How are the Communion wafers handled?
score:3
I'll describe what I've seen at (traditional) Catholic masses. At some masses, the priest will consecrate a large number of hosts, more than would be needed at that mass. These are in a ciborium on the altar (See: Wikipedia for pictures of some ciboria), which is uncovered at the time of the consecration. They are consecrated along with the host that the priest will consume at that mass. Those that are left after communion are kept in the ciborium (covered) in the tabernacle on the altar, and they are available for distribution at later masses. I'm not aware of any particular rules about when additional hosts can be consecrated, and I would guess it's just whenever the priest notices that the supply in the tabernacle is getting low.
The preceding paragraph describes what I've seen in typical churches. In places where there is no church and the mass is celebrated in rented halls, there is no tabernacle in which hosts can be stored for the weeks (or more) that can elapse between masses. (Actually, hosts should not be stored for that long anyway, because they shouldn't be allowed to get moldy.) In such a situation, I've seen them count (before mass) the number of people planning to receive communion, so that the priest can consecrate the right number of hosts (maybe a few more than the count, in case of latecomers). If any hosts remained after mass, the priest would consume them.
If, for some reason, there are not enough hosts, the priest can break them and give each communicant half (or a smaller fraction) of a host. Any small part of a consecrated host is still Christ's whole body, blood, soul, and divinity (as long as the part still has the accidents of bread --- not just a molecule or two).
To answer your other questions: At the elevation, the priest elevates only the host that he will consume. The rest remain in the ciborium. The ciborium is covered except during the consecration and the distribution of communion.
Consecrated hosts are kept in the tabernacle, except during a special ceremony from Holy Thursday to Good Friday. Unconsecrated hosts are, I believe, stored in the sacristy, the room where the priest puts on his vestments and generally prepares for mass.
More post
- 📝 We will judge angels? But we are lower than the angels
- 📝 What is the Catholic response to the Eastern Orthodox view that the Immaculate Conception remove Jesus' ability to redeem all of humanity?
- 📝 How do we apply Matthew 12:25
- 📝 Who are the 144,000?
- 📝 What does Eastern-Orthodoxy teach about the Law and Gospel division?
- 📝 According to the Bible how does one receive the gift of the Holy Ghost?
- 📝 Is the tree of "knowledge of good and evil" the same as the "tree of life"?
- 📝 Can the entirety of Jesus's teachings be summed up in a few words? A phrase or sentence?
- 📝 Can the ancestral sin doctrine (and Paul's epistles) survive without a single breeding pair?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying Lucifer is an angel?
- 📝 What is the Christian counterpart of Sharia and Halakha?
- 📝 Does the Bible say if animals in Eden were carnivorous, or when animals on Earth became carnivorous?
- 📝 If an Eastern Rite Catholic marries in the Western rite, does he/she need to formally change rites?
- 📝 What would be the best version of the bible for me?
- 📝 Could a lowborn during the middle ages read the bible?
- 📝 Who was the 12th Apostle - Matthias or Paul?
- 📝 How do I discern righteous guilt from false guilt?
- 📝 How many times did Jonah's prophecies not come to pass?
- 📝 English translation of "Sermon sur la communion indigne" by St. John Vianney
- 📝 When did the "upside down cross" become a symbol of anti-Christianity?
- 📝 On the validity of the anticipated absolution in absence of the related confession
- 📝 Who is the author referred to in the Pope's 4 April 2014 homily?
- 📝 Which Christians refuse vaccinations on religious grounds?
- 📝 Does an understanding of how the Bible was written, play a strong role in any Christian sect?
- 📝 2 Corinthians 5:10 addresses the Judgment Seat of Christ. What is the result of the individuals' judgment?
- 📝 Should Christians (Protestants) play God of War?
- 📝 What is the importance of reading the Bible personally in Catholicism?
- 📝 Can someone be saved if they willingly live in sin?
- 📝 Is all the land in the universe called Earth?
- 📝 How did the livestock of the Egyptians die twice?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How are the Communion wafers handled?
- 📝 How is it that Georgian Orthodox Church are in full communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church when they have a different biblical canon?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for withholding communion from believers who are unbaptized?
- 📝 How are the Calvinist, Arminian and Lutheran conceptions of Total Depravity different?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses respond to the charge that they are false prophets (because their end-of-the-world predictions didn't come true)?
- 📝 Are there any conflicts between how Jesus is described in the Book of Mormon vs how He is described in the Bible?
- 📝 How are emendations to the Masoretic Text viewed within the doctrine of inerrancy?
- 📝 How many witnesses are there who physically saw and/or touched the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was reportedly translated?
- 📝 In the NPP, if Paul's "works of the law" are only circumcision and diet, how is Galatians 3:10 interpreted?
- 📝 Do we answer the arguments of fools or not? How are Proverbs 26:4-5 to be understood?
- 📝 How is the belief that Christians are both adopted and begotten sons of God reconciled?
- 📝 How are prayer and asking the saints to intercede distinguished?
- 📝 How do Theistic Evolutionists who are Christians reconcile these Scriptures with the adoption of evolutionary theory?
- 📝 If the dead are already in heaven, how do they rise at the second coming?
- 📝 How sound are the arguments that Melchizedek invoked a Canaanite deity when he met Abraham?
- 📝 What is the source of the count of 40000 denominations, and how are they classified?
- 📝 How comparable are the concepts of the Teaching Magisterium in the Catholic Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses view of their Watch Tower society?
- 📝 Does God want things? What are some of the things He wants, and how did we find out?
- 📝 How are the persons of the Trinity distinctively active in a Christian's prayer?
- 📝 How do we know that Satan, Lucifer, and Devil are the same guy?
- 📝 What are the differences between Mormonism and Islam, and how do Mormons react to comparisons with it?
- 📝 How are the teachings in the Book of James consistent with Salvation by Grace alone?
- 📝 How are the Catholic church's teaching on plastic surgery and GRS self-consistent?
- 📝 How can the wicked live for eternity in hell when they are completely separated from the only source of eternal life?
- 📝 How are the different covenants related to or different from each other?
- 📝 How are the 12 Anathemas of St. Cyril against Nestorius supposed to be read?
- 📝 How does this fit in with "we are incapable of following the law"?
- 📝 How can common believers in the Eastern Orthodox Church be sure that the Church's decisions are correct and not erroneous?
- 📝 How do we make sure that we are on the rightful religion/path?
- 📝 What are the different main views existent in Christianity on how 1 Peter 4:6 must be interpreted?