Sacristy - wikipedia Sacristy Sacristy with a sacristy credens ( a cabinet with wide and very shallow drawers in which vestments and hangings are stored ). A chasuble and stole are laid out on top of it, ready to be put on. The monastic chancel ( Ca 1190 ) of St Bees Priory, Cumbria. The sacristy door is on the left. A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments ( such as the alb and chasuble ) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. In some countries, it is known as the vestry. The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building ( as in some monasteries ). In most older churches, a sacristy is near a side altar, or more usually behind or on a side of the main altar. In newer churches the sacristy is often in another location, such as near the entrances to the church. Some churches have more than one sacristy, each of which will have a specific function. Often additional sacristies are used for maintaining the church and its items -- such as candles and other materials. Contents 1 Description 2 See also 3 Notes 4 External links Description The sacristy is also where the priest and attendants vest and prepare before the service. They will return there at the end of the service to remove their vestments and put away any of the vessels used during the service. The hangings and altar linens are stored there as well. The Parish registers may be kept in the sacristy and are administered by the parish clerk. Sacristies usually contain a special wash basin, called a piscina, the drain of which is properly called a `` sacrarium '' in which the drain flows directly into the ground to prevent sacred items such as used baptismal water from being washed into the sewers or septic tanks. The piscina is used to wash linens used during the celebration of the Mass and purificators used during Holy Communion. The cruets, chalice, ciborium, paten, altar linens and sometimes the Holy Oils are kept inside the sacristy. Sacristies are usually off limits to the general public. The word `` sacristy '' derives from the Latin sacristia, sometimes spelled sacrastia, which is in turn derived from sacrista ( `` sexton, sacristan '' ), from sacra ( `` holy '' ). A person in charge of the sacristy and its contents is called a sacrist or a sacristan. The latter name was formerly given to the sexton of a parish church, where he would have cared for these things, the fabric of the building and the grounds. In Eastern Christianity, the functions of the sacristy are fulfilled by the Diaconicon and the Prothesis, two rooms or areas adjacent to the Holy Table ( Altar ). Work on finding the so - called `` lost medieval sacristy of Henry III '' at Westminster Abbey during an episode of the archaeological television programme Time Team revealed that the abbey originally had two separate sacristies. As well as a conventional sacristy for storage of ceremonial vessels such as the chalice and paten, the second, described in a 15th - century document as the `` galilee of the sacristy '' was determined to have been used for the robing and formation of the procession See also Altar cloth Antependium Diaconicon Sacristan Savilahti Stone Sacristy Sexton Vestry Notes Jump up ^ `` Vestry ''. English Oxford Living Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Jump up ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary ( 3rd ed. ). Oxford : Oxford University Press. 1972. Jump up ^ `` Time Team Series 17 Episode 1 - Westminster ''. Channel 4. 18 April 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2011. External links Look up sacristy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sacristies. `` Sacristy '' article from Catholic Encyclopedia Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sacristy&oldid=810771228 '' Categories : Buildings and structures of the Catholic Church Church architecture Rooms Hidden categories : Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara Français Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano Kiswahili Latina Latviešu Lietuvių Limburgs Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Українська 30 more Edit links This page was last edited on 17 November 2017, at 09 : 40. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the priest get ready for mass
Answer: The sacristy