Slight Tipping of Chalice during Eucharistic Liturgy during Mass

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

Hi,

Short question,

I’ve noticed several priests ever-so-slightly tip the chalice towards themselves during the blessing of the Eucharist. Is there a significance to this?

 

[Brendan]

Yes, many priests desire to speak the words of consecration directly towards the substance.

The theological significance comes from the Hebrew ruaha (breath, spirit). The Hebrew word for breath and Spirit are the same, so the priest, acting in persona Christi, as the person of Christ, consecrates the gifts with the Holy Spirit ( ruaha) coming forth from Christ.

The instruction is for the priests to bow slightly towards the gifts when they speak the Words of Institution, but as you noted, many priests will use that opportunity to speak the Words directly to, and close by, the bread and the wine.

 

[Gorgias]

There are no rubrics for any sort of ‘tipping’, so it’s either individual preference or maybe just a sort of folk etymology.

On the other hand, the priest does bow during the words of institution. Is it possible they’re just tilting the chalice toward them so that it doesn’t tip as they bow forward?

 

[Brendan]

There are no rubrics for any sort of ‘tipping’, so it’s either individual preference or maybe just a sort of folk etymology.

It is a rubric in the EF Mass to speak the Words of Institution directly on the matter, for the reasons that I gave above.

While it is no longer a rubric to do so, the theological underpinnings remain, so it would hardly be a folk etymology.

 

[pianistclare]

Yes, many priests desire to speak the words of consecration directly towards the substance.

The theological significance comes from the Hebrew ruaha (breath, spirit). The Hebrew word for breath and Spirit are the same, so the priest, acting in persona Christi, as the person of Christ, consecrates the gifts with the Holy Spirit ( ruaha) coming forth from Christ.

The instruction is for the priests to bow slightly towards the gifts when they speak the Words of Institution, but as you noted, many priests will use that opportunity to speak the Words directly to, and close by, the bread and the wine.

Yes, all of our Archdiocesan priests do this.

 

[phil19034]

They do it to directly line up the chalice with their mouths

 

[Gorgias]

It is a rubric in the EF Mass to speak the Words of Institution directly on the matter, for the reasons that I gave above.

While it is no longer a rubric to do so, the theological underpinnings remain, so it would hardly be a folk etymology.

No, but it would be “individual preference”, to which I also alluded.

In any case, the current rubrics instruct the celebrant to hold the host and the chalice “slightly raised above the altar.” Unless one envisions a priest standing at the corner of the altar and stretching to reach the chalice in the center, he’s necessarily “speaking directly on the matter”, so there’s no need to ‘tip’ anything anyway.

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

Great answers, thanks everyone. In the cases I’ve seen it’s clear that it’s intentional and not a coincidental mannerism while bowing.

 

[MorEphrem]

the current rubrics instruct the celebrant to hold the host and the chalice “slightly raised above the altar.” Unless one envisions a priest standing at the corner of the altar and stretching to reach the chalice in the center, he’s necessarily “speaking directly on the matter”, so there’s no need to ‘tip’ anything anyway.

That’s an incredibly problematic view of what a rubric is in substance - rubrics are not entirely exhaustive, they’re directive hence why local customs have arisen down the centuries. If the rubric says to raise the chalice above the altar it does not preclude tilting it unless explicitly stated if to tilt the chalice is immemorial custom.

 

[Windmill]

Yes, many priests desire to speak the words of consecration directly towards the substance.

The theological significance comes from the Hebrew ruaha (breath, spirit). The Hebrew word for breath and Spirit are the same, so the priest, acting in persona Christi, as the person of Christ, consecrates the gifts with the Holy Spirit ( ruaha) coming forth from Christ.

The instruction is for the priests to bow slightly towards the gifts when they speak the Words of Institution, but as you noted, many priests will use that opportunity to speak the Words directly to, and close by, the bread and the wine.

That is a beautiful response.

 

[Gorgias]

That’s an incredibly problematic view of what a rubric is in substance - rubrics are not entirely exhaustive, they’re directive hence why local customs have arisen down the centuries.

A rubric is a rubric. A custom is a custom. They aren’t the same. Some customs may, in time, be codified as rubrics, but until they do, they’re just customs (with greater or lesser frequency of use).

If the rubric says to raise the chalice above the altar it does not preclude tilting it unless explicitly stated if to tilt the chalice is immemorial custom.

No one said that tilting was precluded.

On the other hand, the assertion that it’s a ‘rubric’ (in the OF, one presumes) isn’t quite correct.

I’m not really seeing what you’re trying to say, if you’re saying that there are implicit rubrics (which seems quite the oxymoron, on the face of it)…

 

[MorEphrem]

@Gorgias, in my first reading of your post I misunderstood the second paragraph.