Can a priest consecrate any food?

[Irishgal49]

HI all,

My son (who isn’t Catholic) asked me a question I cannot answer.

He said, “OK so if the priest can consecrate hosts and wine could he consecrate say, his lunch or Diet Coke or a slice of bread?” I told him I would ask.

Lorrie

 

[Joannm]

NO, he can’t

 

[Elizium23]

A priest can consecrate valid matter. A slice of bread is valid, illicit matter for the Roman Rite because it is leavened. Diet Coke is invalid matter. It is also illicit to consecrate the Eucharist outside of Mass.

So yes, a priest can physically consecrate bread and/or wine, but no, a priest may not do so licitly.

 

[GloriousOrder]

Friend, tell your son that a priest cannot just consecrate any food because Christ our Lord specifically told us to consecrate bread and wine at the Last Supper. We use bread and wine in the Eucharist because that was what He used in beginning the Eucharist! It’s just as simple as that. He said “do this in memory of me”, and we remember that. Be sure to quote this and reference it to the Mass to show how they’re connected!

I hope your son has many blessed years with you in the Church!

 

[Anthony_V]

The items that are consecrated must be at minimum bread and grape juice, since this is the fundamental idea of what Christ used. However, it would be extraordinarily illicit and sacrilegious. If you were a priest on an island with another Catholic with no way of getting access to unleavened bread, but for some reason had maybe a loaf of bread from a sandwich and some grapes to make grape juice, I do believe that could be subjectively licit. That’s a circumstance that I doubt has or will ever happen.

 

[Trishie]

Can. 924 ß1 The most holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist must be celebrated in bread, and in wine to which a small quantity of water is to be added.

ß2 The bread must be wheaten only, and recently made, so that there is no danger of corruption.

ß3 The wine must be natural, made from grapes of the vine, and not corrupt.

Can. 925 Holy communion is to be given under the species of bread alone or, in accordance with the liturgical laws, under both species or, in case of necessity, even under the species of wine alone.

Can. 926 In the eucharistic celebration, in accordance with the ancient tradition of the Latin Church, the priest is to use unleavened bread wherever he celebrates Mass.

Can. 927 It is absolutely wrong, even in urgent and extreme necessity, to consecrate one element without the other, or even to consecrate both outside the eucharistic celebration.

ourladyswarriors.org/canon/c0840-1165.htm

 

[thistle]

The items that are consecrated must be at minimum bread and grape juice, since this is the fundamental idea of what Christ used. However, it would be extraordinarily illicit and sacrilegious. If you were a priest on an island with another Catholic with no way of getting access to unleavened bread, but for some reason had maybe a loaf of bread from a sandwich and some grapes to make grape juice, I do believe that could be subjectively licit. That’s a circumstance that I doubt has or will ever happen.

Grape juice is not wine.
What is consecrated is wine made from grapes.

 

[AlexPetrosPio]

The items that are consecrated must be at minimum bread and grape juice, since this is the fundamental idea of what Christ used. However, it would be extraordinarily illicit and sacrilegious. If you were a priest on an island with another Catholic with no way of getting access to unleavened bread, but for some reason had maybe a loaf of bread from a sandwich and some grapes to make grape juice, I do believe that could be subjectively licit. That’s a circumstance that I doubt has or will ever happen.

Even if that happened, grape juice would NOT be licit. They would have to wait until the juice ferments and pray for Spiritual Communion in the meantime. There has to be alcohol within the grape liquid for it to be wine, and the consecrated Blood has to come from wine.

Patrick Coffin and Fr. Vincent Serpa had an excellent answer of Catholic Answers Live just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Mustum can be used, which is essentially grape juice that can ferment and become wine. Regular grape juice has already undergone an unnatural process that would prevent it from fermenting, therefore it is not valid matter because it has been unnaturally altered.

Bread also must be made from wheat. So its not just any bread. And in the Latin Rite it must be unleavened under normal circumstances. Leavened bread may be used only if its a case of necessity (Mass must be celebrated and there is not unleavened bread).

As for the OP, Sacraments are two fold. One is the physical sign we see, and the other is the inner grace of Christ that is revealed by this sign. For the grace to be efficacious, the sign must be correct. So using anything other than bread and wine means Christ is not there no matter what the priest does. Sure, God can do anything and change anything into the Eucharist. But the Sacraments were established in a way that the signs are constant and that we must receive the same sign to point to the same Christ always.