When the priest breaks the host

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HOPEFUL_IN_UK

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After the consecration, when the priest breaks the host, are there any rubrics regarding how he is supposed to do it?

I ask because I noticed a priest holding up at about eye level to do it, recently. I guess so that we could all see him doing it. But… that made me wonder about the crumbs that might drop off. I know I’ve seen other priests carefully break the host right over the dish of hosts.
 
Most priests I know break it over the paten without lifting it up.
 
There should be a large square of white cloth on the altar to catch crumbs that fall from elevations or fractioning of the host. There are also priests who will fraction the large host over the chalice so that the crumbs fall in there.

I wouldn’t be too worried about this so long as the square of cloth is there to catch things.
 
HOPEFUL_IN_UK said:
After the consecration, when the priest breaks the host, are there any rubrics regarding how he is supposed to do it?

I ask because I noticed a priest holding up at about eye level to do it, recently. I guess so that we could all see him doing it. But… that made me wonder about the crumbs that might drop off. I know I’ve seen other priests carefully break the host right over the dish of hosts.
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He is supposed to do this over the paten, because he is also supposed to be concerned about particles.
 
I couldn’t see what was on the altar, but I believe the (what do you call that book with the liturgy in it?) missal was open in front of him. It seemed to me that crumbs would land on it or bounce into it or bounce… anywhere.

I have to admit that I prefer when the priest makes an obvious show of meticulous care with the Eucharist, but I don’t like to nitpick and judge everything they do.
 
It is likely that the Sacramentary was in front of him, the chalice behind it, and the cloth either under the chalice or immediately behind it. I tend to think that everything is safe here, as the particles are most likely to fall into the chalice or onto the cloth, as they are supposed to. Without seeing it, I can’t make a further judgment.
 
Well… I think if I were to hold a brittle piece of bread up at eye level and break it over a table that was at my waist, I’m not entirely sure all the splinters and bits would even land on the table top, or wouldn’t bounce off.
 
The fine folks who make the hosts have designed the large host to be easily fractured. There are far fewer crumbs with that host than you realize.
 
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