The thoughtful letter from Francis Watts (18 April) raises the question of how far it is appropriate to consign sacred vessels to museums. As an Anglican I don’t have a huge amount of difficulty with that except where, as Mr Watts points out, chalices have been generously given for use, not for display. However, I am genuinely intrigued by a practice which I have observed in many museums attached to Catholic cathedrals or episcopal residences on the continent of Europe. Here it is commonplace to find monstrances in display cases, often with intact or fragmentary hosts still visible. Even more frequent are reliquaries exhibited with all their contents, often beautifully labelled in contemporary script. Here are no mere empty vessels, but the repositories of real and surviving items o