Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/554

 HOST

494

HOST

Large Host Used at Montjean

(Maine-et-Loire), France, XVI

Century

bread, the sacrament is not effected." Hence hosts made of the flour of barley, oats, rice, beans, millet, chestnuts, etc., are not permitted, because such flour differs specifically from wheatcn flour. Authors dif- fer in their opinion with regard to the use of siligo (St. Thomas, III, Q. Ixxiv, art. 3, ad 2"™) and spelt, which are inferior kinds of wheat. As a rule these are

considered doubt- ful matt er, and their use is unlaw- ful when there is question of admin- i s t e r i n g sacra- ments which are not hie et nunc necessary for sal- vation. Scavini (III, n. 227), de- pending on the au- thority of Gobat, La y mann, and others, says that spelt is not only valid but also licit matter for this sacrament. Lehm- kuhl (pt. II, lib. I, tr. iv, c. ii, §1, n. 3) holds that in this matter the opinion of experts and that of the diocese and region shoukl be followed. For the valid- ity of the sacrament it is, moreover, necessary that natiu'al water be used to temper the wheat flour, and that the dough be l>akcd. The baking is usually done between heated irons which resemble a large forceps. If the flour is in a notalile quantity mixed with eggs, b\itter, milk, honey, oil, or any liquor other than natural water, it becomes invalid matter, for it is then something really different from ordinary bread. Likewise flour fired in a pan, dried by the sun, stewed, or boiled, or a crude mass of dough, cannot be conse- crated, because although physically it does not differ from ordinary bread, yet it is not such as is commonly used and as was consecrated by Christ at the Last Supper. The S. Congr. of the Holy Ofiice (23 June, 1852) permitted the priests of the Diocese of Coim- batore, India, to make hosts out of broken grains of wheat, steeped in water, pressed so as to form a pulp, and then baked between two heated irons, but im- posed upon the vicar Apostolic the obligation of intro- ducing the custom of preparing the hosts in the cus- tomary manner.

Leavened and Unleavened Bread. — The ques- tion regarding the use of leavened and unleavened bread gave rise to much dispute among Catholics. From the very beginning both the Eastern and West- ern Churches looked upon this as a matter of disci- pline, and held that Consecration takes place under either kind. Michael Ccerularius, Patriarch of Con- stantinople (1043), made it, however, a dogmatic issue. In a letter to John, Bishop of Trani, ApuUa, he accu.«ed the Roman Church of holding doctrines and adopting practices condemned by the rest of Chris- tianity; in it among other reproaches he imputes it to her as a crime that she uses at the Lord's Supper un- leavened bread, which he held to be invalid matter, and consequently he maintained that the Church of Rome was heretical. Thus, after eleven centuries of undisputed tranquillity on this point in both Churches, Ca-rularius, to make the rupture between the two Churches as great as possible, first broached this accusation against the Church of Rome, despite the fact that many WTiters had before him searched tra- ditional documents without finding even the slightest indication of a dogmatic error. Three different views prevail concerning the kind of bread used in the Western Church during the first ten centuries. Sir- mond, S.J. (d. 16.51, "Disq. de AzjTno"). maintained that it consecrated exclusively leavened bead. Ma-

billon, O.S.B. (d. 1707, "Diss, de Pane Eucharistico "), asserted that unleavened bread was used from the time of the Apostles, but that the Apostles .some- times used leavened bread. Cardinal Bona, O.Cist. (d. 1674, "Rerum Liturg., lib. I, c. .xxiii), held it as probable that both kinds were used indiscriminately until late in the ninth century. The Council of Flor- ence (1439) decided that either kind was sufficient for the validity of the sacrament, and that unleavened bread must, under grave precept, be used in the West- ern Church and leavened in the Eastern ; but even at present in the East the Armenians, both Catholics and Eutychians, and the Maronites use unleavened bread. This precept is so strict that were a priest to conse- crate in a rite not his own he would sin grievously. It would not be lawful to do so even if thereby sole opportunity were given to fulfil the precept of hearing Mass on Sunday or of administering Holy Viaticum to the dying. The only exception to this rule that could occur would be if after the consecra- tion the Sacred Plost were to disappear, or the cele- brant adverted to the fact that it had a substantial defect, and only bread peculiar to the other rite were at hand, in order thereby to complete the sacrifice. Even in places in which there are churches of both rites, a Greek cannot consecrate in unleavened bread or a Latin priest in leavened bread (Pius V, Bull "Providentia ", 1560; Benedict XIV, Const. " Etsi pastoralis"). If, whilst travelling, a priest should be in a place in which there is no church of his own rite, he may celelirate according to the rite of the church which exists there, or preferablv according to his own rite (S. Lig., "Mor. Theol.", Lib. VI, n. 203; Lehm- kuhl, vol. II, n. 121, 3). If a priest has a domicile in a place in which there is no church of his own rite, he may celebrate according to the rite of the church of his domicile, because he is then considered a member of said church (Hilarius a Sexten, pt. II, c. iii, §28, n.3).

Kinds of Host. — In the early Latin Church the host used by the priest at Mass was larger than it is at present. The custom then prevailed of giving Com- munion to the laity with Particles of the priest's Host. During the twelfth century small hosts for the laity were introduced and the priest's host assvmied the

Small Hosts U.sed at Montjean (Maine-et-Loire), France, XVI Centchv

size it has at present (Benedict XIV, "De SS. Missse Sacrif.", sect. I, §.xxxvii). When a large host is not at hand Ma.ss may be celebrated in private with a small host. In cases of necessity a small host may be used in pviblic also, but. as liturgists remark, the faith- ful should be advised thereof in order to avoid scandal (De Herdt, II, n. 137). From the eariiest days the hosts in the Latin Church were of a circular form. Pope St. Zephvrinus calls the host "corona sive oblata sphericEB figur:e". This form was adopted both be- cause the hosts could be more easily handled, and Ijecause the circle, being the most perfect figure and a symbol of infinity, most suitably represents the pres- ence of Him who, by His eternity, immensity, love, and the merits of His sacrifice, is infinite. As a rule, since the middle of the twelfth century, the image of Christ CYucified is impressed on the large host,