Placement of gifts on the alter during Eucharistic Consecration

[Mike_Domingo]

I have been looking for something in Canon Law that specifies where gifts are to be placed on the alter during the consecration of the Eucharist. I want to know if the bread and wine has to be placed on a specific place on the alter for consecration, or if the bread and wine is consecrated by merely being placed anywhere on the alter during the words of consecration. I want to know if wine is not removed from the alter during consecration, but placed on the side of the alter, is this wine still transformed to the Blood of our Lord? I am asking because I was at a Mass the other day and extra wine and water were left on the alter during consecration and the water was discarded down the drain and the wine poured back into the bottle which it came from. I was under the impression that any water and wine on the alter is transformed to the Body and Blood of our Lord and other items such as water, rosaries, etc. become blessed by being on the alter during consecration.

 

[japhy]

I have been looking for something in Canon Law that specifies where gifts are to be placed on the alter during the consecration of the Eucharist. I want to know if the bread and wine has to be placed on a specific place on the alter for consecration, or if the bread and wine is consecrated by merely being placed anywhere on the alter during the words of consecration.

The current English translation of the Sacramentary says, on pages 370-371 (emphasis mine):
The priest, standing at the altar, takes the paten with the bread, and holding it slightly raised above the altar, says inaudibly … Then he places the paten with the bread on the corporal.
…
Then the priest takes the chalice, and, holding it slightly raised above the altar, says inaudibly … Then he places the chalice on the corporal.
This is described in the 2002 GIRM in #141-142; in the GIRM found in the Sacramentary, these are #102-103.

Thus, the rubrics of the Mass state that the paten and chalice are to be on the corporal, the cloth that is placed on the altar and opened up.

I am asking because I was at a Mass the other day and extra wine and water were left on the alter during consecration and the water was discarded down the drain and the wine poured back into the bottle which it came from. I was under the impression that any water and wine on the alter is transformed to the Body and Blood of our Lord and other items such as water, rosaries, etc. become blessed by being on the alter during consecration.

The intention of the priest during the consecration should be to consecrate that which is on the corporal; as he intends to consecrate nothing else, the things not on the corporal are not consecrated (since intention is one of the parts of the Sacraments). The only consecration that happens at the Eucharistic prayer is that of the hosts and the wine (some of which has been mixed with water) into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Water on the altar, or on the corporal, is not consecrated or blessed by the Eucharistic Prayer.

The 2002 GIRM #324, says: “If the priest notices after the consecration or as he receives Communion that not wine but only water was poured into the chalice, he pours the water into some container, then pours wine with water into the chalice and consecrates it. He says only the part of the institution narrative related to the consecration of the chalice, without being obliged to consecrate the bread again.” In the copy of the GIRM found at the beginning of the Sacramentary, this is #286. Thus, water alone is not consecrated into anything.

(The GIRM in the Sacramentary is an older edition, thus the different numbering.)

 

[Servulus]

Mike:

A great deal of this has to do with the intention of the priest who is celebrating the Mass. Only those species which he intends to consecrate are consecrated, whether they are on the altar or not. Let me give you two examples that may help.

1. A priest is saying Mass and has no altar server. He places the cruet of wine on the altar before Mass and pours some into the chalice at the appropriate time, leaving the rest in the cruet. If he only intends to consecrate what’s in the chalice, the remaining wine in the cruet can be put back into the refrigerator after Mass.
2. When the Holy Father came to Saint Louis in the late 1990s, he said Mass for over 100,000 people. A great number of chalices were prepared and filled ahead of time, and placed on large tables near the altar. Since he intended to consecrate the contents of all those chalices, they all contained the Precious Blood after the consecration.

By the way, don’t worry about the water.

Hope that helps.