Have you (or have you witnessed anyone) spill the Precious Blood on the floor? Dribbled some on chin or clothes? What happened then?

[Lepanto]

Have you (or have you witnessed anyone) spill the Precious Blood on the floor?

Dribbled some on chin or clothes?

What happened then?

 

[bpbasilphx]

When I was an Episcopalian, a communicant spilled some of the chalice on his tie.

A lady of the altar guild came with a pair of scissors, when SNIP!, and burned what she cut off.

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I spilled some on my shirt. I was appalled and used the purificator to blot it. I stayed in church after mass until my shirt dried, when the accidents of wine no longer existed. I’m always very careful but accidents can happen. Jesus was aware of this, I’m sure, but He told us to eat His body and drink His blood. We should do so as reverently as we can.

 

[muffinmojo]

I’ve never seen it happen, but when they were teaching us to serve at our parish, they said that if the Precious Blood was spilled, we should stop what we are doing, wave the sacristan over, and he would cover it with a purificator and then get Father.

I have caught a Host an old lady dropped, with a paten. Modern or traditional, there is no excuse not to use patens. It’s not about liturgical taste, it is about reverence and respect, plain and simple.

 

[Lepanto]

I spilled some on my shirt. I was appalled and used the purificator to blot it. I stayed in church after mass until my shirt dried, when the accidents of wine no longer existed.

It is admirable that you stayed, but please note that the corporals and purificators (the cloths used on the altar and to wipe the chalices) are typically laundered in a certain way.

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I know they should be rinsed in the sacrarium before being laundered. This is a matter of respect. But once the Precious Blood has dried it no longer has the accidents (appearance, taste, liquidness) of wine. At that point Jesus is no longer sacramentally present. When the stain is rinsed, the Precious Blood isn’t ‘reconstituted’.

I doubt that most altar linen is really properly laundered. Some is sent to the laundry and some is sent home with parish women.

 

[Aramis]

Actually, Clair, once dried, The Precious Blood still has the accidents of wine… just of dried wine.

Note that this is highly of import to the Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, as our Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts uses the Body, intincted and then dried, and we still receive both species. (It is usually rehydrated with wine. But not always, especially if communion is being brought to the ill or infirm.) And because it is of import to the Byzantines of the Catholic Church, it’s important to all the Churches in Union with Rome.

Now, in my Roman days, I did see a Dominican friar react to the precious blood on his sleeve (from intincting on Corpus Christi). He carefully washed it by hand until the stain was nearly invisible (just wet) in the sacrarium.

 

[Claire_from_DE]

Actually, Clair, once dried, The Precious Blood still has the accidents of wine… just of dried wine.

Note that this is highly of import to the Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, as our Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts uses the Body, intincted and then dried, and we still receive both species. (It is usually rehydrated with wine. But not always, especially if communion is being brought to the ill or infirm.) And because it is of import to the Byzantines of the Catholic Church, it’s important to all the Churches in Union with Rome.

Now, in my Roman days, I did see a Dominican friar react to the precious blood on his sleeve (from intincting on Corpus Christi). He carefully washed it by hand until the stain was nearly invisible (just wet) in the sacrarium.

I’d be interested in the theology behind that. If the Body and Blood are combined then dried, the accidents of bread remain and the symbolism of the wine. Of course the Body remains. And since this is the living Christ, you receive body, blood, soul, and divinity. But I’d guess that, once dry, the accidents of the wine don’t remain.

We would never pour the Precious Blood down the sacrarium, it would be consumed. If rinsing the stain reconstituted the Blood, it would have to be consumed.

In any case, what is to be done if the Blood is spilled, is that the cloth should be rinsed into a bowl with a large quantity of water so that there is no longer even the appearance of wine in the bowl (a spoonful of wine in a cup of water is no longer wine, it is wine-tinted water). Only then should the water be poured away.

I disagree that dried wine is still wine. I think it is a wine stain. Wine is liquid, has flavor, color, and alcoholic content. The stain isn’t liquid and has no alcoholic content, therefore ceases to be wine (and the sacramental presence ceases). If rehydrated with water it would have little flavor and no alcohol.

Your posts are always interesting and informative. I’d like more Eastern (name removed by moderator)ut on this.

 

[love4mary]

This happened in my parish a while back. The Altar server as per training, placed a purificator over the spill so as to draw attention to that spot (in order to keep people from stepping on our Lord). Then after Mass, Father took a couple of purificators and cleaned the spot as best he could.

 

[Mankney]

When I dribbled some of the blood on my shirt (I noticed after I had sat back down), I asked my priest after the Mass and he said suck it out. I figured it was a good solution since it was supposed to go in my mouth in the first place.

It worked like a champ.

 

[Newbie2]

What if there is no sacrarium at one’s parish?

 

[Claire_from_DE]

What if there is no sacrarium at one’s parish?

The water could be poured on the garden. It should be stressed that this is not the precious blood, it has been diluted so much that it has no appearance of wine.

 

[Claire_from_DE]

When I dribbled some of the blood on my shirt (I noticed after I had sat back down), I asked my priest after the Mass and he said suck it out. I figured it was a good solution since it was supposed to go in my mouth in the first place.

It worked like a champ.

What a sensible reply!

 

[Maria_das_Neves]

What if there is no sacrarium at one’s parish?

This is the case at our small mission church. I usually take the linens home and soak them and pour the water in the garden. By usually I don’t mean that I sometimes do it another way! I mean I am usually the one to do the linens.

I do it reverently. Then I wash the linens in my washing machine–which actually drains out onto the ground. (I live out in the country.)

 

[Zehos]

Christmas Eve 2003, I was in eigth grade, and at my grandparents small town church for the mass. My aunt was serving me the blood of Christ, but at their small, mainly elderly parish, they filled the chalice to the brim. I was used to my urbanized glass chalices that you can see through but, I ended up spilling a good third of the blood on me, it was really quite embarracing. But I am supprised, all I did was ring my shirt out over the “special drain” then wash it later.

 

[Brendan]

I saw some of the Precious Blood spilled. The EMHC got the Deacon’s attention ( he was assisting the priest in the center asile).

The Deacon came over with a purificator and water, poured some of the water on the spill (it was small) and let the purificator soak it up.

 

[kaygee]

Newly ordained Orthodox priest is distributing Communion for the second time as a priest. Over eager parishioner makes a huge sign of the cross immediately in front of him, catching the underside of the Chalice, upsetting it, splashing the priest in the face with the contents of the cup, which ran down the front of his brand new vestments to the floor . Father did exactly as he was taught in seminary should such a disaster happen. He handed the Chalice to the deacon to distribute the remains to the faithful in an area off to the side. He then rolled his vestments up to his neck (preventing any more from dripping on the floor) and then got on his knees and lapped as much of the Body and Blood as he could from the marble floor. What he couldn’t lap up, he wiped off the floor with altar cloths and his own vestments. The altar cloths were soaked in water, the water disposed of by pouring it on the ground at the corners of the building. Then they were machine washed. As for the vestments, they were taken to convent where they were made, and, after Mother tsked over them, she managed to get them clean (I don’t know HOW.)

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I was at the monastery for Mass and one of the monks spilled some of the Precious Blood. At the time he covered it with a purificator. After Mass he brought water and more purificators and cleaned it up in such a reverent way that I was touched. His cleaning was a prayer.

 

[marthagreys]

The day I splashed some of the Precious Blood onto my hands and the floor (shortly after converting to the Catholic faith) remains one of the biggest embarrasmnts of my life. I still don’t know how it happened, but in returning the chalice to the Eucharistic minister, I managed to slop some of its contents onto my hands and a little onto the floor. Having recently been taught in RCIA, and wholeheartedly accepting the true presence of Jesus in the sacrament, I desparately wanted to ensure that no more of the Precious Blood landed on the floor, and so I immediately put my hand to my mouth to remove the dripping from it. The EMHCwas absolutely appalled. She said my name out loud, handed me a purificator, and commented that there was no need to get that carried away about salvaging what I had splashed. She ignored the Blood spilled on the floor. After mass, I found a deacon whom I trusted, and trembling, told him about the spill on the floor. He hurried for a purificator, cleaned up the mess while saying a prayer, and then settled me down. I felt really stupid for a long time about the scene, but in retrospect I think I’d do the same thing again in the same situation.

 

[Lepanto]

These are the kinds of horror stories which made me decide, years ago, to forgo the option of receiving the blood when it is offered.

It is doctrine (Council of Trent) that when one receives the host, one implicitly receives the blood too. For this reason, I don’t really see the point of receiving the blood… all it does is greatly escalate the probability of a horrible accident.