What if hosts are left behind during consecration

[cjmoa]

I was at mass today, which is outside now and they made a few changes to how mass works.

There are no longer any altar servers during mass due to covid so all of the hosts and the wine are near and behind the temporary altar outside.

Today, I noticed that during consecration there weren’t much bowls of hosts on the altar.

It just so happened that all the bowls of hosts were still behind the priest during consecration, and it was still passed out.

Are those hosts that weren’t on the altar still the body of Christ? Should I have said something?

 

[Anesti33]

All things being equal, the ciboria (bowls of hosts) must be placed on the altar, on the corporal, during consecration.

In extraordinary circumstances, a priest can, by intention, consecrate every host in the general area. For example, in a stadium-sized Mass when all the ciboria will not fit on the altar.

So it comes down to your priest’s intention, which you cannot know and it is really not your business. Let’s assume good faith that a priest knows how to consecrate the Eucharist and he did the right thing.

 

[TomH1]

They do not have to be on the altar to be consecrated. However, during the Eucharistic Prayer the priest must have intended the hosts in those bowls on the table to be consecrated. Unless you have firm evidence to the contrary be satisfied that the priest knew what he was doing, that the hosts were consecrated and those who received them did receive not just the Body of Christ but the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.

 

[1ke]

It is possible he consecrated them at the mass even if in the credence table.

It is also possible the hosts on the credence table were already consecrated at a previous mass.

It would be best if they were in a tabernacle, but if this is a temporary set up and the priest didn’t have a portable tabernacle… he might have put the ciborium on the credence table.

You could inquire about it with him. We can only speculate and he can give you the facts.

 

[PeterT]

It is possible he consecrated them at the mass even if in the credence table.

It is also possible the hosts on the credence table were already consecrated at a previous mass.

That is what I would have thought too (and I think is the most likely possibility).