Dropped Hosts w/poll

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To those who have seen Hosts dropped, have you seen more dropped while someone is receiving in the hand, or on the tongue ?

I’d especially like to hear from servers.
 
I am not a server, but the only time I can remember seeing a host drop was Mass on EWTN. It was a couple of years ago.
 
It happened to me once, last year. I was in a different city so the priest was not familiar with how I receive and probably did not expect me to receive on the tongue as I am quite young (I was 20 at the time). So as I went up I had my hands by my sides and my mouth open. I saw for a split second that the priest was unsure what to do/what I wanted. So I quickly motioned to my mouth and he went to put the host in my mouth but I either didn’t have my mouth open enough or he fumbled. We quickly looked on the floor for where it had fallen but ‘luckily’ it had caught on my hoodie so I picked it off. The priest had a small dish under the main dish which he offered me to put the dropped host in but i quickly and quietly said, ‘it’s fine’ and put it in my mouth.

Apart from this, I have never seen the body or blood dropped.
 
I’ve seen it happen both ways.

If a consecrated Host falls all the way to the floor, it instantly reminds me of Our Blessed Lord falling when He carried the Cross.

In my long-term and palliative care apostolate, some patients have very dry tongues which increase the risk of a Host falling - even when placed directly on the tongue.

Arguably the most difficult situations I’ve dealt with personally, involve patients suffering from dysphagia (an illness [often post-stroke] which renders them unable to swallow…or only with extreme difficulty). They can only be given a fragment of the Host - about the size of the lead tip of a sharpened pencil.

It’s a very delicate situation. This fragment is so light that even the patient’s breath can propel it into the air. On occasion it can also take all the dexterity one can muster to hold the tiny Fragment between the thumb and forefinger while administering Holy Communion.

Several instances where the patient’s breath or cough has propelled the Fragment, or it has slipped through the fingers while attempting to administer have occurred and it compicates things.

There have been 4 occasions in the 13 years + apostolate where this happened and, with white patients’ clothes, white bedclothes and a white floor, it has been physically impossible to find the fragment.

Especially at those times, I’ve invoked the ministry of the Holy Angels, asking God that they come and gather up this piece of His sacred Body which I am unable to find.
 
NeedImprovement said:
I’ve seen it happen both ways.

If a consecrated Host falls all the way to the floor, it instantly reminds me of Our Blessed Lord falling when He carried the Cross.

In my long-term and palliative care apostolate, some patients have very dry tongues which increase the risk of a Host falling - even when placed directly on the tongue.

Arguably the most difficult situations I’ve dealt with personally, involve patients suffering from dysphagia (an illness [often post-stroke] which renders them unable to swallow…or only with extreme difficulty). They can only be given a fragment of the Host - about the size of the lead tip of a sharpened pencil.

It’s a very delicate situation. This fragment is so light that even the patient’s breath can propel it into the air. On occasion it can also take all the dexterity one can muster to hold the tiny Fragment between the thumb and forefinger while administering Holy Communion.

Several instances where the patient’s breath or cough has propelled the Fragment, or it has slipped through the fingers while attempting to administer have occurred and it compicates things.

There have been 4 occasions in the 13 years + apostolate where this happened and, with white patients’ clothes, white bedclothes and a white floor, it has been physically impossible to find the fragment.

Especially at those times, I’ve invoked the ministry of the Holy Angels, asking God that they come and gather up this piece of His sacred Body which I am unable to find.
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It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fragment. When my husband was an EMHC, he once gave Communion to a lady who breathed so hard that the host went flying, not once, but twice, both times he caught it. He learned to hang on tight to it with her.

The only time I have seen a dropped host is when Father somehow dropped it on the altar. But I once saw someone take it out of their mouth and put it in their pocket on the way back to their pew. It was a young man who was mentally challenged, and his father did not notice it. I spoke to father about it after Mass, and he said he would take care of it.
 
Dear I Believe,
I have only seen one dropped host and it was from the person in front of me. I do not know how they were receiving as that is not what I am focusing on when I approach for communion. If you want a real measure, you need to ask this question of our priests, who are there all of the time.
Thanks
 
Having been a server both pre- and post-Vatican II, as well as an EMHC, I have never seen a host hit the floor when distributing to someone in hand–except the rare occasion of a priest just dropping one–but I saw many do so when distributing on the tongue. In the pre-Vatican II days it was less likely to hit the floor because of the patens but even then it occasionally happened.
 
As an EMHC the overwhelming number of people who present themselves for communion receive in the hand.

When giving our Lord to someone on the tounge I take care to position the ciborium under their chin as a sort of “safety net” to catch the host in case it falls off thier tounge. I find it much more nerve racking placing the host on the tounge vice the hand. Especially when the receipient doesn’t stick out there tounge far enough.

As for communion in the hand we have many people who do not know how to do this correctly. The most common challenge is when they hold their hands at waist level. Especially with children. I’m a tall guy. When this happens I have to bend over to make sure that the host is placed firmly in their hand.
 
I have probably seen it happen 10-12 times in my enitre life, about the same for both way, but the poll does not allow a “same” reply.
 
I’ve never seen a dropped host either way.

But I also have a hard time believing that people exhale the Blessed Sacrament by accident. Try it. Open your mouth and present your tongue. Do you not innately inhale and then hold you breath?
 
Many years ago, when I was a very new EM the Host fell. The woman receiving was an arthritic mouth breather. This meant that her tongue was slightly open and her tongue was slightly protruding, and her fingers were laying on top of each other like a very loose basket weave. It also meant that I was getting very mixed signals as to how she wanted to receive. If she wanted it on her tonge, her mouth was no where near adequately open. If she wanted it in the hand, her hands were no where near secure enough for me to place the host in them. Meanwhile I was physically vascillating between mouth and hands and whichever I finally decided to try (I really don’t remember) it didn’t work and there went Jesus on the floor. I picked him up and consumed him myself and then firmly inserted a host in the woman’s mouth.

That was the only time I ever remember dropping a host while giving communion. I no longer serve as an EM because as a woman I do not believe it is my place to do so.
 
Because I sit in the second pew from the front, I have a bird’s eye view. Last year I saw an EMHC drop the Host. I don’t know exactly what happened except that he was totally unaware he had dropped it. Luckily, it caught my attention, and as soon as I could, I picked it up but it was almost stepped on several times before I could get there:eek:.

Another time after that, an older man who was receiving in the hand dropped it before he could put it in his mouth. He was confused because he didn’t realize where it had disappeared to; like one minute it was there, the next minute it was gone. An eighth grader who is also an altar server and sits in the first per saw it fall and he jumped up and picked it up.

The last time, the pastor, after Communion, was putting the consecrated Hosts in the ciborium and dropped one. One of the altar servers saw it fall under the altar and came and got me after Mass. He was in a panic because it had fallen. I picked it up and consumed it.
 
Despite the fact that I’ve been a multi-parish server for quite some time, I have only ever seen a Host dropped once.

The one instance of this happening took place while someone was receiving on the tongue. I’ve also seen far, far more near misses take place when reception was on the tongue and not in the hand. I think a contributing factor to this is that the priest, when administering on the tongue, doesn’t hold on to the Host as firmly in order to prevent his hand from touching the inside of the person’s mouth.

However, I’m still personally against reception in the hand.
 
I’ve seen it happen twice - both times the communicant was receiving in the hand.

One was my son. He had just received and was transfering the host to his mouth when the person behind him got a little impatient and jostled him causing him to drop the host.

Although I usually receive on the tongue, I think that receiving on the tongue while standing causes the most “risk”. From a geometric viewpoint, it would be almost impossible for a host to fall when distributing on the tongue to communicants kneeling at a rail.
 
I have only seen hosts dropped while someone was receiving on their tongue. In most cases it was due largely to an elderly/shaky cleric who had trouble placing the host on someone’s tongue.
 
With the swine flu scare our bishop had directed us only to receive in the hand. Our pastor thought it was a good time to show people how to receive in hand. During the collection the announcement was made that communion would under one species only in the hand per our bishop. He then very carefully showed everyone how to receive (not take) communion using an unconsecrated host.

Thirty minutes later I was helping distribute communion as a EMHC and here came the thumb/forefinger pinchers. Didn’t they watch/listen?!? I quietly said “palms flat, facing up” to each one and they complied. I was bothered that they had ignored Father.
 
OhMalley said:
I was bothered that they had ignored Father.
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They probably weren’t ignoring the good Father, they probably just weren’t paying attention during his explanation. Granted that is a fine line.
 
OhMalley said:
Thirty minutes later I was helping distribute communion as a EMHC and here came the thumb/forefinger pinchers. Didn’t they watch/listen?!? I quietly said “palms flat, facing up” to each one and they complied. I was bothered that they had ignored Father.
Click to expand...
I’m glad they listened to you. A lot of priests believe that they are not allowed to give instructions on how to receive Holy Communion while at Mass. I have never understood why - how else are people supposed to learn? 🤷
 
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