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I remember back when the new age hippies with the guitars were deemed to be more relevant and there seemed to be earthenware and glass vessels.

So I went to http://www.catholicherald.com/saunders/04ws/ws040819.htm and found:

“The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as one gift — however precious — among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of Himself, or His person in His sacred humanity, as well as the gift of His saving work. Nor does it remain confined to the past, since ‘all that Christ is — all the He did and suffered for all men — participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times” (No. 11). Truly, at the words of consecration pronounced by the priest at Mass, bread and wine become — are transubstantiated into — the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Savior.

Given this firm understanding of what the holy Eucharist is, we can better understand the Church’s regulations concerning sacred vessels, whether the chalice, paten or the ciborium. (These regulations would also govern monstrances.) The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani) specified, “Sacred vessels are to be made from noble metal. If they are fabricated from metal which produces rust, or from a metal less noble than gold, then generally they shall be gold-plated on the inside.” (Note that the Conference of Bishops with permission of the Apostolic See may allow sacred vessels to be made of other solid materials as long as they are regarded as “noble.”)

This regulation represents a long-standing tradition that a chalice, paten or ciborium be made of gold, a gold-plated metal or silver, noting that the inside of the chalice or ciborium, or the top-side of the paten, be plated in gold. For instance, in the 10th century, the Corpus Iuris stipulated “that the chalice of the Lord, together with the paten, if not gold, must be entirely made of silver. If, however, anyone is so poor, let him at least have a chalice of pewter. The chalice must not be made of brass or copper, because it generates rust which causes nausea. And let no one presume to say Mass with a chalice of wood or glass.” Even earlier, St. Augustine (d. 430) and St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) also used vessels of gold and silver.

One must note that in the early Church, glass was used for sacred vessels, and glass was an expensive material at that time. However, glass came in to disuse because it was easily breakable and because gold or silver were considered most precious. Here is an important point: offering the best we can for the gift par excellence, Christ Himself.

Most recently, the instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments affirmed the above points, highlighting the rationale: “ ... So that honor will be given to the Lord by their use, and all risk of diminishing the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic species in the eyes of the faithful will be avoided” (No. 117). The idea here is that sacred vessels made of precious material evoke in the mind of the beholder the preciousness of the contents, while those made of common, ordinary material evoke the common, ordinariness of the contents. Likewise, vessels beautifully crafted and dedicated in their use for the Blessed Sacrament evoke a sacredness of usage, while common and profane vessels do not.

Specifically, the Congregation stated, “Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay, or other materials that break easily” (No. 117). Whether one uses Libby glassware bought at the local Giant or Waterford crystal bought at Hecht’s, such glasses must not be used for the distribution of the Precious Blood.