The Tabernacle

Church of San Rocco: liturgical notes

In the liturgical field, the tabernacle is the aedicule placed in the centre of the altar in which the Sacred Eucharist is housed. The process which led to the functional, formal and logistic definition of the tabernacle was neither rapid nor straightforward. For a long time the conservation of the consecrated host had not followed fixed rules: the decision to place the tabernacle on the altar was taken only in the 16th century, and then only confirmed by Pope Paul V in 1614. This development must be seen in the light of the differences of view which arose starting from the 11th century with Berengario of Tours up to the Lutheran Reformation as to the values of the Eucharist and the problem of transubstantiation. In this sense the tabernacle is the architectural translation of the theological vision sanctioned by the Council of Trent, which polemically insisted on the real and permanent presence of the body and blood of Christ crucified in the consecrated bread, and laid special emphasis on its sacrificial value.
The precious tabernacle of San Rocco is small and polygonal-shaped, in gold and grey-and-black marble. It was made around 1655 by Alessandro Biego, a sculptor with a certain experience of architectural art (Cevese). The suspended wooden crown however seems to be a 19th century addition or an imitation from that period.

By Francesca Cavaggioni (Arts Office of the Diocese of Vicenza)