Eucharist

[frankm3]

During celebration of the Eucharist, the priest mixes a small amount of water with wine in the Chalice. Should the water also be added to any additional wine being consecrated in flagons or pitchers?

 

[Aelred_Minor]

I don’t mean to derail the thread, but perhaps a more important question would be, should wine be being consecrated in flagons or pitchers at all?

 

[YoungTradCath]

During celebration of the Eucharist, the priest mixes a small amount of water with wine in the Chalice. Should the water also be added to any additional wine being consecrated in flagons or pitchers?

I don’t want to derail either but: no, and…

Pitchers/flagons should not be used as containers for the Blood in the first place. Wine should be poured into chalices prior to consecration.

 

[Usige]

Even leaving aside where the precious blood is, it is not nescissary to add water to each chalice. The way it was explained to me is that even divided into seperate chalices or ciborum both the precious blood and body are one. What you do to one division is done to all. At least that’s how it was explained to me.

 

[frankm3]

Thanks for answer to the original question regarding mixing water. As for the additional concerns and opinions on appropriateness of using flagons or pitchers for consecrating wine in addition to the chalice wine, please see the Catholic Answers Staff response to an earlier question entitled “Should the wine be poured into chalices before the Consecration?” That question/answer says it is appropriate to use flagons or pitchers.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Thanks for answer to the original question regarding mixing water. As for the additional concerns and opinions on appropriateness of using flagons or pitchers for consecrating wine in addition to the chalice wine, please see the Catholic Answers Staff response to an earlier question entitled “Should the wine be poured into chalices before the Consecration?” That question/answer says it is appropriate to use flagons or pitchers.

Can you link to that?

 

[frankm3]

Here’s the link to Staff’s response:

catholic.com/quickquestions/should-the-wine-be-poured-into-chalices-before-the-consecration

 

[YoungTradCath]

Here’s the link to Staff’s response:

catholic.com/quickquestions/should-the-wine-be-poured-into-chalices-before-the-consecration

I am guessing that was written before Redemptionis Sacramentum, a 2004 document from the Congregation for Divine Worship at the Holy See. It says:

[106.] However, the pouring of the Blood of Christ after the consecration from one vessel to another is completely to be avoided, lest anything should happen that would be to the detriment of so great a mystery. Never to be used for containing the Blood of the Lord are flagons, bowls, or other vessels that are not fully in accord with the established norms.

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html

That practice is doubly condemned. First, the pouring of the Blood after the Consecration–which is semantically problematic anyway since the Blood doesn’t even exist before the Consecration–is condemned. This is because the risk of spillage is too great. Secondly, holding the Blood in anything other than a chalice is condemned. This is because we don’t put the Blood in anything other than a chalice.

So you can’t pour the Blood at all, nor can you have it in anything other than a chalice.*

So as far as I know, that document that CA quotes has been superseded in full or in part by the document of the Congregation.

*With the rare exception that you can take the Blood to a sick person if that person has Celiac disease and you don’t have low-gluten hosts or some other disease where he/she can’t eat wheat or solid food.

 

[frankm3]

Thanks for the additional research. I tried to find the date of the Staff’s response, but couldn’t tell if it was written before the 2004 document you cite. Being new to CA, I wonder why the Staff would leave their responses on the site, if in fact they’re outdated.

 

[Bergon]

I wonder why the Staff would leave their responses on the site, if in fact they’re outdated.

They probably don’t have the time to go back and remove or update outdated information. Their answer quotes a 1984 document but that has been clearly superseded by a 2004 Vatican document.