One of my favorites is the cleaning of stained linens used at the Altar in celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Most of the time the stains are wine and lipstick; other times the nature of the stains are very curious, the culmination of many years of regular use.
Today I am going to outline my recent cleaning of our palls.
Pall? Merriam-Webster defines a pall as: a square of linen usually stiffened with cardboard that is used to cover the chalice. Cardboard is the stiffener used in pre-plexiglass times. (Before trying this method, please be sure that your palls are stiffened with plexiglass!)
Cleaner? Good old fizzing denture cleansing tablets! (Really!)
(Had I thought ahead I would have taken snaps of each step in the process.)
The method I use is quite simple and is easiest if cleaning only a few palls. If you have more than a few, simply do a few every day until your task is complete...
Place two palls side-by-side in a glass baking dish with four denture cleansing tablets. Add water. That's it! Then wait. (Yes, the water will be blue or green for a bit, but fear not! It will be clear soon.) I usually wait overnight. Take them out of their soak, rinse them in clean water and then lay them out to dry.
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| An example of some staining typical in our collection of palls. |
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| Before... |
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| ...After |
