The Purificator

The Purificator is a piece of pure white linen or hemp (Cong. Sac. Rit., 23 July, 1878) used for cleansing the chalice. Its size is not prescribed by the rubrics. It is usually twelve to eighteen inches long, and nine or ten inches wide. It is folded in three layers so that when placed on the chalice beneath the paten its width is about three inches. A small cross may be worked in it at its centre to distinguish it from the little finger-towels used at the "Lavabo", although this is not prescribed. It is not blessed. It is also called the "Mundatory" or "Purificatory". The Greeks use a sponge instead of the linen purificator. Before soiled corporals, palls, and purificators are given to nuns or lay persons to be laundried, bleached, mended or ironed, they must be first washed, then rinsed twice by a person in sacred orders (Cong. Sac. Rit., 12 September, 1857). When preparing soiled corporals for the altar a little starch may be used to stiffen them and give them a smooth surface. The same may be done with the palls. The purificators are always prepared without starch.  Finger-towels, used at the "Lavabo" and after administering Holy Communion, may be made of any kind of material, preferably, however, of linen or hemp, and of any size.