Scholion II. On the Worship of the Holy Eucharist

I. Necessity of worship of the Holy Eucharist. Christ in the Eucharist must be adored with the worship of latria, even external. This is of faith from the Council of Trent: "If anyone says that in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, is not to be adored with the worship of latria, even external, and therefore is not to be venerated with a special festive celebration, nor solemnly carried around in processions according to the praiseworthy and universal rite and custom of holy Church, or is not to be publicly proposed to the people that He may be adored, and that His adorers are idolaters, let him be anathema."¹ Now the sacramental species, since they pertain to the sacramental Christ, are to be adored together with the body and blood of Christ. But they constitute not the motive but the term of this adoration, and therefore the adoration, insofar as it regards the species themselves, must be called relative.

¹ Session 13, canon 6.

II. Zeal for the worship of the Holy Eucharist. Those who labor in the religious instruction of the faithful should omit nothing to excite piety toward the Most Holy Eucharist in their souls, and especially exhort them that, not only on Sundays and feasts of precept, but also on weekdays within the week, they frequently, so far as can be done, assist at the sacrifice of the Mass and visit the Most Holy Sacrament (canon 1273). Specifically, the following are noted in the Code:

1. Exposition of the Holy Eucharist. A twofold exposition is distinguished: private, which is made with the pyx, and public, which is made with the monstrance. Now private exposition can be made for any just cause without the permission of the Ordinary in churches or oratories to which it has been given to reserve the Most Holy Eucharist. But public exposition on the feast day of Corpus Christi and within the octave can be made in all churches during the solemnities of the Masses and at Vespers; but at other times only for a just and grave cause, especially a public one, and with the permission of the local Ordinary, even if the church belongs to an exempt religious institute (canon 1274, § 1), with the prescription of canon 1171 remaining firm, as the Sacred Congregation of the Council says,¹ that is, with parochial rights, privileges, and legitimate customs being saved, and with the right of the Ordinary of predefining, for a just cause, the hours of sacred rites in churches which do not belong to an exempt religious institute being saved.

Note 1. According to the rubrics, the pyx to be exposed cannot be taken out from the tabernacle, but can only be brought forward to its entrance.² But where a contrary custom is legitimately sustained, this kind of exposition of the pyx on a throne is, with respect to liceity, to be equated with public exposition. Finally, the custom of exposing the Holy Eucharist without the permission of the Bishop, where this is required by law, cannot be preserved.³

Note 2. The minister of exposition and reposition of the Most Holy Sacrament is a priest or deacon; but the minister of Eucharistic Benediction is the priest alone, nor can a deacon impart it except in the case in which, according to the norm of canon 845, § 2, he has carried Viaticum to the sick (canon 1274, § 2).

2. The supplication of the Forty Hours should be held every year in all parish churches and other churches in which the Most Holy Sacrament is habitually reserved, on days established with the consent of the local Ordinary, with the greatest solemnity possible; and if somewhere, because of particular circumstances of things, it cannot be done without grave inconvenience and with the reverence due to so great a sacrament, let the local Ordinary see to it that at least for some continuous hours, on fixed days, the Most Holy Sacrament be exposed in a more solemn rite (canon 1275).

¹ 14 July 1922 (A.A.S. 1922, p. 529).

² Sacred Congregation of Rites, 23 May 1835, n. 2725, reply to IV; 16 March 1876, n. 3394, reply to I; 28 April 1902, n. 4096, reply to VII; 16 February 1906, n. 4180, reply to II.

³ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 14 March 1861, n. 3104, reply to XIV.