Communion by Intinction

[Anima_Christi]

I have never witnessed intinction before though I think it sounds like a good idea. I am curious as to how it is done. Who is holding the ciborium or chalice while the priest is dipping the host?
Doesn’t it drip? Does someone hold a paten underneath?
Please someone describe exactly how it is done.
(I am specifically speaking of how it is done in the Latin rite. I have witnessed it in an Orthodox Church before and I know that there is leavened bread and the priest uses a spoon to get a morsel of it. I’m wondering how it is done with unleavened hosts).

 

[Regi]

The priest holds a vessel which is a plate with a cup in the middle for the sacred blood (I am not sure what the vessel is called). He then dips the host into the cup and places it onto the tongue of the person receiving communion. There is no way one can receive in the hand this way.

 

[Anima_Christi]

I like the idea of having to receive on the tongue and being able to receive both species. My parish usually doesn’t offer both species, and when I receive just the host, sometimes it would be nice to have something to wash it down with. But if both species are offered at a Mass, often I have to chew up the host and swallow it too quickly before drinking the Precious Blood. Intinction sounds like a great way to solve this problem.
But it also seems like there would be a bigger risk of spilling.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Anima Christi:

I like the idea of having to receive on the tongue and being able to receive both species. But it sounds like the Precious Blood and the hosts could easily be spilled this way.

Intinction is the normal way we recieve the Eucharist in the Byzantine Churches.

In the Byzantine (Ruthenian) and Ukrainian Catholic Churches the host is cut into cubes that are placed in the Chalice. The Eucharist is distributed by the priest with a golden spoon.

In the Melkite Catholic Church the host is cut into a little longer rectangles and dipped in the Chalice and placed on the tongue. At my parish when the deacon is present he holds the Chalice while two alter servers hold a cloth under the chin of the communicant. When the deacon is not present the priest holds the Chalice.

I believe that intinction is the norm for the Maronites also. They use the unlevened host like the Latin Church does. I have seen a special thing with them. There is a ring that fits around the top of the Chalice that the hosts are put in, so that the priest may hold the Chalice and the hosts at the sametime.

 

[cameron_lansing]

often I have to chew up the host and swallow it too quickly before drinking the Precious Blood.

The priest, deacon or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion can wait for you. Don’t feel compelled to rush for any of our sakes. We’re all just ministering the sacrament, and want to do all in our power so people receive Him reverently and thoughtfully. At least that’s what we should be doing.