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An ambry (or almery, aumbry; from the medieval form almarium, cf. Lat. armārium, "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. aumoire and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christianity church for storing sacred vessels and . They are sometimes near the piscina, but more often on the opposite side. The word also seems in the Middle Ages for any closed cupboard or even a bookcase.
Items kept in an ambry include chalices and other vessels, as well as items for the reserved sacrament, the Sacredness elements from the Eucharist. This latter use was infrequent in pre-Reformation churches, although it was known in Scotland, Sweden, Germany and Italy. More usually the sacrament was reserved in a pyx, usually hanging in front of and above the altar or later in a "sacrament house".
After the Reformation and Council of Trent, the Catholic Church did not reserve the sacrament in ambries, which were used to house the Oil of the Infirm used in the Anointing of the Sick. Current Catholic canon law permits only a tabernacle or hanging pyx for housing consecrated hosts, and forbids reservation in an ambry.
The Reformed churches abandoned reservation of the elements, so ambries became redundant except for storing vessels. The Scottish Episcopal Church since the 18th century, along with other Anglican churches since the 19th century (following the Tractarian revival), have made reservation again common.Walker, Charles, The Ritual Reason Why. Paragraph 396 In the Church of England, the sacrament is reserved in all of its forty-four , as well as many parish churches, although it is very uncommon amongst churches of the evangelical tradition. Reservation of the sacrament is quite common in the Episcopal Church of the United States, the Anglican Church of Australia, the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, as well as in the Anglican Church of Canada (though with varying degrees of veneration, depending on the parish). Even some traditionally Low Church parishes, such as St. Anne's, Toronto, reserve the sacrament.
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