Saint Thomas the Apostle Church creates special place to hold eucharist after Holy Thursday Mass

Saint Thomas the Apostle Church in Bloomfield will have a beautifully renovated new altar of repose for Holy Thursday Mass to hold the eucharistic bread that will be distributed in Communion on Good Friday.

The altar of repose is a temporary altar where the Communion hosts consecrated on Maundy Thursday during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper are placed or reserved for Good Friday when the Eucharist is offered during the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, which is not a Mass. Toward the end of Holy Thursday Mass, the Transfer of the Eucharist rite calls for the Eucharist to be reserved in a place separate from the tabernacle.

According to Father Tom Dente, liturgist and director of the Archdiocese of Newark’s Worship Office, because the cross, not the tabernacle, becomes the focus on Good Friday, the consecrated hosts go to a place of reposition after Communion on Holy Thursday. Many churches create a special altar of repose away from the crucifix. Some place the consecrated Eucharist for Good Friday in the tabernacle, especially if the church has a separate Blessed Sacrament chapel. But Father Dente said placing the hosts in the sanctuary should be avoided if the tabernacle is in its center.

Every parish has different traditions and customs as to where the Repository or altar of repose is set up on Holy Thursday. Through the years, Father Lawrence Fama, pastor of Saint Thomas Church in Bloomfield, said he has seen them in different church sections — apart from the sanctuary, where the Tabernacle is used, and in a separate building altogether.

Prior to Vatican II, it was common for churches to have several side altars, each with its own tabernacle, as was the case at St. Thomas because each priest was required to celebrate Mass daily. It was also common to have several priests assigned to a particular parish, Father Fama said.

“When our church was built in 1960, side altars were created: one dedicated to the Sacred Heart on the school side and the other to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Father Fama said. “These were in place because, at that time, five priests were assigned here, and Masses were not concelebrated. This meant each priest had to celebrate Mass each day. The side altars made it possible for multiple Masses to be celebrated simultaneously. Each altar had its own tabernacle.”

With Vatican II, concelebrated Masses were allowed, and only one main altar and one tabernacle were permitted in a church.

The side altar tabernacles at St. Thomas were covered and not considered until a Holy Thursday after Father Fama became pastor in 2019. But the lack of use over the decades led to the disrepair of the tabernacle’s door.

“The rite [Transfer of the Eucharist] calls for a separate place for the Eucharist to be reserved other than the tabernacle,” Father Fama said. “Last year, when I looked for this different location, I decided that the tabernacle in the Blessed Virgin Mary would be the best option. We used it although the door was not able to be locked. I was in church from the end of the liturgy until Night Prayer. The door was in need of being restored.”

In the fall, he sent the door out to be repaired so this year’s Eucharist on Holy Thursday can be placed in a “place that is worthy,” he said.

“The door and the shrine are such a beautiful part of our beautiful church,” Father Fama said. “It should be kept in the best condition possible.”