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 CHALICE

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CHALICE

the English canons may be quoted as typical of those which soon afterwards were enforced everywhere. Thus the Council of Celchyth (Chelsea) forbade the use of chalices or patens of horn auod de sanguine sunt, and the canons passed in the reign of Edgar, under St. Dunstan, enjoined that all chalices in which the " house! is hallowed" should be of molten work {colic gegoten) ami that none should be hallowed in a wooden vessel. The laws of tin' Northumbrian priests imposed a fine upon all who should "hallow nousel" in a wooden chalice and tin' so-called canons of /Elfric repeated the injunction that chalices of molten material, gold, silver, glass (glaescn) or tin should be used, not horn, and especially not wood. Horn was rejected because Mood had entered into its composition. Probably, however, the most famous decree was that included in the "Corpus Juris" (cap. xlv, dist. i, de consecratione) "that the chalice of the Lord, together with the paten, if not gold, must be entirely made of silver. If, however, anyone is so poor, let him at least have a chalice of pewter. The chalice must not be made of brass or copper, because it generates rust (i. e. verdigris) which causes nausea. And let no one presume to say Mass with a chalice of wood or glass". This decree is traditionally attril>- uted to a certain council of Reims, but Hefele is un- able to identify it.

From the eleventh century onwards sufficient chalices and representations of chalices survive to enable us to draw conclusions regarding their evolu- tion of form. A round knop, short stem, broad firm base, and wide, rather shallow cup are characteristic of the earlier period. One of the richest surviving examples is the chalice known as that of St. Remi. It is remarkable for the maledictory inscription en- graved on its base: quicxnque hunc calicem ix-

VADIAVERIT VEL AB HAC ECCLESIA REMENSI ALI- QtrO MOIIO ALIEXAVERIT ANATHEMA SIT. FIAT AMEN.

In the thirteenth century, while the cup of the ordi- nary chalice still remains broad and rather low, and the base and knop are circular, we find a certain development of the stem. On the other hand the cup, inalarge numberof examplesof the fourteenth century, tends to assume a conical or funnel shape, while the stem and knop become angular, or prismatic in sec- tion, generally hexagonal. The base is often divided into six lobes to match the stem, and the knop itself is sometimes resolved into a group of studs or bosses, which in certain fifteenth-century specimens give place to a mass of arcading and architectural orna- ment set with figures. The stem is at the same time elongated and becomes much taller. Under Rcnais- influences, on the other hand, the ornamenta- tion in the more sumptuous specimens of chalices is often excessive, spending itself in the form of figured repousse' work upon the base and stem. The cup almost invariably assumes a tulip shape, which con- tinues during tin seventeenth and eighteenth centu- liil" the chalice greatly increases in height. With this, in the seventeenth century, often went a very thin stem, or again a quite inadequate base, so that many chalices of this period leave the well- founded impression of being either fragile or top- heavy. The question of the restriction of Commun- ion under both kinds and the consequent withdrawal of the chalice from the laity is a matter of some ob- scurity ami do. not belong to the present article. In where the Precious Blood was no longer given to the people, it seems that to reconcile them more easily to the change, a cup containing simple wine was presented to each communicant as he lefl the sanctuary after receiving the Sacred Host. Parish priests were enjoined to explain very carefully to the people that this was only ordinary wine intended to enable them to swallow the Host more readily. This practice, called is still prescribed as part

of the rite of the General Communion on Easter Day

in the "Cseremoniale Episcoporum" (II, cap. xxix). Probably a special chalice of large capacity was re- served for this purpose. As it was very probably a chalice of large capacity, with handles, it seems im- possible to distinguish such a goblet from the calix ministerialis of earlier times. Another kind of chalice referred to by archaeologists is that said to have been used after baptism to give milk and honey to the neophytes, but no definite surviving example of such a vessel seems to be known.

Present Legislation. — According to the existing law of the Church the chalice, or at least the cup of it, must be made either of gold or of silver, and in the lat- ter case the bowl must be gilt on the inside. In cir- cumstances of great poverty or in time of persecution a calix stanneus (pewter) may be permitted, but the bowl of tliis also, like the upper surface of the paten, must be gilt. Before the chalice and paten are used in the Sacrifice of the Mass they require consecration. This rite is carried out according to a form specially provided in the "Pontificale" and involving the use of holy chrism. The consecration must be performed by a bishop (or, in the case of chalices intended for monastic use, by an abbot possessing the privilege), and a bishop cannot in an ordinary way delegate any priest to perform this function in his place. Further, if the chalice lose its consecration — which happens for example if it be broken or the cup perforated, or even if it has had to be sent to have the bowl regilded — it is necessary that it should be reconsecrated by the bishop before it can again be used. Strictly speak- ing, only priests and deacons are permitted to touch the chalice or paten, but leave is usually granted to sacristans and those officially appointed to take charge of the vestments and sacred vessels.

Adjuncts of the Chalice. — These are the cor- poral, the purificator, the pall, the burse, and the chalice veil. The corporal (q. v.) will be considered separately. The purificator (purificatorium or more anciently emunctorium) now consists of a rectangular piece of linen usually folded twice lengthwise and laid across the top of the chalice. It is used for wiping and drying the chalice, or the paten, or the priest's lips, e. g. after the ablutions. Unlike the corporal and the pall, it requires no special blessing. In the Middle Ages it was not customary, as it is nowadays, for each priest to have a purificator of his own. fre- quently renewed, but it seems that a cloth of this kind was kept at the altar which was used in common by all. The pall is a small square of stiffened linen orna- mented with a cross, which is laid upon the orifice of the chalice to protect its contents from flies or dust. The word pallium, or palla, was originally used of all kinds of coverings, notably of what we now call the altar-cloths, and also of the corporal. Even in St. Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc, \TI. xxii) we read of the e red gifts being veiled by a pallium, which was probably some sort of corporal. But about the time of St. Anselm (c. 1100) the custom seems to have grown up in some places of using two corporals at the altar. One was spread out. ami upon [i the chalice and host were laid. The other, folded into smaller compass, served onlv to cover the chalice (see Giorgi, I.iturgia Rom. Pont., II, 220, III, 79-81). This folded corporal is now represented by the little disk of linen which we call the pall. At one time it was forbidden to cover the pall with silk or rich embroid- ery; now the upper surface may be of silk and em- broidered, but the under-side, which is in contact with the chalice, must still be linen. The original identity of the pall and tic corporal is further illus- trate,! by the fact that both alike require to be spe- cially blessed before use. Tin' chalice veil ami the burse (q. v.) arc of comparatively recent introduc- tion. Even Burchard, the compiler of the "Ordo Missa?" (1502), now represented by the rubricce gen- erates of the Roman Missal, supposes that the chalice