Wheat- and gluten-free communion hosts

[Rome_Always]

I myself am an EM and have gluten-intolerance. Our parish uses the low-gluten hosts as there is myself and a minimum of 10 other people with this problem in our parish. I am no longer able to receive the precious blood because of my multiple food allergies, I am also allergic to the yeast in the precious blood. Most wines also contain wheat however. So, when the time comes for your children to receive First Holy Communion, ask the priest for a low-gluten hosts for your child. They will usually give to that child first as I have seen done here. Hope this helps!

 

[katiebride2b]

the low gluten hosts have gluten levels around 0.01%, according to this website
benedictinesisters.org/bread/low_gluten.php

I’m not sure if this is true of all low-gluten hosts, or just these ones made by these particular nuns.

 

[Seatuck]

the low gluten hosts have gluten levels around 0.01%, according to this website
benedictinesisters.org/bread/low_gluten.php

I’m not sure if this is true of all low-gluten hosts, or just these ones made by these particular nuns.

Plus, these are the only low gluten hosts that are available that are made in the US.

 

[ConstantineTG]

So you must make some arrangement before mass so that the priest would consecrate more wine to offer then I suppose?

If the Precious Blood is not normally offered in the parish, then yes.

 

[ConstantineTG]

the low gluten hosts have gluten levels around 0.01%, according to this website
benedictinesisters.org/bread/low_gluten.php

I’m not sure if this is true of all low-gluten hosts, or just these ones made by these particular nuns.

That’s pretty much very low and still use wheat. Wheat cannot be gluten free, its the nature of wheat. So you try to go as low as you can for the bread to still be wheat bread.

 

[maryjk]

I myself am an EM and have gluten-intolerance. Our parish uses the low-gluten hosts as there is myself and a minimum of 10 other people with this problem in our parish. I am no longer able to receive the precious blood because of my multiple food allergies, I am also allergic to the yeast in the precious blood.** Most wines also contain wheat however**. So, when the time comes for your children to receive First Holy Communion, ask the priest for a low-gluten hosts for your child. They will usually give to that child first as I have seen done here. Hope this helps!

Do you have a source for that information? I drink wine and have Celiac and have never had a problem. Most sources say that wine is wheat and gluten free.

 

[ComputerGeek25]

I was always told you had to have both (part of the reason it feels odd when they offer only the body of Christ).

This is incorrect. You only need to have one.

 

[Rome_Always]

Do you have a source for that information? I drink wine and have Celiac and have never had a problem. Most sources say that wine is wheat and gluten free.

Here is the link to an article that answers your question and why gluten can sometimes be found in wine but at a level of 1 to 2 parts per million. celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenfreefoodshoppin1/f/Is-Wine-Gluten-Free.htm

I hope this helps. I was also doing some more research on gluten free/celiac websites. Like I had stated before, I have multiple food allergies. On one of the websites, which coudl be my problem, it said that casein also has somehow made it into wine. What I do now is that last summer I was put on a a medicine containing barley. At the time, we did not know that I had celiacs/gluten intolerance because of my many other digestive disorders. We just thought that it was something containing milk and yeast that I was reacting to. So, it was almost like vertigo for me and had such severe headaches I thought I was dying. It was a severe reaction to the barley in the medicine. Shortly before Easter of this year, I took a sip of wine at a daily mass. I was buzzed without hardly just a taste touching my lips. So, I think it depends on the sensitivity of the individual. However, when your children are old enough, do ask the parish priest to do this for you and I think it will help. As a catechist, I had a child for several years with milk/wheat/and soy allergies and was also sensivity to his matter. I was also at that First Holy Communion and he was given it first so maybe that could be arranged for you. Hope this helps!

 

[maryjk]

Here is the link to an article that answers your question and why gluten can sometimes be found in wine but at a level of 1 to 2 parts per million. celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenfreefoodshoppin1/f/Is-Wine-Gluten-Free.htm

I hope this helps. I was also doing some more research on gluten free/celiac websites. Like I had stated before, I have multiple food allergies. On one of the websites, which coudl be my problem, it said that casein also has somehow made it into wine. What I do now is that last summer I was put on a a medicine containing barley. At the time, we did not know that I had celiacs/gluten intolerance because of my many other digestive disorders. We just thought that it was something containing milk and yeast that I was reacting to. So, it was almost like vertigo for me and had such severe headaches I thought I was dying. It was a severe reaction to the barley in the medicine. Shortly before Easter of this year, I took a sip of wine at a daily mass. I was buzzed without hardly just a taste touching my lips. So, I think it depends on the sensitivity of the individual. However, when your children are old enough, do ask the parish priest to do this for you and I think it will help. As a catechist, I had a child for several years with milk/wheat/and soy allergies and was also sensivity to his matter. I was also at that First Holy Communion and he was given it first so maybe that could be arranged for you. Hope this helps!

I don’t have a problem with wine or the low gluten host.

One part per million isn’t enough to bother most people with Celiac.

 

[Rome_Always]

I do fine with the low-gluten host myself. Just not the precious blood. Last September at our Eucharistic Congress, it was the first year that they had a “Gluten-Free” really meaning “low-gluten” line to go and receive communion. I think our diocese must have finally figured out that certain people have this issue. So, I think the matter is solved by now. God Bless.

 

[onthisrock]

I was told that whether you receive ONLY the host or ONLY the cup that you are receiving both the body and blood of Christ. some people choose to only take the body and not the blood. people with gluten allergies…though a host is so incredibly small, I can’t imagine some kind of hospitalization occurring due to partaking in the body, can choose the cup alone…am I wrong?

 

[liturgyluver]

I was told that whether you receive ONLY the host or ONLY the cup that you are receiving both the body and blood of Christ. some people choose to only take the body and not the blood. people with gluten allergies…though a host is so incredibly small, I can’t imagine some kind of hospitalization occurring due to partaking in the body, can choose the cup alone…am I wrong?

Well, to someone with serious Gluten intolerance, even a crumb or grain of wheat can trigger a reaction that can lead to cancer. That’s why if Gluten-free hosts are used they are kept in a separate Pyx.

 

[Brendan]

I was always told you had to have both (part of the reason it feels odd when they offer only the body of Christ).

Both species are identical in every way, except for how they appear to our senses.

What one recieves in either species is the full, living, Ressurected, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

If one has the smallest crumb of the Host, or the tiniest sip from the chalice, one recieves the same thing, or more correctly, the same Person, Christ Himself, and do so completely.

That is why you will see both Rome and US Bishops Conference refer to ‘species’ and ‘forms’, instead of Body and Blood.

The Body and Blood are equally present in either form, so it is a bit of a misnomer to refer to each species as if they were unique from each other in any way other than how they appear to our senses.

Statements like “I recieved only the Body” or “I recieved only the Blood” are meaningless, as you cannot recieve one without the other, they are united forever more in the living Christ.