam Tempore," English Translation published in the Australasian Catholic Record, 1938
Image: Duccio, “Appearance of Christ"
