HOW THE BLESSED SACRAMENT IS RESERVED NOW

The Catholic reader need hardly be told that the Blessed Sacrament is now reserved in a ciborium placed in the Tabernacle and covered with a silken veil. Here it is to be had whenever it is needed, whether to communicate the people during Mass or go on its errand as the Holy Viaticum to the dying. A little lamp filled with pure olive-oil burns before it constantly, and a bell is rung whenever it is to be taken away outside of Mass. In order that there may be no danger of the Sacred Particles becoming stale or unpleasant to the taste, it is customary to renew them every eight or ten days. Then the old Particles are either distributed at the rails to the communicants or consumed by the priest at the altar whilst he yet remains fasting.