A paten is made to the same material standard as the chalice it accompanies, the surface touching the consecrated host must be gold or gilded, a rule that ties the two vessels together as a matched pair rather than two independent pieces of church plate.
Shape and construction
Medieval patens were shallow discs with a shallow central depression sized to hold a single large host in place, a form still visible in surviving Romanesque and Gothic examples. Later Western patens flattened out, losing the depression as the size and number of hosts distributed at a single Mass grew with concelebration, and larger flat patens or paten bowls are now common for holding many hosts at once. Eastern Christian practice uses a related vessel, the diskos, which is deeper, stands on a small foot, and is often paired with a star shaped cover, the asterisk, that keeps the cloth veil from touching the bread.
Custody and retirement
Like the chalice, a paten is traditionally handled only by clergy and instituted ministers, and a set is usually consecrated together rather than as separate objects, which is why old inventories list them as a pair rather than individually. A worn or damaged paten follows the chalice's disposal custom, sent for re-gilding if the surface has worn through, or retired to a parish or diocesan collection rather than sold or scrapped, since a consecrated vessel is not treated as ordinary metal stock even once it is no longer in liturgical use.