Probably Dumb Question - Consecrating the Hosts

[EasterJoy]

The species do not have to be on the altar to be consecrated. They do not even have to be directly visible to the main celebrant.

How, then, does one know which of the valid species in a church were consecrated, and which are not? The answer is this: The valid species which the priest intends to consecrate are consecrated. The ones he does not intend to consecrate are not consecrated. It is that simple.

 

[FrDavid96]

The species do not have to be on the altar to be consecrated. They do not even have to be directly visible to the main celebrant.

How, then, does one know which of the valid species in a church were consecrated, and which are not? The answer is this: The valid species which the priest intends to consecrate are consecrated. The ones he does not intend to consecrate are not consecrated. It is that simple.

That’s true, but only to an extent. The bread has to be “present” to be consecrated. A priest can’t have the intention of consecrating a ciborium full of hosts that’s still in the sacristy for example. But if he realizes that he left one on the credence table by accident and has the specific intention to consecrate those hosts, then they’re consecrated.

 

[Revs96]

I’ve always wondered about the Consecrated Bread distributed during the Good Friday liturgy. As you know, the liturgy on Good Friday is not really a Mass, and it doesn’t even have a Eucharistic Prayer, but, it does conclude with the Rite of Communion (everything from the Our Father and beyond).

When do they consecrate the hosts distributed on Good Friday?

Obviously all those hosts they distribute can’t be just leftovers from previous masses. Assuming 1,600 attend the Good Friday liturgy, would the priest consecrate all those hosts in the previous day’s Mass (Holy Thursday), in addition to the hosts of that day’s Mass?

Exactly. If you ever go to the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, I’m sure that you’ll see a very large number of ciboria on the altar with hosts for the next day. The rubrics for the Evening Mass instruct the priest to do exactly that since according to the Church’s ancient tradition, Mass is forbidden on Good Friday and Holy Saturday since those were the days that the Lord was taken away. Just for the record, the Easter Vigil is the beginning of Easter Sunday, not a part of Holy Saturday. As with all Sundays and solemnities, the liturgical observance of that day begins the evening before (for Easter Sunday specifically it is only after it is completely dark outside). On the Church’s calendar, Sundays and solemnities are actually longer than 24 hours (thus Saturdays are shorter than 24 hours) going back to the Jewish practice of measuring days from sunset to sunset, hence Masses on Saturday evening (or rather what is secularly called Saturday evening) count for Sunday; liturgically those hours are already Sunday.

 

[Revs96]

So, re the Good Friday service, which I’ve never attended in an RC church -

In many Anglican churches, the priest consecrates extra during the Maundy Thursday service. It’s then processed to a side chapel or area off to the side and placed on a small altar, sometimes it is decorated with plants to look like a garden. Then people stay and pray all through the night in the little chapel, which is supposed to be like the garden of Gethsemane.

Or occasionally there is what is called ante-communion (which as a child I thought was anti-communion.) The mass is said, along with a penitential right, up to, if I recall, the intercessions. Then everyone is sent home. It is rather bleak, but can be quite powerful.

Is there, or has there been, anything similar to this in Catholicism?

That practice for Holy (Maundy) Thursday is actually very similar to what is done in the Catholic Church. The Good Friday service, however is a bit different. Simply put, there is an opening prayer (no sign of the cross), the readings, homily, and longer than usual intercessions (pre-written in the book), veneration of the cross (a crucifix technically), then the communion rite and closing prayer. There is very little music allowed. The reason for no sign of the cross is because Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper (on Holy Thursday) starts with the sign of the cross and ends with the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament, the Good Friday service does not have the sign of the cross at all, and the Easter Vigil begins with the Service of Light and ends with the usual blessing at the end of Mass, so it’s really a Triple-Liturgy - one single story.