As we continue our journey through the Mass we’ve spent the last few columns looking at what we do, but for this column I wanted to take a moment to look at what we use. Not only do the words & actions of Mass hold meaning, so do many of the items that we use as a part of the celebration. As we’ve started recently looking at the Liturgy of the Eucharist, I wanted to look at 2 of the cloths that we use during the Eucharist, the Corporal & the Purificator.

  I heard the Corporal once described in a church tour for 2nd graders preparing for their First Communion as a holy placemat. In a sense, both a corporal & a placemat have similar functions, to catch particles that have fallen. The word Corporal comes from the Latin word “Corpus,” a word that means Body & its purpose is to catch & to gather up any particles of the consecrated host, the Body of Christ, that may be left after Communion. Whether we’re talking about the whole host or the smallest part of the smallest part of a host, we believe that once that host is consecrated, it is fully the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t believe that the full host is 100% Jesus, if we break that host in half you’ve got 50% of Jesus, if you break that half in half you’ve got 25% of Jesus, etc. Every particle of the consecrated host, no matter how large or how small is fully Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, & Divinity & so the Corporal serves to gather those fragments up so that they too may be treated with reverence. That’s why, too, the Corporal is folded inward when the Altar is cleared, so that no fragments drop to the ground.

  In the same Church Tour for the 2nd graders that I talked about earlier, I heard the Purificator as the holy napkin. Obviously, that description is a simplified one for young children, but it gets the purpose across, which is to wipe off the lip of the Chalice after the Precious Blood has been consumed from it & also to help in the purification of the vessels after Communion. Both of these cloths, since they come into contact with & could become stained with the Precious Blood are washed in a special way separate from the laundry. Thank you to our faithful volunteers who help with this purification process!