The Goldsmith's Object, and Who Is Allowed to Carry It

A monstrance is one of the heaviest and most elaborate pieces a parish owns, built by a goldsmith rather than assembled from stock parts, because its purpose is to hold the host at the center of a sunburst of rays where a congregation can see it.

Construction

Most monstrances are gilt brass or silver, built around a glass fronted holder called a lunette that clips the host in place behind glass on both sides so it can be seen without being touched. The rays radiating outward are frequently set with imitation or genuine gemstones and can weigh several kilograms once assembled, which is why large processional monstrances are typically carried using a cloth wrapped handle called a humeral veil rather than bare hands, protecting both the object and the one carrying it from direct contact. Baroque examples from Central Europe and colonial Latin America pushed the form furthest, producing monstrances a meter tall in solid worked silver.

Who handles it, and how it is retired

Only a priest or deacon touches the host itself when loading or removing it from the lunette, the monstrance's exterior may be carried by servers during a procession, always using the veil rather than bare hands out of reverence for what it holds even when empty. A monstrance that is damaged, usually the glass or the clasp rather than the metalwork, is sent for repair to a specialist rather than replaced outright, since these are typically donated pieces of some age and expense, and a badly damaged one is retired to storage rather than melted down.