What is an Ambry? What are Holy Oils and why are they important, and why do they need to be protected? Catholic Holy Oils are used in Baptism, Ordinations, Consecration, Confirmation, and Anointings; learn more about a Catholic Ambry. Father George provides a Catholic Church tour and explains the Catholic Church parts.
What Goes In The Ambry?
An Ambry is like a tabernacle but we don’t put the Eucharist into it; we actually put the holy oils into the Ambry. Some Ambrys are like this one with gold, and some are made of glass or some other material. What’s important is that it’s in a sacred space and that it is a place in which we can preserve and protect the sacred oils.
Sacred oils are surprisingly important. We use them at baptism, we use them at the anointing of the sick, we use them at confirmation, and we use them at ordinations. The word that we use whenever the holy oils are being blessed is actually that they are consecrated. That term “consecrated” is what we also use when we consecrate the Eucharist when we consecrate bishops, and when we consecrate religion. That term is a very sacred term, and it is applied to the holy oils because they are a very important and sacred thing in the life of the Church.
