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 COMMUNION

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COMMUNION

antiphon (Aniiphona ad Communionem) that was originally sung while the people were receiving the Blessed Sacrament, but which has now been displaced, so as to follow that moment. In the Ambrosian Rite this antiphon is called the Transilorium, apparently because the celebrant after the Communion goes over {transit) to the Epistle side of the altar to read it. It is the fourth and last of the changeable parts of the Mass (Proprium) sung by the choir (Introit, Gradual, Offertory, Communion), and is at least as old as the fourth century. In St. Augustine's time (d. 430), together with the Offertory-Autiphon, it had lately been introduced into Africa ; he wrote a treatise (Con- tra Hilarium) to defend their use (Duchesne, Origines, 160, 179). But the present Communion is only a frag- ment of the older chant. It was originally a psalm, with the Gloria Patri, preceded and concluded by an antiphon. The First Roman Ordo (about 770) con- tains the direction: "As soon as the pontiff begins to give Communion in the Senatorium [where the most distinguished people stood] at once the choir begins the antiphon for the Communion, singing it alternately with the subdeacons; and they go on until all the people have received Communion. Then the pontiff makes a sign to them to sing the Gloria Patri; and so, when they have repeated the antiphon [repe- tito versu] they st«p" (ed. Atchley, 144). This is the first definite rubric we have about the Communio. It shows us that it was to be sung while the celebrant goes around to Communicate the people ; and that it consisted of a psalm, sung alternately with its anti- phon, as were, at that time, also the Introit and Offer- tory. So also Micrologus (Bernold of Constance, d. 1100) says that when the people Communicate, "meanwhile the antiphon is sung which takes its name from the Communion, to which a psalm must be added with its Gloria Patri if need be" (ch. xviii in Migne, P. L., C'LI, 973 sq.). It was, then, like the other three parts that make up the Proprium of the choir, a chant to be sung so as to fill up the time while the clergy were engaged in some action.

The two changes in its history are that it has been removed to its place after the Communion and has been shortened. Its postponement began in the twelfth century. Abbot Rupert of Deutz (d. 113.5) says: "The chant that we call the Communion, which we sing after the heavenlv food, is a thanksgi\'ing" (De div. off., II, xviii, in M'igne, P. L., CLXX, 13 sq.), and Durandus: "The aatiphon, which is called Post- communion by many because it is sung after the Com- munion ..." (Rationale, IV, 56). But he goes on to describe the final collect as that which "is properly called Post-communion" (ib., 57). There are other instances of this antiphon occasionally being called Post-Communion. The reason of its removal seems to have been, on the one hand, the place of the .\gnus Dei, which at that time began to be sung during the Communion, and to be repeated thrice, thus taking up more time (Gihr, Messopfer. 671); on the other hand, the gradual lessening of the number of communicants at high Mass. Its shortened form is part of the cur- tailing of all the prayers of the Mass that was the re- sult of the multiplication of low Mas.ses. Only in requiems have we a remnant of the older form. Here after the first verse (Lux sterna) follows an antiphon (Cum Sanctis tuis), then the "Requiem oeternam" — last vestige of the psalm — and the antiphon is re- peated. Otherwise the Communion is always one .short antiphon, sung by the choir immediately after the Agnus Dei, and said by the celebrant after the Communion. It is generally a verse from Holy Scrip- ture, referring, not to the I'loly Kucluirist, but rather to the feast which is celeliratcd or to the special season {de tempore) or to the purpose (in votives) for which the Mass is ofTered. Bvit not seldom it is a text taken from some other source, or specially composed for this use. It is always said by the priest at the altar. Since

the common use of low Mass, in which he substitutes the choir's part himself, the rule is that the priest also says whatever is sung by them. As soon as he has ar- ranged the chalice and paten in the middle of the altar (at high Mass the subdeacon does this, and takes them to the credence-table) he goes with joined hands to the Missal, which has been replaced at the Epistle side, and there, the hands still joined, reads the Commun- ion from the Proprium. He then comes back to the middle for the Dominus vobiscum before the Post- Communion.

Rubrical Generales. XIII, 1; Ritus eel. XI, 1; Atchley, Ordo Romcnus Primus (London, 1905); Benedict XIV, DeSS. Missm Sacrijicio, II, xxiv; GlHR. Das heilige Messopfer (Freiburg im Br., 1S971. II. 171. 706-708; Duchesne, Origines du culte Chre- tien (2nrl ed.. Paris, 1S9S). 166, 179; De Herdt, .S. Liturgia Praxis (9th ed.. Louvain. 1894). 389-390. 480-^83; Mohan, Essays an the Origin. Doctrine and Discipline of the Early Irish Church (Dublin 1864) 165-66; also P. L.. LXX, 580.

Adri.^n Fortescue.

Communion-Bench, an adaptation of the sanctu- ary-guard or altar-rail. [See sub-title AUar-Rdil s. v. Alt.\r (In Liturgy).] Standing in front of this bar- rier, in a space called the chancel, or pectoral, the faithful were wont in early times to receive Holy Com- munion, the men taking the Consecrated Bread into their hands and the women receiving it on a white cloth, called the domenical, while deacons adminis- tered the Precious Blood which each took through a reed of gold or silver. About the twelfth century when the custom arose of receix'ing under one kind only, the priests placed the small Hosts on the tongues of the commimicants at the chancel-rail. Later on, about the fifteenth century the practice was intro- duced of receiving Holy Commimion kneeling, and so the altar-rail gradually came to assume a form better suited to its modern use, and like what it is at present (Bourasse, Diet. D'Arch., Paris, 1851). When large crowds approach the altar on special occasions so that the ordinary accommodation for receiving is not ade- quate, a row of prie-Dieu or benches provided with Commimion cloths or cards, with a lighted candle at the end of each row, may be arranged aroimd the chancel. (Cong, of Rites, Deer. 3086, Nov. ed.)

Patrick Morrisroe.

Communion-Cloth. See Altajr, under Altar-Rail.

Communion of Children. — In order to get some insight into the historical aspect of this subject it will be useful to dwell upon (1) the ancient practice, and (2) the present discipline of the Church in regard to the Communion of children.

(1) Ancient Practice. — It is now well established that in the early days of Christianity it was not un- common for infants to receive Communion immedi- ately after they were baptized. Among others St. Cj-prian (Lib. de Lapsis, c. .xxv) makes reference to the practice. In the East the custom was pretty uni- versal, and even to this day exists in some places, but in the West infant Communion was not so general. Here, moreover, it was restricted to the occasions of baptism and dangerous illness. Probably it origi- nated in a mistaken notion of the absolute necessity of the Blessed Eucharist for salvation, founded on the words of St. John (vi, 54). In the reign of Charle- magne an edict was published by a Council of Tours (813) prohibiting the reception by young children of Communion imless they were in danger of death (Zaccaria, Bibl. Rit., II, p. 161) and Odo, Bishop of Paris, renewed this prohibition in 1175. Still the custom died hard, for wc find traces of it in Hugh of St. Victor (De Sacr., I, c. 20) and Martene (De Ant. Ecc. Rit., I bk., I, c. 15) alleges that it had not altogether disappeared in his own day. The manner of Commu- nicating infants was by dipping the finger in the con- secrated chalice and then a]iplying it 1o the tongue of the child. This would seem to imply that it was only the Precious Blood that was administered, but evi-