How long can a consecrated host remain in a pyx or lunette before it must be replaced?
The short answer
No fixed time is set; canon law says reserved hosts must be "renewed frequently," with the older ones consumed, to prevent corruption. Mass should be celebrated where the Eucharist is reserved at least twice a month, and a host for exposition should ideally be consecrated at the Mass just before adoration.
Canon 939 says consecrated hosts, in sufficient quantity for the faithful, are to be kept in a pyx or ciborium and renewed frequently, the older hosts being duly consumed. The commentary The Canon Law: Letter and Spirit explains that frequent renewal is required to avoid corruption.
To prevent corruption, canon 934 §2 requires that wherever the Eucharist is reserved someone be responsible for it, and that as far as possible a priest celebrate Mass there at least twice a month.
Redemptionis Sacramentum (140) strongly recommends that bishops designate a church for perpetual adoration in cities and larger towns, where Mass should be celebrated frequently, even daily, with exposition interrupted during Mass. It is fitting that the host to be exposed be consecrated at the Mass immediately before adoration and placed in the monstrance on the altar after Communion.
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