Case XLIII: Non-Alcoholic Wine—Valid Matter?

Case.—The priest Titus is opposed to alcoholic beverages, and for this reason strives to take as little wine as possible in the celebration of Holy Mass. At the offertory he uses so little that the prescribed proportion of wine and water is barely preserved; then he takes only a few drops for the purificatio calicis and the ablutio digitorum. One day he comes upon an advertisement offering a non-alcoholic wine. The genuineness of the wine and the absolute absence of alcohol are guaranteed by the advertiser. Titus now rejoices that he has found the right thing, and in future he is going to celebrate only with non-alcoholic wine.

Question.—Is this permissible?

Solution.—Before replying to this question we should first of all subject the past practice of this priest to objective criticism. The rubrics of the Missal (VII. 4) say plainly... “he places wine in the chalice. Then... pouring a little water into the chalice.” With these words a certain proportion of wine and water is indicated, of water there must be less than of wine. “If so much water is mixed with it—that is, with the wine—that the wine is corrupted, the Sacrament is not confected” (de defectibus IV, I). The authors endeavor to determine absolutely the quantity of water and wine, thus to give a more definite expression to the prescribed proportion. St. Alphonsus says, in his book on the ceremonies of Holy Mass: “Then, holding the chalice slightly tilted, he pours into the chalice from the inclined side wine in a suitable quantity, that is, as much as can be consumed in one draught.” Similarly writes De Herdt (S. L. Praxis I. n. 226), and others. Thus it is established that not a great quantity of wine is requisite for celebration. To the wine then must be added a very small quantity of water. “The Sacrament of the Eucharist, whose matter is wheaten bread and wine from the vine, with which a very small quantity of water must be mixed before consecration,” it is stated in the Decretum pro Armenis of the Council of Florence (Denzinger, Enchiridion, n. 593). Similarly the Provincial Council of Vienna prescribed: “In mixing the water, careful provision is to be made that it be very small in quantity and wholly incapable of changing the nature of the wine” (tit. III.c. V.). Lehmkuhl (Theol. Mor. II. n. 121) describes this small quantity with the words: “una alterave gutta.” C. Marc (Instit. Mor. n. 1524) holds that one drop suffices, “modo sit sensibilis.” In support of this opinion there is quoted a passage of St. Thomas, in his Summa Theol. (3 qu. 74. a.8): “It suffices for the signification of this Sacrament that the water be perceptible when it is added to the wine; it is not necessary, however, that it be perceptible after the mixing.” Since according to the authorities (cf. S. Alphonsus, Theol. Mor. L. VI to. 3, n. 210) one eighth, and if the wine is strong even one fifth, may be water, it is plain that if but little water is taken, a very small measure of wine is required for the consecration. Hence it is simple to carry out that which the authors indicate with the words: “Quantum uno haustu sumi potest.”

Regarding the amount of wine to be used at the purificatio calicis, St. Alphonsus says (l. c., p. 114): “He should cause as much wine to be poured in as was consecrated.” De Herdt is again in perfect accord with this. At the ablutio digitorum one takes usually the same amount of liquid; since here more water than wine must be taken (“but a greater quantity of water than of wine is always to be taken” de Herdt, I. n. 270), a small quantity of wine, a few drops, will suffice.

If all this is observed, then the entire quantity of wine used at a Holy Mass is so small that an injurious influence upon the health is under normal conditions certainly not to be thought of. Regarding the validity of the Masses hitherto said by the priest Titus, only an actual investigation of the materia vini used can give us information. He surely has not used for celebrating Mass an aged and strong vintage. If the wine be weak, then, according to the authorities (Lehmkuhl, l. c.), “Care must be taken that too great a quantity of water is not poured in, especially if the wine is weak; for mixing water up to a third part can render the matter of consecration doubtful.” The admixture of a third part water to the wine makes it a materia dubia, indeed, in the opinion of many persons (“secundum humanam aestimationem et usum”) this would no longer be considered wine. Though we may, nevertheless, accept this materia as valida, and thus presume the validity of the Masses said, there can be no question that this materia dubia is illicita, because, as every book on moral theology teaches, when it is a question of the validity of a sacrament, one may not without compelling cause, such as extreme need, ever make use of a materia dubia. Tutius eligendum est. Considered objectively, therefore, the practice of Titus has been wrong and sinful.

Will the modern invention of non-alcoholic wines now help him to escape his difficulty? According to Haine Theol. Mor. Elem. III. p. 26) the sacrificial wine must have the following qualities: (a) by necessity of the Sacrament it must be: 1. wine from the vine; 2. ordinary, that is, drinkable; 3. uncorrupted in its kind; (b) by necessity of precept it must be: 1. pure; 2. clean; 3. not frozen; 4. not something that has begun to sour or become corrupt or has become somewhat sharp; 5. mixed with a small quantity of water. That the wine must be good is expressly directed by the Provincial Council of Vienna, which says: “It would be intolerable if wine were employed for so great a mystery which the rector of the church would be ashamed to serve to guests.” Hence a good wine must be employed in offering up the Holy Mass, and, furthermore, it must be genuine. “As long as, according to human estimation and usage, the bread and wine are substantially uncorrupted, they remain valid matter; if they are certainly corrupted, they become invalid; if doubtfully so, the matter will be doubtful” (Lehmkuhl Theol. Mor. II. n. 118). Now is a non-alcoholic wine secundum humanam aestimationem et usum a genuine wine, a materia incorrupta?

Non-alcoholic wine is the product of an artificial procedure, not the product of natural fermentation. The fresh grape juice is brought to a high temperature, so that the albuminous matter is expelled, this clarifies the juice and it is made to keep in good condition by subsequent sterilization. This sterilized juice is then poured into sterilized bottles, and is then known in commerce as non-alcoholic wine. It keeps well as long as the bottles remain unopened, and it actually contains not a trace of alcohol, all fermentation having been prevented. This wine, therefore, is not produced by natural fermentation, but made artificially, and it is not the natural product called “wine” but an artificial wine. For the natural wine there is required, on the one hand, the ripe, unadulterated grape juice, secured from grapes in the ordinary way (vinum de vite modo consueto extractum), on the other hand, the natural, alcoholic fermentation. If through the addition of water and sugar the original quantity of wine is increased threefold, or even fivefold (as is done in some methods of making grape juice) this is a notabilis mutatio et permixtio alienae materiae (Lehmkuhl T. M. II. 119) and the wine obtained in such fashion is not materia valida. Nor can we consider as materia valida a wine that is not produced by natural fermentation, and that is utterly lacking alcohol. All genuine wine contains alcohol, usually 9 to 12 per cent., although certain heavy wines, such as Port, contain as much as 23 per cent.

Every wine, therefore, contains a quantity of alcohol, and if its original percentage of alcohol is very low then the natural wine will not keep, and more alcohol must be added. If this takes place while the wine is in the making, and is done by adding spirits of wine (dummodo spiritus extractus fuerit ex genimine vitis) and increased at most to 12 per cent., then this manipulation is expressly permitted for altar wines (C. S. O., July 31, 1890), because there is not added any foreign matter to the wine.

Alcohol belongs to the nature of wine, it is an essential constituent thereof. Take away this constituent, and the liquid may still appear to many as wine, yet secundum humanam aestimationem it is wine no longer, “non ex colore, odore et gustu dignoscitur esse verum vinum,” it is a materia certo corrupta, and hence invalida. The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office replying to the question: “Whether it is lawful, for confecting the sacrifice of Holy Mass, to use wine obtained from must which was condensed by evaporation through heat before vinous fermentation?” decreed Aug. 5, 1896: “It is lawful, provided that a decoction of this kind does not exclude alcoholic fermentation, and that the fermentation itself can be obtained naturally and is in fact obtained.” Non-alcoholic wine is, therefore, unfit to be used in saying Mass, and Titus must not make use of it. Neither is it necessary to do so. If he is sick, and his stomach will not take pure wine, then he should omit the celebration until his condition improves. Otherwise he should use a light wine, one of the many wines of small alcoholic percentage. At the offertory he should take very little water, so that he will need but such a small amount of wine that the alcohol taken is hardly worth mentioning. He need, then, not fear any harm to his health.