Article — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology
Article IV. On the Mode of Carrying the Holy Eucharist to the Sick
As we said above (n. 164), public and private carrying are distinguished. Public carrying is set forth in the Roman Ritual.1 In private carrying, according to canon 849, § 2, "reverence and decorum owed to so great a sacrament should be carefully provided for, with the norms prescribed by the Apostolic See being observed."
The norm is presented by the Roman Ritual in these words: "When, for a just and reasonable cause, Holy Communion is privately carried to the sick, the priest should at least always have a stole covered by his own clothes; he should place the pyx in a little bag or burse, which, suspended from his neck by cords, he should put in his bosom; and he should never proceed alone, but should be accompanied by at least one faithful person, in the absence of a cleric. But when he has arrived at the room of the sick person, the priest should also put on a surplice with the stole, if he has not already put it on."2 For the rest, observe:
When the Holy Eucharist is carried openly, it is in itself forbidden to walk with covered head. But the prohibition seems to regard only public carrying. Moreover Ordinaries can - as it seems, now all - permit ministers, on account of cold or inclement weather, to use a small cap outside a city or town, even one so large that it covers the ears3 (St. Alphonsus, VI, 241). Indeed, if otherwise harm to the priest's health is to be feared, there is an excusing cause. Nothing also prevents an artificial covering from being used against rain or snow.
It is also permitted, scandal nevertheless being excluded, for a sufficiently grave cause, for example because of weather or distance, to carry the Eucharist on horseback,4 in a carriage (St. Alphonsus, VI, 243), likewise in an automobile, in a tram, or by railway. Likewise it is permitted in a case of necessity, namely lest someone be deprived of Viaticum, to run (St. Alphonsus, VI, 242), and likewise to use what is called a bicycle or motorcycle.5 Particular statutes, which here are milder and there stricter, should moreover be attended to. For the rest, local Ordinaries should take care "lest abuses creep into ecclesiastical discipline, especially concerning the administration of the sacraments" (canon 336, § 2). Moreover, note:
a) If Viaticum is ministered, it is to be said: "Receive, brother (sister), the Viaticum of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who may guard you from the malignant enemy and bring you to eternal life. Amen."6
b) If for a just cause the priest has taken with him only one host, then, after it has been given to the sick person, the pyx or little case can be washed in the house of the sick person and the ablution given to the sick person; then the pyx should be wiped with a purificator (St. Alphonsus, VI, 251).
1 Title IV, chapter 4.
2 Title IV, chapter 4, n. 29. By force of a special indult of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, 8 February 1875, which was abrogated neither by the general decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 23 December 1912, ad III, nor by canon 847 (cf. canon 4), private carrying is licit in the ecclesiastical province of Utrecht (Supplementum ad Rituale Romanum pro usu cleri provinciae ecclesiasticae Ultraiectensis, n. 22).
3 Cf. In Coloniensi, S.R.C., 13 November 1862; In Oriolensi, 22 April 1871, n. 3246, ad I; Supplementum ad Rituale Romanum pro usu cleri Provinciae ecclesiasticae Ultraiectensis, n. 21.
4 Roman Ritual, title IV, chapter 4, n. 13.
5 Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 13 June 1919.
6 Roman Ritual, title IV, chapter 4, n. 19.