Fiftieth Anniversary of

Fiftieth Anniversary of Restoration of Reception of Holy Communion in the Hand

In 1969, following the Second Vatican Council, the Holy See under Pope Paul VI began granting countries and regions permission to administer Holy Communion in the hand. Memoriale Domini, Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion, of May 29, 1969 from the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship encouraged retaining Communion on the tongue, but outlined a process for individual conferences of bishops to vote and petition the Holy See for confirmation of Communion in the hand. The United States received an indult on June 17, 1977.

History

By Dianne Rachal

At the Last Supper “Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, . . . [T]hen he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it,” Mark 14:22-23 Reception of Holy Communion in the hand prevailed until the 9th century. Several factors led to a change in Eucharistic piety at this time:

• Increasingly, the Eucharist was becoming a rite performed by the clergy, as opposed to an action celebrated by the entire community. • The rise of vernacular languages contributed to the distancing of lay people from the altar and sanctuary. • Only clergy knew Latin and were therefore qualified to handle the Eucharistic species (concurrent with the rise of anointing a priest’s hands at ordination.) • Distribution of communion moved from within the Mass to after Mass. • Laity, reminded of their sinfulness, were receiving Holy Communion less frequently. • There was a gradual removal of the Eucharistic cup from the laity.

The custom of anointing the priest’s hands—together with its interpretation as “power to consecrate the Eucharist”—contributed significantly to the change from communion in the hand to communion on the tongue for laity. Lay people were gradually prohibited from touching the sacramental species. The evolution of the theology of concomitance, which affirmed the presence of the whole Christ in each species, solidified the practice of laity receiving only the Body of Christ—on the tongue—for a thousand years.

Following the Second Vatican Council

Neither Sacrosanctum Concilium nor any of the other documents of the Second Vatican Council mention communion in the hand. Following Memoriale Domini in 1969, Fr. Annibale Bugnini wrote an article in L’Osservatore Romano in 1973 that considered the new practice of reception of communion in the hand to be better and more faithful to the ancient way of receiving the Eucharist. Redemptionis Sacramentum in 2004 speaks of the right of the faithful to receive Communion on the tongue, n.92, and also kneeling, n.90.

The instruction of Memoriale Domini is still in effect:

“The option offered to the faithful of receiving the Eucharistic bread in their hand . . .must increase in them a consciousness of the dignity of the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, into which they are incorporated by baptism and by the grace of the Eucharist. It must also increase their faith in the sublime reality of the Lord’s body and blood, which they touch with their hand. Their attitude of reverence must measure up to what they are doing.”

The U.S. indult to receive Communion in the hand has resulted in this being the experience of three generations of Catholics. In his General Audience of March 21, 2018, Pope Francis reminded us: “The faithful approach the Eucharist normally in the form of a procession and receive Communion standing or on the knees, as determined by the Episcopal Conference, receiving the Sacrament in the mouth, or, where allowed, in the hand, as preferred.”

Pope Francis gives us the true meaning of the reception of the Eucharist: “To receive the Eucharist means letting oneself be transformed into that which we receive. Nourished by the bread of life, we become a ‘living Eucharist;’we become what we receive.”

The Western District Society of St. Vincent de Paul Celebrates the Feast Day of Patron Saint, St. Vincent de Paul, during the month of September.

o You will be provided with a script to u se when taking calls as part of your t raining. St. Vincent de Paul Feast Day: September 27 “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I w as thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a s tranger and you made me welcome; naked a nd you clothed me, sick and you visited me . . . I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers and s isters of mine, you did it to me.” M atthew 25:31-46

The Western District Society ofSt. Vincent de P aul

Invites you to join us in fulling the two great c ommandments: