Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/216

 COMMUNION

174

COMMUNION

delphia Baptist Confession, 1688, and in the Confes- sion of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1829 (ibid., Ill, 771). Protestant theologians, just as Protestant confessions, waver between the Lutheran and the Calvinistic view. There is, however, in the present instance a decided leaning towards the Cath- olic doctrine pure and simple in such English or Amer- ican divines as Pearson (Exposition of the Creed, Ox- ford, 184.3), Luckock (Intermediate State, New York, 1891), Mortimer (The Creeds, New York, 1902), Waudrey (The Meaning of the Doctrine of tlie Com- munion of Saints, London, 1904), etc.

The cause of the perversion by Protestants of the traditional concept of the communion of saints is not to be found in the alleged lack of Scriptural and early Christian evidence in favour of that concept; well- informed Protestant writers have long since ceasetl to press that argument. (See Lange and Martenseii quoted by Hettinger, op. eit. below, p. 381.) Nor is there any force in the oft-repeated argument that the Catholic dogma detracts from Christ's mediatorship, for it is plain, as St. Thomas had already shown (Suppl., Q. Ixxii, a. 2, ad 1), that the ministerial mediator- ship of the saints does not detract from, but only en- hances, the magisterial mediatorship of Christ. Some writers have traced that perversion to the Protestant concept of the Church as an aggregation of souls and a multitude of units bound together by a community of faith and pursuit and by the ties of Christian sjnn- pathy, but in no way organized or interdependent as members of the same body. This explanation is de- fective because the Protestant concept of the Church is a fact parallel to, but in no way causative of, their view of the communion of saints. The true cause must be found elsewhere. As early as 1519, Luther, the better to defend his condemned theses on the papacy, used the clause of the Creed to show that the communion of saints, and not the papacy, was the Church: "non, ut aliqui somniant, credo ecclesiam esse praelatum . . . sed . . . communionem sanc- torum" (Werke, II, 190, Weimar, 1884). This was simply playing on the words of the Symbol. At that time Luther still held the traditional communion of saints, little dreaming that he would one day give it up. But he did give it up when he formulated his theory on justification. The substitution of the Prot- estant motto, "Christ for all and each one for him- self", in place of the old axiom of Hugh of St. Victor, "Singula sint omnium et omnia singulorum" (each for all and all for each— P. L., CLXXV, 416), is a logi- cal outcome of their concept of justification: not an interior renovation of the soul, nor a veritable regen- eration from a common Father, the second Adam, nor yet an incorporation with Christ, the head of the mys- tical body, but an essentially individualistic act of fiducial faith. In such a theology there is obviously no room for that reciprocal action of the saints, that corporate circulation of spiritual blessings through the members of the .same family, that domesticity and saintly citizenship which lie at the very core of the Catholic communion of saints. Justification and the communion of saints go hand in hand. The efforts which are being made towards reviving in Protestant- ism the old and still cherished dogma of the commu- nion of saints must remain futile imless the true doc- trine of justification be also restored. (See Dead, Prayeus for the; Justification; Saints.)

Besides references in the text, see Nataus Alexander. TheoL dogm. et moraL secundum ordinetn Catech. Trid. (Paris, 1714); FouRGEZ, Lc Sy"^o^«^ des Apdtres expose et d^endu (Paris, 1S61); BfeRlNOEB, Lcs Indulgences (Paris, 1890). I, 20; Moehler. tr. Robertson, Symbolism (New York, 1894); Hettinger, tr. Felcourt, Apoloaie du chrisiianisme (Paris, s. d.), 11, 380; Tyrrell. The Mvslicnl Body in Hard Sayings (New York, 1902); Wiseman, Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church (New York. s. d.); De Waal, /( simholo apostolico illus trato dalle iscrizioni dei primi sccoli (Home, 1896): KlRSfii, Die Lehre von der Gemcinsehajt dcr Heilini-n (Mainz, 1900); Morin, Sanctorum Communionem in liev. d'hist. et lilt, relifj. (1904); Bernard and BotJR, Communion des Saints in Diet, de thiol, cath.

Bareille, Le Symbole in Le Catechisme Romain (Montre- jeau, 1906). II, 648. Also dogmatic theologies of Schouppe, JuNGMANN. HuRTER. PAQrET, ctc, and sermons of Newman, Manning, Mos8abre, etc. J. E. SoLLIER.

Communion of the Sick. — This diif ers from ordi- nary Communion as to the class of persons to whom it is administered, as to the dispositions with which it may be received, and as to the place and ceremonies of ad- ministration. In her anxious solicitude for the s[5ir- itual welfare of her children the Church earnestly desires that those who are unable through illness to receive the Blessed Eucharist in the usual way at the altar, should not be deprived of the consolations of this sacrament, and, accordingly, she exhorts her pas- tors to satisfy always the pious desires, not only of all who are stricken with a dangerous sickness and re- quire strength to prepare them for the final struggle, but also of those who may wish to comjily with the paschal precept and cannot do so in church, and, in fine, of everyone who hungers after this life-giving bread even from mere devotion. When Communion is administered to persons in danger of death and likely to receive it for the last time it is called the Viaticum. With this form of Communion there is no need to deal at present, as everything concerning it will be treated afterwards in its own jilace (see Viaticum). The present article is concerned with Communion which is given to persons in their own houses who, though not dangerously ill, yet are so physically indisposed that they cannot without very grave inconvenience go to church to receive in the ordinary way. In the first place, then, the pastor is bound to minister Communion in their homes to such as have to fulfil their paschal duty and cannot do so in church owing to illness. The pastor's obligation in the matter is not, of course, purely personal, and hence it can be discharged ^dcari- ously. Again he is bound, though not so strictly, to satisfy the reasonable desires of all sick persons who are confined to their homes by infirmity of any kind and who wish to receive the Blessed Eucharist. The Roman Ritual observes that these pious wishes should be especially gratified on the occasion of a solemn festi- val or other celebration of the kind (Tit. IV, cap. iv). Di.sposiTiONS. — The sick who desire to receive Communion out of mere devotion were hitherto bound to receive it before tasting any food or drink. Even those who had to fufil their paschal duty and who could not fast up to a suitable hour in the morning would not be exempted from the obligation of fasting, according to many theologians. A recent Instruction of the Congregation of the Council, dated 7 Decem- ber, 1906, has modified very considerably the regu- lations hitherto prevailing in regard to the obligation of observing the natural fast from the pre\'ious mid- night, as far at least as the sick are concerned. In ac- cordance with the provisions of this new decree all persons confined to (heir homes by reason of indispo- sition may be Communicated even though not fasting, provided (1) that they have been sick for a month; (2) that they have medical testimony as to their inability to fast; (3) that there is no certain hope of a speedy recovery; and (4) that orJy liquid food is taken. Wlien these specified conditions are present Commu- nion may be given once or twice a week to those who live in houses where Mass is celebrated daily, as in convents, and once or twice a month to others not so placed. It is unnecessary to observe that the same dis- positions of soul are required in the sick as in all other persons for the fruitful reception of Holy Communion. Ceremonies. — The Roman Ritual (Tit. IV, c. iv) prescribes, in detail, all the ceremonies to be observed when Communion is given to the sick. The manner of carrying the Blessed Sacrament and of administer- ing it is accurately described. The Consecrated Species should be borne with all due honour, reverence, and dignity, in solemn procession, with lights, and all the other customary formalities. This, however, is ac-