Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise IV. On the Most Holy Eucharist › Dissertation II. On the Most Holy Eucharist as It Is a Sacrament › Part I. On the Most Holy Sacrament Considered in Itself › Section II. On the Essence of the Sacrament of the Eucharist › Chapter I. On the Remote Matter

Article — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Article I. On the Matter of Bread

141.

I. The matter required for validity is bread, composed of wheaten flour and water, and uncorrupted with respect to substance. It does not matter for validity whether it is unleavened or leavened. I said:

  1. Bread. Therefore invalid matter is: a) a raw or uncooked mass of flour; b) a mass which was not baked by fire but boiled after the manner of porridge or cake; c) a fried mass. The reason is that all these things do not come under the name of bread. Nevertheless it does not matter whether the bread has been baked by electric fire or by another fire.

  2. Composed of wheaten flour and water. That wheaten bread is required is clear: 1. from the Council of Florence1 and from various liturgies;2 2. from the fact that Christ used wheaten bread, and this bread alone is and was usual in Palestine.3 Therefore invalid matter is:

a) Food confected from matter which is not grain, for example from flour of beans, potatoes, etc.

b) Bread confected from grain which is not wheat, for example from millet, barley, oats, maize, rice, or rye; the grain which in Dutch is called emer is doubtful matter.

By the name spelt there is sometimes designated a kind of wheat, sometimes grain which in no way or doubtfully belongs to the genus of wheat. Therefore in practice attention should be paid to the quality and to the judgment of experts. For the rest, it does not matter whether the wheat is summer or winter wheat.

  1. Composed of wheaten flour and water. This is clear from the fact that bread thus composed was used by Christ, and was usual in Palestine.4 Therefore invalid matter would be flour kneaded only with oil, honey, wine, butter, or milk; flour kneaded with artificial or at least non-usual water, such as rose water, is doubtful matter5 (St. Alphonsus, VI, 199).

Admixture made with wheat certainly does not obstruct validity if the quantity of wheat notably prevails; it certainly obstructs if the quantity of wheat is notably smaller; otherwise, that is, if the suitable and unsuitable quantity is equal or differs little, the species has at least probably been changed, and therefore the matter is at least doubtfully valid (cf. St. Thomas, III, q. 74, a. 3, ad 3; St. Alphonsus, VI, 201).6 Thus, with regard to the quantity of the admixed matter; with regard to its quality, a smaller quantity can sometimes suffice to change the wheat to which it is admixed.

  1. Uncorrupted with respect to substance. Bread notably corrupted is in practice doubtful matter; but moldy bread, or bread only tending toward corruption, is valid matter.

  2. For validity it does not matter whether the bread is unleavened or leavened. This is clear from the Council of Florence7 (cf. canon 816).

1 Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 692.

2 Cf. Roman Missal, On Defects, title 3, n. 4.

3 Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, word pain, p. 1951.

4 Vigouroux, loc. cit.

5 Roman Missal, On Defects, title 3, n. 2.

6 Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, 16 March 1929 (A.A.S. 1929, p. 632).

7 Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 692.

The Matter of Bread

142.

II. The matter required for liceity is bread:

  1. Merely wheaten (canon 815, § 1), indeed altogether pure, to which, namely, matter diverse from wheat or water has not been admixed; indeed it is better that the flour have been purified by a sieve.

  2. Entirely uncorrupted; hence not at all moldy. But for how much time after their baking hosts remain entirely uncorrupted depends on the circumstances of weather, place, manner of preserving them, etc.

  3. Recently confected, so that there is no danger of corruption. Thus canon 815, § 1. And the Roman Ritual:1 "But the hosts or particles to be consecrated should be fresh." Now the Sacred Congregation of Rites, in the case of Ghent,2 reprobated the custom of consecrating hosts confected three months previously in wintertime or six months previously in summer; and the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments3 rejected the practice of procuring for oneself so many hosts as would suffice for two or three months. Now, although in the judgment of chemists the danger of corruption is commonly exaggerated, nevertheless, considering the mind of the Church, it should be urged that hosts to be consecrated not have been baked more than two weeks or a month previously.4

  4. Of circular and thin shape in the Latin Church; square in the Greek Church. Thus from ancient practice. Besides, the host should be:

  5. Whole, clean, and, according to use, larger for the priest. If the fracture or spot is enormous, or if the host begins to grow moldy, its use is prohibited under grave obligation. Hence it is not permitted to use this kind of host except for a grave cause, for example if the defect is detected after the oblation has been made, provided, however, that scandal does not arise from its use, and that the host is not so broken that the grave rites cannot be carried out5 (St. Alphonsus, VI, 204). The use of a host simply broken or spotted, or smaller, is prohibited only under light obligation. Therefore a just cause excuses, for example if otherwise a sick person would lack Viaticum or the people would lack Mass; indeed, quite probably the devotion of the priest alone suffices (St. Alphonsus, VI, 205).

  6. Unleavened in the Latin Church, leavened in the Greek;6 for canon 816 establishes: In the celebration of Mass, a priest, according to his own rite, must use unleavened or leavened bread wherever he offers the sacred sacrifice.

Considering the cited canon, the opinion no longer seems to hold which conceded that a priest, as a traveler living in a region of another rite, might consecrate the bread of that rite if bread of his own rite was not available. For the rest, the obligation of using bread of one's own rite is considered so great that not even for ministering Viaticum to a sick person is it permitted to consecrate bread of another rite. The reason is that the common good, because of which the law was passed, that is, the necessity of preserving for each Church its own rite, in the mind of the Church prevails over the divine precept of receiving Viaticum; this necessity of the common good, of course, was once more evident than today. Nevertheless the use of bread of another rite is licit for completing the sacrifice; as if after the wine has been consecrated the bread used should be detected as corrupted, and only bread of another rite should be available (St. Alphonsus, VI, 203).

The distribution and reception of the Holy Eucharist confected in another rite will be discussed later.

1 Title IV, chapter 1, n. 7.

2 16 December 1826 (Collectanea, n. 2650).

3 7 December 1918.

4 Concerning consecrated Hosts, see n. 132.

5 Roman Missal, On Defects, title X, n. 9.

6 Certain Orientals, however, such as Armenians and Maronites, use unleavened bread; cf. Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, 20 May 1838.

The Matter of Bread