Receiving communion without an official first communion?

[ConfusedLucy]

They may have had a private conversation with the priest. He may have been satisfied that she was ready after her first confession and that she was being raised in the faith by her grandmother.

Probably better than the parents in my day who just did it for the nice photos and to get them into the right secondary school.

 

[thequeen]

when I came into the Church I had private instruction with a very good priest who treated me like I was his own daughter. When I finished my instruction I was baptized and confirmed a private ceremony in the Eucharistic Chapel with just me my sponsor and the priest and a lady who just happened to be in the Eucharistic chapel. on a Friday. That coming Sunday I received Eucharist along with the rest of the congregation.

 

[JohnLilburne]

From the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html

“[87.] The First Communion of children must always be preceded by sacramental confession and absolution.[169] Moreover First Communion should always be administered by a Priest and never outside the celebration of Mass. Apart from exceptional cases, it is not particularly appropriate for First Communion to be administered on Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper. Another day should be chosen instead, such as a Sunday between the Second and the Sixth Sunday of Easter, or the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, or the Sundays of Ordinary Time, since Sunday is rightly regarded as the day of the Eucharist.[170] “Children who have not attained the age of reason, or those whom” the Parish Priest “has determined to be insufficiently prepared” should not come forward to receive the Holy Eucharist.[171]Where it happens, however, that a child who is exceptionally mature for his age is judged to be ready for receiving the Sacrament, the child must not be denied First Communion provided he has received sufficient instruction.

[169] Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 914; S. Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, Declaration, Sanctus Pontifex , diei 24 maii 1973: AAS 65 (1973) p. 410; S. Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship and S. Congregation for the Clergy, Letter to the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences. Episcoporum, In quibusdam , 31 March 1977 : Enchiridion Documentorum Instaurationis Liturgicae , II, pp. 142-144; S. Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship and S. Congregation for the Clergy, Response to dubium, 20 May 1977: AAS 69 (1977) p. 427.

[170] Cf. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini , 31 May 1998, nn. 31-34: AAS 90 (1998) pp. 713-766, here pp. 731-734.

[171] Cf. Code of Canon Law ,can. 914.”

 

[pacomius]

I’m not sure if the Latin Church has a particular “rule” about having an official first communion. We Byzantines commune our infants right after baptism and chrismation (confirmation), all in one liturgical setting.

In the Latin church there is the Rite of Christian Initiation for adults, where ordinarily the 3 sacraments are given in the same celebration like you have in the eastern church. However, more often we have them spread out in 3 different celebrations (above all for pastoral reasons), especially when the person is baptized as an infant, and then cannot be given “First Communion” (from some days old), until he/she reaches the age of reason (from 6 years old), and then confirmation (in my home Diocese from 14 years old, in another country from 10 years old).