Who has the right to touch the chalice and sacred linens, namely the corporal, pall and purificator?
According to the traditional law of the Church it is normally only clerics who have received the tonsure who can touch the chalice, and the sacred linens before they are purified. This is explained in canon 1306, para. 1. However, an exception is given. As well as clerics, these items can also be handled by those who are assigned care of them, that is by the sacristan. According to the interpretation given in Woywood and Smith, A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, Volume II, pp.93-94, the authorized sacristan who can touch these objects can be a religious brother or sister or a lay person. Writing before the promulgation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, Wernz says that in the course of time the ancient rigor in the matter of touching the sacred vessels was relaxed, so that lay brothers and religious, sisters and laymen acting as sacristans were permitted to touch the sacred vessels. However, it is not because a person is authorized to touch these items that he should necessar
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