Pre-consecrated Host Question

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Anima_Christi

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At the Cathedral here, before Mass begins, the pre-consecrated hosts are set on a table in a bowl along with another bowl and the flagons of wine. As people come in, they remove a host from one bowl and put it in the other one. I assume that they do this so there won’t be any leftover hosts, but is it legitimate, or is it some modernist innovation that is not appropriate?
 
I have seen this done for a private Mass at a retreat center. They did not need to reserve hosts. For a regular parish Mass, to me this would seem unhealthy, having everyone handling the hosts.
 
To me it seems a little irreverant and suprised me when I first saw it, but I guess I don’t see anything wrong with it, if they want to use all of the hosts that were consecrated at any particular mass, for that mass. At my own parish, the priest consecrates some hosts and then takes out already consecrated hosts from the tabernacle to distribute.
Any thoughts?
 
Anima Christi:
To me it seems a little irreverant and suprised me when I first saw it, but I guess I don’t see anything wrong with it, if they want to use all of the hosts that were consecrated at any particular mass, for that mass. At my own parish, the priest consecrates some hosts and then takes out already consecrated hosts from the tabernacle to distribute.
Any thoughts?
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This is the usual procedure. Our pastor does not like to reserve a lot of hosts and sometimes we have to break the hosts to take care of everyone. I guess this would insure that you would not need to break any hosts or keep too many reserved.
 
Anima Christi:
At the Cathedral here, before Mass begins, the pre-consecrated hosts are set on a table in a bowl along with another bowl and the flagons of wine. As people come in, they remove a host from one bowl and put it in the other one. I assume that they do this so there won’t be any leftover hosts, but is it legitimate, or is it some modernist innovation that is not appropriate?
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I have seen the same done at a Trappist Monastery in Oregon, people putting a host in a bowl to be consecrated. Seems OK to me, but I do not really know.
The faithful have the right to expect to receive the Host consecrated at the Mass he/she is attending. I believe that is in the GIRM, but am not sure. BUT, Christ is just as present in Hosts consecrated at other Masses.
 
From Sacrosanctum Concilium:
  1. That more perfect form of participation in the Mass whereby the faithful, after the priest’s communion, receive the Lord’s body from the same sacrifice, is strongly commended.
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From the GIRM:
  1. It is most desirable that the faithful, just as the priest himself is bound to do, receive the Lord’s Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass and that, in the instances when it is permitted, they partake of the chalice (cf. below, no. 283), so that even by means of the signs Communion will stand out more clearly as a participation in the sacrifice actually being celebrated.
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From Redemptionis Sacramentum:
  1. “So that even by means of the signs Communion may stand out more clearly as a participation in the Sacrifice being celebrated”, it is preferable that the faithful be able to receive hosts consecrated in the same Mass.
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The title to this thread is misleading. The hosts are NOT pre-consecrated; they are consecrated at the Mass. The hosts placed on the table before Mass are unconsecrated.
 
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Chatter163:
The title to this thread is misleading. The hosts are NOT pre-consecrated; they are consecrated at the Mass. The hosts placed on the table before Mass are unconsecrated.
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I’m glad you pointed that out. I’ve seen this done at the early morning Mass of a parish I used to attend. People entering the chapel who intended to receive communion would take an UNCONSECRATED host from a bowl and place it on a paten or in a ciborium. Those hosts would then be consecrated at that Mass, and there would be just enough for everyone in attendance.
 
Deacon Tony560:
I have seen this done for a private Mass at a retreat center. They did not need to reserve hosts. For a regular parish Mass, to me this would seem unhealthy, having everyone handling the hosts.
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Someone should provide a small tongs and preserve us from germs and viruses. Ya I have seen it done also and never thought out the consequences of being exposed to who knows what. Of course shaking hands at the sign of peace is just as problematical.
 
Well, technically, they are not even “hosts” before they are consecrated. Host means victim and before transubstantiation occurs, they are not the Victim. Though, I suppose that in some sense they are the “victim” of our bread offering.

I think that another reason some parishes do this is to provide a symbol value to us actually making the offering of bread ourselves and raising awareness of how we are supposed to be making an offering of self.
 
I forgot to mention, that they DO transfer the unconsecrated “hosts” with tongs 😉
 
I’ve seen that a few smaller chapels I have attended. As long as it’s done with tongs prior to Mass, I don’t see a problem with it.

I do remember seeing is done at a Mass held in an airport chapel. It makes perfect sense there. No place to reserve Hosts, and the priest can not easily estimate the attendance at any given Mass.
 
I’ve just recently seen this at a church I’ve just started attending. Is this a new trend in the churches now? This is the first time I’ve come across this.

I wasn’t aware of what exactly it was and it doesn’t bother me per se, but did see a little kid thrusting his hand into the bowl of unconsecrated hosts and playing with them - shouldn’t there be someone watching the unconsecrated hosts? How do other churches deal with this? I’m very tempted to go to a daily mass instead, in order to avoid the possibly of little dirty hands getting into the hosts.

(Hope I don’t sound like a cranky old lady a la “get off my lawn you stinkin’ kids” 😉 but it does kind of gross me out)
 
Lanciano said:
I have seen the same done at a Trappist Monastery in Oregon, people putting a host in a bowl to be consecrated. Seems OK to me, but I do not really know.
The faithful have the right to expect to receive the Host consecrated at the Mass he/she is attending. I believe that is in the GIRM, but am not sure. BUT, Christ is just as present in Hosts consecrated at other Masses.
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No such right exists:

GIRM 85. It is most desirable that the faithful, just as the priest himself is bound to do, receive the Lord’s Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass and that, in the instances when it is permitted, they partake of the chalice (cf. below, no. 283), so that even by means of the signs Communion will stand out more clearly as a participation in the sacrifice actually being celebrated.
 
firestar said:
I’ve just recently seen this at a church I’ve just started attending. Is this a new trend in the churches now? This is the first time I’ve come across this.

I wasn’t aware of what exactly it was and it doesn’t bother me per se, but did see a little kid thrusting his hand into the bowl of unconsecrated hosts and playing with them - shouldn’t there be someone watching the unconsecrated hosts? How do other churches deal with this? I’m very tempted to go to a daily mass instead, in order to avoid the possibly of little dirty hands getting into the hosts.

(Hope I don’t sound like a cranky old lady a la “get off my lawn you stinkin’ kids” 😉 but it does kind of gross me out)
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Well you are correct in that someone should be watching that children do not “play” in the hosts. Those people should be their parents! However an usher should be near by. What did the pastor say when you spoke with him about this?
 
I once attended mass at another parish and didn’t know we were to transfer an unconsecrated host to the ciborium before mass began. The celebrant ran out of consecrated hosts and had to go to the tabernacle to retrieve some. I don’t know why he didn’t simply break the hosts he had, for the last few communicants – perhaps he just wasn’t paying attention.
 
Anima_Christi said:
I forgot to mention, that they DO transfer the unconsecrated “hosts” with tongs 😉
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I’ve seen this done also (tongs and all) in one or two churches - perfectly sanitary, and if the priest for whatever reason doesn’t want to reserve hosts, well, he knows best why and he’s entitled.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
Well you are correct in that someone should be watching that children do not “play” in the hosts. Those people should be their parents! However an usher should be near by. What did the pastor say when you spoke with him about this?
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I actually am just starting RCIA and didn’t know if this was a common occurrence. But I do intend to bring it up to the RCIA instructor next week.
 
firestar said:
I actually am just starting RCIA and didn’t know if this was a common occurrence. But I do intend to bring it up to the RCIA instructor next week.
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I would ask just from a sanitary aspect.
 
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