Catholic question.
The War Department, kids and myself went to Mass today. At the end it's customary for the priest to come to the foot of the altar, ask for all those having birthdays & wedding anniversaries to come forward to be recognized. Once they do so they're blessed and sent on their way. Yeah, I know it isn't prescribed but hey, it's a nice touch. Deal with it.
Anyway, today the priest comes forward and stoops down, picks up a Communion wafer that someone had obviously dropped, pops it into his mouth and swallows it. End of story.
Now I'd heard a Jesuit speak on this about 17 years ago and I seem to remember him saying a consecrated host that is dropped and the floor it lands on have to go through a very extensive cleansing process. It's been a while so maybe I'm wrong. This was definetly a consecrated host, it's location could only have happened while a Eucharistic Minister was dispensing Communion.
Anyway, do any of the Catholic readers of this blog know what the proper protocol is? I'll say that this priest is a good one, very active in the prolife movement, not a flaming liberal. He's actually a convert from the Anglicans where he was also a priest. I say that to emphasize his committment to the Church's teachings. But watching this happen floored me.
Any thoughts?
7 comments:
I was taught that it should picked up and immediatly consumed by the priest. Then the spot it hit was to be cleaned with a purificator to be sure all particles were recovered, which would then be rinsed into the sacrarium (SP?) in the sacristy. (that's why i do not like carpeting in the area of the altar or communion stations!)
But, I could have been taught wrong.
I don't know what the protocol is now, but I remember as a kid seeing what happened when a host was dropped on the floor during communion. Everything stopped. and the priest told the altar boys to surround the spot while he went into the sacristy. He came out with holy water and got down on his hands and knees and washed the floor - for a long time. It was taken very, very seriously, like some sort of radiation leak.
It's my understanding that if a consecrated host falls to the floor (which it never should, really - that's what patens are for) it should be immediately picked up and consumed, the area should be covered, and after Mass, the area should be cleaned.
Since it's the Blessed Sacrament, it doesn't lose any of it's Blessed-ness because it touched the ground. The only reason sometimes it's handled differently is if the Host breaks apart or fragments. I found something that might help you a lot more than my post: http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=78274
hope that helps!
I am not an expert subvet, but what you described is what I understand as an acceptable (if not the preferred) way of dealing with this.
Redneck wrote: "should picked up and immediatly consumed by the priest. Then the spot it hit was to be cleaned with a purificator to be sure all particles were recovered, which would then be rinsed into the sacrarium (SP?) in the sacristy."
Basically correct, except that if it is dropped during Mass then the area should be covered with a purificator to protect it & ward people away, & the cleaning done after Mass.
Keep in mind that this is what the should do. Ubfortunately it rarely is.
Consumed Immediately, then put the purificator on the spot where the Host fell, then after Mass take care to get all the particles.
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