From a reader:
I trust your judgment and I would like to know if it is ok to own a miniature monstrance. Sites online sell them. [Image attached for reference.] It’s a miniature monstrance which is not the same as one used in Mass.
Most of these small "monstrances" are really reliquaries. They are "monstrances" insofar as they "show" relics, but they are not monstrances for display and adoration of the Sacred Host, more technically an ostensorium. The terms for these sacred vessels come from words "to show".
Nevertheless, it would not be "bad" to own a large monstrance for a Host. Of course you could not use it privately for displaying a Host for adoration except with the permission of the local bishop, who could authorize a private chapel with reservation of the Blessed Sacrament.
There is also the question of the consecrated nature of this sacred vessel. A monstrance is a sacred vessel. The traditional view of sacred vessels is that they should be touched only by hands which have also been consecrated to handle sacred things, such as the Host Itself and the vessels which contain the Eucharist. The implication is, of course, if your hands are not consecrated, as those of a priest, then you should not handle a monstrance except in great need. However, were a sacred vessel to be sold it would lose its consecrated character. It would be "desecrated". It would need to be re-blessed.
So, it is not "bad" for people to own these vessels, but great care must be exercised in their regard that they be treated with due reverence.
