Communion Plate

[Mysty101]

From RS

**

93.

The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained, so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling.180

I notice it does say should, rather than must.

Is it used in your Parish?

I think I’ll do a poll after the beginning of Advent, when the changes are being implimented in many parishes.
**

 

[oldfogey]

Not used, but it should be. The way Communion is distributed now guarantees that particles are dropped to the ground. I also feel sad when the altar servers are just sitting while Communion is distributed. Distributing Communion was always my favorite part of the Mass when I was an altar boy.

 

[Deacon_Ed]

My parish does not use them, but that’s because we found a supplier of hosts that makes them with beveled edges that do not crumble or flake off. As a result, we do not seem to have the problem of particles dropping. We did do extensive “handling tests” of unconsecrated hosts and did not have a problem with them.

Deacon Ed

 

[Crusader]

From RS

I notice it does say should, rather than must.

Is it used in your Parish?

I think I’ll do a poll after the beginning of Advent, when the changes are being implimented in many parishes.

Heck, I rarely see a paten being used even at the altar of sacrafice. Very sad.

 

[Benedictus]

Deacon Ed:

My parish does not use them, but that’s because we found a supplier of hosts that makes them with beveled edges that do not crumble or flake off. As a result, we do not seem to have the problem of particles dropping. We did do extensive “handling tests” of unconsecrated hosts and did not have a problem with them.

That addresses the issue of a fragment of the sacred host falling, but not the entire host:

The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained, so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling.

 

[Crusader]

Deacon Ed:

My parish does not use them, but that’s because we found a supplier of hosts that makes them with beveled edges that do not crumble or flake off. As a result, we do not seem to have the problem of particles dropping. We did do extensive “handling tests” of unconsecrated hosts and did not have a problem with them.

Deacon Ed

There are also the not-so-practical reasons for the paten – namely tradition and respect.

 

[robin_hood]

Redemptionis Sacramentum is subtitled " On certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the most holy Eucharist".
So when it says that we should use the communion plate, it is a clear instruction regardless if the word “must” or “should” is used.
Also as someone has said the plate is there in case a fragment or the Sacred Host should fall.It is a simple choice of obedience of disobedience.

 

[kmktexas]

Has anyone checked the Latin for this? RS was issued in Latin and translated. In at least one other section (I think it was the one about the fractioning, but I might be wrong) the was a question regarding the wording and the Latin was much more emphatic than the English.

I don’t understand Latin but maybe someone else could check.

 

[tee_eff_em]

kmktexas:

Has anyone checked the Latin for this? RS was issued in Latin and translated. In at least one other section (I think it was the one about the fractioning, but I might be wrong) the was a question regarding the wording and the Latin was much more emphatic than the English.

I don’t understand Latin but maybe someone else could check.

[93.] Patina pro Communione fidelium oportet retineatur, ad vitandum periculum ut hostia sacra vel quoddam eius fragmentum cadat.

Which to my reading is still ambiguous. The word expressing urgency here is oportet, an impersonal verb having a range of meanings, among them: “It is necessary / needful / proper / fitting”. But I am only an arm-chair Latinist.

tee

 

[Deacon_Ed]

tee_eff_em:

Which to my reading is still ambiguous. The word expressing urgency here is oportet, an impersonal verb having a range of meanings, among them: “It is necessary / needful / proper / fitting”. But I am only an arm-chair Latinist.

tee

Correct! It is also the root for our English word “opportune”. It carries the connotation of being “a good thing to do.” Thus, the English transltion of “should” seems appropriate.

Deacon Ed

 

[Ray_Marshall]

oldfogey:

Not used, but it should be. The way Communion is distributed now guarantees that particles are dropped to the ground. I also feel sad when the altar servers are just sitting while Communion is distributed. Distributing Communion was always my favorite part of the Mass when I was an altar boy.

St. Agnes, in St. Paul, uses the paten and goes two better.

First of all, right before Holy Communion in the Mass, the Altar Boys rise, meet at the foot of the altar, genuflect together and then reverently move down to the communion rail (you didn’t think they receive standing up there, did you) and raise a linen cloth which is fastened to the back of the rail up and over the rail so that the rail almost becomes a tiny altar table.

Then they reverently go get their patens and return to their places at the foot of the altar. After the priest has given them the Eucharist, then one reverently leads the celebrant to the Epistle side communion rail for giving Holy Communion to the faithful.

A second priest (you didn’t think they would us EMs, did you) takes the Gospel side in the same fashion. The Altar Boys use the patens in the prescribed fashion (under the chin, no bumping into the adams apple).

The communion rail linens are returned to their storage position after Communion is over. Reverently. No tennis shoes even.

I doubt that any particles make it to the floor.

One really great thing about kneeling at the communion rail for reception is that you do get 30 seconds to a minute or so to compose yourself properly. No worrying about stepping on the heel of the person in front of you or planning how to make the reverential bow now deemed proper.