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“I
have a sick call, Pere,
but I’m not taking the Blessed Sacrament.
Would you care to come along, and we’ll drive
out a bit afterwards.” The Antiquary went to
the long bookcase at the end of the study and
took from a corner of one of the shelves a small
oilstock, which he placed in his coat pocket
along with a ritual and stole.
“Not
to be captious,” said the Liturgiologist, in a
tone that belied his words, “I wonder if you
are justified in keeping the Oil for the Sick
here in the house.”
“Why
not?” was the somewhat surprised reply.
“Well,
we’re right beside the church, and can enter,
in fact, without going outdoors, and you know
(or then, maybe you don’t) that there’s a
decree of the Fourth Lateran Council which says
the Oil for the Sick is to be kept in the church
or sacristy, in a clean and decently ornamented
place, lined interiorly with violet silk, and
marked on the outside S.
Oleum infirmorum, locked and closely
guarded, moreoever, with a key.
“Of
course, I know that,” answered the Antiquary,
“and I might add that the word ambry,
sometimes applied to the said receptacle, is a
corruption of aumbry,[1]
and it should be on the sanctuary wall at the
side of the altar.”
“You’re
talking antiquities and architecture now, dear
Father,” purred the Liturgiologist. “The
Council says simply “in
the church or sacristy” and St. Alphonsus
says[2] that the Oil for the Sick may for
necessity, in case the priest lives at a
distance from the church, and so might be
delayed in answering an urgent sick call, be
kept in the house, in a safe and decent
place.”
“Well,
this room is decent, I hope, and it ought to be
safe enough,” came back the Antiquary with
some asperity.
“I
concede the first, since I share it with you,”
laughed the Liturgiologist, “and I hope the
second is true also! But I’m not done with you
yet,” he added, following the Antiquary out to
the new “Scoot” which was, now that the
weather had become springlike, parked in the
driveway. “The Ritual prescribes that the
priest shall carry the vase of stock of Oil for
the Sick enclosed in a sack or violet-colored
silk, which, by the way, may not be enclosed in
the burse containing the Pyx.”
“Your
Lateran Council sounds very grand,” remarked
the Antiquary, willing to justify himself,
“but isn’t it a rather antique citation?”
“How
about Canons 735 and 946 of the New Code,[3]
then!” shouted the Liturgiologist
triumphantly. “Have you a ‘reasonable cause
and the permission of the ordinary,’ for
keeping the Oil for the Sick in the study
bookshelf? And, by the way, what about the other
two oils which you are inadvertently carrying
with you in your three-decked stock?”
“Well,
what about them, Pere?”
asked the Antiquary.
“Why
take any oil except the Infirmorum
on the usual sick call? You’re not going to
need them,” said the Liturgiologist, gently,
because he had a point to make. “I never could
understand why they make those combination
stocks, for the Holy Oil and the Sacred Chrism
are not used in conjunction with the Oil for the
Sick, and while these little stocks are all
right for the latter, none of them contain
enough oil for the ceremonies of blessing the
font, tho they could be used at baptisms.”
“But
isn’t there some regulations about keeping the
two Oils in the cover of the font?” asked the
Antiquary.
“Hardly
a regulation,” admitted the Liturgiologist.
“St. Charles Borromeo recommends the
custom,[4] and O’Kane[5] quotes him, as does
also the incomparable Fortescue.
The Rituale
orders that the font have a lock and key
(implying that they should be used) and this may
well have reference to the Holy Oils as well as
to the Baptismal Water.”
“You
seem to make a case against me,” said the
Antiquary, a bit gravely.
“It
would be hard to find a permission regarding the
Holy Oil and the Sacred Chrism similar to that
regarding the Oil for the Sick,” answered the
Liturgiologist, relenting. “They pertain, so
far as priests are concerned, solely to the
ceremonies of blessing the font and of baptism,
neither of which ever takes place in the
rectory! The baptistery is the obvious place for
them, tho I can’t see any objection to keeping
them in the aumbry in the sanctuary or sacristy,
except the bother of carrying them down to the
font when they’re needed. One of the few
regulations I’ve never seen violated is the
one which forbids us to keep the Oils in the
tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament. But many
priests carry the Oil for the Sick in the same
burse with the Pyx, which might be called an
abuse.”
“Well,
here we are,” said the Antiquary drawing in to
the curb. “I’ll not be long. And on the way
home, we’ll stop at Pusco’s[6] and see if
they have such a thing as a violet silk
container for a sick-call oil-stock.”
“The
haven’t!” barked the Liturgiologist.
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