Is it ok to chew the Host or not

[Thom18]

When I go to mass at college, the room is very small. I hear the priest chewing it (different priests come and they all do this), so I see no problem with it.

 

[InThePew]

does anyone know when they started using the hosts?
did the first Christians use bread?

the early Christians would have used unleavened flat bread just like is used at a jewish Passover meal. I’m not sure when the hosts (as we know them today) developed - probably around the middle ages in keeping with the rise of monasticism since communities (what we would now call parishes) grew up around monasteries which would have dedicated part of their monks’ working routines to the production of altar breads. Remember also that frequent communion of the laity is actually quite novel so there’s only recently been a need for mass production of hosts. As far as chewing goes, the thickness / hardness of most hosts (especially when two stick together) makes it difficult not to unless you’re immersing it in a decent gulp of the precious blood! (Note that all of this obviously only applies to the western Rites)

 

[babochka]

the early Christians would have used unleavened flat bread just like is used at a jewish Passover meal.

Early Christians used leaved bread. Unleavened bread became common in the West in the 8th Century and was universal in the West by the 9th Century.

Remember also that frequent communion of the laity is actually quite novel so there’s only recently been a need for mass production of hosts.

Not really a novelty. Frequent Communion of the laity was common and expected in the early Church. It was only in the Middle Ages that it became unusual, but as an ideal, frequent Communion was always advocated by theologians.

 

[ProVobis]

Not really a novelty. Frequent Communion of the laity was common and expected in the early Church. It was only in the Middle Ages that it became unusual, but as an ideal, frequent Communion was always advocated by theologians.

It seems almost intuitive that a Christian would want to embrace reception of communion and do it often. Perhaps there have been periods where “worthiness” to receive was taken more seriously than other times?

 

[babochka]

It seems almost intuitive that a Christian would want to embrace reception of communion and do it often.

Certainly, if we believe Holy Communion to be a remedy for sin and a preservative from sin, why would we not desire frequent reception?

I found this quote from St. Ignatius:

*In the early Church members of both sexes received Communion daily as soon as they were old enough. But soon devotion began to cool, and Communion became weekly. Then after a considerable interval of time, as devotion became still more cool, Communion was received on only three of the principal feasts of the year…. And finally, because of our weakness and indifference, we have ended with once a year. You would think we are Christian only in name, to see us so calmly accepting the condition to which the greater part of mankind has come. *

Perhaps there have been periods where “worthiness” to receive was taken more seriously than other times?

I think that is true - throughout the ages, there have been different sensitivities to reception of the Holy Mysteries, and throughout the Middle Ages, laity generally were considered not worthy to approach for Communion. The problem was so severe that the Church eventually had to mandate that the faithful receive at least once a year.

Now, of course, we have swung far in the other direction, but I don’t think the problem is frequent Communion, but rather infrequent Confession and a lack of understanding and committment to living a Christian life.

Here’s a link to an interesting article by Fr. John Hardon on the history of this subject. The whole thing is worth reading, but I’ve included a few pertinent quotes.

therealpresence.org/archives/Religious_Life/Religious_Life_044.htm

From the end of the second century there are numerous indications that priests and laity received Holy Communion every day. Tertullian mentions that Christians daily extend their hands, according to the prevalent custom, to receive the Body of Christ. [2] St. Cyprian states that in Africa, “We who are in Christ, daily receive the Eucharist as the food of salvation.” [3] From Egypt we have the witness of Clement of Alexandria, and also of Origen, who says “The Lord hates those who think that only one day (Sunday) is a festival of the Lord; Christians partake of the flesh of the Lamb every day, that is, they daily receive the flesh of the Word of God.” [4] From Asia Minor we have the statement of St. Basil, writing to the Patriarch of Caesarea, “It is commendable and most beneficial to communicate and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ every single day.” [5]

Instead of improving, however, the situation became worse, until finally in 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council enjoined at least annual Communion at Easter time: “everyone of the faithful of both sexes, after reaching the age of reason, should in private faithfully confess all his sins at least once a year…. reverently receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist at least at Easter time…. Otherwise, while living he shall be forbidden entrance into the Church, and at death shall be deprived of Christian burial. Let this salutary decree be published frequently, lest anyone try to excuse himself on the score of complete ignorance.” [13]

During the four centuries following the Lateran Council spiritual writers strongly recommended the practice of frequent Communion even, on occasion, its daily reception. Franciscans and Dominicans preached incessantly to promote the frequentation of the sacraments. Nevertheless, the response which this evoked among the clergy, and consequently among the laity, was in general very slight. For the most part they succeeded in bringing the people to receive at least on the three major feasts of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. In order to understand this anomaly it is necessary to examine the ascetical principles that were currently in vogue, from the early thirteenth century to the Council of Trent. It is easy to trace these principles because they were substantially those of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, who dominated theological thought in the Middle Ages.

 

[ProVobis]

Now, of course, we have swung far in the other direction, but I don’t think the problem is frequent Communion, but rather infrequent Confession and a lack of understanding and committment to living a Christian life.

I think Pope Francis (and perhaps some of the previous Popes) agrees with you there.

 

[otjm]

It seems almost intuitive that a Christian would want to embrace reception of communion and do it often. Perhaps there have been periods where “worthiness” to receive was taken more seriously than other times?

I don’t know that Jansenism woud be described as taking “worthiness” more seriously.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

I don’t know that Jansenism would be described as taking “worthiness” more seriously.

Most assuredly not. There is nothing positive to be said; Jansenism was an incredibly dark chapter in the Church’s history…tragically. May such times never return.

 

[27lw]

But at least at most the parishes I’ve visited in the western United States they use these thick, unbleached whole wheat not-very-finely-ground hosts that are designed to be chewed.

Wait - - there’s a geographical difference? Where is the line, I wonder? I believe that here in Indiana the wafers are pretty thin.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Wait - - there’s a geographical difference? Where is the line, I wonder? I believe that here in Indiana the wafers are pretty thin.

The distinction derives from who manufactures the hosts and their method of production.

 

[Lormar]

Most assuredly not. There is nothing positive to be said; Jansenism was an incredibly dark chapter in the Church’s history…tragically. May such times never return.

Father, I agree with you. When I was taught the faith as a young girl, it was still presented to us with the focus chiefly on fear of punishment. That stays with you, and is hard to get out from under. We never heard of a loving and merciful God back then. I had this vision of God as a little girl of a big man with gray hair and a long beard standing at a lectern with a huge book on it and a quill pen in his hand writing down all of our sins.

 

[ProVobis]

We never heard of a loving and merciful God back then.

It’s been right there in the first line of the Roman Canon since the early centuries: “Te igitur clementissime Pater.…” (most merciful Father)

 

[Lormar]

It’s been right there in the first line of the Roman Canon since the early centuries: “Te igitur clementissime Pater…”

Oh, well, excuse me. My Latin wasn’t very good as a little girl. I must have missed that part of the Canon.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

It’s been right there in the first line of the Roman Canon since the early centuries: “Te igitur clementissime Pater…”

Yes, they were. Spoken, though, at a volume that was inaudible to those desperately in need of hearing them. And those most in need would have been those least able to comprehend.

I also remember, out of the whole of the canon, the three words from the canon’s body that were to be spoken in an audible voice. Nobis quoque peccatoribus.

 

[ProVobis]

Oh, well, excuse me. My Latin wasn’t very good as a little girl. I must have missed that part of the Canon.

Sorry, I edited the post to provide the English, which should have been provided in the English missals.

And there was more to Jansenism than a scrupulous conscience and fear of punishment as I understand it; frankly I don’t know how it got into the discussion.

 

[Lormar]

Sorry, I edited the post to provide the English, which should have been provided in the English.

And there was more to Jansenism than a scrupulous conscience and fear of punishment as I understand it; frankly I don’t know how it got into the discussion.

Pro Vobis, your posts are coming off very defensive and angry.

I am relating my personal experience and how I was trained in the faith.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Oh, well, excuse me. My Latin wasn’t very good as a little girl. I must have missed that part of the Canon.

It would not have mattered that your Latin wasn’t very good, I’m afraid. You would not have been able to hear it.

 

[ProVobis]

I am relating my personal experience and how I was trained in the faith.

Yes, but the discussion was whether problems were with infrequent confessions rather than too-frequent communions. I don’t know, maybe confession lines were more full back in the 50s because there was more fear of God’s punishments? If so, is that a bad thing?

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Father, I agree with you. When I was taught the faith as a young girl, it was still presented to us with the focus chiefly on fear of punishment. That stays with you, and is hard to get out from under. We never heard of a loving and merciful God back then. I had this vision of God as a little girl of a big man with gray hair and a long beard standing at a lectern with a huge book on it and a quill pen in his hand writing down all of our sins.

You are not the only one who had that concept.

People do very well not to get me started on the topic of France in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, unless of course they want a real lecture about it. It, and the chilling effects of Jansenism, were focal points of my doctoral thesis. It remains hard to put into words how dreadful those dark days were. Very sad. They did incalculable harm to the souls of many…tragically. They stifled countless other souls. As I often said to my students, the Blessed Virgin did not appear so many times in the 19th century because all was going so well and to congratulate them. She came because she was urgently needed. The times are best glimpsed through the eyes of the saints of the era and their experiences.

It is hard to imagine the plight of a Saint Thérèse of Lisieux…a cloistered Carmelite nun whose whole life is given and consecrated to God…not being admitted to Holy Communion every day. When I was working with her writings, there was one plaintive quote I won’t forget. I render it in English as “Jesus does not come down from Heaven every day to sit in the golden ciborium.” Indeed.

Fortunately, there were sane minds in the era. Saint Elizabeth Seton was allowed daily Communion in this era when it was largely so unattainable. Some vocations were decided based on the fact that a community was privileged to communicate more frequently than another. Thankfully, those days and that mindset are consigned to the past and the non-ordained Religious do not suffer in that fashion.

I began many a lecture with the opening words of Jesus’ first vision to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque: “Behold this Heart which HAS SO LOVED MEN.” The Lord Jesus had to come, literally, with His Heart in His hand as an image that, yes, He loves them…and with a merciful love beyond the human intellect’s ability to comprehend. If you want a remarkable tale of the suffering a soul could endure, chained by the concepts of that time, read the autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary and her utter relief when, at last, she has an enlightened priest as her spiritual director: Saint Claude de la Colombière.

 

[Phemie]

Wait - - there’s a geographical difference? Where is the line, I wonder? I believe that here in Indiana the wafers are pretty thin.

It depends what the Pastor decides he wants to order, if he’s the one doing the ordering. When ordering hosts was my job I ordered the double thick 1 3/8" whole wheat hosts that were much easier to swallow if you chewed, or received from the Chalice. We’d order one container of very thin white hosts to use for those who were in the hospital.

When a new Pastor came he seemed to prefer thinner, white hosts so that’s what we’ve been using for the last couple of years. He also didn’t want concelebration hosts which the previous 2 Pastors had used so it’s been the 2 3/4" white instead of the 5 3/4" whole wheat concelebration host that could be broken into 24 pieces.

Once the Sisters we’d been ordering from stopped making the hosts we started ordering Cavanagh products form our church supplies distributor.

cavanaghco.com/products.html