Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/550

 HOST

490

HOST

secration the particles take the name of /j-apyaplrai (pearls). Prior to its Consecration the Copts call the host "baraco"; the Syrians "paristo" (bread), "burschan" (first-fruits), and "kourbano" (obla- tion); the Nestorians "xatha " (first-born) or "agniis" (lamb), and the Mingrelians "sabisquiri ". After Consecration the Copts call the Host "corban " (obla- tion); the Jacobites "tabho" (seals); the Syrians "guraouro" (burning coals), and, by anticipation, these names are sometimes appUed to the bread even before its Consecration.

Material. — The valid material of the Eucharistic host is unadulterated wheat reduced to flour, diluted with natural water, and baked with fire. Some theo- logians have discussed the use of various flours, but if we except Paludanus, who considers as valid bread made with starch, and Cajetan, who allows bread made with any kind of grain and diluted with milk, we may say that theologians agree upon the rejection of buckwheat, barley, oats, etc. St. Thomas author- izes the use of siligo, but this term seems obscure. In Pliny and Celsus it signifies wheaten flour, but St. Thomas does not invest siligo with the same meaning, else why should there be question of tolerating it? Moreover, had he alluded to rye, he would have used the word secale. Perhaps by siligo he intended to designate an inferior kintl of wheat grown in bad soil.

Elements. — The preparation of the host gave rise among certain Gnostic sects to abominable and shock- ing practices, of which there is a detailed account in the writings of St. Epiphanius. Sometimes the flesh of a foetus was ground and mixed with aromatics; sometimes flour was kneaded with the blood of a child, and there were other proceedings too obnoxious to mention. But these horrors were perpetrated only by a few degraded groups (Epiphanius, "Ha^r.", c. xxvi, 5; Augustinus, "Ha>r.", xxvi, xxvii). Less offensive were the Artotyrites and those who, like them, compounded a mixture of bread and cheese, or, after the fashion of the Barsanians, used a pinch of undiluted flour.

All the Oriental communions, with the exception of the Armenians and Maronites, use leavened bread. We know how seriously the Creeks have considered the question of unleavene<l bread (see Azymes). But whether leavened or unleavened, bread is the element, and a large number of Greeks admit that both kinds constitute valid material for the sacrament. In the Western Church it is the uniform practice to use un- leavened bread. Properly speaking, Lutherans at- tach but little importance to whether the bread is leavened or not, bvit generally they use it unleavened. The Calvinists use only common bread, although, when their sect was in its infancy, there was some indecision on this point. At Geneva leavened bread was used exclusively for several years and Theodore Beza main- tained that any kind of bread, no matter what its origin, was suitable for the Eucharist. The Anglican Liturgy of 1549 prescribes the use of unleavened bread. In the East the Syrian Jacobites and the Nestorians knead their altar-bread with a paste of oil and salt, a custom censured by the Egyptians. The Sabaites or Christians of St. John make their hosts out of flour, wine, and oil; the Copts and the Abys- sinians consecrate with leavened bread except on Holy Thursday and the twelfth day of June, and the Mingrelians use all kinds of bread, their hosts being usually made of flour mixed with water and wine.

Prepak.\tion. — There is nothing to indicate that the first Christians thought of reproducing the ap- pearance of the "loaves of proposition " of the Jewish Liturgy; they simply used the bread that served as food. It seems that the form differed but little from what it is in our day. The loaves discovered in the oven of a bakery at Pompeii weighed about a pound each. One of these, being perfectly preserved, meas- ured about seven inches in diameter and was creased

with seven ridges which facilitated the breaking of the loaf without the aid of a knife. Other loaves repre- sented on bas-reliefs, chiefly in the Lateran mu.scum, bore an incision in the form of two crossed lines and, for this reason, were called quadra. Loaves of this kind must have been preferred for the Eucharistic oblation because the sign of the cross was already traced on them; indeed, the most ancient Christian monuments show us loaves marked thus. Paintings in the catacombs and some very antique bas-reliefs represent loaves marked with this sign and others simply marked with a point. The ridges were in- tended to facilitate the l>reaking of the loaf and it is probable that their number was regulated by the size of the loaf in common use. A fresco in the cemetery of Lucina represents a fish, the symbol of Christ, and on its back a basket containing the Eucharistic wine and loaf, the latter marked with a point. A Modena marble shows five loaves marked with a cross.

Out of respect for the sacrament, some of the faith- ful would not consent to having the breail made Ijy bakers, and took charge of it themselves. Several ancient examples are cited, notably that of Candida, the wife of one of Valerian's generals, who "laboured all night kneading and moulding with her own hands the loaf of the oblation ". In the Rule of St. Pacho- mius, religious are recommended to devote themselves to meditation while kneading the sacrificial loaf. Queen Radegunde is mentioned for the reverence with which she attended to the preparation of the hosts intended to be consumed in her monastery of Poitiers and in many surrounding churches. Theodulph, Bi.shop of Orl(5ans, commanded his priests either to make the altar-breads themselves or to have the young clerics do so in their presence. Many facts go to show the prevalence and extent of this custom. In monasteries hosts were made principally during the weeks preceding the feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, and the process assumed a very solemn character. At Cluny three priests or three deacons fasting and having recited the Office of Lauds, the seven penitential psalms, and the litanies, took one or two lay brothers as their assistants. Novices had picked, sorted, and ground the grains of wheat, and the flour thus obtained was placed on a rimmed talile. It was then mixed with cold water, and a lay brother, whose hands were gloved, put this preparation in the iron used for making hosts and baked it at a large fire of vine branches. Two other operators took the hosts as they were baked, cut, and pared them, and, if neces- sary, rejected those that were either .soiled or cracked.

In the Abbey of Saint-Denys those who made altar- breads were fasting. They took some of the best wheat, selected grain by grain, washed it, and turned it into a sack to be taken to the mill, the millstones being washed for the occasion. A religious then donned an alb and ground the wheat himself while two priests and two deacons, vested in allis and amices, kneaded the dough in cold water and baked the hosts. At Saint-Etienne de Caen the religious employed in this work dined together on that day, their table being served as was that of the abbot. Some monasteries cultivated the Eucharistic wheat in a special field which they called the field of the "Cor- pus Domini ". Du Cange mentions a charter dated 1406 by which it would seem that women, even nuns, were forbidden to make hosts; but it is doubtful whether this measure was ever generally enforced. St. Radegunde certainly had many imitators, despite the prejudice against the making of hosts by laymen or women, a prejudice so rooted that in the Middle .\ges there were in the Diocese of Narbonne people who believed that hosts made by women were not qualified for transubstantiation.

An echo of this is found in official acts. The Coun- cil of Milan, 1576, prescribes the making of ho.sts in monasteries and forbids it to laymen. A council of