Chapter IV: Circumstances of Holy Communion

— I. At What Time. 1. On what day. Except Friday in Parasceve, on which only Viaticum may be carried to the sick, on all days it is lawful in the Latin Church to distribute the Most Holy Eucharist. On Holy Saturday, however, "Holy Communion cannot be ministered to the faithful except during the solemnities of Masses, or continuously and immediately after they have been completed" (c. 867, §§1-3).

The Viaticum which alone it is lawful to distribute on Friday of the Greater Week must be understood as prescribed Viaticum, or that which is received for the first time in danger of death, for example, by a priest who had celebrated the sacred function healthy and then was brought into danger of life; but not that which, while the danger continues, is laudably repeated. On Holy Saturday, because it is an aliturgical day, only that Communion is permitted which is joined with Mass by a continuous connection. Moreover, Communion seems sufficiently joined with the solemnities when, immediately after the sacred action, from the very altar where it was celebrated, it is carried to the sick enclosed under the same roof. Nor is the prohibition of other Communion so grave that a cause would not excuse from it such as, not so long ago before the Code, the Sacred Congregation of Rites itself approved. For it declared it lawful that, for men who had completed spiritual exercises and could not wait for the solemnities of Masses, Communion be dispensed on Holy Saturday quite early in the morning (Ferreres, La Communion frecuente y diaria, nn. 176-177).

2. At what hour. "Holy Communion is to be distributed only at those hours at which the sacrifice of Mass can be offered, unless another reasonable cause counsels otherwise" (c. 867, §4).

The canon, in this favorable matter of Holy Communion, can be understood in such a way that the privilege of anticipating Mass is extended to Communion. And such is the style of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments. Moreover, a reasonable cause permits an exception, so that he who has remained fasting for a long time, even after midday, in order to receive it, should never be deprived of the sacred banquet. When the function of Thursday in the Supper of the Lord has been celebrated, Masses can no longer be said in the same church; in reality, from that hour the faculty of distributing Holy Communion there also seems to cease, especially since the sacred species must be removed. Yet a reasonable cause also suffices for derogating from this rule.

"Holy Viaticum can be ministered at any hour of the day or night" (c. 867, §5).

By this canon the prohibition of the Ritual, t. 4, c. 10, by which, except in necessity, nocturnal carrying of the Eucharist was prohibited, is removed. Since secret carrying is rather easily permitted, the very reason for the prohibition now no longer seems to subsist.

— II. In What Place. Wherever Mass can be celebrated, there also Holy Communion can be distributed, even in a private oratory, "unless the local Ordinary, for just causes, in particular cases, has prohibited this" (c. 869).

The power of the Ordinary to forbid dispensation of the Holy Eucharist is circumscribed by private oratory; nor would it be lawful for a bishop to prohibit Communion in private oratories by a general statute; but it is necessary that particular causes counsel that this be done in a particular case. Not even paschal Communion in itself is prohibited from being made in a private oratory, with the notification to be given to one's own pastor from c. 859, §3 being preserved.

— III. By What Rite. 1. A priest must always minister Holy Communion by his own rite, even to faithful of another rite. Yet, in urgent necessity, if a priest of a different rite is lacking, it is lawful for an Eastern priest who uses leavened bread to minister the Eucharist in unleavened bread, and conversely, for a Latin or an Eastern priest who uses unleavened bread, to minister in leavened bread; but each must preserve his own rite of ministering (c. 851, §2).

Observe that the faculty is made not of consecrating a different species, but merely of ministering it. But necessity is not circumscribed by Viaticum. Therefore it will be had whenever a faithful person would be morally impeded from Communion on that day unless a priest ministered to him a species of a different rite. Suppose that in a place there is one church, which preserves leavened species. In the absence of a priest of the Eastern rite, a Latin priest will be able, by his own rite, to offer from the ciborium the leavened species to those who otherwise could not communicate. Yet he will not be able to do this if he has the opportunity of consecrating matter of his own rite.

2. In the Latin Church, dispensation under the species of wine is prohibited (c. 852), even, as they commonly understand, if the necessity of Viaticum cannot otherwise be provided for. Yet Cappello, I, n. 451, thinks that the divine precept of receiving Viaticum can be preferred to the ecclesiastical law, if no inconveniences are foreseen.

3. The communicant: a) is permitted to consult his own devotion, so that, for the sake of piety, he can receive a sacrament confected in another rite; b) is counseled to receive paschal Communion in his own rite; c) but the dying person must receive Viaticum in his own rite; yet, when necessity urges, he can receive it in any rite (c. 866). But the minister must follow his own rite in ministering.

— 4. In dispensing the Eucharist, the sacred minister, and in receiving it the faithful communicant, must exhibit to the most august sacrament the reverence which reason and the canons require, so that it is better to abstain from ministering the sacrament than to admit positive irreverence.

Therefore:

a) Within Mass it is not lawful for the celebrant to distribute the Eucharist to faithful so distant that he himself loses sight of the altar (c. 868).

Places so distant can be had even in a great basilica. Yet we saw the moderation admitted in hospitals at n. 321, 3;

b) He must put on sacred vestments and use a light. The omission of light is judged venial; nor is the omission of the stole alone or of the surplice alone thought grave, but certainly the omission of every sacred vestment is, unless necessity urges. But what must in itself be observed in secret carrying, we saw above, n. 387, d). Yet these rules do not oblige under mortal sin. Thus it is also reputed venial to omit sacred vestments and a light in carrying the Most Holy from one altar to another.

Outside Mass the color of the stole can be that of the day or white;

c) He must proceed with a moderate step. Scandal being set aside, however, several permit that the priest run. From necessity it is lawful to use a gentle horse, or a carriage, even an automobile. It does not seem becoming, unless it is excused by the necessity of Viaticum, that the priest use the instrument commonly called a bicycle or motorcycle. The Sacred Congregation, when asked about this matter, abstained from an absolute prohibition, but warned that this manner was unusual. Here attention must be paid to episcopal statutes;

d) The Most Holy Eucharist is to be carried publicly with head uncovered. Dispensation outside cities was permitted to bishops; within a city it is reserved to the Holy See. Yet in a case of true necessity, by epikeia, they allowed that the priest cover his head, unless he could provide in a better way. But the better way now is secret carrying;

e) Holy Communion is to be given by one's own hand, and indeed by thumb and index finger. To use other fingers seems venial; from which the reason of not depriving the dying person or several healthy persons, why not one?, of Holy Communion will excuse. Yet if another priest is present, let him distribute Communion with thumb and index finger rather than another with other fingers.

And if the sick person cannot receive or swallow the host otherwise, they permit that, not too frequently, a particle of the host be offered to him in a spoon, with wine or water, provided scandal and danger of falling to the ground are absent. Something similar can be done to avoid danger of contagion;

f) Neither a larger host nor several smaller ones at once can be handed to one communicant: to do this would be venial. But lest one or another wait long, part of the host of the sacrifice can be detached; larger hosts can be consecrated and distributed divided into smaller parts. Where there is need, the smaller hosts themselves can be divided into two, at most three, parts;

g) A minister is required under light obligation. If he is lacking, the priest can do all things by himself. Except for the responses, a woman cannot supply the minister; nor is it the custom that in church a woman recite the Confiteor. Yet a nun or sister in the cloister or in the room of the sick person is accustomed to recite the prayers;

h) The Confiteor with absolution is required under light obligation. The blessing at the end is also prescribed, unless you are clothed in black paraments. The other prayers of the Ritual also now seem to be prescribed. Cf. Ritual, 1913, and Cappello, I, n. 453;

i) A burse of a color similar to the stole is to be used, with a corporal: a pall does not suffice;

j) Communion cannot be ministered at an altar where the Most Holy Sacrament is exposed. Wherefore, where there is only one altar, it will be better for a few moments to cover the Most Holy Sacrament with a veil, as is done while a sermon is held.

But it is tolerated that a priest clothed in vestments for Mass, when there is no easy supply of another priest, distribute Communion at another altar than that at which he has celebrated or is about to celebrate;

k) In itself, unless for a special cause the Ordinary has forbidden it in a domestic oratory, Communion can be distributed where it is lawful to celebrate (c. 869; cf. n. 421). And from there the Most Holy Eucharist can also be carried by any celebrant for "devotional" Communion to the sick who are lying in a room of a hospital or house;

l) As we have already said above, n. 401, various signs of honor are not strictly prescribed, but nevertheless are piously to be observed, such as laying aside weapons, gloves, etc.

— Concerning Defects. The rubrics of the Missal, ch. De defectibus in the Missal itself, are to be approached if something extraordinary happens. We shall note only these things.

If the species of bread has fallen, the host with the fragments being reverently collected, the place is to be marked, afterward to be washed with water to be poured into the sacrarium. St. Alphonsus, l. 6, n. 250, thinks the washing is required under grave obligation if the place is trodden by feet. Yet if it is morally established that nothing of consecrated matter remains there, we judge this to have been said too severely. And a washing which would move wonder is to be omitted, as in the beard of a man. If some host has fallen into the lap of a woman, let her herself draw it out separately and reverently and restore it to the priest.

But if a drop of blood has fallen, let it be absorbed, if it can be done, and the linen is to be washed three times. But if it has penetrated all the way to stone or wood, these things must be scraped somewhat, the scrapings burned, and the place washed three times. At least some washing, to be poured into the sacrarium, must be done under grave obligation.

— 1. Viaticum can be given on every day; Holy Communion on days other than Friday in Parasceve; on Holy Saturday only during the solemnities of Masses or continuously and immediately after they have been completed.

2. At the same hours at which Mass is offered, Holy Communion can be dispensed; but a reasonable cause permits an exception.

3. Where Mass is celebrated, Communion can be given. Yet the local Ordinary can prohibit this in a private oratory, in particular cases.

4. The Most Holy Eucharist is to be dispensed by one's own rite. Yet in urgent necessity a priest will be able to take a species of another rite already consecrated and offer it, by his own rite, to one about to communicate. Except for Viaticum, one can receive Communion of another rite.

5. Reverence in ministering is to be provided for, and therefore the rules must be observed concerning distance from the altar for the celebrant, vestments, light, movement, uncovered head, use of one's own hand, form of the host, the minister, the prayers of the Ritual, etc. And in the Missal itself the rubrics De defectibus explain what is to be done in an extraordinary case.