.Sfcuin Cfu$ £off«c«one
XXI
THE *
SACRAMENT RESERVED
A SURVEY OF THE PRACTICE OF RESERV
ING THE EUCHARIST, WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO THE COMMUNION OF
THE SICK, DURING THE FIRST TWELVE
CENTURIES BY
W. H. FREESTONE, M.A.

A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. Ltd.
London : 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W.
Oxford : 9 High Street
Milwaukee, U.S.A. : The Young Churchman Co.

1917
[«/// rights reserved']

»Y^LlE«¥]M]I¥EI&SIIirY» - iLniaiiyMKy •

THE SACRAMENT RESERVED

dRftuin CfuS tothctione
XXI
THE
SACRAMENT RESERVED
A SURVEY OF THE PRACTICE OF RESERV
ING THE EUCHARIST, WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO THE COMMUNION OF
THE SICK, DURING THE FIRST TWELVE
CENTURIES

W. H. FREESTONE, M.A.
Late of the House of the Resurrection, {Mirfield

A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. Ltd.
London : 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W.
Oxford : 9 High Street
Milwaukee, U.S.A. : The Young Churchman Co.
1917
[jtll rights reserved)

PREFACE
AS no attempt seems to have been made of late to
gather material for a history of the practice of
reserving the Eucharist, the collection published in the
following pages may have some value, in spite of the
fact that the author is a novice in ecclesiology. The chief
aim, indeed, of the book has been to present in convenient
and systematic form passages from readily accessible sources
that refer more or less directly to reservation ; but as the
material has accumulated and fallen into order, certain
deductions have become clear and need to be stated.
Some criticism will doubtless be disarmed if attention be
called here to the limitations and deficiencies of the work.
It seemed, in the first place, inadvisable to pursue the
subject beyond a date at which the custom of the Western
Church had become generally fixed and uniform. By
setting a term to the period surveyed, it was possible
to confine the attention mainly to the conditions under
which reservation was practiced for the sick, without
digressing into the discussion of other purposes for which
the reserved Eucharist was later employed. A landmark
is obviously reached in the Fourth Lateran Council (12 15),
where the most important conclusion about eucharistic
doctrine arrived at in the previous era was definitely
adopted, and, under the term transubstantiation, became
the accepted teaching of the Western Church. It might
naturally be asked why, in a history of clinical communion,
where the practical question arises as to the advisability or
the reverse of employing both species of the sacrament,
the survey is not carried down to the date at which
concomitance was enunciated as de fide. The answer to
this will be found, so the writer believes, in the text of
the book itself. The implication of what was afterwards
defined as concomitance is here shown to be a constant
feature of customs associated with the reserved Eucharist
in primitive as well as in later times ; and the practice of
administering the single species of Bread to the whole and
to the sick had become universal in the West long before
the specific reassertion at Trent of the doctrine implied.

vi Preface
There are two places where the charge of inadequacy
may be anticipated.
One occurs at the section which deals with the place
of reservation. The only plea that can be urged is that
information concerning this point is surprisingly scarce
before the eleventh century. The other is the hiatus
in the history of reservation in the East. Such references
as could readily be found in the Greek Fathers and early
oriental writers have been included, as well as some note
of customs followed by the Eastern Churches in modern
times, but the inaccessibility of whatever intervening
sources may exist prevented the writer from supplying
the missing connection. This omission is probably a
less grave defect than might at first appear, for there
seems to be a general agreement among authorities that
no important modifications have taken place in the
East since the adoption of intinction. Unfortunately,
however, the date at which this mode of communicating
first appeared cannot be ascertained with certainty.
The work was undertaken at the suggestion of the
Rev. Dr. W. H. Frere, C.R., and has progressed under his
supervision. To him the author lies under deep obliga
tions, but at the same time assumes entire responsibility
for whatever errors may be detected. The Rev. R. H.
Baker, C.R., gave much aid in the early stages of the
book. To Dr. Frere and to the Rev. L. S. Thornton, C.R.,
who most kindly undertook to see it through the press
when the writer was called to service abroad, it is difficult
to express the gratitude which their generosity evokes.
The Rev. F. E. Brightman, D.D., of Oxford; the
Rev. F. N. Heazell, of Letchworth ; and the Rev. Nerses
G. Sevadjian, of the Armenian Church in Manchester, and
others have kindly furnished valuable information.
W. H. FREESTONE.
House op the Resurrection, Mirfield.
Whit sun Eve, 191 6.

Note. — The author, who had been since January 1913a probationer
of the Community of the Resurrection, has not been permitted to see his
work in print. He was reported killed on December 14th, 1 916, while
serving as chaplain to the forces on the Macedonian front.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Preface v
PART I. INTRODUCTORY
CHAP. i. The Terms Ephodion and Viaticum 3
Communion and the Hour of Death 10
THE MINISTRATION OF THE EUCHARIST TO THE SICK
AND OTHERS
11. A. Official Distribution from the Public Celebration
of the Liturgy - 16
m. H. Private Celebrations of the Liturgy 24
iv. C. The Eucharist Reserved Privately 32
Private Reservation by the Laity - - 35
v. Private Reservation by Religious - 5 1
Use of the Reserved Eucharist at Consecration of
a Virgin
vi. Private Reservation by the Clergy - 61
Use of the Reserved Eucharist at Ordination - 65

59

PECULIAR USES OF THE RESERVED EUCHARIST
vii. a. Eulogiae 70
b. Fermentum - "73
t. Sancta 77
d. Communion of the Presanctified - 80
e. Consumption of the Remains after the Liturgy 93
f Administration to the Dead, and other abuses 98
PART II. OFFICIAL RESERVATION FOR THE COM
MUNION OF THE SICK
viii. Official Reservation during the First Six Centuries 105
ix. Official Reservation during the Early Middle Ages 120
i. The Seventh and Eighth Centuries i 20
ii. The Ninth and Tenth Centuries 131
vii

viii Contents
CHAP. PAGE
x. Official Reservation and the Eucharistic Controversies
of the Eleventh Century 144
i. The Use of Intinction 144
ii. The Dispute Concerning Intinction 152
iii. Effect upon the Methods of Clinical Communion 165
xi. Communion in the Single Species of Wine 176
xii. Renewal of the Reserved Eucharist 182
xiii. The Place of Reservation 188
xiv. The Vessel of Reservation - - 200
Benediction of the Vessel of Reservation - 218
xv. The Minister of the Reserved Eucharist 220
xvi. The Rite of Clinical Communion 231
xvn. Some Customs of the Eastern Churches in connection
with the Reserved Eucharist 247
APPENDIX
The beginnings of the extra-liturgical cultus of the
Eucharist 256
List of Principal Authorities 267
Index - 271

PART I
INTRODUCTORT

CHAPTER I
The Terms Ephodion and Viaticum
BY secular authors the word icpoSiov (or more commonly,
the plural form e<f)6§ia) is used with the primary
meaning of a supply of provisions for a journey or military
expedition ; and in derivative senses, to express the ideas
of ways and means, support or maintenance.1
But there are instances among the poets and philo
sophical writers, where ecpoSiov passes from a physical
sense to one of moral, almost of religious significance.
A pious career, for example, is termed the supreme i<p6Siov,
or goodness is an admirable icpoSiov for the journey of life.2
Such a meaning as the word bears in these and similar
contexts would facilitate its transference to the vocabulary
of those who were accustomed to think and speak of their
religion as " the Way." 3
It would be interesting to learn whether in connection
with the pagan mysteries, or under similar influence, the
term acquired any technical sense in which it had become
current by the time that the Christian era opened. Evi
dence on this point is not forthcoming, but, in any case,
it seems to have been at the stage of development indicated
in the quotations alluded to above that the Church began
to make use of the word and to invest it, as she did so
many other expressions borrowed from the common speech
of the Mediterranean, with a depth and variety of meaning
greater than it had previously borne. Herein lies the
1 v. Suicer, Thesaurus, s.v.
3 Epicharmus, 152 Mrens, " evcre/3rjs /Stos tiiyurrov t<f>6Siov" : Menan-
der, 'Y/jlv. I, " ij x/oijordn/s . . . davfwtrrbv t<f>68iov /6i<$> " (quoted in
Liddell and Scott, Lex.). Plutarch, (Mor. p. 1 60 B., " (is fitj fiovov rod
ffjv d\\a KaX tou diro6vrjo~Keiv ttjI' rpocfyqv t<f>68iov oJkrav " : cf. Seneca,
Epist. lxvii. 3.
3 Acts xix. 23, and elsewhere. e<f>68iov is not found in the N.T. ;
but in the LXX. the term is used for the store that is to be given to a
Hebrew bondsman, when he goes out in the year of release : " (<f>68iov
i<fto&ido-fis avrbv curb twv Trpofiarutv crov. k.t.a." (©««/. xv. 1 4.)
3

4 The Sacrament Reserved
point of an interesting remark made by St. Gregory
Thaumaturgus in his Panegyric on Origen. He quotes his
own heathen tutor as telling him, at the beginning of a
course of study, that education in the Roman Law would
be his most valuable e<p68iov, whatever public career he
might later choose. " He was," says St. Gregory, " more
inspired than he knew " : and he proceeds to relate the
circumstances of his legal studies, and their ultimate effect
in determining the course of his life towards religion.1
Before the close of the first century we find St. Clement
of Rome using the word in a religious sense when he
writes of the ecpoSta of Christ, in reference to the life of the
Church at Corinth ; 2 and from this date onward the remains
of Christian literature illustrate the change into wider and
fuller significance that the term underwent as the conse
quence of its reception into the language of the Church.
Indeed, we can trace its development within the works
of a single author. Probst 3 selects from the writings of
St. Clement of Alexandria a number of passages that show,
not only the growth of the religious context of the term,
but also the beginnings of the increasing tendency to apply
it more particularly to that spiritual provision for the way
which a Christian receives in the last stage of his journey.
As with the heathen poets, so with the Christian theo
logian, virtues are e(f>6Sia. Charity forms a rich e(f>6Siov,4
and so does self-control (eyKpdreia).5 The religious exer
cise of contemplation is another form of "food for the
1 Oratio paneg. in Origen, 5 . "o fiot. dXtjOeo-rara irdvrwv airo/Je/JrjKe
fieyixrrov eo~eo~6ai /mi e<j>o8iov (touto yap Tovvop.0, eKetvos utvopjwev) . . .
•nfv pddrjO-iv TW vd/x(uv ... 6 pitv outios d7recj>dey£a,T0, reivmi eh toI
avOpdnriva rbv Xoyov. e/xol 8* dre)(y(JK inro tivi Oeioripa iirurvoia
diro<j>oi/3d<Tcu SoKei tj;s avrov viroXrjipebis." (P.Q. x. 1065.)
2 Bpist. I.adQorinth.2. "... tois €<^oSiots Xpio-rov dpnovfievoi . . ."
Lightfoot (Apost. Fathers, pt. 1, vol. ii, p. 13) read e<£. Qeov, and understood
the phrase to refer to bodily sustenance, citing the letter of Dionysius of
Corinth to the Romans (in Eusebius, H.E. iv. 23) : " ikk\t)o-L<us tc n-oAAcus
rah Kara, iraxrav jrdA.11/ «<£d8ia irepweiv." He takes the sense to be the
same as 1 Tim. iv. 8.
The Latin version (published in Anecdota Maredsehma, 1894) renders
the phrase " alimentis Ciristi," and so establishes the reading e<p. Xpurrov.
3 Sakramente u. Sakfamentalien, pp. 237, 238.
? Paedag. II. 7 : " dyady yap Kovporp6<j)Oi eh xoivmvlav dydirr) l<f>68iov
t^ovo-a irkov<riov."
5 op. cit. III. 39.

The Sacrament Reserved 5
way," ' while God Himself is spoken of as the e(f>6§iov of
eternal life.2 -
But Clement also seems to use the word in a more
limited and concrete sense. In describing the stages of the
Christian life, at the end of a passage that speaks of the
privileges of the catechumenate, he adds, " And such as
have been properly brought up in the words of truth, and
have received provision for eternal life (e(p6Sia fyrjs ai'Slov),
mount up to heaven as on wings." 3 The section following
this sentence deals with the Eucharist, which also seems to
be intended here as the privilege that terminates the period
of instruction and probation. Such an interpretation fits in
most easily with the rest of the context.
But the term continued for some time to be used with
a more general significance. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his
lectures to catechumens, calls the Christian Faith by this
name because it is a support and stay for the whole course
oflife.4 Still less restricted and definite is the use of the word in
St. Basil's letter to Meletius of Antioch. Here he speaks
in a general way of the ecpoSia or helps in the present life
and in the life to come ; among which he reckons the
edification that he might receive from an interview with his
correspondent : 5 and, again, in a commendatory epistle, the
address of which has been lost, he declares that the bearer
has chosen a good ecpoSiov for eternity, because he has thrown
in his lot with them that fear the Lord.6
Further instances of the use of e(f>6Siov with a more or
less defined religious connotation, or as a general expression
1 Strom. VII. 13. a op. cit. IV. 6.
3 op. cit. I. 1 : " oi 8k evrpa<l>evTe<s yvrjo-iuti tow t>js dXrjOelas Aoyois
i<po8ta fonjs d'i8tov A.ay8dvrcs eh oipavbv Trrepovvrai." Here are memories
of Isa. xl. 31, and of Ps. ciii. 5 ; the latter having eucharistic associations.
* Homil. Catech. v. 21 : " . . . ex*'" Te TauTr/v [sc. rrjv irixTTiv) e(f>68iov
ev iravrt T<j3 XP°VV T*}s t""?5 Ka' i"<ty>« ravrrjv aAA.7jv p.-qKtTi 8e£ao-6ai. . . ."
(T.G. xxxiii. 521.)
s Spist. (Ivii) ad Melet : "'Ei 8e KaTa^tiadttrip.£V rais <rais Jr/oocrevxats, eus
io-pttv eirl yrjs Kat ttjs kot 6<f>6a\p.ovs o-vvrvyias, Kal Trap' avnjs rijs fwo-ijs
<pmvrjs \aj3eiv uxpeXipa 8i8dyp.ara, fj e<f>oSia w/jos re rbv evto-rura aiuva koi
rbv p,eXXovra, rovro dv pAyurrov rmv ayadmv eKplvap.ev. . . ." (P.G.
xxxii. 408.)
6 Epist. ccxlix. : "'Ayadbv yap avriji e<j>68iov irpbs rbv e^>e|ijs alZva,
tj)v jUCTa tcuv <j>o(3ovpevt>>v rbv Kvpiov dyadfjv oiayajy^r e£tXe£aTO." (P.G.
xxxii. 929.)

6 The Sacrament Reserved
for the means of grace are to be found scattered throughout
the writers of the patristic period.1 It is applied figuratively
to baptism by St. Cyril of Jerusalem,2 and St. Gregory
Nazianzen uses the verb ecpoSidfy for the act of baptizing a
dying man.3 In regard to the use of the term for baptism,
it is possible that at first no other form of ecj>6$iov was con
ceded to the catechumen who died before his time of
probation was complete. By baptism he would receive
remission of sin ; he would be gathered into the ark of
salvation. So indispensable a sacrament would not be
denied to any who were stricken down in the period
of preparation (provided that their conduct had been
satisfactory) ; and baptism may generally have been
deemed to be all that was necessary in order to secure
the salvation of the catechumen. At all events, when
the case of dying energumens (or possessed persons) was
discussed in council at Elvira {c. 300), a distinction was
made between those who were still in the catechumenate
and those who had been baptized. The latter were to
receive the communion, but for the former baptism alone
was held to suffice. 4 The same council also declared
that if a person baptized by a deacon should die without
1 e.g. Basil, dt Spirit. Sanct. 66 : Euseb. H.E. viii. 10, etc. For
other instances cf. Bright, Canons °f the first four General Councils, pp.
51,52- 2 Horn, in "Baptism. 5. (P.G. xxxi. 432.)
3 Oral. x\. 1 1. (P.G. xxxvi. 372.)
* Can. 37. "De energumenis non baptizatis. Eos qui ab immundis
spiritibus vexantur, si in fine mortis fuerint constituti, baptizari placet : si
fideles fuerint, dandam esse communionem." (Hefele-Leclercq, Hist, des
Conciles, I. pt. I, p. 241.) Clinical baptism, without mention of com
munion, is referred to again in Can. 33. This sacrament may be
administered, in case of need, by a layman, but it must be perfected, if
the sick man recovers, by the laying on of the bishop's hands (and
communion). Normally, as is well known, the newly baptized and
confirmed (infants and adults alike) received the Eucharist at the earliest
possible moment after their initiation into the Christian Society. (Justin M.
Apol. I. 65.) For the communion of infants immediately after baptism,
cf. Cyprian, de lapsis, 25. Augustine thinks it necessary to salvation that
they should be communicated, Serm. clxxiv. 6, 7, in P.L. xxxviii. 944 ;
contra Julian, op imperf. in T.L. xlv. 11 54 ; de peccat. mer. i. 20, 24, 34.
Passages sometimes quoted from this father, in which the opposite view
seems to be urged or admitted, e.g. contra duos epist. Telag. i. 22, 40 (T.L.
xliv. 570), are dealt with in the notes of the Benedictine editors of dugustim
Opera, on de peccat. mer. i. 20, 26.

The Sacrament Reserved 7
receiving confirmation (and so, implicitly, communion), he
is nevertheless to be thought of as saved, by virtue of his
faith confessed in baptism.1
But these are exceptional instances. As the same series
of canons clearly shows,2 the Eucharist was normally given
in the hour of death, and so ect)6Siov soon came to bear the
restricted and definite meaning of the last communion.
At the Council of Nicaea (a.d. 325), the custom of giving
the Eucharist to the dying was referred to as well estab
lished and of long standing. " Concerning the dying, let
the ancient and canonical rule still be kept, that none
be deprived at the hour of death of the last and most
necessary e(j)6§iov . . . and, after due examination, the
bishop is to give the Eucharist to every one who asks for
it at the end." 3
To this canon St. Gregory of Nyssa alludes in the
Canonical Epistle addressed to Bishop Letoius of Melitene,
wherein he gives rules for dealing with eight classes
of penitents. " And," he writes, " if the penitent lies
dying before he has fulfilled his allotted term of penance,
the mercifulness of the Fathers bids him partake of the
* Can. 77. "De baptizatis qui nondum confirmati moriuntur. Si
quis diaconus regens plebem sine episcopo vel presbytero aliquos baptiza-
verit, episcopus eos per benedictionem perficere debebit; quod si ante de
saeculo recesserint, sub fide qua quis credidit poterit esse Justus." (Hefele-
Leclercq, op. cit. p. 261.)
2 Can- i2- "• ¦ • cogente tamen infirmitate necesse est presbyterem
. communionem praestare debere ; et diaconum si ei jusserit sacerdos. . . ."
(Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. p. 238.)
3 Can. 13. "irepl 8e twv e^oSevovrtav 6 irctAcubs Kal KavoviKos vd/xos
tf>vXa\8^o-eTai Kal vvv, <5crT£ ei' tis e£o8evoi, tov reXevraiov Kal avayKau-
ototou e<jio8iov prf dirocrrepeurdai. ei 8e aTroyvwrdeis Kal Koivwvias irdXiv
rux&iv (1rdA.1v) iv roh fakrtv igtTao-Oyj, pera rtov Koivwvovvrtav tijs eux»}s
judvrjs e'crTO). KadoXov 8e Kal irepl iravrbs ovti.voo'ovv i^oSevovroi cutouvtos
tou p,erao-xetv euxajotcrrios, d eiricrK07ros pera. SoKipacrias eTriSoTco." For
t-rriSoro), some versions have as the final clause /itTaSiSdro) tijs irpoo-fyopas.
It has been doubted on very insufficient grounds, whether ec/>. here neces
sarily means the sacrament ; there is really no ambiguity in the text
(Bright, Canons, pp. 50 fF.). References to this canon arc frequently
made by later Synods, e.g. Concil. Aurant. (Orange, a.d. 441), Can. 3 :
" Qui recedunt de corpore, poenitentia accepta, placuit sine recon-
ciliatione manus impositione eis communicari : quod morientibus
sufficit consolationi secundum definitiones patrum, qui hujus modi
communionem viaticum nominarunt." (Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. II. pt. I,
p. 436.)

8 The Sacrament Reserved
hallowed elements, that he may not be sent forth empty on
his last long journey." l
As an ecclesiastical term, viaticum (the equivalent of
ecpoSiov) is naturally of later date ; but as soon as Latin
became the common speech of the Western Church, the
word was bound to acquire the definite technical meaning
that had come to be affixed to the older term. Indeed, in
ecclesiastical usage, viaticum (because of its later appearance)
seems always to mean the Eucharist : evidence for the
existence of any earlier or wider use, or more general
application, corresponding to that which we have noted in
connection with ecpoSiov, does not appear to exist.2 The
term occurs frequently in the decrees of councils that rein
forced or modified the Nicene directions as to the right even
of the lapsed, if penitent, to the comfort of communion at
the last. We may here note that Del'Aubespine,3 followed
by other writers, contended that where the word communio is
used (instead of viaticum) in early conciliar material concerned
with the discipline of the dying, we are to understand a
reference to some rite that restored a penitent in extremis to
the communion or fellowship of the Church. According
to this interpretation, a form of absolution was employed
in these cases, and so the administration of the Eucharist
as viaticum was actually less general than it would appear
to have been. This contention may be taken as wholly
disproved.4 As to the disciplinary conditions at first attached to the
administration of viaticum we have no detailed information.
By the time of St. Cyprian a regular penitential system had
developed, but it is not possible to form more than a general
notion of it from perusal of his writings. 5 The rigour that
1 Epht. Canon, ad Letoium. 5. " ... el Sens pj TrXijptaa-as rbv xpovov
rov Zk tw Kavovw dfyopurpivov egoSevot rov j3lov, KeXevei f) rov Trarepiav
4>iXav6p<OTria perao-xovra rav dyiao-pdrwv pi] Kevbv rov efoSiov npbs tyjv
etrxaTTjv Ueivrtv Kal paKpav dirot-qplav eKirep.<pdrjvai." (T.g. xlv. 232.)
Other paragraphs of this letter contain further allusions to the policy laid
down at Nicaea.
2 A full list of the various meanings acquired by the term viaticum in
the Middle Ages is given by Ducange, Gloss, s.v.
3 " De Veteribus Ecclesiae Ritibus," passim. (Helmstadt, 1672.)
4 Frank, "Bussdisciplin, pp. 739, 745, 889, 896-903 (cited by Hefele-
Leclercq, op. cit.).
s cf. Epist. viii. 3, etc. (Bright, Canons, pp. 53, 54).

The Sacrament Reserved 9
prevailed in this matter in the times of the earlier persecutions
can hardly have surpassed, even if it rivalled, the severity
that marks the canons promulged at Elvira. The text of
the first of these has been amended to give this sense :
" If an adult Christian has been guilty of idolatrous sacrifice,
he may not receive communion, even on his death-bed."1
Thus, twenty-five years before Nicaea the custom of fortify
ing the dying with the Eucharist was recognized, and the
administration of viaticum was prohibited where sentence of
utter excommunication had been pronounced. Most later
councils took a more merciful view and allowed any sincere
penitent in articulo mortis to receive the sacrament, on the
understanding that, in case of recovery, whatever part of the
penance still remained to be performed should be duly
worked out.2
1 Can. 1 . " Placuit inter eos (leg. nos). Qui post fidem baptismi
salutaris adulta aetate ad templum idoli idollaturus (leg. idolatraturus)
accesserit et fecerit quod est crimen capitale, quia est summi sceleris, placuit
nee in finem eum communionem accipere." (Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. I.
pt. 1, p. 221. cf. also Dale, Synod of 8h>ira, pp. 93, 96, 108, etc.)
2 e.g. Ancyra (a.d. 314) ; can. 6, cf. can. 4, 5 ; Nicaea (a.d. 325),
can. 13, etc. At a later date (a.d. 374) the milder attitude was taken
at Valentia, can. 3 ; [at the Gallican Synod (? Concil. Leptinense, a.d.
743) that promulged the canons once referred to " iv. Carthage," can.
77, 78 : "Poenitentes qui in infirmitate viaticum Eucharistiae acceperint
non se credant absolutos sine manus impositione, si supervixerint."]
Pope Innocent's advice on this point to Bishop Exsuperius of Toulouse
is as follows : "Et hoc quaesitum est, quid de his observari oporteat, qui
post baptismum omni tempore incontinentiae voluptatibus dediti, in
extremo fine vitae suae poenitentiam simul et reconciliationem com-
munionis exposcunt. De his observatio prior durior, posterior interveniente
misericordia inclinatior est. Nam consuetudo prior tenuit ut concederetur
eis poenitentia, sed communio negaretur. Nam cum illis temporibus
crebrae persecutiones essent, ne communione concessa facilitas homines
de reconciliatione securos non revocaret a lapsu, negata merito com
munio est : et duriorem remissionem fecit temporis ratio. Sed postea
quam dominus noster pacem ecclesiis suis reddidit, jam terrore depulso,
communionem dari abeuntibus placuit, et propter domini misericordiam
quasi viaticum profecturis, et ne Novatiani haeretici negantis veniam
asperitatem et duritiam sequi videamur. Tribuitur ergo cum poeni
tentia extrema communio, ut homines hujus modi vel in supremis suis
poenitentes, miserante salvatore nostro, a perpetuo exitio vindicentur."
(Hard. i. 1003.) A succinct account of the change of policy in regard to
such cases, and of the altered conditions that were the cause of the change.
The same principles are asserted by Pope Celestine (Spist. ad episc. Galliae).
(Hard. i. 1259.) The First Council of Toledo (a.d. 400) and many sub
sequent councils and synods in East and West published similar decrees. C

io The Sacrament Reserved

Communion and the Hour of Death
The faithful and, as a general rule, the penitent receive
yiaticum of the Eucharist in the hour of death. This is
made clear, as we have seen, by explicit statements after
the end of the third century. Direct evidence for earlier
ages is scarce, but there are passages in the works of the
most primitive writers where the sacrament is closely
associated in thought with the end of earthly life.
It is quite possible that a reference to the last com
munion received by the martyr in preparation for his trial I
is to be found in the Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch
to the Romans. In the fifth chapter and in those that
follow he expresses his passionate longing to meet death
in the arena, and entreats the Roman Christians not to
hinder the consummation that he desires. He goes on
to say, " 1 desire the Bread of God, which is the Flesh
of Christ . . . and, for a draught, I desire His Blood,
which is incorruptible love." 2
Here the Eucharist and the death-hour are closely
linked ; and the liturgical memories that seem to lurk
in the prayer of St. Polycarp at the stake may hint at the
same connection in thought.3
It is not uncommon, in the acts and passions of the
saints, to find a vision of the Eucharist in some symbolical
form accepted as prophetic of imminent martyrdom.
St. Perpetua (fA.D. 203) describes in detail a vision that
announced her passion. She saw a wide and open cham
paign, in the midst of which sat a noble figure dressed
as a shepherd and milking his flock, with a white-robed
company about him. He greeted her and gave her a
piece of cheese. " And I," she says, " placing my hands
together, received it and ate it; and all those that were
standing around said, Amen. And at the sound of this
word I awoke, and found myself still eating something
1 v. infra, p. 12.
2 ad Romanos, 7. " dprov Oeov OeXm o ko-riv o-ap£ tou x|Oto"To{! rov «k
o-irepparos Aavel8, Kal jrd/ua 8eXio rb alpa avrov, o eo-Tti-dyomj a<f>0apros."
(Lightfoot, The Jpost. Fathers (Texts), p. 122.)
3 Martyrdom of Polycarp, 14. Lightfoot, op. cit. pp. 194, 195. It
has been suggested that the prayer is an adaptation of a primitive " Canon
of the Mass."

The Sacrament Reserved ii
sweet." She told her brother of her dream, and they
agreed that it portended the imminence of martyrdom.1
The figure of the Good Shepherd and the eucharistic
allusions are unmistakable.
Another dream of similar import is related in the
Passion of St. Philip, Bishop of Heraclea (fA.D. 304). Hermes
the deacon, who suffered at the same time as his bishop,
assured the crowd as he was led to execution that his
death had been foretold him by the Lord. For, as he lay
asleep, a white dove flew in to him and perched on his
head, and then, settling upon his breast, it conveyed a
sweet-tasting morsel into his mouth. " I knew immedi
ately that the Lord had deigned to call me, and deemed
me worthy to suffer."2
Throughout the persecutions the Eucharist was cele
brated in all manner of circumstances, so that those who
were in danger might be fortified against the trial of faith,
and be prepared for death.
Tertullian, in his work De fuga in persecutione (written
after his lapse into Montanism), urges the Christians who
looked to him as their leader not to forgo their accus
tomed rites in the time of peril. They must let nothing
hinder them from celebrating the ordinances of the Lord
{dominica sollemnid) 3 which surely means the Liturgy.
1 Passio SS. Perpetuae et Felicitatis. This is the second scene in her
dream. She had first to pass a guardian dragon and a stairway beset
with swords, spears, hooks, and the like. Then follows the eucharistic
vision : " et vidi spatium immensum horti, et in medio sedentem homi-
nem canum in habitu pastoris, grandem, oves mulgentem ; et circum-
stantes candidati milia multa. Et levavit caput et aspexit me et dixit
mihi : Bene venisti, tecnon. Et clamavit me et de caseo quod mulgebat
dedit mihi quasi buccellam ; et ego accepi junctis manibus et manducavi ;
et universi circumstantes dixerunt, Amen. Et ad sonum vocis experrecta
sum, commanducans adhuc dulce nescio quid. Et retuli statim fratri
meo, et intelleximus passionem esse futurum : et coepi jam nullam spem in
saeculo habere." (Gebhardt, Acta Mart. Selecta, pp. 67-69.)
2 Passio S. Thilippi episc. Heracleae. " Hoc me passurum, deo ac
domino jam ante annuntiante, cognoveram revelatione certissima. Nam
cum dulci sopore devinctus facerem, columba mihi visa est niveo candore
perlucida, cubiculum illud ingressa, subito in medio capite consedisse ;
quae et inde descendens in pectus, cscas mihi gratissimi cibi ofFerens,
statim cognovi quod me dominus vocare dignatus est, et dignum habuit
passione." (Ruinart, Acta Mart, sincera et selecta (1859), p. 447.)
3 T>e fuga 14 : "Sed quomodo colligemus, inquis, quomodo dominica
sollemnia celebrabimus f ... Si colligere interdiu non potes, habes

12 The Sacrament Reserved
Turning to the writings of St. Cyprian we find numerous
passages that allude to the intimate connection of the
Eucharist with the imminence of mortal peril. In a
letter sent from his place of retirement to the clergy
of Carthage, he refers to their habit of celebrating the
Liturgy in the prisons for the communion of the con
fessors, and bids them use discretion in their minis
trations, so that they may avoid trouble with the imperial
authorities.1 Again, in a description of how the Christian confessor
or martyr should be made ready for the contest, com
munion is regarded as a necessary part of the customary
preparation. " Let us arm the right hand with a spiritual
sword, that it may reject these deadly sacrifices ; and so,
mindful of the Eucharist, the hand that has received the
Body of the Lord may lay hold upon the Lord Him
self." 2
Even more definite are the statements made in the
synodical letter sent by Cyprian and the African bishops
to Pope Cornelius. In this is set forth the policy pur
sued by the Catholics of the province in regard to the
penitent lapsi. A synod summoned in May, a.d. 252, had
decided that, in view of an expected outburst of perse
cution, all those lapsi who had shown signs of penitence
were to be reconciled immediately, so that they might be
strengthened by the sacraments for further conflict. "For,"
said the bishops, "a man cannot possibly be fit for martyr
dom whom the Church has not armed for the battle." 3
noctem. . . . Non potes discurrere per singulos ; sit tibi et in tribus
ecclesia." (P.L. ii. 119.)
1 " Consulite ergo et providete ut cum temperamento fieri hoc tutius
possit, ita ut presbyteri quoque qui illic apud confessores ofFerunt, singuli
cum singulis diaconis per vices alternent, quia et mutatio personarum et
vicissitudo convenientium minuit invidiam." (Ep. iv. in P.L. iv. 231.)
2 Epist. ad Thibaritanos, 9 : " armemus et dexteram gladio spirituali,
ut sacrificia funesta fortiter respuat ut, eucharistiae memor, quae domini
corpus accepit ipsum conplectatur, postmodum a domino sumptura prae-
mium coelestium coronarum." (Ep. lvi. in P.L. iv. 357.)
3 Epist. Synod, (lvii). "... Sed enim cum videamus diem rursus
alterius infestationis appropinquare coepisse et crebris adque assiduis
ostensionibus admoneamur ut ad certamen quod nobis hostis indicit
armati et parati simus, plebem etiam nobis de divina dignatione com-
missam exhortationibus nostris paremus, et'omnes omnino milites Christi
qui arma desiderant et proelium flagitant intra castra dominica colli-

The Sacrament Reserved 13
The indulgence permitted to those who, after falling
away, repented and desired absolution and communion is
illustrated by the well-known story told by Dionysius
of Alexandria ( f<r. a.d. 264) and preserved by Eusebius.
This is one of the most informing examples of clinical
communion that has come to us from early times.
An old man, named Serapion, who had lapsed during
the Decian or some earlier persecution, had continued
excommunicate in spite of the fact that he had long
lived blamelessly and had often asked that he might be
reconciled. In his last illness he sent by night for his
little nephew, and bade him run for a priest.1 As the
priest was himself sick and unable to come, he gave the
boy a small portion of the Eucharist, bidding him to soak
it and to lay it in the old man's mouth. Serapion lay in
gamus : necessitate cogente censuimus eis qui de ecclesia domini non
recesserunt et poenitentiam agere et lamentari ac dominum deprecari
a primo lapsus sui die non destiterunt, pacem dandam esse et eos
quod imminet armari et instrui oporterc. . . .
"At vero nunc non infirmis sed fortibus pax necessaria est nee morien-
tibus sed viventibus communicatio a nobis danda est, ut quos excitamus et
hortamur ad proelium non inermes et nudos relinquamus, sed pro-
tectione sanguinis et corporis Christi muniamus, et cum ad hoc fiat
eucharistia ut possit accipientibus esse tutela, quos tutos esse contra adversa-
rium volumus, munimento dominicae saturitatis armemus. Nam quomodo
docemus aut provocamus eos in confessione nominis sanguinem suum
fundere, si eis militaturis Christi sanguinem denegamus ? Aut quomodo
ad martyrii poculum idoneos facimus, si non eos prius ad bibendum in
ecclesia poculum domini jure communicationis admittimus ? . . .
"Nee quisquam dicat : qui martyrium tollit sanguine suo baptizatur,
nee pax illi ab episcopo necessaria est habituro gloriae suae pacem et accep-
turo majorem de domini dignatione mercedem. Primo idoneus esse
non potest ad martyrium qui ab ecclesia non armatur ad proelium, et
mens deficit quam non recepta eucharistia erigit et accendit. . . ."
(Hartel, op. cit. pp. 650 fF.) This is Ep. Synod. (P.L. iii. 85 1 ff).
Probably an echo of these times survives in prayers commemorating
the martyrs contained in the Leonian Sacramentary, e.g. the phrase "sacri-
ficium singulare, quod Sanctis tuis in passione contulit claritatem."
(Feltoe, Sacr. Leon., p. 90.)
1 A presbyter might reconcile a penitent in case of necessity, and
even the deacon under certain conditions. The Synod of Elvira enacted :
" Apud presbyterum, si quis gravi lapsu in ruinam mortis inciderit,
placuit agere poenitentiam non debere, sed potius apud episcopum ;
cogente tamen infirmitate necesse est presbyterum communionem praestare
debere, ct diaconum si ei jusserit sacerdos." Can. 32. (Hefele-Leclercq,
op. cit. p. 238.)

14 The Sacrament Reserved
a state of unconsciousness until the boy's return, and then
waking told him to make haste and do what the priest had
directed. The instructions were followed, and after the
old man had swallowed a little of the sacrament he passed
away. " I had ordered," Dionysius explains, " that persons at
the point of death, if they asked for it, and particularly if
they had previously made request, should receive remis
sion, that they might depart in good hope." '
It would appear, therefore, that communion was regu
larly given, not only to the martyrs and to those that
lived in momentary expectation of being called out to witness,
but to all Christians as the last pledge of fellowship with
the Church, and as a preparation for their departure ; for
at an earlier date than the time of Dionysius Origen seems
to have had in mind a settled custom as he wrote of those
"who sup with the Lord in the last day of this life." 2
The universal character of the practice will become
apparent during the course of our review of material
illustrating various points in connection with the use of
1 " Sajoairtuv rn i)v Trap' rjpiv mo-rbs yepiov, dpepirriin pxv rbv iroXvv
fiia/Jtwcras xP°v°v> ev Se T(j> Treipao-pig ireo-iov. ovros iroXXaKis eSeiro,
Kat. ovSets irpoo-eixev ai>T(ji, Kal yap eredvKef ev v6o-(p Se yevopevos rpmv
e£rjs -qpeptav a<£o>vos Kal dvaio-diqros SierkXeo-e. /3paxv Se di/ewn^ijAas
rrj rerdpry irpoo-eKaXeo-aro rbv dvyarpiSovv, Kal ' peXP1 Ttvos,' fyrprlv,
' & r'eKvov, pe Karkxere ; Skopai, orrevo-are, Kal pe Qdrrov aTroXvo-are,
rSiv irpeo-ftvrepuiv poi rwa KaXesrov.' Kal Tavra eiTruv irdXiv tfv a<pwvos.
eSpapev o ttgus eTrl rbv 7rpeo-/3vrepovvvg Se i]v, KaKetvos r)o-6kvei. d<f>iKeo-9ai
pev oSv ovk eSvvrjdri, evroXrjs Se vtt' epov 8e8opkvr)S,rovs aTraXXarropevovs rov
filov, el Seoivro, Kal pdXio-ra el Kal irporepov iKerevo-avres rvxoiev, d<j>ieo-6ai,
iV evkXiriSes diraXXdrrtavrai, /Spaxv Tr)s evxapwrrias «?&dkev to irai8apm,
a7roftpk£ai KeXevo-as Kal r<S Trpeo-fivrr) Kara rov o-roparos emo-rd£at.
erravrJKev o jrats fapav eyyi5s re yevopevov, trplv elo-eXdeiv, dveveyKas
7rdA.1v 6 "Sapairuav, ' t^kcs,' e<j>rj, - r'eKvov ; Kal 6 pev n pev fivr epos eXOeiv
ovk T)8vvy8r], orv Se ttoit/ctov Tax«os rb irpocrraxdev, Kal dirdXXarre pe.
direfipegev 6 irais Kal apa re evexee Tij> o-ropan Kal piKpbv eKeivos
Kara/3poxOCo-ai eiOkas direSwice rb rrvevpa. dp ovk evapyZs SierrjpijOri
Kal rrapepeivev, em XvOrj, Kal rrjs apaprtas egaXetcj>Ot[o~qs eirl ttoXXoIs
oh eirpage KaXoXs 6poXoyr)6r)vai Svvrjdrj." (H.E. vi. 44.)
2 Comment, in Johann. torn. 32, 2. " oipat yap 6n oi pera. rov'Irp-ov
Senrvovvres Kaljv 177 inl rkXei toiJ /3iov rovrov i)pkpa peraXapf3dvovres
o-vv avr<j> rpo^rjs Seovrat pev Kadapo-iov rivos, ov pi)v irepL rt rwv irpmrwv
to£< rijs xfwxrji, IV ovru>s ovopdxrw, o-dparos." (Brooke, Commentary tf
Origen on St. John's Gospel, II. p. 149.)
The context suggests that he is speaking of Christians in general, not
merely of the original disciples.

The Sacrament Reserved 15
the sacrament. It may here suffice to refer to the lan
guage of two rather early Liturgies, in which the associa
tion of the Eucharist, under the term ecpoSiov, with the
end of life, witnesses to the established practice of the
Church. The Prayer of Fraction, in the Liturgy of St. 'Basil,
contains the passage : " Grant unto our last breath worthily
to receive the portion of Thy hallowed gifts, as ecpoSiov of
life eternal, for an acceptable defence before the awful
Judgement Seat of Thy Christ." '
Similarly, but with less explicit mention of the end of
earthly existence, the Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Liturgy
of St. Mar^, after allusion to reception of the sacrament,
continues : "Grant us to partake also of the Holy Body
and the Precious Blood of Thine only-begotten Son . . .
as ecpoSiov of eternal life, for an acceptable defence," etc.2
1 " . . . Sbs fjptv peXP1 T'5S eo'xdrrj's r/puv dvaTrvorjs d£«os vrro8exeo-0ai
t»jv pepiSa rusv dyiao~pdro>v o-ov eh e<f>o8iov foJTjs altaviov, eis dicoXoylav
evirpoo~8eKTOv ¦njv ctti rov <f>o/3epov /3yjparos rov xpurrah o-ov. . . ."
(Brightman, Eastern Liturgies, p. 410.)
2 " . . . x<ip'0"at rjpiv ri)v Koiviovlav rov aylov vwparos Kal rov riptov
aiparos rov povoyevovs o-ov vlov . . . eis ecpoSiov fonjs aimviov, eis airoXo-
ylav evrrpoo-SeKrov K.r.X." (Renaudot, Liturg. Orient. Coll. I. p. 146.)

CHAPTER II
A. Official Distribution from the Public Celebration
of the Liturgy
IT must remain doubtful whether in apostolic times any
provision was made at the Eucharist for those who were
absent for sickness, or for any other «cause, from the
Liturgy ; but, with the growth of the Church and the
development of eucharistic ideas, the custom of distributing
the sacrament became very general. Here we have to do
with a wider use than viaticum ; with a constant and regular
practice, that once formed part of the usual rites of the
Church. For some time after the establishment of monarchical
episcopacy in the second century only one mass was
normally said on each of the days liturgically observed,
and that by the bishop. Not only the sick and the
prisoners, but those who were hindered otherwise, would
have no opportunity of communicating unless the sacrament
in some form were specially ministered to them.
For the sake of arranging our material so as to include
all the circumstances in which the need for such provision
might arise, we may say that three ways were open to the
Church by which the needs of those who were not present at
the liturgical synaxis might be satisfied.
i. The consecrated elements might be sent from the
public celebration of the Liturgy.
2. The Eucharist might be celebrated in a private
house to provide communion for those who could not
attend the synaxis.
3. Provision might be made for reserving the Eucharist
for distribution whenever it was required.
The division proposed is a little arbitrary. The method
of distribution during or immediately after the public
service would lead on almost insensibly to the habit of
reservation ; since in cases where it was impossible or
inconvenient to carry forth the sacrament at once (as
16

The Sacrament Reserved 17
might often happen during the persecutions) some
temporary mode of reserving would be inevitable. Nor,
again, is it easy to draw a clear distinction in all cases
between distribution from the public performance of the
Liturgy and communion at celebrations of a more or less
private character, especially in the days before the Church
possessed public buildings of her own.
Justin Martyr (fA.D. 165) is the first and most
important authority for this mode of supplying the sick
and others with the Eucharist. He gives two outline
accounts of the Liturgy ; in one he describes the weekly
worship of the Christians, in the other, the mass after
baptism. Let us take first his description of the Sunday
service. " On the day called Sunday all who live in cities
or in the country gather together in one place, and the
memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets
are read, as long as time allows. Then, when the reader
has finished, the president in an address gives instruction,
and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then
we all rise and pray ; and, as we have said above (i.e. in
the account of the baptismal mass), when our prayers are
ended, bread is brought (to the president) and wine and
water ; and the president in like manner offers prayers and
thanksgivings, according to his power, and the people
assent, saying Amen. And distribution to each takes
place and participation in the (elements which have been)
dedicated with thanksgiving (<x7ro two evy(apio-TijdivTwv) ; and
there is a sending forth to the absent by the hands of the
deacons."1 The duties of the deacons are more explicitly stated
in the description of the baptismal mass. After the
consecration, " those whom we call deacons distribute to
each of those present that they may participate in the
Bread and Wine and Water that have been .dedicated with
thanksgiving ; and they also carry thereof to the absent." 2
The deacons, then, minister both species of the
1 Apologia i. 67. "... Kai ij 8ia8oo-is Kal ij peraXqij/is drrb riav
tvxaPUTrrlQ*vr<av eKdortp yiverai, Kal tois oi irapovo-i Sid rtnv SiaKovotv
7repreTai." (Blunt, Apologies of Justin M., p. ioi.)
2 ibid. 65. " . . . 01 KaXovpevoi irap r)piv SiaKOvoi eKcurnj) rmv
Trapovrtav p*raXa/3eiv drrb rov evxapurT'l0evro% dprov Kal oivov xai lioaros
Kai tois ov irapovo-iv diro<pepovo-i." (op. cit. p. 98.) D

1 8 The Sacrament Reserved
sacrament to the congregation — a practice that persisted
after the days of Justin Martyr ; but a more important
point in the present discussion is the question whether they
carried out both species from the synaxis. Certainly, the
sense of the passage just quoted is that those who were
not present received that which was given to the com
municants at the public service — namely, the Bread and
the mingled Cup that had been consecrated.
In the same way the account of the Sunday Eucharist
speaks of the distribution of t« evyapio-TriQevTa to present
and absent alike, after explicit mention of the elements of
both species. " This food (rpocph)," Justin explains, " we
term the Eucharist, and no one may partake of it but he
who believes our doctrines to be true, and has been
baptized and lives as Christ has enjoined."1
It is clear from the context that rpocph means alimentum,
food and drink ; and there is, therefore, no evidence here
for communion of the absent in one kind alone.
On the other hand, it might be contended that Justin
is writing a deliberately na'ive account, and not a technical
description, and therefore omits certain details as to the
customs usual among Christians.
We certainly have no means of knowing how the species
of Wine, if both kinds were actually employed, was
conveyed abroad ; whether it was kept separate from the
Bread or whether intinction was ever practised at this date.
Possibly the early hour at which the Sunday mass was cele
brated may have made an unostentatious conveyance of the
Chalice practicable ; and, if this were the case, there were
good grounds for Justin's silence on the point in the Apology.
Apart from these well-known passages we seem to have
little early information as to this method of providing for
the communion of the absent and the sick. Perhaps
a closer search through the lives and acts of the saints
might bring other evidence to light.
About a hundred years after Justin (a.d. 257), one
1 ibid. 66. Immediately following the sentence previously quoted :
" (. . . tois ov Trapovo-iv drro<^>e/oovo-i.) Kai i) rpocpr) avn/ KaAetTai Trap
¦qpiv euxa/oioria, i)s ovSevl aXX<x> perao-xeiv e£dv eoriv i) T(j! mcrreuovTi
dXrjOrj eivai Ta 8e8i8ay/xeva v<f}' r)pb>v, Kai Xovo-apkv(p to vrrep d<pko-eu>s
upapritov Kai eis avayevvrp-iv Xovrpov, Kal ovtws fiiovvri a>s d xPlorT°s
7rapeSa>Kev." (op. cit. p. 98.)

The Sacrament Reserved 19
Tharsitius or Tarcisius was slain as he was carrying the
sacrament. Pope Damasus I (f a.d. 384) has celebrated his
martyrdom in verse which tells how he chose rather to lose
his life than surrender the holy sacrament of Christ that he
bore.1 His death is chronicled in the Martyrology of St. Ado,
a ninth-century document ; and from this we learn that
when he was asked by certain heathens what it was that he
bore, disdaining to " cast pearls before swine," he refused to
tell. He was done to death by blows of clubs and stones,
but when his assailants came to search his body they were
unable to find any trace of the sacrament.2 Of course, he
may have been carrying the Eucharist for his own private
use, but he is termed acolythus in the Martyrology, and the
title to the poem of Pope Damasus calls him a deacon. He
was therefore perhaps engaged in distributing the sacrament
officially. Nor can we certainly learn whether he had with him
one or both species. If the detail of the fruitless search
made on his person represents what actually took place, it
is natural to suppose that he swallowed the sacred element,
and that it was not borne in any kind of vessel. Probably,
therefore, he was carrying the Host by itself.
There were parts of Christendom where the distribution
of the sacrament to the absent continued to be the custom
at Easter as late as the fourth or fifth century.
The Syriac version of the Testament of our Lord, as
edited by the Uniat Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius
Ephraem II Rahmani, contains the rubrical direction —
" If any one of the faithful remain at home on account
of sickness the deacon shall take him the sacrifice." 3
1 Carmen 35.
" Tarsicium sanctum Christi sacramenta gerentem,
cum male sana manus premeret vulgare profanis,
ipse animam potius voluit dimittere caesus. . . ."
(Cabrol and Leclercq, Diet. d'Arche'ol. ii. 1 74.)
2 St. Adonis archiepisc. Viennensis Martyrolog. (August 15th). " Eodem
die Tharsitii acolythi et martyris. Quem pagani cum invenissent Christi
corporis sacramenta portantem coeperunt discutere quid gereret. At ille
indignum judicans porcis prodere margaritas, tarn diu fustibus ac lapidibus
mactatus est, quousque exhaleret spiritum. Et revoluto ejus corpore,
sacrilegii discussores nihil potuerunt in ejus manibus vestimentisque invenire
sacramentorum Christi." (P.L. exxiii. 331, 332.)
3 Testament, domini nostri Jesu Christi (1899), p. 141. " Si quis fidelium
morbi causa domi maneat, diaconus ipsi deferat sacrificium." In the Coptic

20 The Sacrament Reserved
Moreover, if a woman is unable to be present at the
Liturgy, the same document provides that a deaconess
shall carry the sacrament to her from the open communion.1
This is for the paschal communion, celebrated in the early
hours of Easter Day.
Although this official distribution did not long continue
to be part of the regular rite, it was at all times a convenient
mode of administering the sacrament to those who were
absent from the Liturgy. We find it reappearing from
time to time in circumstances where it was the most obvious
method to pursue.
For example, we read in the Apophthegmata Patrum
(cent, v) that a monk named James, before retiring into
deep solitude in order to escape a severe temptation,
begged his friend, the abbot Phocas, to bring him the
communion in forty days' time. When the term was
accomplished, Phocas either celebrated for this particular
purpose, or else set aside a portion of the sacrament at the
Liturgy in the coenobium, and took the communion with
him to the place of retreat. Here he found the monk half
dead ; and, to administer the sacrament, he was obliged to
force asunder the jaws of the unconscious man and pour
the Eucharist into his mouth.2 The language used
suggests that it was administered in a conjoint form. 3
Again, when, in the sixth century, the civil law con
cerned itself with the regulation of Christian worship, and
forbade the celebration of the Liturgy in private houses
and oratories, permission was given to the female inmates
version, the corresponding direction is, " Si Vir vel mulier fideles nequeant
prae morbo venire ad ecclesiam, deferat mysteria ad illos presbyter vel
diaconus " (p. 141, note).
A priest is appointed to take the sacrament to another priest who lies in
sickness. " Si vero presbyter est, qui nequit (ad ecclesiam) venire, presbyter
illi (communionem) deferat" (p. 143).
1 op. cit. p. 143. "Si mulier praegnans, aegrotet . . . et si nequit
accedere (ad ecclesiam), diaconissa ad ipsam deferat communionem."
The commentator sums up -. " Eucharistici sacrificii ea nocte oblati
omnes sive praesentes sive absentes debebant participes fieri suscipiendo
sacram communionem. . . . Quod attinet ad decumbentes, presbyter ad
presbyteros, diaconus ad ceteros, et diaconissa ad mulieres eucharistiam
communionem deferebant." (op. cit. p. 201.)
2 Apophth. Patrum <p. (P.G. lxv. 443.) See the story of St. Mary
of Egypt, p.^ 109.
3 " Kai evexe a rov ripiov o-uiparos Kal a'iparos."

The Sacrament Reserved 21
of religious establishments in Constantinople and elsewhere
to select a priest or deacon to bring them the sacrament
from the Liturgy at the district church. T
It is in the peculiar conditions of the religious life
that we come across most later instances of communion
of the sick, coincident with, or immediately subsequent
to, the open communion, inside the monasteries. No
simpler way' could possibly be devised of providing for
the sick inmate who was too ill to be carried into the
church. Bede has a story that illustrates this custom. A
child in the monastery at Selsey fell ill during a pestilence.
As he lay a-dying, he had a vision of the Apostles Peter
and Paul, who bade him ask for viaticum. A three days'
fast was being observed by the monks on account of the
pestilence, and during this period no masses were celebrated.
But after the boy had told his vision, in which the cessation
of the plague was announced, the brethren assembled in
church, mass was said and a portion of the sacrament was
taken to the dying child. 2
St. Dunstan in the tenth century gives full directions
for the unction and communion of a sick monk. He is
to receive the sacrament daily from the morrow-mass of the
convent ; it is to be brought with some considerable cere
mony and administered to him in the concourse of all the
brethren. 3 Many instances of this sort might be added. 4
1 Justinian, Novellae. 123 ; 36: " Femines autem quemcumque ipsae
elegerint, sive presbyterum sive diaconum, ad faciendum eis responsum,
aut sanctam eis communionem portandam, sanctissimus episcopus sub
quo sunt deputet, quern rectae fidei et vitae bonae esse cognoverit."
2 Hist. Eccl. iv. 14: "... missas fieri atque omnes communicare
more solito praecepit (presbyter), simul et infirmanti puero de eodem sacri-
ficio dominicae oblationis particulam deferri mandavit." (Baedae Opera
Hist. I. pp. 234, 235.)
3 Concordia Regularis (P.L. cxxxvii. 50): "Frater autem ille infirmus
si senserit suam crevisse imbecillitatem indicetur hoc conventui a fratre
illius custode ; ex eo ergo quotidie, post matutinalem missam, sacerdos
casula exutus cum reliquis illius ministris missae eucharistiam ferentes,
praecedentibus cereis et thuribulo, cum omni congregatione, eant ad
visitandum infirmum canentes psalmos paenitentiales, consequente letania
et orationibus ac unctione olei prima tantum die : demum communicetur.
Quodsi infirmitas levigata fuerit, intermittatur hoc ; sin alias, prosequatur
visitatio usque ad exitum."
* e.g. Geraldus, Vita S. Stephani (Muretensis, eleventh century ;
" Quinta die dolore invasus, in oratorium positus, finita missa, post sacram

22 The Sacrament Reserved
It would seem, too, that masses were said at almost
any hour of the day, if there were a sudden need for the
sacrament. A celebration for the purpose of providing
viaticum sometimes took place after compline,1 and at
a time when the Eucharist was universally reserved, the
occasional lack of the reserved sacrament brought in the
necessity for reverting to a celebration to furnish the
viaticum. When St. Herluin, founder and first abbat of
Bee, lay at the point of death, the brethren sent to fetch
the reserved sacrament, but to the consternation of all,
they found the pyx empty. It happened that a priest was
saying a mass for the dying man's necessities, and held in
his hands the Host that he had just consecrated; and a
portion of this served for the saint's last communion. 2
But the practice was not confined to religious houses.
Queen iElfgifu, or iEthelgifu, writing to Dunstan, in
structed him just before her death to make all necessary
preparations for that event, and to bring her viaticum from
the mass he was to celebrate the following morning. 3
And if she ought to be reckoned as almost inside the circle
of the religious life — for she lived hard by Glastonbury
in a cottage that she had had built for herself — this is not
unctionem et receptionem corporis et sanguinis domini . . . migravit ad
dominum." (Boll. AA.SS., February 8th.)
¦ Odo Cluniacensis, P ita S. Cjeraldi Auriliac. (t c . 909) : " Turn vero
completorium Aniens, signo se sanctae crucis armavit. Quidam de sacer-
dotibus missam concitus celebravit atque sacrosanctum mysterium attulit.
. . . Turn vero dominicum corpus quod expectabat sua sponte suscepit.
. . ." (T.L. exxxiii. 694.)
" Vita S. Herluini : " Denique jam ingruentem mortis horam sentiens,
communicari se cxpostulavit, et animam sibi commendari. Festinate ivit
abbas Rogerus, sed nullam in eucharistia invenit hostiam ; turbati sunt
patres universi, mors instabat, et salutare dominici corporis quod ille
acciperet non erat. . . . Forte tunc sacerdos quidam pro eo missam
celebrans sumendum adhuc in manibus tenebat corpus dominicum ; ejus
itaque oblationis, quae pro commendando illius exitu oblata deo fuerat,
praedictus abbas portionem manu suscepit et ei ad viaticum tulit." P.L.
cl. 711. Eucharistia is a mistake for eucharistiale ; cf. p. 214.
3 Vita S. Dunstani (B) : " Tibi, autem, quasi singularis amicae ministro
id operis impono, ut tu quoque mane mature mihi facias balneas accelerare,
et funerea vestimenta quae mecum sum habitura praeparare, postque
corporis lavationem missas celebrare et mox tempore participationis sacri
sanguinis corporisque domini nostri Jesu Christi communionem accipere,
ut sic eodem momento viam universae nationis, domino ducente, incedam."
(Memorials of St. Dunstan (R.S. 63), pp. 19, 20.)

The Sacrament Reserved 23
the case with the Empress Matilda of Germany (f a.d. 968).
The Bishop of Mayence, who ministered to her in her last
hours, heard her confession and absolved her ; went into
church to celebrate ; returned and, repeating the absolution
previously given, administered unction and communicated
her with the sacrament consecrated at the mass that he
had just finished.1
It was thus too that King Louis VI " the Fat " (f 1 137),
was houselled ; 2 and, although we have no biographies from
this time of other folk than princes and ecclesiastics or
religious, it seems reasonable to suppose that to provide
for the necessities of invalids lying not far from the church
the celebrant would often set aside a portion of the
Eucharist and carry it immediately after service to the
sick man. " And when a sick man is to be anointed," so
runs an early mediaeval rubric, " let the priest say mass
for him ; and when all are gathered together let him come
with a portion of the Lord's Body and Blood, which the
deacon shall carry." 3 So they go straight from the altar to
the sick-room, with a portion of the Eucharist consecrated
at the mass that has been said immediately before.
1 Acta B. Mathild. Imp. : " Finita missa, rursus intravit (Episcopus)
cubiculum et iterando dedit illi remissionem peccatorum : postmodum
perunxit earn oleo sacro et recreavit sacrosancto corporis et sanguinis
Christi mysterio." (Boll. AJ.SS., March 14th.)
3 Vita : " . . . humillime flexis genibus ante sacratissimum corpus
et sanguinem domini nostri Jesu Christi (qui enim mox celebraverant, illuc
ei cum processione devote attulerant) in hanc oris et cordis verae et
catholicae confessionis vocem, non tanquam illiteratus, sed tanquam littera-
tissimus theologus erumpit ' Ego peccator Ludovicus confiteor. . . .'
' Cum autem cunctis admirantibus facta primum peccatorum confessione
devotissime corpori et sanguini Jesu Christi communicasset. . . .' "
(T.L. clxxxvi. 1337, 1338.)
3 Mart., De Ant. Eccl. RJi. I. vii. art. 4 ordo 13 (a tenth-century (?)
Sacramentary of Narbonne). " Dum autem unguendus est infirmus,
celebret pro eo missam sacerdos. Deinde convenientibus omnibus, veniat
et ipse cum portione corporis et sanguinis domini quam portet levita.
. . ." This ordo may have had a monastic provenance. The Host was
intincted.

CHAPTER III
2. Private Celebrations of the Liturgy
EVIDENCE for the existence of private celebrations for
the sick and others in the first age of the Church
appears to be lacking. Indeed, such a practice would seem
to be opposed to the primitive and universal principle of
the one Eucharist in the one local church, and con
trary to the apostolic conceptions of unity, expressed in
the one Loaf and the one Cup, so prominent in early
literature dealing with the Eucharist and eucharistic
doctrine. At a rather later period, the greatest dangers and
difficulties did not hinder Cyprian's presbyters from offering
in the prisons for the confessors,1 and the Christians of
Alexandria kept their Easter festival under all manner of
inconveniences and hardships,2 but in such cases the social
element was not absent ; there was always a congregation,
the local representative of the Catholic Church, to take its
part in the Liturgy.
And besides the social conception of the Eucharist,
there were other circumstances that would tell against
private celebrations as a regular custom. Of these, the
fact that in many parts of Christendom only certain days
of the week were liturgically observed must be reckoned
as important. When we do begin to meet with allusions to private
celebrations in Christian literature it is not always possible
to draw a distinction between those which refer to cele-
1 Ep. 5. See pp. 12, 13.
2 Euseb. H.E. vii. 22. " irpwrov pev rjpas ^jAao-av Kai povoi Trpbs
diravrtav SuaKopevoi koi davarovpevoi eu>prdaraptv Kai TOTe, Kai iras o rrjs
Kaff 'iKaxrrov OXixf/eias rorcos TravrjyvpiKbv i)piv yeyove x^piov, dypbs, eptfpia,
va{!s, iravSoxeiov, Seo-pMri]piov." cf. Acta S. Luciani presbyteri Antioch.
Mart. Jussit suo pectori imponi signa divini mysterii . . . et preces
peregit consuetas. Deinde cum di'vina plurima esset effatus, et sacro ritu
omnia peregisset proposita, ipse et fuit particeps sacramentorum, et
transmisit ad eos qui aberant. (Boll. AA.SS., January 7th, iv. 14.)
H

The Sacrament Reserved 25
brations for the sake of the sick, and those which refer to
masses said in oratories. l
There are naturally instances where a mass was said
to meet some special need, and a private celebration was
the only possible means of giving communion.
So when St. Barlaam had baptized Joasaph, son of the
King of India, he celebrated the Eucharist in a bedroom,
in order to communicate him. 2
The story in which this incident occurs is a sort of
religious novel, but it bears witness to current practice.
There would be no room for doubt in what Uranius relates
of St. Paulinus of Nola (fA.D. 431) if we could be sure
of the authenticity of the narrative. " And when he was
about to set out to meet the Lord, he bade the sacred
mysteries be performed beside his bed, so that he might
commend his soul to the Lord, in offering the sacrifice,
along with the holy bishops " — i.e. Symmachus and
Acindynus who had come to visit him. 3 This was early
in the fifth century.
Possibly, too, it was a sick call that took St. Ambrose
1 This applies to the times when Christians were at liberty to possess
and use ecclesiastical buildings. Recourse was still had to private houses in
times of danger. " ei pi) Svvarov ev eKKXrjo-ia Trpoi'evai Sia rovs dirio-rovs,
Kar' oikov o~vvd£eis, w eTTio-KOTre. . . ." (Const. Apost. viii. 34.)
\ For an example, cf. Acta (Marcelli Tapae, 5, " Beata Lucina rogavit
S. Marcellum episcopum, ut domum ejus ecclesiam consecraret. Quod
cum omni devotione fecit B. Marcellus episcopus. At ubi frequenter in
eadem domo missas celebrasset in media civitate via Lata. . . ." Marcellus
died a martyr in or about a.d. 319. The Acta are given in Boll. AA.SS.,
January 2nd, pp. 369-373.
The earliest form of this incident is to be found in the Liber Pontificalis.
" Matrona quaedam nomine Lucina, vidua . . . suscepit beatum virum ;
quae domum suam nomine beati Marcelli titulum dedicavit, ubi die
noctuque hymnis et orationibus domino Jesu Christo confitebatur."
(Duchesne, Lib. Pont. I. p. 164). No mention is here explicitly made of
celebrating the Eucharist.
2 St. John Damascene, Barlaam and Joasaph, xix. 167—168. " eiraveA-
datv Se els rbv avrov koitojvo, Kai tijv lepav eiureXeo-as pvo-rayiay lav rrjs
dvaipaKrov #wias, pere8o>Kev ain-<j> rZv axpavru>v to£ xPlo"ro^ pvo~T">]-
piav. . . ." (Woodward and Mattingley, p. 283.) There were other
purposes for which private celebrations were offered in houses, e.g. to rid
a place of evil spirits. (August. De Civitate Dei xxii. 8.)
3 Uranii Epistola : " Et quasi profecturus ad dominum jubet sibi ante
lectulum suum sacra mysteria exhiberi ; scilicet ut una cum Sanctis epis-
copis oblato sacrificio animam suam domino commendaret." (T.L. liii.
860.) E

26 The Sacrament Reserved
across the Tiber to say mass in the house of a dis
tinguished lady, though he may have gone there to
celebrate for her household in the domestic chapel. The
incident is related in the biographical letter sent by
Paulinus to St. Augustine (c. a.d. 400). He is not explicit
on this point, for the incident is merely alluded to in the
course of a story that narrates the miraculous healing of
a paralytic woman by St. Ambrose, on his way thither. '
St. Gregory Nazianzen used the phrase virb ftbvm eppwv-
wro Trjs Xeirovpyias in describing the last illness of his
father (a.d. 374). It may mean that he had the Liturgy
celebrated privately in his bedroom, but the passage is
obscure, and may equally well refer to an act of spiritual
communion.2 Celebrations of a private sort were least unusual in the
desert. The lives of the solitaries furnish instances of
priests visiting hermits and celebrating for them in the cells.
In the Verba Seniorum, for example, we are told of a presbyter
from one of the city churches who went out into the desert
that he might consecrate the oblation for the hermits'
communions.3 Rufinus also tells of John, a solitary of the
Thebaid, who ate nothing except the eucharistic Bread.
This he received every Sunday at the hands of the priest
who made it his business to come and celebrate for him.4
1 Vita S. Ambrosii, 10. "Per idem tempus cum trans Tiberim
apud quandam clarissimam invitatus sacrificium in domo offerret."
(P.L. xiv. 30.)
2 Orat. xviii. 38. Gregor. Theolog. Opera omnia. (Benedict. Ed.
(1778), p. 358.)
3 Verba Seniorum : " ad quemdam solitarium venit presbyter cujus-
dam basilicae ut consecraret ei oblationem ad communicandum." (T.L.
lxxiii. 911.) cf. Apophthegmata Tatrum, where it is related of the Abbot
Mark the Egyptian : "eixe Se e8os o Trpeo-/3vrepos epxeo-8ai Kal iroieiv
airif ri)v dyiav Trpoo-fopdv." (P-G. lxv. 303.)
+ Hist. ZMonachorum, 15 : "cibum vero nunquam sumserat nisi die
dominica. Presbyter enim tunc veniebat ad eum et ofFerebat pro eo
sacrificium, idque ei solum sacramentum erat et victus." (P.L. xxi.
434-) Parallels are to be found in the lives of mediaeval ascetics. Matthew
Paris has a story of a Leicester recluse who for seven years before her
death tasted nothing but the communion she received on Sundays
(Chron. Maj. (R.S.), iii. 101). A number of such instances, from the
twelfth and fourteenth centuries, are given by Bridgett, Hist. ofH. Euch ,
p. 238.

The Sacrament Reserved 27
At a much later date we find similar arrangements made
for the mediaeval hermit and anchoress. 1
It is perhaps worth while to note that there occurs in
the metrical Life of St. Cuthbert a possible allusion to
private celebration, but the artistic form of the statement
precludes any certainty on the point.2 The prose Life
says simply that he received the Body and Blood of the
Lord, without any hint of a private service.
Yet undoubtedly masses said in the presence of the
invalid for the purpose of providing 'viaticum were not
unknown in the Middle Ages in religious houses and
elsewhere. St. Dunstan, when he lay dying, gave com
mand that mass should be said in his chamber, and so
received his Yiaticum.'i According to Martene, who has
much information on this subject, communion was pro
vided in this way in certain parts of Spain as late as the
sixteenth century. 4
Turning to liturgical sources of information, we take
note that provision for masses in private houses, with
or without explicit mention of sickness, is made in some
early sacramentaries.
The Gelasian Sacramentary, under the title, Item ora-
tiones ad missas, has a series of prayers for use at a mass
in a private house,S three of which reappear in the Missale
1 e.g. Vita S. Godrici, 97, 98. (Surtees Society, xx, pp. 208, 209.)
2 " Ast ubi fiammicomos ardescens lucifer ortus
Attulit, ecce sacer residens antistes ad altar
Pocula degustat vitae, Christique supinum
Sanguine munit iter . . ."
(Giles, Complete Wor\s ofVen. Bede, i. p. 28.)
J According to the Life, written by Osbern (3^S. vol. 63, c. 44,
p. 125) : "jubet sanctae communionis mysterium ante se celebrari ; quod
cum protensisque manibus de coelesti mensa porrectum suscepit. . . .'
This is confirmed by a similar statement in the biography of which
Adelard was the author (u.s. p. 66), " Viaticum sacramentorum Christi
coram se celebratum," but the contemporary Life (B) says nothing on
this point.
* De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. iii. art. v. n. 12.
s Sickness is not referred to in any of these prayers :
" Protector in te sperantium deus, et subditarun?. tibi mentium
custos, habitantibus in hac domo famulis tuis propitius adesse dignare :
veniat super eos speratae a te benedictionis ubertas, et pietatis tuae repleti
muneribus, in tua gratia et in tuo nomine laeti semper exultent. Per.
" Protector fidelium deus, et subditarum tibi mentium frequentator,

28 The Sacrament Reserved
Vesontionense, i.e. Mabillon's Sacramentarium Gallicanum,1 and
in other documents. Fuller material is supplied in the
Moissac Sacramentary, including an Epistle (St. James
v. 13-16) and a Gospel (St. Luke vii. 2-10), a prayer super
oblata, and others. Moreover, definite mention is made
of sickness apart from the implication of the special Gospel
and Epistle.2
But it is no exaggeration to assert that celebrations of
the Liturgy of a private kind, such as we are considering,
must be regarded as in some sense abnormal. The mind
of the Church has ever been against the promiscuous offer
ing of the Eucharist, in places other than its public build
ings, and apart from the assembly of the faithful. This
became apparent as soon as Christians began to have any
temples of their own.
About the end of the fourth century we begin to meet
with expressions of disapproval in regard to celebrations
in private houses.
St. Basil, for example, replies to the question, May
the oblation (irpoo-KOfjuSri) take place in a common house, by
arguing that, since the Logos (by which term he means our
Lord) forbids common vessels to be carried through the
temple, holy things may not be brought into a common
habitantibus in hac domo famulis tuis propitius adesse digneris ; ut
quos nos humana visitamus sollicitudine tu divina munias potestate. Per.
" Secreta. Suscipe domine, quaesumus, preces et hostias famulorum
tuorum, et muro custodiae tuae hanc domum circumda ; ut, omni adver-
sitate depulsa, sit hoc semper domicilium incolumitatis et pacis. Per.
" Infra actionem. Hanc igitur oblationem (domine) famuli tui Illius
quam tibi ofFert pro votis et desideriis suis, atque pro incolumitate domus
suae, placatus suscipias deprecamur : pro quo in hac habitatione aux-
ilium tuae majestatis deposco, ut mittere ei digneris angelum tuum
sanctum, ad custodiendos omnes in hac habitatione (consistentes). Per.
" Postcommun. Omnipotens sempiterne deus, qui facis mirabilia magna
solus, praetende super hos famulos (tuos) degentes in hac domo spiritum
gratiae salutaris ; et ut complaceant tibi, deus, in veritate tua, perpetuum
eis rorem tuae benedictionis effunde. Per.
" Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, insere te ofiiciis nostris, et in hac
manentibus domo praesentiae tuae concede custodiam ; ut familiae tuae
defensor, et totius habitaculi hujus habitator appareas. Per." (Wilson, The
Gelasian Sacramentary, lxxiii. pp. 284, 285.)
- Neale and Forbes, Ancient Lit. Gallican Church, p. 326. (Mabillon,
Mus. Ital. I. p. 364.)
2 Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii. art. iv. ordo xi.

The Sacrament Reserved 29
house. And, again, just as the apostle teaches that it is not
right to eat and drink in the church, so the Lord's Supper
ought not to be brought into contempt by being celebrated
in an ordinary dwelling ; and therefore he only permits it
in case of extreme necessity.1 Whoever wrote the work
De baptismo, once reckoned among St. Basil's writings,2 was
of the same opinion ; and St. Cyril of Alexandria contended
that the Liturgy should be performed nowhere else than in
the churches of the orthodox,3
Moreover, the councils of this period made clear that
the offering of the sacrifice in private dwellings was irregu
lar, and prohibited the continuance of the habit. It was
laid down at the Council of Laodicea (dated by Hefele-
Leclercq between a.d. 343-381) that neither bishops nor
priests might offer in houses.4 The Council of Gangra,
of even more uncertain date than Laodicea, but belonging
to the middle of the fourth century, forbade all religious
services apart from the regular meetings at the synaxes of
the Church, 5 and a council held at Carthage (c. a.d. 390)
prohibited presbyters from celebrating in private without
the express permission of their bishop.6 Nothing is said
about the special case of the sick in any of these instances.
1 Regul. Brev. Tract, cccx. " Ei XP7) £h Koivbv oikov irpoo-KopiSrjv
yivecrdai." After the exegesis indicated in the text above, "'E£ &v
iraiSevopeOa ptjre to Koivbv Sera-i/ov ev eKKXrjcria eo-8'ieiv Kal iriveiv, prjre
rb kvpiaKbv Sehrvov ev oiKia Ka0vf3pi£eiv, Iktos ei pi) ev avdyKy eiriXe^rp-ai
tis KaSapdrepov rorrov i) oikov ev Kaipi^ eidkrtp." (P-G. xxxi. 1304.)
2 Tie baptismo II. viii. 2. (P-G. xxxi. 1602.)
3 A Versus anthropomorph. 12. " To Se ye Swpov, r)roi ri)v Trpoonpopdv,
fjv reXovpev pvo-riKtos, ev dyiais eKKXrjo-iais rais rwv 6p6o8o£(av XPV 7rp00'-
ipkpeo-dai povais, Kal oijx erepwOi ttov, i) rovro Sp&vres Trapavopovaiv
ep<pav<Ss." (T.G. lxxvi. 1097.)
•t Can. 58. " o'ti ov 8ei ev tois oikois ny>oo-<£ojOas yivecrSai ira/oa €7ricr-
kottwv i) irpto-fivrkpitiv." (Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. I. 2. p. 1025.)
5 Can. 6. " ei tis irapd ri]V eKKXrjO-iav ISiq. eKKX-qo-id^oi . . . pr] o-vv-
ovros rov Trpexrfivrepov Kara yvdprjv rov eiricrKOTrov, avadepa eo-rto.
Aimed against the Eustathians, a puritanical sect who had scruples about
the marriage of clerks. (Hefele-Leclercq, loc. cit. p. 1035.)
6 Can. q- "... in quibusdam locis sunt presbyteri qui aut ignor-
antes simpliciter, aut dissimulantes audaciter, praesente et inconsulto
episcopo, complurimis in domiciliis agent agenda ; quod disciplinae
incongruum cognoscit esse sanctitas vestra. . . . Ab universis episcopis
dictum est : quisquis presbyter inconsulto episcopo agendam in quolibet
loco voluerit celebrare, ipse honore suo contrarius exsistit." (Hard. i.
950.) cf. Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. II. i. p. 78.

30 The Sacrament Reserved
These enactments, as well as the disapproval of the
writers of this period, were called forth, of course, by the
prevalence of heresy, schism, and intrigue. The locally-
developing independence of the presbyterate may have
played some part in influencing the decrees of the councils,
for it was very necessary at such a time to relate every
thing done in the Church's name with the bishop as the
centre of local ecclesiastical authority. It is important to
remember this in forming an opinion as to the origin of
constant reservation of the sacrament under official con
trol ; for, although the case of the sick might be regarded
as exceptional, methods of supplying their needs that did
not involve private celebration were likely to be favoured.
Passing by all reference to oratories ' and private
chapels, which are to be regarded as churches for limited
congregations, and which fall therefore outside our subject,
the early Middle Ages bring us to a time when the rela
tion of the diocesan to the estate and parish churches had
to be defined. Councils and synods carefully guarded the
bishop's rights, and retained the offering of the Eucharist
entirely under his control.2
One or two examples of this legislation are worth
notice. There were wealthy and powerful laymen who
used to induce the clergy to come and celebrate for
them in their houses, where often enough no suitable
provision was made for the performance of the service.3
"We are informed," so runs a canon of some Gallican
synod or other held before the end of the ninth century,
1 The civil law of the Empire decreed on this point : " omnibus
interdicimus magnae hujus civitatis (Constantinople) habitatoribus . . .
in domibus suis habere quosdam quasi orationum domos et in his sacra
celebrare mysteria." (Justinian, Nofellae 57. tit. 13.)
Thiers (Exposition, p. 31) supposed that the oratories of episcopal
residences in early times were used for reserving the sacrament. Perhaps
he had in mind the definition of sacrarium in Ulpian (Digest. I. viii. 9) :
" locus in quo sacra reponuntur : quod etiam in aedificio privato esse potest."
2 For examples of such legislation cf. Statuta S. Bonifacii, II. 2. (Hard.
'»• 1943) ! Excerptiones Egberti Eborac. cap. 9 (Hard. iii. 1963); Cpitulare
Theodulfi Aurelianen. cap. 11 (Hard. iv. 911); Herardi Turonen. Qapit.
cap. 34 (Hard. v. 452). There are many others.
3 Imperial authority again concerned itself with the question at this
time. "Ut in diebus festis vel dominicis omnes ad ecclesiam veniant,
et non invitent presbyteros ad domos suas ad missas faciendas." (Charle
magne, Qapitulare 25 (a.d. 789). Capit. i. 64 in Mon. Germ. Hist.)

The Sacrament Reserved 31
"that certain of the laity command the clergy to sing mass
for them at home ; and in the midst of hounds and harlots,
the holy mysteries are defiled rather than consecrated."1
Even where some sort of decency was preserved, either
by the use of a room set apart for the purpose or by some
other means, this promiscuous offering of the Eucharist
could not be tolerated.
Of course, a great deal of this legislation has no imme
diate reference to the case of the sick ; but, as in earlier
times, the general prohibition of private celebration could
not be without effect upon the methods employed for the
purpose of administering clinical communion. Indeed,
though exemption might be granted in instances of extreme
necessity, 2 the case of the sick is sometimes definitely con
sidered and disallowed.
" Some priests offer the sacrifice in unconsecrated places,
that is to say, in parlours and bedrooms, for the sake of the
sick ; and this is forbidden altogether," was the ruling of
a decree of the Council of Metz (a.d. 888). 3
We may sum up by remarking that the instances of
private celebration for clinical communions are greatly
outweighed by the constant attitude of disapproval toward
the performance of the Liturgy elsewhere than in a conse
crated building.
1 " Dictum est nobis quod quidam laici in domibus propriis praecipiant
presbyteris missas cantare, et inter canum discursus et scortorum greges
sanctitatis mysteria polluantur magis quam consecrantur." (Regino,
&(otitiae, cap. 132.) Ed. Wasserschleben, p. 83. (P.L. cxxxii. 218.)
2 Two English canons of the tenth century allow celebrations in
private houses in case of great necessity : can. 25 of Canons of ^Elfric :
" They (i.e. the holy fathers) also established that no one should cele
brate mass within any house, unless it were hallowed, except for great
need, or if any one be sick." (Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes of
England, p. 445.) Can. 30 of the series enacted under King Edgar :
" And we enjoin that no priest celebrate mass in any house, but in a
hallowed church ; unless it be for any one's extreme sickness." (op. cit.
p. 398.) A Law of the Northumbrian Priests fines the priest who
celebrates in an unconsecrated house (op. cit. p. 417), and takes no account
(explicitly) of circumstances that might excuse him. (No. 13. Liebermann
Gesetze, i. 381.)
3 Qan. 9. " In locis vero non consecratis, id est, in solariis sive in
cubiculis propter infirmos vel longius iter a quibusdam presbyteris sacri
ficium offerebatur : quod omnimodis interdictum est." (Hard., op. cit.
vi. 412.)

CHAPTER IV
C. The Eucharist Reserved Privately
SO far we have discussed two of the three possible
expedients for communicating the sick and dying.
There yet remains the third alternative, where the need
is met by reservation of the Eucharist ; and this, the
most important of all three, now claims our attention.
Since grounds exist for believing that reservation of
the sacrament appeared first as a private habit, the various
forms of the private custom will be considered before we
pass on to an examination of the origin and history of
official reservation.
It will be most convenient to review the history of this
custom among the laity, the religious, and the clergy
separately. This order is the natural one, because it was
for the sake of the laity that the practice was introduced,
and, in the earliest references to private reservation, it is .
the layfolk that are concerned.
But, before examining these passages, some attempt
may be made to determine at what date we may expect to
meet with evidence for the existence of the habit.
Reverting then to Justin's account of the Christian
rites, we observe that it bears an air of studied reticence
and simplicity. He seems to tell as much as, and no more
than, he deems necessary to disarm imperial suspicion. It
was needful, he thought, to clear the grave misunderstand
ings that existed as to the nature of Christianity ; and he
believed that right-minded pagans could be convinced of
the innocuous character of the new religion. So he gives
a brief outline of the principal rites that were already
known to the heathen in a garbled form, but makes no
mention of details that it seemed inadvisable to divulge.
If this estimate of his purpose is right, it is possible
that private reservation may also have been in use as well
as the official distribution which he describes, and he may
have purposely omitted any reference to the custom.
3*

The Sacrament Reserved 33
Let us test the worth of this assumption.
In the first place, it is hardly likely that private
reservation arose out of the regular distribution of the
sacrament by the deacons ; for there is no reason to
suppose that any interval occurred between the conveyance
of the Eucharist to the absent and the consumption of the
elements. Much of the significance of the rite would
have been lost if reception had been delayed. The purpose
of the practice was to secure the participation of all the
faithful in the one Eucharist : it was in no sense a private
communion, but rather a local extension of the public
service, as nearly coincident with the open communion
as might be. Immediate consumption, therefore, would
be regarded as desirable.
For this reason we may believe that the mode of
procedure would be the same as that which was in vogue
at the communion in the synaxis : that the deacon would
immediately himself administer the sacrament to the
absent with whatever form or ceremony was usual at the
Liturgy. We may conclude, then, that even if communicants
were at this date in the habit of taking away the sacrament
from the Liturgy, instead of consuming it at once, such
a custom must have had an independent origin, and could
not well have had its origin in their familiarity with the
delayed reception of the eucharistic species borne by the
ministers to the absent.
Further, if we suppose that Christians were already
allowed to convey the sacrament to their homes, it is
difficult to see why other means of distribution were
employed, for there were obvious advantages in the less
ostentatious method during those dangerous years. It is
certainly unlikely that the two customs coexisted for any
great length of time or over any considerable area.
It is probable, therefore, that the habit of private
reservation came into general use after the time of Justin.
We are really in search of circumstances, operating fairly
constantly during a period posterior to the middle of the
second century, under the stress of which modifications
of earlier practices would be likely to arise and private
reservation supplant the official distribution of the
Eucharist : this is not a difficult quest.

34 The Sacrament Reserved
After the era of the apologists the recurrent persecu
tions were directed against Christianity as a well-known
religion : the offence lay in being a Christian.
Again, the numbers of the faithful were rapidly grow
ing, especially in the larger cities of the empire. It would
become increasingly difficult for the officers of the Church
to convey the sacrament to all the sick and to the Christian
prisoners that at times thronged the gaols, even if the State
had not made the profession of Christianity, to all intents
and purposes, a capital offence. The regular distribution
from the Liturgy by the deacons was bound to fall into
disuse when ecclesiastical officials had become the chief
objects of the persecuting tyranny.
The Christians doubtless kept themselves well informed
as to the habits and dispositions of the local authorities,
and would watch carefully for occasions when vigilance
was relaxed or persecuting activity diminished. Prudence
would dictate that all the members of a Christian household
should not assist at the same time at the Church's services ;
and a very natural consequence of these periodic reigns of
terror would be the secret distribution of the sacrament by
those who had been able to elude the vigilance of the
Imperial police. Not only would the sick be thus supplied,
but the sacrament would be conveyed in this way to others
as well. Moreover, whenever the danger grew more imminent,
the desire for communion was naturally increased. Frequent,
and, in some places, even daily, communion became a very
general rule. Under such conditions as then existed the
desire for frequent reception could not easily be satisfied
by any other means than by communion at home. And
yet another circumstance must be taken into account, — the
fact that at this period only certain days of the week were
liturgically observed ; so that altogether a situation was
created for which the almost inevitable solution lay in
private reservation. These considerations point to the
beginning of the third century as the date at which this
custom became usual.
From these prefatory remarks we may turn to discuss
some "early references to the practice as it existed among
layfolk, with a view to confirming this conclusion and to
ascertaining the extent and duration of the habit.

The Sacrament Reserved 35
Private Reservation by the Laity
A passage in St. Clement of Alexandria has sometimes
been quoted as referring to private reservation, but the
context is against such an interpretation.1
It is doubtful, too, whether Origen can be claimed as
a witness for the practice. Three passages from the
Homilies supposed to contain allusions to the custom are
adduced by the editors of Reliquiae Liturgicae Vetustissimae.
Since these Homilies are extant only in a Latin version the
texts have no great value.
In the Homilies on Exodus, Origen remarks — " You who
are accustomed to attend the divine mysteries know with
what care you receive the Lord's Body and with what
reverence you preserve (servatis) it, lest a little thereof fall,
lest any portion of the hallowed gift be dropped. You
would justly hold yourselves guilty if this should happen
through carelessness ; and so, if you rightly take such
great care for the preservation (conservanduni) of the Lord's
Body, why do you hold it less of a sin to behave with
negligence toward the Word of God than toward His
Body?"2 This reads more like a reference to reverent
reception of the Eucharist in church than to private
communion at home.
In an exposition of the mystical significance of the
Hebrew sacrificial system there may possibly be some
faint traces of allusion to reservation ; but, if this be so,
he appears to disapprove of the practice. " Our Lord,"
he says, " when He gave the Bread to His disciples,
saying, 'Take, eat,' did not bid it be kept (seivari) until
the morrow." " And this is another figure of the sacra
ments, that whatever remains over to the next day is
commanded to be eaten, and nothing must be kept until
1 Strom. I. i. 5. "... 'Kai ri)v evxa/oioriav rives Siaveipavres lis
e^os airbv Si) eKacrrov rov Aaov Xa/3eiv rrjv poipav eTrirperrovcriv." Din-
dorf, II. p. 6. The reference is to public performance of the Liturgy.
2 Horn. xiii. in Exod. 3, " Volo vos admonere religionis vestrae exemplis :
nostis qui divinis mysteriis interesse consuestis quomodo cum suscipistis
corpus domini cum omni cautela et veneratione servatis, ne ex eo parum
quid decidat, ne consecrati muneris aliquid dilabatur. Reos enim vos
creditis et recte creditis, siquid inde per negligentiam decidat. Quod si
circa corpus ejus conservandum tanta utimini cautela et merito utimini,"
etc. (Rel. Lit. Vetust. I. p. 116. no. 1 146.)

36 The Sacrament Reserved
the third day." * The immediate reference in these two
passages is to the law of the peace-offering and of the
free-will offering, on which the author allegorizes, as is
his wont, and he is really concerned with the " spiritual "
offering of praise. This, he says, must never be allowed
to grow stale.
The Hippolytan Church Order gives directions as to the
care of the sacrament, presumably when privately reserved.
It is received before any food. It must be kept from
unbelievers, from mice and other animals, and not allowed
to drop on the ground and perish. Similarly the chalice
must not be spilt.2 At the same time Tertullian witnesses
to private reservation. He deals with those who had
scruples about communicating on the station-days. Chris
tians of that time were usually content with a fast that
lasted until the hour of the afternoon at which the
Eucharist was offered on these days. But there was a
very strong rigorist section at Carthage who regarded
this as an incomplete observance and kept the whole of
Wednesday and Friday as a strict fast.
Their difficulty lay in the circumstance that they could
not attend the Liturgy without communicating, and so
they were inclined to stay away from the station-day
synaxes. For they held that reception of the Eucharist
broke the fast as completely as the partaking of food.
Tertullian counsels them thus : " Many think that they
may not be present at the sacrificial prayers (on the station-
days), because the statio would be broken by reception of
the Lord's Body. Does the Eucharist, then, break up
1 Horn. v. in Levit. 8, " Nam et dominus panem, quem discipulis
dabat et dicebat eis, accipite et manducate, non distulit, nee servari jussit
in crastinum. Hoc fortasse mysterii etiam in eo quod panem portari non
jubet in via et semper recentes, quos intra te geris, verbi dei panes
proferas." (op. cit. p. 118. no. 1 174.)
" Alia sane sacramentorum figura est, qua jubet etiam in altera die
quod superfuerit edi, nihil vero in tertiam diem reservari, de qua suis locis
videbimus." (ibid.no. 1 175.)
2 " Omnis autem fidelis festinet antequam aliquid aliud gustet eucharis-
tiam percipere . . . festinet non infidelis gustet de eucharistia, aut ne sorex
aut animal aliud at ne quid cadat et pereat de eo . . . calicem . . .
acceptisti quasi antitypum sanguinis Christi quapropter nolite effundere.
. . ." (Hauler, Didasc. apost. fragm. p. 117.) Some parts of this have
survived in the Canons of Hippolytus, c. xxviii. (ed. Achelis, p. 205).

The Sacrament Reserved 37
the worship that belongs to God, or does it bind the more
closely to Him ? Will not your statio be all the more
solemn if you have stood at God's altar ? By receiving
and reserving the Lord's Body, both points will be secured ;
namely, participation in the sacrifice and the discharge of
your duty." 1 That is to say, they are to attend the station
mass, and if they wish to prolong the fast they may take
away the sacrament to their homes and consume it after
the statio is over.
Tertullian refers to the sacrament privately reserved in
another place, where he considers the case of a Christian
woman married to an unbeliever. " Will your husband
know what it is that you taste in secret before (eating) any
food ? " he asks. " And if he knows it to be bread, does
he not think it to be what it is called ? And will any
one, not knowing the reason of these things, endure
them without murmuring ? without wondering whether it
be bread or a charm?"2 He also witnesses to the care
necessary in reserving, so that none of the sacrament be
allowed to fall, though this would apply equally to public
reception in Church. 3
He may also allude to private communion from the
reserved Eucharist in his reflections upon the impropriety
of a man who has married again performing certain religious
acts. He is speaking of the laity. "Are not even we
laymen priests ? . . . Accordingly, where the clergy are
not present, you offer and baptize and are a priest, all
alone, for yourself. ... If you are a digamus, do you
dare to baptize? Do you, a digamus, offer?" 4 This
1 De oratione, \ 9. " Similiter et de stationum diebus non putant plerique
sacrificiorum orationibus interveniendum, quod statio solvenda sit, accepto
corpore domini. Ergo devotum deo obsequium eucharistia resolvit ?
An magis deo obligat ? Nonne sollemnior erit statio tua, si et ad aram
dei steteris ? Accepto corpore domini et reservato, utrumque salvum
est, et participatio sacrificii et executio officii." (P.L. i. 1 1 8 1 ff.)
2 Ad uxorem, II. 5. " Non sciet maritus quid secreto ante omnem
cibum gustes ; et si sciverit panem, non ilium credit esse qui dicitur (i.e.
will he not think it to be bread and nothing more) ? Et haec ignorans
quisque rationem simpliciter sustinebit sine gemitu, sine suspicione panis an
veneni ? " (P.L. i. 1296.)
3 " Calicis aut panis etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram anxie patimur,
De corona. 3 .
4 De exhortat. castitatis. 7. " Nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus i Scriptum
est : regnum quoque nos et sacerdotes deo et patri suo fecit. Differentiam

38 The Sacrament Reserved
occurs in the Exhortation to Chastity, a work of markedly
anti-clerical character ; yet in spite of the general tone of
the treatise, we can hardly suppose that Tertullian, even
in his Montanism, means that a layman may so far usurp
sacerdotal functions as to celebrate the Eucharist. It is
safer to take offerre as meaning the distribution of the
sacrament among the members of a Christian household.
From St. Cyprian we learn that special receptacles were
employed for reserving the sacrament privately. He is the
authority for the oft-quoted story of a lapsed Christian
woman who tried to open the vessel (area) in which she
kept the Eucharist for her own use. A miracle is said to
have deterred her presumption, for supernatural flames
burst from the area.1
Another writer of the same period, whose work, De spec-
taculis, was once attributed to Cyprian, condemns in vigorous
terms the conduct of unworthy Christians who went straight
from the Liturgy to the degrading public shows, carrying
inter ordinem et plebem constituit ecclesiae auctoritas et honor per ordinis
consessum sanctificatus. Adeo ubi ecclesiastici ordinis non est consessus et,
offers et tinguis et sacerdos es tibi solus. Sed ubi tres ecclesia est, licet
laici. . . . Igitur si habes jus sacerdotis in temetipso ubi necesse est, habeas
oportet etiam disciplinam sacerdotis ubi necesse sit habere jus sacerdotis.
Digamus tinguis ? digamus offers ? Quanto magis laico digamo capitale est
agere pro sacerdote cum ipsi sacerdote digamo facto auferatur agere sacer-
dotem ! " (P.L. ii. 922.) See Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood, p. 78 n.
* De lapsis. 26 : " . . . cum quaedam arcam suam in qua domini
sanctum fuit manibus indignis tentasset aperire, igne inde surgente deterrita
est nc auderet attingere." (P.L. iv. 486.) He goes on to tell another tale
of the same sort, but here it is more probable that what happened took place
at the open communion : " qui et ipse maculatus, sacrificio a sacerdote
celebrato, partem cum caeteris ausus est latenter accipere, sanctum domini
edere et contrectare non potuit, cinerem ferre se apertis manibus invenit."
(ibid.) This and other passages are referred to by some of the older ecclesio-
logists as containing allusions to private reservation, on the strength of the
occurrence of the verb "accipere." They understand the word in a pregnant
sense as meaning " to take and carry away," where, as a matter of fact, the
allusion is merely to reception in the hand at the public service (e.g. De bono
patient. 14: " . . . nee post gestatam eucharistiam manus gladio et cruore
maculatur" ; De lapsis. 22. " . . . et quod non statim domini corpus
inquinatis manibus accipiat"). Although they were well aware that the
ancient custom was to receive the Bread in the hand, it would not form
part of their mental image of the communion. Hence this misinterpreta
tion of " accipere." (See e.g. Angelus Rocca, Thesaurus Tontific. I. p. 40,
and Morinus, De Sacr. Ordin. III. xii. 3. §§ 5-7.)

The Sacrament Reserved 39
the Eucharist with them, and so exposing the Lord's Body
to contact with all manner of obscenity.1
The danger of irreverence was at a minimum when
Christian men and women went with their lives in their
hands, but whenever the pressure of persecution was relaxed
and the profession of Christianity made less demands upon
its adherents, the possibility of irreverent or careless or
superstitious use of the sacrament became very real. The
bulk of the Church was recruited from the lower middle
classes of the Empire, who before their conversion were
living in a " daemonic " atmosphere ; and however heartily
a man might renounce the service of pagan deities, he could
hardly escape the modes of thought that were the outcome
of his previous mental environment. Hence, we are not
surprised to find the Eucharist treated as a charm, an
amulet, a medicine.
Even St. Ambrose sees nothing reprehensible in the use
of the sacrament as an amulet. In the funeral sermon that
he preached on the occasion of the death of his brother
Satyrus, he mentions that Satyrus, who was then a cate
chumen, finding himself once in danger of shipwreck, asked
some fellow-passenger, whom he knew to be a Christian,
for the sacrament, and, wrapping it up in his scarf, plunged
with it clasped to his bosom into the sea.2 St. Augustine
has no adverse comment to make on the action of a woman
who before his days used the Eucharist to cure her son of
blindness.3 1 De spectaculis, 5. " . . ausus secum sanctum in lupanar ducere, si
potuisset, qui festinans ad spectaculum dimissus e dominico et adhuc gerens
secum ut assolet Eucharistiam inter corpora obscoena meretricum Christi
sanctum corpus infidelis iste circumtulit, plus damnationis meritus de itinere
quam de spectaculi voluptate." (Ed. Hartel, III. p. 8. P.L. iv. 784.)
2 De excessufratris i. 43 : " Qui priusquam perfectioribus esset initiatus
mysteriis in naufragio constitutus, cum ea qua veheretur navis scopuloso
illisa vado et urgentibus hinc atque inde fluctibus solveretur, non mortem
metuens, sed ne vacuus mysterii exiret e vita, quos initiatos esse cognoverat,
ab his divinum illud fidelium sacramentum poposcit ; non ut curiosos oculos
inferret arcanis, sed ut fidei suae consequeretur auxilium. Etenim ligari
fecit in orario et orarium involvit collo, atque ita se dejecit in mare, non
requirens de navis compage resolutam tabulam, cui supernatans juvaretur,
quoniam fidei solius arma quaesierat. Itaque his se tectum atque munitum
satis credens, alia auxilia non desideravit." (P.L. xvi. 1 304.)
3 Op. impf. contra Julian, iii. 162 : " Erat apud nos Acatus quidam,
honesto apud suos ortus loco : clausis oculis natum se esse dicebat : sed quia

40 The Sacrament Reserved
But the abuses of the sacrament that seem to have been
most extensive and of long continuance were in connection
with the dead. This subject is considered at the end of
this section.1
It is natural, then, that when the persecutions had
become things of the past and the need for private reser
vation no longer existed, the custom should be discouraged
as undesirable, and ultimately be forbidden. Its disappear
ance was gradual : in some places it was tolerated longer
than was the case elsewhere. St. Jerome alludes to private
reservation in his time at Rome, in the course of his
remarks on the undesirability of communion under certain
conditions. He asks how it is that those who feel them
selves debarred from attending the services of the Church
are conscious of no incongruity in communicating at
home ? 2
To the persistence of the custom into the latter half of
the fourth century at Alexandria St. Basil bears witness.
Some one had written to ask him about daily communion,
and whether it was permissible to make private communion
intus sani palpebris cohaerentibus non patebant, medicum eos ferro aperire
voluisse, neque hoc permisisse religiosam matrem suam, sed id effecisse
imposito ex eucharistia cataplasmate, cum jam puer quinque fere aut
amplius esset annorum, unde hoc se satis meminisse narrabat." (Augustine,
Opera, ed. Benedict, x. 1802.)
1 Chap. vii. (f).
2 Epist. (xlviii) ad Pammach. 15:" Scio Romae hanc esse consuetudinem
ut fideles semper Christi corpus accipiant, quod nee reprehendo nee probo :
Unusquisque enim in suo sensu abundat. Sed ipsorum conscientiam convenio
qui eodem die post coitum communicant, et juxta Persium, noctem flumine
purgant ; quare ad Martyres ire non audent i quare non ingrediuntur
ecclesias ? An alius in publico, alius in domo Christus est 1 Quod in
ecclesia non licet, nee domi licet. Nihil deo clausum est, et tenebrae
quoque lucent apud deum. Probet se unusquisque et sic ad corpus Christi
accedat ; non quod dilatae communionis unus dies aut biduum sanctiorem
efficiat Christianum, ut quod hodie non merui eras vel perendie merear :
sed quod dum doleo me non communicasse corpori Christi, abstineam me
paulisper ab uxoris amplexu, ut amori conjugis amorem Christi prae-
feram." (T.L. xxii. 506.) The statement in the text above gives the
general sense, though some details are not quite clear. Semper may mean
every day, or more probably, from the context, under all circumstances ;
in any case, private reservation is implied. On the point of daily com
munion, Gennadius Massiliensis follows Jerome's opinion (De Eccles. T)ogmat.
53) — "Quotidie eucharistiae communionem percipere nee laudo nee
vitupero." He wrote about the end of the fifth century.

The Sacrament Reserved 41
in the absence of a priest. His reply is interesting,
and may be quoted as an authentic statement of the
conditions under which private reservation came into
existence, as well as evidence for its survival in certain
quarters. " It is not necessary to point out that for any one to be
obliged in times of persecution to take the communion
with his own hand, when no priest or deacon (Xerrovpyos) is
present, is not a serious offence ; for long-standing custom
has found a sanction for the practice in the actual circum
stances. All the solitaries in the deserts, where there is no
priest, keep the communion by them and partake of it by
themselves. At Alexandria too, and in Egypt, each one of
the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion at home,
and whenever he wishes partakes of it by himself. For,
after the priest has completed the sacrifice once and dis
tributed it, he who then received it in its entirety all
together, when he partakes of it each time, must believe
that he duly takes and receives it from the hand that first
gave it. For even in the church, when the priest distributes
each portion, he who receives takes it into his complete
control, and lifts it to his mouth with his own hand. It
comes to the same thing, whether one or many portions
at a time are received from the priest." J Private reserva
tion, then, equally with the official distribution, is to be
regarded as an extension of public communion, and the
postponement of consumption is of no importance.
As to the duration of the practice, we find evidence for
the persistence of private reservation at a later date in the
1 Epist. (xciii) ad Caesar, patric. " . . . To Se ev tois Sioyypov Kaipois
dvayKa£ecr8ai Tiva, pi) tcapovros tepkots i) Xeirovpyov, ryv KOivwviav Xap^
fidveiv rrj iSia X'V' pqSapios eivai fHapv trepirrov eariv diroSeiKvvvai, 8id
to Kai ri)v paKpdv o-vvrj8eiav rovro oV avriov rZv Trpaypdrtav irio-ru>o-ao-8ai.
Hdvres yap oi Kara, rds eprjpovs Koiviaviav o'ikoi Karkxovres, dcf>' kavrdv
peraXap/3dvovo-iv. 'Ev 'AXe£av8peia Se Kal ev Aiyvrrros eKaoros Kal tw
ev Xa(S reXovvrwv us errl rb irXeio-rov exei Koivwviav ev t<j oik<j) avro{>, Kai
6Ve fiovXerai peraXap/3dvei Si' eavrov. "Krra^ yap rrjv dvo-iav rov lepkuis
reXeihxravros koi SeSwKOTOS, d Xa{3u)v avrrjv ais SXijv opov, Ka8' eKdo-rrjv
pieraXapfidvbiv, irapd tov SeSuKOTOs eiKortoS peraXapfidveiv Kal wroSexeo^ai
7rioTei5eiv ocpeiXei. Kai yap Kai ev ry eKKXyo-ia o Upevs hri8i8o>o-i ri)v
pepiSa Kal Karexei avri)v o vrroSexopevos per' e^oixrias (broods, Kai ovra)
irpoo-dyei r<S crropari ry ISia X€'/°'- Tavrbi/ roivvv earl ry Svvdpei, eire
piav pepiSa Several ris irapa rov lepeias eiTe TroAAas pepiSas opov." (P.G.
xxxii. 484.) G

42 The Sacrament Reserved
East than in the West, but even there custom varied from
place to place.
John Moschus, in the seventh century, speaks of
reserving the Eucharist at home' as usual in Seleucia, but
he explicitly calls it a local custom.
This is the story. A certain wealthy Severian heretic
had in his household an orthodox servant, who received,
according to the custom of that part of the world, a portion
of the sacrament on Maundy Thursday, and, after wrapping
it in a clean linen cloth, placed it in a cupboard which he
had for his private use. Shortly after Easter, he was sent
on business to Constantinople, and left the key with his
master, who one day opened the cupboard, and saw what
it contained. Being a pious man (in spite of the fact that
he was a heretic), he was distressed at the thought that his
servant should have forgotten all about the sacred contents
of the cupboard, and wondered what he should do ; for
he might not consume them himself. He determined
therefore to wait until his servant returned. But when
the Coena Domini came round again and the man had not
yet come home, he decided that he ought to burn the
sacrament. Opening the cupboard he was amazed to find
a number of ears of corn, and ran off full of wonder to the
bishop of the local church.
As is usual in tales of this kind a large number ot
heretics were converted by the miracle. 1
But the story contains real points of interest. The
Eucharist was distributed, apparently, only on Maundy
Thursday ; for what purpose it is not easy to say. The
servant forgot that he had left the sacrament when he
went away ; but whether he ought to have made his
communion with it at Easter, or whether he should have
taken it with him on his journey, does not appear. The
former supposition has the support of Testament of our Lord,
a document that may have come from this part of the
world ; but the distribution of the sacred elements on
1 Pratum Spirituale, 79. "THv tis dvi)p irpaypiarevri)s evravOa (in
Seleucia) 7raVi> eiXaf$i)s Kai irAowios, i)v Se aiperiKoS rZv 'ZefHrjpov Soypdrwv,
e'x«v Se irio-riKbv Koivwvovvra rrj dyia Ka8oXiKy Kai aTroo-roXiKy" CKKAijcria.
ofrros d ttiovikos Kara rb eOos rrjs xwpas eXa/3ev KOivwviav ry dyia Treprrry.
Kai /3aXwv airijv ev pov£iKi(p diredero ev T<j> i8i<j> dppapiip. . . . K.r.X."
(T.G. Ixxxvii. 2936.)

The Sacrament Reserved 43
Maundy Thursday for consumption at Easter is unusual,
and not easily explained.1
The same author tells how a heretic found his wife
gone to the house of an orthodox neighbour to make her
communion, presumably from the sacrament privately
reserved, and administered by layfolk. He surprised her
in the act of receiving.2 A good deal of freedom seems
to have been tolerated in some parts if the laity were
allowed to admit to communion in this way those who had
not been regularly received into the fellowship of the
Church. There is one other use of the reserved sacrament to
which a passing allusion may be made here, although it
touches a point that will call for further notice in another
place ; namely, what may be styled the " honorific " use of
the Eucharist.
Severus of Antioch (a.d. 512-519) sends the oblation
to a Count Anastasius, with a letter protesting that the
faithful need not trouble themselves as to whether the
priest from whom they receive the sacrament be worthy
or unworthy, for the communion is always the same.
" See," he writes, " overcome by the fervour and purity
of your gracious father's faith, we have sent you the
communion or oblation, as seemed to you to be desirable ;
because while one and the same faith prevails in the holy
churches in the East and in those in Egypt, one must
reckon the communion also to be one and of the same
value, since priests, whatever they may be in their conduct,
cannot increase or diminish the sacrament. . . . However,
1 If he was unable to attend the Easter festival, he would make his
communion at home from the reserved sacrament, cf. Testament of cur
Lord, II. § 20. Everybody absent or present was to receive communion
at that time. The officials of the church carried it to the sick. (See
p. 17.) 2 Pratum Spirituale, 30. The narrative of the heretic after his conver
sion is as follows : " eyta, <pyo-lv, orav ypyv ev tij" Koo-piy yvvaiKa eixov.
"Hpe8a ovV oi 8i;o Tot> Soyparos ^evypov. 'EX8<av ovv eyw h> piq. rwv
r)pepiov eh rbv oikov pov, ovx eSpov ryv yvvaiKa pov, aAAa, aKovia ori
aTrr)X6ev Trpbs ri)v yeirova Koivo>vrjo-ai. rjv Se Koivtavovo-a eKeivrj eh rr)v
dyi'av Ka6oXtKr)v eKKXrjcriav. . . . Eio-eA.6\i>i> ofiV eis rbv oikov tvjs yeiVovos,
e{Jpov tijv yvvaiKa pov r/Sr] Trpoo-<f>ar<its Xa/3ovo-av ri)v ayiav pepiSa Kai
Koivo>vovo-av. Apa£dpievos roivvv toxj A-apuyyos avrfjs eiroiyo-a e£epao-ai
avrriv ri)v ayiav pepiSa. Kai Xapinv riKOvryo-a avri)v dvo)8ev Karia. . . .
K.T.X." (P.g. lxxxvii. 2877.)

44 The Sacrament Reserved
as I have said, having been overcome by the abundant love
which you have towards Christ, we have done what was
commanded by you."* This same writer furnishes us with
evidence for the existence of this " honorific " use of the
sacrament among the religious and the clergy.2
It is now time to consider as a whole the evidence that
we have collected. The passages adduced seem to permit
three conclusions.
First — The origin of private reservation among the
laity is closely bound up with the period of persecution
that followed the age of the apologists ; that is to say, it
appears as a common custom at the end of the second
century, or the beginning of the third.
It is worthy of remark that we meet with it first in
Africa, where a local persecution of a violent kind began
in a.d. 197. The opening years of the next century wit
nessed the outbursts under Septimius Severus, which affected
widely separated parts of the empire. Thus Tertullian's
familiarity with the custom is accounted for ; but as he speaks
of the use of the reserved sacrament in times when the
synaxes were apparently solemnized in security, and when
Christians could inter-marry with their heathen neighbours,
we conclude that once the practice had come into existence,
it continued in use when there was no very pressing need
for it. But this need returned during the Decian and
Valerian persecutions, and for this period we have the
evidence of Cyprian in Africa, and the testimony of
Dionysius at Alexandria.
It is also interesting to note that when the conditions
reappear, under which private reservation was first intro
duced, the practice is revived. We have such an instance
in the action taken by Dorotheus, Bishop of Thessalonica,
at a time when it would appear that reservation of a private
sort, where it existed at all, had become reduced to a very
attenuated form, and subserved other ends than those
1 Brooks, Select Letters oj Severus of Antioch, II. part 2 (Translat.)
p. 231. 2 ibid. pp. 245, 246. " In the case of the religious deacon Misael
also, as well as the Christ-loving brothers Ammian and Epagathus, who
about two years ago sent me a box and asked me to have it filled for them
with the communion or holy oblation, I did not fall in with the impiety
and superfluity of the request."

The Sacrament Reserved 45
for which it was originally employed. In a.d. 519, his
diocese was threatened with persecution, and so he caused
a plentiful supply of the sacrament to be distributed for
private use, lest any of his people should be deprived of
the opportunity of communicating.1
Secondly — The practice seems to have been fairly general.
Writers from the third century onward allude to it as a
familiar custom. The references are not numerous, it is
true, but they include Rome, Africa, Alexandria, Syria, and
Macedonia. We know from the fact that action was taken
to suppress private reservation among the laity by two
Spanish councils at the end of the fourth century, that it
had reached that part of the world before that date, prob
ably long before ; but we have no earlier evidence for its
existence there.
Thirdly — The language of the passages in which reference
to the custom occurs, taken in conjunction with the con
ditions under which it first came into being, leads to the
conclusion that the laity made use of the species of Bread
alone for this purpose.
No great importance ought to be attached to the mere
fact that the reserved sacrament is commonly called the
Body of the Lord, for Jerome employs the phrase, corpus
Christi accipiant,2 in reference to regular communion in
both kinds at church, and there is considerable laxity of
expression in this particular among early writers on the
Eucharist. The mention of the chalice in the Church
Order seems to be an afterthought and to refer only to
reception in Church. If this is ambiguous, the counsel
that Tertullian gave the scrupulous Christians of Carthage
clearly implies the use of only one kind in private reserva
tion. If they did not wish to consume the sacrament
immediately, they were to receive the Lord's Body and keep
it until they thought they might communicate without blame.
They would, of course, abstain from participation in the
Chalice, for this would involve a breaking of the stational
fast quite as much as would the eating of the Bread ; and
there is no hint of conjoint administration by intinction.
The further passage, that speaks of the reserved
1 Thiel, Epp. Roman. Tont. I. p. 902. " Canistra plena, ne imminente
persecutione communicare non possent."
2 Epist. (xhiii) ad Pammach. 1 5 .

46 The Sacrament Reserved
sacrament as Bread (et si scileerit panem), puts the matter
beyond all reasonable doubt, so far as Africa in the age
of Tertullian is concerned.
Beside the one really important point of practical
convenience, there were other good reasons why the
sacramental Bread alone should have been used in private
communion. In Cyprian's day the sect of the Aquarians r
had begun to substitute water for the mingled Chalice at
the early Eucharist, so that the odour of wine in the
breath at so early an hour of the day should not arouse
the curiosity and suspicion of their heathen neighbours
and kin. Any danger of this sort would be obviated if
only the one kind were employed for communion at home.
St. Basil, who views the custom simply as a delay in
communicating, speaks of receiving one or more portions
(fieplSei) at once from the hand of the priest. Here, again,
only the Bread is taken away and reserved.
The ease with which the sacrament was carried about ;
the absence of any allusion to the Wine ; the use of a box
(area) all point to the same conclusion. Details in the
other quotations we have given, such as the story of the
miracle at Seleucia, where the mention of the ears of corn
implies that the sacrament was kept in the form of Bread ;
and the definite statement about the action of Bishop
Dorotheus, confirm the inference that within the limits of the
period to which we have so far confined our investigation,
the laity reserved the Bread alone for their private use.
Hitherto we have made use of no evidence on this
subject beyond the patristic period,2 but, before leaving
this part of our inquiry, it is of interest to note that rare
and isolated instances of private reservation by layfolk
occur at comparatively recent dates. St. Lewis, in the
thirteenth century, is said to have borne the sacrament
1 cf. Epist. 63 ad Qaecilium. Earlier notice of the practice occurs in
Clement Alexand. Strom. I. 19.
2 Wonder stories of the type recorded by such writers as Caesarius of
Heisterbach not infrequently presuppose the use (generally unlawful)
of the reserved sacrament by layfolk, e.g. : " Quando in ista magna
expeditione naves ex omni parte Alemanniae congregatae mare intraverunt,
ob causas diversas perceptum est sacerdotibus ne in aliqua navi corpus
dominicum servaretur. . . ." (Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dial. Monach. ix.
13.) The misuse of the Eucharist for various dishonest and magical
purposes was only too common at this period (fourteenth century).

The Sacrament Reserved 47
on his person (by permission of the papal legate) during
the crusades. 1 s
More remarkable is the statement of Carolus Vera-
nus, a fifteenth-century historian, that Ferdinand of Spain,
after being captured by the Moors, left the sacrament with
them as a pledge for his return to captivity if he should
fail to find ransom.2
The custom was not extinct in the East in the days
of the seventeenth-century savant, Gabriel the Sionite.
Martene quotes from a letter of his as evidence for the
persistence of private reservation among the Maronites
at that date ; they bore the sacrament with them into
battle, and whenever they undertook a long or perilous
journey.3 Before we pass on to deal with private reservation
among the religious and the clergy, it will be convenient
to complete the present section by a few remarks on the
suppression of the custom among the laity. We shall
then be able to explain the more readily why it survived to
some extent in religious and clerical circles to a later date.
A check was imposed on the practice in the West
between a.d. 379-381, when the bishops of Spain and
Aquitaine sat in council at Saragossa (Caesaraugusta) to
condemn the errors of the Priscillianists, and promulged
a series of eight canons. The third of these forbade com
municants to carry the Eucharist away from church. 4 But
whether this was for a reason connected with the heresy, or
whether it condemned only the surreptitious removal of the
sacrament 5 are points which remain doubtful.
1 Guilelmus de Nangiaco, De gestis S. Ludovici : " Sacrum domini Jesu
Christi corpus secum de licentia domini Tusculani sedis apostolicae legati
deferebat." (Mart. De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. v. art. 4. § 1 .) Bona, however,
says CRerum Lit. I. xv. 6) that St. Lewis had the sacrament reserved on
his ship when he was returning from the crusade for the celebration
of (Missae Siccae.
2 Cited by Rocca, Thes. Pontific, vol. I, p. 41. cf. Surius, Vitae Sanct.
(August 25 th).
3 Martene, loc. cit.
* Can. 3. " Eucharistiae gratiam si quis probatur acceptam in ecclesia
non comsumpsisse, anathema sit in perpetuum." (Hefele-Leclercq, i.
98. 7 : Hard. i. 806.)
5 cf. the story of a woman who pretended to communica!:e and con
veyed the sacrament secretly to her maid, for dishonest purposes, in the

48 The Sacrament Reserved
A similar enactment was made a few years later (a.d.
400) by a council of eighteen bishops assembled under the
Archbishop of Toledo. " If any one does not consume
the Eucharist that he receives from the priest, he is to
be expelled as sacrilegious." 1 Here again, although
some of the canons deal with ecclesiastical discipline,
Priscillianism was the occasion of the council's assembly ;
but it seems impossible to determine whether or not
the prohibition concerning the Eucharist has any direct
regard to that heresy.
In the East, where private reservation lingered later
than in the West, an early Armenian canon, which belongs
to the first part of the fourth century, forbids the private
ministration of the Eucharist by the clergy in the houses
of laymen except in case of sickness ; and this must be
held to imply that reservation was not usual in the area
where the enactment had force ; or else, if it were prac
ticed, it was discountenanced by this decree.
The series of canons in which this occurs bears the
name of the Metropolitan Isaac, or St. Sahak (a.d. 390-
441).2 As to the reasons why private reservation was gener
ally discontinued after a certain date, some have become
clear during our examination of the quotations that refer to
it. These passages seem to bear out the remarks with
which this section opened. It was authorized at first as the
only practicable way of supplying the faithful with the
sacrament under the persecutions. But as soon as the real
need for the custom disappeared abuses of various kinds
began to make their appearance. The ultimate result,
therefore, was certain to be a curtailment of the liberty
conceded to the laity in this matter.
No step, however, was taken for some time. There

time of St. John Chrysostom (Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. viii. 5, P.(f. lxvii. 1 5 28 f ;
Nicephorus Callistus, Hist. Eccl. xiii. 7, T.G. cxlvi. 953).
1 Can. 14. "Si quis , "autem acceptam a sacerdote eucharistiam non
sumpserit velut sacrilegus propellatur." (Hefele-Leclercq, ii. 123 : Hard.
i. 992.) 2 Can. 13. " And outside the church priests shall not dare to carry
the sacrament into the houses of cultivators, and there impart the holiness,
except only in cases of sickness." (Amer. Journ. Theol., October, 1898, p.
836.) cf. Mai, Script. Vet. S^ov. Qoll. x. 280.

The Sacrament Reserved 49
is no trace of a sudden resolve on the part of the Church
as a whole to put an end to the practice. How far the
action of the two Spanish councils reflects the general
mind of the West, or represents the beginning of a policy,
is not easy to ascertain. Probably their ruling is to be
explained as due to local circumstances of which we are
ignorant. For about the same time Augustine (as we have
noted) does not see anything reprehensible in the strange
uses to which the Eucharist was sometimes put ; and
Jerome, although it is obvious that he does not like the
practice, has no official expression of disapproval to quote
against private reservation among lay people.
A few years later (a.d. 440) Pope Leo I drew the atten
tion of his clergy to the habit of those who were infected
with the Manichaean heresy of refusing the chalice at
communion ; 1 and towards the end of the same century
another Pope (Gelasius I) is said to have ordered those
who made a practice of abstaining from the sacramental
Wine either to receive the Eucharist in its entirety, or to
be repelled from communion altogether.2
Now, as we have seen reason to believe, private
reservation involved the use only of the kind of Bread ;
and, therefore, any measures that were employed to com
bat the influence of Manichaeism would indirectly procure
the condemnation of any form of communion in which both
species were not used.
If we add to these considerations the fact that the
frequency of communion was diminishing (in some quarters
rapidly) during the fifth and the following centuries we
1 Serm. xlii. (xli). "Cumque ad tegendam infidelitatem suam nostris
audeant interesse conventibus, ita in sacramentorum communione se tem-
perant, ut interdum, ne penitus latere non possint, ore indigno Christi
corpus accipiant, sanguinem autem redemptionis nostrae haurire omnino
declinent." (T.L. liv. 279, 280.)
2 The decree can only doubtfully be ascribed to Pope Gelasius : "Com-
perimus autem quod quidam in eadem regione sumpta tantum corporis
sacri portione, a calicis sacri cruore abstineant. Qui procul dubio nescio
qua superstitione docentur obstringi ; aut integra sacramenta percipiant
aut ab integris arceantur, quia divisio unius ejusdem mysterii sine grandi
sacrilegio non potest provenire." (P.L. lix. 141.) The apparent ignor
ance of Manichaeism (nescio qua superstitione) is remarkable if this is a genuine
fragment of Gelasius. It is included in the Corpus Juris Canon. Decret. iii.
2. xii. H

50 The Sacrament Reserved
have a combination of circumstances in which private
reservation would tend to become obsolete among the
laity. Some further legislation that directly or indirectly
forbids or limits the use of the reserved sacrament by
layfolk will be found noted in the section that deals with
the minister of the reserved Eucharist.1
1 Chap. xiv.

CHAPTER V
Reservation of the Eucharist by Religious
THE isolation of the earliest solitaries was so complete
and final that they were compelled to forgo all out
ward fellowship with the rest of the Church. Little is
certainly known of their way of living, for neither they
nor their contemporaries described it ; and later writers
who recount the beginnings of Christian asceticism transfer
the customs familiar in their own age to the times of which
they write. From consideration of their circumstances it
seems probable that the first hermits were content to dis
pense with the sacraments altogether. References to sacra
mental communion are rare in the original text of the
Lausiac History,1 which, as the earliest account extant of the
desert-life, preserves certain primitive touches that are
overlaid and obscured in the later and more popular liter
ature of asceticism.
If the constant use of the sacraments was not a feature
of the earliest desert-life, a more normal type of Christian
practice, in which the sacraments had their place, became
the general rule when groups of disciples gathered about
the cells of famous ascetics, and the lauras began to spring
up here and there. So it comes about that in the later
additions attached to the Lausiac History, there is abun
dance of stories in which the habit of communion is taken
for granted.2 Some of these references to communion
occur in simple biographical statements ; others, that tell
of the miraculous administration of the Eucharist to the
primitive solitaries, are important as bearing witness both
to the sufficiency of spiritual communion among the
pioneers of the movement, and also to the habit of frequent
1 Butler, Lausiac. Hist, of Palladius (Texts and Studies, vol. vi, nos. i
and 2).
2 Macarius of Egypt regards five weeks as an abnormally long term
of abstinence from communion, even for the laity. (Butler, op. cit. II.
p. 46.) Si

52 The Sacrament Reserved
sacramental communion among the later desert monks.
In order to satisfy themselves that those who were followers
of the older tradition had not been deprived, in their
solitude, of that means of grace which they, under the
conditions of coenobitic life, found indispensable, later
generations of ascetics told such stories as the following.
It is related of St. Macarius of Egypt that when he was
engaged in celebrating the mysteries in the chapel of his
coenobium — for he was a priest and the leader of a band
of disciples — he was accustomed to see at times the fingers
of a supernatural hand remove from the holy table a
portion of the sacred elements after consecration. Now,
according to the story, it was discovered that a solitary
named Mark was for three years spiritually and corporeally
sustained by the sacrament borne to him by an angel ; and this
angel used to wait for Macarius to consecrate the Eucharist
and then take away a portion from the altar.1 The cir
cumstances contemplated in this tale are such as were to be
found at a time when the new corporate forms of asceticism
were gradually displacing the hermits. For some still
followed the old paths and lived in isolation ; and to
provide the neighbouring solitaries with the Eucharist
became the concern of the monks at the lauras and
coenobia. In coenobia of the Pachomian type communion on
Saturday and Sunday seems to have been the common
rule;2 but the disciples of St. Apollo, or Apollonius, of
Hermopolis, are said to have received the Eucharist daily.3
The same is related of the monks who lived under the
direction of the abbot Hor ; 4 and in the case of the com
munity over which St. Euthymius presided in the early
part of the fifth century a daily celebration in the church
1 Rufinus, Hist. IMonach. 2. " Angelus enim dei tertia quaque die
escam deferebat ei coelestem, et haec ei cibus erat et potus." (P.L. xxi.
106.) 2 Cassian, Instit. iii. 2. (T.L. xlix. 115.)
3 Rufinus, Hist. Monach. 7. " Sed et hoc monebat (ut si fieri posset)
quotidie monachi communicarent mysteriis Christi, ne forte qui se longe
facit ab his, longe fiat a deo." (P.L. xxi. 410, 411.)
? ibid. 2. " Consuetudo autem erat ei non prius corporalem cibum
sumere quam spiritalem Christi communionem acciperit. Quo accepto,
post gratiarum actionem adhortari nos etiam ad reficiendum coepit."
(P.L. xxi. 406.) cf. ibid. 15. (P.L. xxi. 434.)

The Sacrament Reserved 53
of the coenobium was the custom.1 From the Liturgy
celebrated at the coenobium distribution might be made to
the hermits who lived near at hand ; or monks who were
in priest's orders would celebrate for the solitaries in their
own cells.2 This often meant a long journey into the
desert, to places inaccessible to the clergy of the city or
village churches, who themselves would offer the holy
sacrifice in the hermitages that were within reasonable
distance of their cures.
But as there was for some time considerable hesitation
as to whether the ascetic life was compatible with the
priesthood the majority of the religious were laymen. If
they lived, either singly or in communities, far away from
any normal centre of Christian life, and still wished to be
supplied with the Eucharist, they would usually be obliged
to practise reservation. It seems inevitable that the use
of the reserved sacrament should have become very
usual, not only among the hermits but also in the little
loosely-organized communities that had no priest among
their members.
St. Basil, as we have already seen, says that it was the
custom of solitaries to communicate themselves, when no
priest was at hand, with the sacrament that they kept in
their cells for that purpose ;3 and John Moschus has
a tale of two stylites, one orthodox, the other a heretic,
who exchanged portions of the reserved Eucharist.4
The changes that took place in the development of
monasticism in the West so greatly affected the practice
of reserving the sacrament that it is convenient to follow
the persistence of the custom in the East before we turn
to the history of its survival elsewhere.
It is interesting to compare with the remarks of St. Basil
the answer given by Theodore the Studite, in the ninth
century, to the question as to whether monks or nuns
might make their communion privately from the reserved
1 Vita, auct. Cyrillo, Boll. AA.SS. (January 20th).
2 Verba Seniorum, v. 24: ix. 11. (P.L. lxxiii. 899, 911.) Apophth.
Patrum (52), etc. (P.G. lxv. 304.)
3 Epist. xciii. ad Caes. Patric. " iravTes yap ol Kara rrjs eprjpovs
povdtovres ev8a pi) eo-nv lepevs, Koivwiav oikoi Karex°vres d<f>' eavrwv
perakap^dvovo-iv. . . ." (T.G. xxxii. 484.)
t Tratum Spirit. 29. (P.G. lxxxvii. 2877.)

54 The Sacrament Reserved
sacrament. He replied that those who were not in Holy
Orders may handle the sacred elements only in case of urgent
need, and gave directions for the reverent performance of
the act.1 From the tenth century we have the reply made
by the Archbishop of Corinth to St. Luke the younger
on the same point.2 The latter of these two passages,
if not the earlier also, alludes to the communion of a
solitary. Allatius has preserved certain prescripts of a later date,3
bearing upon this subject, that were issued by the Patriarch
of Constantinople ; and even as late as the seventeenth
century, according to Arcudius, the Greek monks carried
the sacrament about with them when they travelled.4
Whether this was for the purpose of communicating, or
as an amulet, is not stated.
Private reservation, properly so called, among the
religious naturally tended to disappear when the solitary
ascetic became a member of a community. This was
already the case before monasticism had begun to spread
1 Epist. ccxix. " Tidepevys j3i/3Xov lepds Kal e<f>aTrXovpevi]S 686vrjs
KaOapds, r) lepds erriKaXvppariSos eKeicre rov Scopov drrb xelp°S <rvv (j>6fSw
Trporedkvros, perd ri)v vpvuiSiav otto aroparos Xrprreov • eid' ovrta
8iaKXvo-eo>s oivov yivopevys T<j> Xap/3dvovn." (P-G. xcix. 485. n. 58.)
2 Vita S. Lucae Junioris. " Primo igitur ac praecipue quidem sacerdotem
adesse decet. Quod si ille necessaria omnino ratione desit, imponendum
sacrae mensae sive altari praesanctificatorum vasculum, siquidem oratorium
sit, sin autem cellula, scamno mundissimo. Turn explicato linteolo propones
in eo sacras particulas, accensoque thymiamate typicorum psalmos aut
hymnum trisagion cum fidei symbolo decantabis : trinaque genuflexione
adorans, manus quidam contrahes, ore autem pretiosum Christi ac dei
nostri corpus sumes, dicendo Amen.
" Loco autem sacri laticis, vini poculum bibes. Nee vero huic calicem
ministerio addictum in usum communem assumes. Rursus vero reliquas
particulas in vase linteolo colliges, omnem diligentiam adhibens ne margarita,
id est dominici corporis particula, dilabatur ac conculcetur." (Boll.
AA.SS., February 7th).
3 De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. v. art. i. (p. 250). " Tunc autem divinus panis
tingitur cum ex anachoretis aliquis in monte se abdit propter nimium erga
virtutem studium avetque saepius sacrorum particeps fieri ob earn quae
inde corporis et animae consequetur sanctitatem. Panis divinus in pyxide
munda huic delatus divino sanguine intinctus est."
Martene also refers to an ancient MS. of St. Gregory's Exposition oj
Bzehiel, at Weingarten, that bears the remark, "oportet monacho ubicumque
exierit eucharistiam secum semper vehat." No date is given, (ibid.)
¦t Martene, loc. cit.

The Sacrament Reserved ^
far beyond the borders of its desert home. The custom of
reserving a portion of the Eucharist in a hermit-cell passed
into the practice of keeping the sacrament for the use of
the community, where there was no priest to say mass for
the brethren.
What we might perhaps call corporate reservation
seems to be implied in the account that Palladius gives
of the enormities committed by Theophilus of Alexandria.
Among other crimes he was charged with firing a monastic
establishment ; and we are told that a boy, much furniture,
and the "symbols of the mysteries" were destroyed in
the flames.1
The conditions that made for the disuse of the private
habit were especially prominent in the West, where, from
the early part of the fourth century, the development of
the religious life was towards an essentially social ideal.
In that form it was finally remoulded and fixed by
St. Benedict in the sixth century.2 Only the hermit and
the anchoress perpetuated in a modified form the elder
tradition. 3
But there was an area in the Western Church that
possessed strong traditions of its own, and for some time
resisted the influence of Benedictine ideals and forms. The

1 De Vita S. Johann. Qhrysost. Dialog, vii. " o-vyKawras ras fSifiXovs
irao-as evSiaderovs Kal cnrovSaias Kai rraiSiov ev, &s e<paxrav oi IwpaKOTes,
Kai Ta o-vpfioXa rw pvcrrypiiav." ( Chrysost. Opera, ed. Gaume,
xiii. 26.)
2 St. Benedict seems to have carried the sacrament on his person ; at
any rate, he was able to produce it forthwith (protinus) on one occasion,
when a body would not remain buried until the Host had been laid upon
it. (Gregory, Dialog, ii. 24. (Vita S. Benedict!) T.L. Ixvi.)
3 Three features of the religious life in the desert — abstention from
communion for long periods and the later customs of private celebrations
and of reservation in the cell — are paralleled in the Vita S. Godrici
(t 1 1 70). Neither Godric nor his companion ^Elfric heard mass or
received communion for some years, until ^Elfric died after receiving
viaticum. During the sixty years that Godric lived at Finchale he only
left his cell on three occasions, and these all occurred in the first year that
he spent there. He went once to hear mass on Christmas Eve at Durham,
and once to make his communion there on Easter Day. Priests came to
say mass for him on Sundays and holy days, and towards the end of his
life he communicated frequently. For many years the Eucharist was
reserved in his cell. See the remarks in Bridgett, op. cit. pp. 234-235
and Vita in Surtees Soc. Vol. xx.

56 The Sacrament Reserved
Celtic variety of monasticism retained, or reproduced, many
features of the older and severer Egyptian type ; and, in
particular, there was no insistence upon the stabililas loci,
the fixed abode, that formed so important a feature of the
main stream of Western monasticism.
The Celtic monk wandered about from place to place,
and took up a temporary lodging from time to time for
the purposes of prayer, of mission-work, and of teaching.
Sometimes he was alone ; more often a band of monks
would travel together.
Very frequently the sacrament was carried about as
an amulet. Irish monks used it as coimge conaire, i.e. path-
protection, as well as for communicating themselves or
others ; and the vessel in which it was borne was termed
the chrismal.1
The chrismal is often mentioned in the lives of the Irish
saints. For example, it is told how St. Comgall, when at
work in the fields, laid aside his chrismal with his cloak,
and how some Pictish robbers, intent on pillaging a villa,
did not dare to molest the saint when they saw the sacred
vessel.2 St. Mochoemog wished his chrismal and his staff to be
buried in the grave of a young man slain by violence, whose
body on that account could not be interred inside the
boundary-wall of the coenobium. 3
Dying monks and others received viaticum from the
1 See p. 206.
2 Vita S. Comgalli, 22, "Quodam die, cum sanctus Comgallus esset solus
in agro foris operans posuit crismale suum super vestem suam. In ilia
die gentiles latrunculi multi de Pictonibus irruerunt in illam villam ut
raperent omnia que ibi erant, sive homines, sive peccora. Cum ergoe
venissent gentiles ad sanctum Comgallum foris operantem, et crismale
ejus super capam suam vidissent, putaverunt crismal illud deum sancti
Comgalli esse ; et non ausi sunt tangere eum latrunculi causa timoris dei
sui." (Plummer, Vitae Sanct. Hibern. II. p. 11.)
3 Vita S. Mochoemog, 18. " Et volentes corpus humo tradere, beatus
Kainnichus dixit ad sanctum Mocoemog : ' Hunc hominem, qui repente
occisus est, non debes sepelire inter monachos tuos.' Respondit sanctus
Mocoemog : ' Nolo contradicere tibi, pater ; sic sepelietur corpus ejus
seorsum interim ; sed tamen anima ejus coram presencia dei in celo est,
et ideo resurrecio eius debet esse inter monachos. Baculus meus et
crismale cum isto interim in extremo loco sepelientur ; et inde non
solventur donee hue corpus Slebyni, qui istum juvenem occidit infideliter,
veniet.'" (ibid. p. 173.)

The Sacrament Reserved 57
sacrament thus reserved. It would serve no useful purpose
to give more than a few of the many allusions to this use
of the Irish hagiologies. The sacrifice or viaticum is often
desired in expectation of death, and apparently received
from a portion borne in a chrismal.1
When St. Molua was paying a visit to one Cronan he
thought he was about to depart from this life, and was
given communion by his host. The text, as edited by
Plummer, simply says that he received the communion
of the Body and Blood of Christ ; but another version,
appended as a footnote, adds that Cronan carried the
sacrament on his person.2
Of the same saint, when later he actually came to die,
it is recorded that immediately before his departure he
asked one of his disciples for viaticum — " Igitur da mihi,
fili carissime, sacrum sacrificium," and, after receiving it, he
expired.3 In the long tale of the wanderings of St. Brendan and
his company there is frequent mention of viaticum. It is
true that the saint regularly says mass in the ship,4 but in
most cases it seems to be implied that the last communion
was administered with the reserved sacrament.5
This is also the case in the narrative of the death of
St. Comgall, who would not receive viaticum from the
hands of any other than the abbot Fiachra. He, being
sent to the dying man, immediately gave him communion
— " dedit statim communionem dominicam."6
The penitentials and allied literature abound in allusions
to the use of the reserved sacrament by the Celtic monks
and clergy. The directions concerning the penances in-
1 Vita S. Munnu, 29, " Pater, da mihi divinum viaticum ; jam enim
tercia die ad celum migrabo." (ibid. p. 238.)
2 Vita S. Moluae, 52, " Et indicans sanctus Molua sancto Cronano
obitum suum prope esse, communionem corporis et sanguinis Christi
accepit ab eo ; et in osculo pacis deinde post orationem et benedictionem
lacrimosam inde datam, sanctus Molua ad suum sanctum monasterium,
Cluain Ferta, cum suis reversus est." (ibid. p. 223.)
The other reading is "postulavit ab eo sacrificium quod secum portaret,
et dedit ei Cronanus."
3 ibid.
* Vita Trima S. Brendani, 56, op, cit. I. p. 128. " dum missas cele-
brarent in nave."
s ibid. pp. 1 10, 137, etc. 6 Vita S. Comgalli, op. cit. II. p. 20. I

58 The Sacrament Reserved
curred by the loss of the chrismal and its contents that are
found in the earliest examples of this type of document, such
as the penitentials bearing the names of Gildas, of Cumean
and of Columban, are repeated in practically the same
terms in the later groups of penitentials. One instance will
suffice at this point. The Penitential of Gildas prescribes
a penance of three quarantines in cases where the sacrifice
has been lost and left to be eaten by beasts or birds. 1
Further references to private reservation by the
religious will be found in the chapter dealing with the
vessel of reservation, under the heading of chrismal.2
Here it is enough to note that special provision of penances
was made for the loss of the Eucharist on a journey, or in
case it should be dropped from a boat or let fall over a
bridge, or from horseback. 3
There is in the so-called Penitential of "Bede a direction
that seems to contemplate the use of the reserved sacrament
by the laity as well as by religious. All the faithful, it is
stated, especially monks, should know how to baptize ; and
if they are going far afield, they must always take the
sacrament with them. The grammatical sense of the passage
is that layfolk as well as religious are to carry the Eucharist
with them, and apparently not merely for their own use. 4
As with the laity, so with the religious, private
reservation seems at first to have been practised in the
one kind of Bread. Whether the Hosts used for this
1 Gildas, De Toenit. ix. " Si casu negligens quis sacrificium aliquod
perdat, per iii xlmas peniteat, relinquens illud feris et alitibus devorandum."
(Haddan and Stubbs, Qouncils and Ecclesiastical Documents, I. p. 1 14.)
For similar directions cf. Schmitz, Bussbiicher. The various groups of
penitentials, and the collections subsequently made are here set forth.
Penances as to the loss of the sacrificium or the chrismal seem to pass from
Irish to English, and thence to Frankish or German collections.
2 See p. 206. 3 Cummeani, Lib. de Mens. Penit. xiii.
4 The material of this penitential comes from those of Finnian and
Theodore, and doubtless from the former of these sources comes the
direction to which allusion is made in the text. It is as follows :
42. "Sed et omnibus licet fidelibus ubi forte morituros invenerit non
baptizatos, immo preceptum est, animas eripere a diabulo per baptisma,
id est benedicta simpliciter aqua in nomine domini, baptizare illos in
nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, intinctos ac superfusos aqua.
Unde oportet eos qui possunt fideles, monachos maxime, et scientiam
habere baptizandi et si longius alicubi exierint, eucharistiam semper secum
habere." (Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. III. p. 329.)

The Sacrament Reserved 59
purpose at a later date were ever intincted is a question
that must for the present be left open.
Use of the Reserved Eucharist at the Consecration
of a Virgin1
For several centuries a peculiar use of the reserved
sacrament was in vogue in connection with the consecration
of a virgin. It first appears in the mixed ordo printed by
Hittorp,2 where the concluding rubric provides that she
shall reserve for her communion during the following eight
days. There are several features about this ordo which
itself is subsequent to the blending of Gallican with Roman
rites, that come from earlier sources, and of these the
ceremony in question may well be one.
There is no such provision made in the Roman form
of service appended, to the "Gregorian" Sacramentary in
Muratori ; but it reappears in two of the tenth-century forms
included by Gerbert in his Monumental and is to be found
in many orders used in France, from the ninth or tenth
century until the fifteenth. 4 Toward the end of this time
the period appointed for communion from the reserved
sacrament had become reduced from eight to three days ;
as is ordered, for example, in the Pontifical of John of
Saarbrttck, a fifteenth-century Bishop of Chalons-sur-
Marne.5 Something of the same sort may have been known in
England, for in the service printed by Maskell,6 three days
1 See Frere, Pontifical Services, I. (Alcuin Club Coll. iii.) pp. 68 ff.
2 Hittorp, De div. cath. eccl. ritibus. (in Bibliotheca Patrum of
1624, x. 161). " Deinde publica voce bannum episcopalem imponat,
ne quis cam a divino servitio sub vexillo castitatis impediat, ut bona sua
cum pace et quiete possideat. Tunc imponatur evangelium, et ilia velato
capite ad manus episcopi offerat, et missa ordine suo finita communicet.
Postquam communicavit reservet de ipsa communione unde usque in diem
octavum communicet."
3 Mon. feteris liturg. Alemann. ii. pp. 95-104.
4 A number are mentioned in Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. II. vi,
and included among the orders appended to this section of his work. In
one (ordo iv.) communion seems to be delayed until the conclusion of the
eight days — "reservent usque in diem octavum et tunc communicent."
5 Martene, he. cit.
6 (Mon. Rit. iii. 361. It is a peculiar form of service, and represents
the usage of some particular house. See Frere, op. cit. p. 78. Six days

60 The Sacrament Reserved
of retirement and privacy are prescribed. It is possible
that during these days the newly-professed virgin may
have communicated in the way described ; or, as there is
no note of it in the order, the three days of silence may
represent a trace of the custom after the actual use of the
reserved sacrament has disappeared.
It is tempting to suppose that these periods of retire
ment and this custom of private reservation are to be
associated with memories of the ancient solitary life of a
religious. But the beginnings of asceticism among women
were very different in their circumstances from the origins
of the religious life among men, and the ordo in which this
custom first appears contemplates the possibility of the
virgin remaining unattached to a community, and living
a dedicated life in her home. '
It also appears that no real affinity exists between this
custom and the similar ceremony practised at one time at
ordinations of bishops and priests which had an evident
origin in concelebration.2
silence was observed in the order used by Bishop Fox (IMon. Rit. iii.
331 ff.), with no hint of reservation.
1 Or more correctly, one of the sources of the ordo makes this pre
sumption. 2 See below, p. 65.

CHAPTER VI
Private Reservation by the Clergy
WE have seen how, owing to a combination of circum
stances, including local synodical prohibition, the
habit of reserving the sacrament came to an end among the
laity, at no very distant date after the conditions that were
the cause of its coming into use had passed away. And as
for the religious, the development of the Benedictine type
of monasticism gradually rendered the practice unnecessary
in their case, at least so far as the greater part of the West
is concerned. Among the clergy we should expect to find the custom
more usual and persistent for a longer period. For a
priest has a certain pastoral responsibility in regard to those
who cross his path, and he would therefore carry the
sacrament about with him, not only for the purpose of
communicating himself when he was not able to celebrate
the Liturgy, nor merely as a protection against the perils
of the way, but also that he might be able to housel, as
he travelled, any who asked for his ministrations.
That all these three ends were subserved by the sacra
ment borne on the person of an ecclesiastic will become clear
as we examine a few passages in which some reference to
this habit occurs.
Since the religious might be in priest's orders, some
of the instances which we have already quoted might
equally well find a place here ; and as the custom of
private reservation by the clergy is complicated by the
fact that they are the stewards of the sacraments, it
becomes difficult and somewhat artificial to maintain,
where the clergy are concerned, a distinction between
reservation of a private and of an official sort.
St. Hilary of Poitiers (fA.D. 366), writing of the
troubles connected with Arianism in Ancyra, tells of the
riots that accompanied the return of Bishop Marcellus
from Rome, whither he had gone to make a defence of
61

62 The Sacrament Reserved
his opinions, and to try and clear himself of the charge of
heterodoxy. His reappearance provoked the same scenes
that took place at Alexandria when Athanasius was expelled.
The clergy were stripped and dragged into the market-place
and the sacrament that they bore suspended about their
necks was openly profaned. J
We have no means of knowing for what purpose they
carried the sacrament on their persons ; probably at this
date to meet any need that might arise. This took
place in or about a.d. 338, when the memory of the
persecutions was still fresh, and the contending factions
of Christendom had introduced a new source of danger to
life and limb.
St. Jerome makes a passing remark about the laudable
poverty of Bishop Exsuperius of Toulouse that may
allude to private reservation, but the sense is not quite
clear. He speaks as if the bishop were accustomed to
carry the Lord's Body in a wicker basket, and the Blood
in a vessel of glass.2 Does he mean that this was his
habit in ministering to the sick ? that he took the viaticum
to his people in these mean and homely vessels ? Or are
we to understand that he used to bear about the sacrament
in this way for some private purpose of his own ?
The former alternative seems to be more in accordance
with the context. If this were the sense, it would imply
that he made use officially of the reserved sacrament, even
if the time during which it was reserved was no longer
than was occupied by the completion of the service at
which it had been consecrated.
A friend of St. Gregory the Great, Maximian or Syra
cuse, was able to give communion to his fellow voyagers
during a storm at sea. He distributed among them " the
Body and Wood of our Saviour " ; and it is hardly possible
1 Fragmenta III. 9. " Fuere namque et in Ancyra provinciae Galatiae,
post reditum Marcelli haeretici, domorum incendia et genera diversa
bellorum. Nudi ab ipso ad forum trahebantur presbyteri ; et, quod cum
lacrymis luctuque dicendum, consecratum domini corpus ad sacerdotum
colla suspensum palam publiceque profanabat." (P.L. x. 665.)
2 Epist. ad Rustic, (cxxv.) 20. "Sanctus Exsuperius, Tolosae episcopus,
viduae Sareptensis imitator, esuriens pascit alios : et ore pallente jejuniis,
fame torquetur aliena : omnemque substantiam Christi visceribus erogavit.
Nihil illo ditius, qui corpus domini canistro vimineo, sanguinem portat
in vitro." (T.L. xxii. 1085.)

The Sacrament Reserved 63
that Maximian could have said mass in such circumstances.1
We must therefore suppose that he had the sacrament ready
to hand, possibly in both kinds, but not necessarily so.2
Another notable passage may be inserted here describing
the death scene of St. Ambrose :
" About the time that he went to God, from the eleventh
hour of the day until that hour in which he rendered up his
spirit, he prayed with his hands spread out in the form of a
cross : we saw his lips were moving although we heard no
voice. And Honoratus, the bishop of the church at Ver-
cellae, after he had laid himself down to sleep in the upper
storey of the house, thrice heard a voice calling him and
saying, ' Get up quickly, he is near his end.' So he came
downstairs and administered (obtulit) the Lord's Body to
the holy man : and he, having received and consumed it,
gave up his spirit, taking with him a good viaticum." 3
Nothing is said in the narrative as to the source from
whence the sacrament was obtained. It may have been
brought into the house in view of the illness of St. Ambrose,
which lasted several days ; or it may be that Honoratus had
the Eucharist in his own possession. This is a good instance
of the rather numerous class of passages that may be made
to mean exactly what the preconceptions with which they
1 Gregory, Dialog, iii. 36 : "Tunc in eadem navi residentes non jam
ex morte vicina, sed ex ipsa ejus praesentia ac visione turbati omnes, sibimet
pacem dederunt, corpus et sanguinem redemptoris acceperunt, deo se
singuli commendantes." (P.L. lxxvii. 304.)
2 Occasional reference to the consecrated Bread in terms that imply the
presence of both species is to be found at an early date, e.g. Eusebius
(H.B. vi. 43) records the following of Novatian : " Troiycras yap ras rrpoo--
<j>opds, Kal Siaveptov eKdo-rig rb pkpos Kal eiriSiSous tooto, opvveiv avri tov
evXoyeiv rovs raXanrdipovs avSpiiwovs dvayKa£ei, Karexw ap<f>orepais rais
Xepo-i Tas rov Xa/36vros Kal pi) d(pels ear' dv opvvovres enmio-i ravra (tois
yap eKeivov xpiJo"op.ai A.dyois)' opocrov poi Kara rov o-(oparos Kal tov
aipaTos tov Kvpiov ypiav '\rfrov XpioroC pqSerrore pe KaraXnreiv Kai
errio-rpexf/ai rrpos KopvrjXiov."
3 Vita, auct. Paulino : " Sed eodem tempore quo migravit ad
dominum, ab hora circiter undecima diei usque ad illam horam in qua
emisit spiritum, expansis manibus in modum crucis oravit ; nos vero
labia moveri videbamus, vocem autem non audiebamus. Honoratus
etiam sacerdos ecclesiae Vercellis cum in superioribus domus se ad
quiescendum composuisset, tertio vocem vocantis se audivit, dicentisque
sibi ' surge, festina, quia modo est recessurus.' Qui descendens, obtulit
sancto domini corpus : quo accepto ubi glutivit, emisit spiritum bonum
viaticum secum ferens." (P.L. xiv. 43.)

64 The Sacrament Reserved
are read dispose one to expect. Accordingly we find this
place employed to support varied opinions.
In the seventh century St. Birinus carried the Eucharist
in his pallium from motives of devotion and as a protecting
influence against mishaps while travelling.1
When St. Boniface drew up a series of instructions for
his priests to observe on their mission-journeys, he included
an injunction that they should not go afield without chrism
and oil and Host, so that they might have wherewithal to
attend to the spiritual needs of those whom they encoun
tered.2 St. Adalbert of Prague, in the tenth century, used to
take away with him, wrapped in a linen cloth, whatever
remained of the sacrament after mass, and used it for
viaticum. 3
In the Life of St. Lawrence O'Toole, Archbishop of
Dublin (f 1 181), it is told how four priests openly carried
the Eucharist as an amulet. More usually the case or
vessel that contained the sacrament was hidden by the
dress, though it may have been worn more or less openly
at times.4 Giraldus Cambrensis says it was the custom of the
Celtic priests of his day to take the Eucharist with them on
their travels, in a little pouch, concealed beneath their
garments. 5
Such a use of the sacrament continued throughout the
Middle Ages. St. Thomas Becket wore a case containing
1 Vita, Surius (December 3rd).
2 Stat. 4 : " ut presbyteri sine sacro chrismate et oleo benedicto et
salubri eucharistia alicubi non proficiscantur. Sed ubicumque vel fortuitu
requisiti fuerint, ad officium suum statim inveniantur parati in reddendo
debito." (Hard. iii. 1943.)
3 " quiquid superfuit de eo quod ipse et novi baptizati communicaverant
colligere jubet et mundissimo panno involutam sibi servavit pro viatico
deportandum." (P.L. cxxxvii. 884.)
* Vita, 6 : " Quadam igitur die in via quam manibus suis beatus
Coemgenus construxisse dicitur trans paludes et aquarum scaturigines, dum
in suis expectarent latibulis si quos spoliandi opportunitas se offerret, mox
quattuor sacerdotes cum magna turba hominum transire noverunt qui
eucharistiam, sicut tunc moris erat plurimis presbiteris, secum pro tuto
viatico ac securo duce iteneris puplice deferebant." (Anal. Bolland. t. xxxiii
p. 1 34-)
s Top. Hib. ii. 19: " Perula quam more patriae presbyter itinerans sub
indumento a collo suspensam deferebat."

The Sacrament Reserved 6$
a Host, and was careful to have it with him when he went
to meet the King on a notable occasion.1
Rocca, relying on Platina, gives the names of certain
Popes, beginning with Stephen III (fA.D. 757), who were in
the habit of carrying about the Eucharist on their persons.2
It is interesting to observe how in time this custom,
once practised by Christian people of every degree, comes
to be at last the peculiar privilege of the Roman Pontiff.
Angelus Rocca 3 devotes several of the early pages of
his work to a description of the ceremonies that accompanied
the progress of the Popes. It was their custom to carry
the Eucharist themselves, or (this is a later development) it
was borne before them in solemn pomp. Rocca gives three
illustrations of this latter method. In two of these the
Host is borne on horseback in a box fixed to a saddle, and
surmounted by a crucifix ; under a miniature ciborium in
one case, under a canopy in the other. In the third illus
tration a similar receptacle is carried on a bier between two
led mules. In all three the Pope rides immediately behind.
Rocca cites a writer of the sixteenth century4 who
describes the coronation of Charles V by Clement Vll,and
the procession that took place after the ceremony, wherein
the sacrament was carried under a golden canopy in a
suitable vessel of crystal on the saddle of a blood-horse,
with a great number of lights before and around. In this
magnificence is enshrined the last vestige of the custom of
private reservation.
The Reserved Eucharist at Ordination
In the section dealing with private reservation among
the religious,S mention was made of the habit of giving a
consecrated Host to virgins at the time of their consecration.
A similar custom of different origin was in vogue for two
or three centuries at the ordination of bishops and of priests.
According to Morinus,6 the practice began in Italy at some
1 Cited by Thiers, Exposition, p. 8.
2 Thesaurus Pontific. I. pp. 45, 46. He names Stephen III, Stephen IV,
Gregory VII, Urban II, Paschal II, Gelasius II, and Alexander III.
3 ibid. I. pp. 45 ff.
4 Paulus Jovius, Hist, sui tempor.% xxvii. in vol. ii. 89 (1552).
5 See p. 59. 6 De Sacris Ordin. iii. pp. 165 ff. K

66 The Sacrament Reserved
time in the ninth century, and spread thence to other parts
of the Church, including the greater portion of Gaul, during
the next hundred years. The reason he gives for this
statement is that none of the older rituals (of which he
instances the Sacramentary of Ratoldus, c. a.d. 960) that
represent the fusion of the Gregorian Sacramentary with
Gallican material contain any trace of the rite.
At first it is associated only with the sacring of bishops.
This is the case in the Ordo Romanus yiii of Mabillon's
collection. Here it is directed that when the communion
is reached, the Pope is to deliver a consecrated obley to the
newly-made bishop. He having received it, communicates
himself, and retains a portion for his communion during
the next forty days.1 The pseudo-Alcuin knew of this
custom in Rome in the ninth century.2 It was also prac
tised in Spain, for the Tontificale Conchense directs that an
entire and unbroken Host is to be given to the new bishop,
but seems to make the reservation contingent upon a portion
remaining unconsumed after he has made his communion :
" if, indeed, any be left ol>er"3 is the expression used.
The number of days was reduced to thirty in the tenth-
century Pontifical of Mayence,* and was in the end commuted,
about the beginning of the thirteenth century, into an
obligation to say mass daily during a fixed period. 5
1 " Dum vero venerit ad communicandum dominus apostolicus porrigit
ei sacratam oblationem, et earn suscipiens episcopus ipse ex ea communicat
super altare, et sibi ceterum ex ea reservat ad communicandum usque ad
dies quadraginta ; et postmodum ex praecepto domini apostolici communicat
omnem plebem." (Mus. ltal. II. p. 89.)
2 De Divinis Officiis. (qualiter episcopus ordinetur) in Hittorp. 271.
3 " Cum venerit ad communicandum domnus pontifex porrigat ei
formatam atque sacratam oblationem integratn : suscipiensque earn episcopus
ipse ex ea communicat super altare. Quod vero si residuum fuerit sibi
reservet denuo ad communicandum unoquoque die ad quadraginta dies
expletos." (Cited by Mart., De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. viii. x. 21.)
A rubric almost identical with the foregoing is contained in a Salzburg
pontifical of eleventh-century date, and in other contemporary documents
of the same type, belonging to Rouen, Rheims, and elsewhere. (Mart.,
he. cit. pp. 54, etc.) So also the thirteenth-century pontifical of the Latin
Church at Constantinople. (Mart., he. cit. p. 74.)
4 Mart., he. cit.
5 As is ordered in a rubrical note appended to the ordination mass in
the pontifical of the Latin Church of Apamea in Syria. " Illud quoque
sciendum quoniam ipse consecratus a die suae consecration is usque ad

The Sacrament Reserved 67
For the existence of the same custom in the ordering
of priests, the earliest testimony seems to be that of Fulbert
of Chartres. He had been greatly perturbed at the loss
of one of the Hosts given to a newly- ordained priest. So
he wrote to consult a comprovincial as to whether it was not
desirable to curtail the period, during which the sacrament
was thus reserved, to one or two days.
This elicited the reply that the custom could not be
altered. Not merely was it the habit of the bishops of
Gaul to give the presbyters a Host at their ordination,
but it was the universal practice of the Church. Fulbert's
correspondent also gave the reason why forty days were
fixed upon as the term ; it was in memory of the forty
days that followed the Resurrection of our Lord, in which
time He refreshed His apostles " with the sweetness of
the Bread of heaven."
We learn from Fulbert's account of the accident that
the Host was kept in an envelope of parchment ; and that
the new priest, when he said mass on each of the forty
days after his ordination, used to consume a portion
thereof.1 This relates to the early years of the eleventh
century.2

quadraginta dies, si possibile est sibi, unoquoque die debet cantare missam
pro populo sibi commisso." (Mart., he. cit. p. 73.)
The ceremony of taking a Host from the hand of the Pope (who is
supposed to celebrate) is retained. " Cum venerit ad communicandum,
pontifex porrigit ipsi consecrato sacram oblationem integram, quam ipse
suscipiens dat ei osculum." (ibid.)
1 Epist. ad Einard. "... nostro tempore quidam inter caeteros ad
sacerdotalem gradum admissus, hostiam quoque sicut et alii de manu
episcopi suscepit, quam in pergameno in hos usus parato involutam quoti
dians celebratione solvebat, et portiunculam parvam juxta instantium
dierum computatam sumebat. Accidit vero ut quadam die expletis
mysteriis, dum vestimenta cum sindone altaris incautius colligeret, immemor
hostiae sacrae diligentiam nequaquam adhibens thesaurum coelestem infelix
amitteret. . . . Hac ergo occasione accepta quaerendum ab episcopo
aestimavi si videretur sibi salva ordinis religione sanctificatum panem primo
aut secundo sanctificationis die posse totum simul percipere, quern videbat
non sine periculo posse tanto tractu temporis minutatim sumere. . . ."
(P.L. cxii. 192 ff.)
The passage is too long to quote in full.
3 For other sacramentaries of this and later date see Martene, op. cit.
A pontifical of Soissons contains the note : " debent presbyteri portiones
dominici corporis ab episcopo accipere, de quibus percipiant communionem

68 The Sacrament Reserved
Somewhat later, but still in the same century, the term
of days is limited to seven in the case of priests ; J and, says
Morinus, " In the year one thousand the practice was very
general in Gaul and Italy, but from the middle of that
century it began to fall into disuse."2
And at last the custom became obsolete. As in the
case of bishops, so with priests, an obligation to celebrate
daily for a certain time remained after the earlier practice
had disappeared. 3
As to the meaning of the rite, it seems to represent
a trace of concelebration,4 and therefore the resemblance
between this custom and that associated with the conse
cration of virgins is only of a superficial character.
Mabillon5 surmises that the particles of the reserved
per quadraginta dies, in exemplum domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui quadra
ginta diebus cum suis discipulis conversatus est post resurrectionem suam."
This appears to have been the accepted explanation.
1 As in the Salzburg pontifical, where bishops still reserve for forty days.
" Tollit vero pontifex oblatas integras et dat singulis novitiis presbyteris,
et inde communicantur ad usque dies septem." (Mart., he. cit. p. 55.)
2 op. cit. p. 167.
3 Morinus, op. cit. p. 168. " Antiqui rituales excepto antiquissimo et
recentiore necnon et edito qui hanc admonitionem praetereunt, adnotant
ordinatum septem diebus continuis ad missae sacrificium celebrandum
obligari." 4 A similar relic of concelebration appears in the modern Greek rite
for ordering a priest.
A short series of rubrics prescribe that the newly-ordained priest is to
receive from the hand of the pontificating bishop the " holy Loaf," which
he returns at the time he makes his communion.
""OTe Se reXeitadSkri toL dyia, Kal peXXei elrreiv, wore yevkcrdai rois
peraXapjidvovo-i, rrpoo-kpxerai 6 x€lPorov',)^els, Kal emSiSao-iv avnp d
dpxiepevs rbv ayiov dprov, Xeyiov ovr<as, Aa/Je ri)v TrapaKaradi]Kriv
ravriqv, Kai <f>vXa£ov avryv, ews rrjs Trapovo-ias rov Kvpiov ypiitv 'lyo-ov
Xpicrrov, 6Ve 7rap' avrov p,eAAeis airaiTeicrflai avryv. 'O Se Xafiiov,
aoTra£eTai ryv X£V>a T0V dpxiepetos, Kal pedio-rarai ev $ vporepov 'io-raro
tottcj), Tas pev x«p<w #eis eiravw rrjs dyi'as rparre^ys, KaO' eavrbv Se Acyuv
to K-upie eAe?7a-ov, Kai to eXerjo-ov pe 6 8eos.
" ore Se peXXei elrretv, ra dyia tois dyiois • ToVe d x£'/D0T0V,?^e's
a7ro8iSa)cri rbv dytov dprov, Kal rrapa rov dpxiepetas peraXapfidvei
irptoros rZv aXXtav, Kal Xeyei Kal ri)v OTricrddp/ibivov evxyv." Euchoh-
gion.^ cf. the direction in the pontifical of Apamea II (note, p. 66) to
receive the Host, where no mention is made of its reservation.
The remarks of Morinus (op. cit. p. 167) are worth consulting on
this point, but he apparently makes the newly-ordained receive a portion
of the Host itself (sanctum panem, hoc est particulam panis consecrati).
s Mus. Ital. II. (Comment, in ord. Roman.) p. xxxix.

The Sacrament Reserved 69
Host were placed day by day in the chalice by the newly-
ordained celebrant, but unless we suppose that the descrip
tion that is given by Fulbert implies such a use of it,
there does not seem to be any evidence for this statement.
It is also to be observed that the species of Bread alone
appears to have been employed, and not an intincted Host.
At this date conjoint communion was the usual way of
administering the Eucharist to the people. But the higher
orders of the clergy received the sacrament in the two
kinds separately, and we have no reason to suppose that
the Host used in this ceremony was in any way different
from that which clerks normally received in communion.
The private reservation of the Eucharist by the clergy,
especially for the purpose of giving extra-liturgical
communion, brings us to the point where reservation
acquires a regular and official character. We may accord
ingly take leave of the private customs, and now pass on
to consider what may be called, for want of a better term,
official reservation.
But before we discuss reservation of this description,
that has as its aim a regular provision for the satisfaction of
the needs of the sick and dying, we have first to take note
of certain authorized practices, which must be borne in
mind as we seek to determine the origins of the official
custom.

CHAPTER VII
Peculiar Uses of the Reserved Eucharist
SOME reference must first be made to three very
similar uses of the reserved Eucharist that are known
as the Eulogiae, the ceremony of the Fermentum, and that
of the Sancta. Of these the last two are liturgical obser
vances, while the first was apparently a very primitive
extra-liturgical practice.
A. The Eulogiae
Bishops of neighbouring and occasionally of distant
dioceses were accustomed to send the Eucharist to each
other, and even to each other's clergy, especially at Easter
tide, with messages of charity and goodwill. For this
reason the consecrated portions so sent were termed
Eulogiae. That the Eucharist itself was used for this purpose is
clear from the earliest mention of the custom. In the
letter of St. Irenaeus to Pope Victor, in which he pleads
for the maintenance of communion with the Easterns in
spite of the quartodeciman controversy, he reminds the
Pope of the example of his predecessors in the see. They,
he says, although they did not keep the Eastern rule of
Easter, sent the Eucharist to the bishops (trpear/3urepoi) of
other dioceses who did observe it. J
A custom that had grown up, no doubt, under such
conditions as prevailed in Asia and Syria, where the cities
of the empire, and consequently the ecclesiastical units,
lay close together in well-marked and limited areas, could
not long survive in the new circumstances of diocesan
development. We therefore find little evidence for the
perpetuation of the custom in the West, where the
1 Epist. ad Victorem. " 'AAA' avrol pr) rypovvres, 01 irpb crov rrpeo--
fivrepoi, tois airo rwv rrapoiKiwv rypovo-iv eTrepirov evxapioriav." (From
Euseb. H.E. v. 20.) (P.G. vii. 1229.) 70

The Sacrament Reserved 71
Fermentum, in a manner, replaced it ; and in the East it was
forbidden by the fourth-century Council of Laodicea.
It was there decreed that the hallowed elements were
no longer to be sent as Eulogiae into strange dioceses, at
the feast of Easter. l
Binterim2 is at pains to prove that the prohibition in
the canon is concerned with a custom of sending awconse-
crated obleys from diocese to diocese, and forbids this
only at Easter, without condemning the practice at other
times of the year. His argument rests on the fact that
according to the usage of the Eastern Churches, the term
T<i dyia is applied to the breads intended for use in the
Liturgy. This very far-fetched explanation does not take into
account the fact that the obleys for use in the Liturgy
are termed ra dyia only by anticipation, in view of the
fact that they are destined to be consecrated. The name
would not be given to breads which were not intended
for consecration. He suggests a second explanation which
is equally unsatisfactory, by which to. dyia are taken to
mean the avrtSwpa. 3
But the sense of the canon is quite obvious. The
custom of sending the sacrament as Eulogiae had, by the
time of this council, become restricted to Easter ; and
even this observance is henceforth to cease. Eulogiae are
not to be sent beyond the bounds of any diocese. As no
mention is made of restriction inside the diocese, this may
imply that a bishop might still send Eulogiae of this kind
to his own clergy ; in which case, the Fermentum is practi
cally substituted for the earlier custom.4
1 Can. 1 4. " ?repi tov pi) rd dyia eh Xoyov eiXoyibiv Kara ri)v eopri)v
rov 7rdo-x<*. eh erkpas rrapoiKias SiaTrep7reo-8ai." (Hefele-Leclercq, Hist, des
Conciles, I. 2. p. 1006.)
2 DenkwUrdigkjiten iv. 3 . pp. 535 ff.
3 Can. 32 of the same council prohibits the reception of Eulogiae of
heretics. " oti ov Sei alperiKwv evXoyias Xap/3dveiv, a'irives eicriv dXoyiai
pdXXov rj evXoyiai."
So Isidore and Dionysius Exiguus try to retain the play upon words by
translating maledictiones and benedictiones.
Reception of heretical Eulogiae was forbidden again at Braga (a.d. 572),
but by this time the term no longer means the sacrament sent about from
place to place ; it is used for gifts and greetings, and the pain benit.
* Drews (Zeitschr.fi prakt. Theol. xx. (1898), pp. 18-38) connects the
origin of the Eulogiae with the Agape rather than the Eucharist. The

72 The Sacrament Reserved
But the honorific use of the sacrament did not entirely
disappear. Severus of Antioch, to whom reference has
been made before, when asked by his friends to send them
portions of the Eucharist from his celebration, sometimes
complied with their requests, though not without demur,
and at other times refused.1
In later times the term Eulogiae was used with a variety
of meanings. In the Eastern Liturgies it has several
senses. It still has the meaning of the consecrated elements
in the liturgical allusions of the Fathers ;2 but more
commonly it is used in reference to the " blessed bread,"
primitive custom, he says, was for the presbyter to bless portions of bread
which were then distributed by the laity among themselves, and also given
to the catechumens ; this formed the introductory ceremony of the common
meal. In course of time the distribution of the blessed bread came to be
restricted to the clergy, and catechumens were excluded from the ceremony ;
so that in addition to the significance of an introductory act at the Agape,
the Eulogiae acquired that of a token of membership, and a highly-valued
amulet. From these interpretations of the meaning of the Eulogiae grew
up the custom of sending them to friends at a distance and the honorific
use to which allusion has been made in the text above.
This contention will not hold. The earlier references to the Eulogiae
(e.g. that in Irenaeus) are at variance with Drews' interpretation. At
the same time he is probably right in suggesting that a reference to
the custom of distributing "blessed bread" to the catechumens is in
tended in the remark made by St. Augustine (de Remiss, peccat. II. 42
(26)) =
" Non unius modi est sanctificatio : nam et catechumenos secundum
quemdam modum suum per signum Christi et orationem manus imposi-
tionis puto sanctificari : et quod accipiunt, quamvis non sit corpus Christi,
sanctum est tamen, et sanctius quam cibi quibus alimur, quoniam sacramentum
est." This is usually taken to refer to the salt given to the catechumen, of
which Augustine says : " Adhuc puer . . . signabar jam signo crucis et
condiebar ejus sale" (Confess. I. xi. 17), but the phrases italicized are more
applicable to something that might be mistaken on the one hand for the
eucharistic species, or on the other, for common bread. The term Eulogiae
is sometimes applied to this blessed bread.
A condensed account of Drews' contentions is contained in Smend,
Kelchspendung u. Kelchversagung in der abendland. Kirche (Gottingen, 1898),
pp. 88 ff.
1 See p. 43.
2 e-g- Cyril Alexand. in Luc xxii. 19. " evxapurrei pev rovrktrriv ev
o-x-qpan irpoo-eyxys SiaXeyerai t<j> 8e$ irarpl Koivovbv &o-irep avrov ko.1
o-vvevSoKyryv cnro<£aiW rijs Sodrjo-opkvys r)piv evXoyias {(oottoiov K.r.X."
P.G. lxxii. 908. " Egyptian Liturgy," Brightman, Eastern Liturgies, p. 505.
cf. id in Joan xii. CP-Cj. lxxiv. 696.)

The Sacrament Reserved 73
the surplus of that given at the offertory by the people. '
This surplus was distributed after the Liturgy, frequently
under the name of avrlSoopa, i.e. substitutes for the hallowed
gifts. It also has sometimes the signification of a blessing,
including the blessing of consecration in the Eucharist ; 2
but most commonly the term is separated from a eucharistic
context and simply means a gift or token of goodwill.3
B. The Fermentum
As the unity of the Church universal was in early times
expressed by the custom of the Eulogiae, so for a longer
period a similar practice symbolized the unity of the local
Church or diocese.
From the days of the apostles this local unity was very
strongly insisted upon ; and the outward expression of it
was secured by the joint celebration of the one Eucharist
by the bishop together with his presbyters.
It is well known what stress was laid upon this by
St. Ignatius of Antioch. " Take care," he tells the Phila-
delphians, " to keep the one Eucharist. For one is the
Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one the cup unto
union of His Blood. One is the altar, as the bishop is
one, together with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow
servants. "4
And again, he writes to the Church at Smyrna, " Let
no one perform anything pertaining to the Church
apart from the bishop. Let that Eucharist be considered
valid which takes place under the bishop, or him to whom
he commits it." 5
1 e.g. John Moschus, Prat. Spirit. 25. (P.G. lxxxvii. 2869.) Apost.
Constit. viii. 31. Augustine, de remiss, peccat. II. 42 (26).
2 e.g. by continuation or imitation of the use in 1 Corinthians x. 16.
to irorypiov t^s euAoyias, 6 evXoyovpev.
3 For a full list of meanings acquired see Ducange, Glossarium, s.v., or
D.C.A. s.v.
* ad Philadelph. 4. " ^rrovSdo-are ovv pip euxapioria xf")(T^al' /xta
yap o-ap£ rov Kvpiov ypiav 'lyo-ov Xpio-Tov, Kai ev irorypiov eis evuxriv rov
aiparos avrov- ev 8vo-iao-rt\piov, <us efs eiricrK07ros, dpa t£ rrpeo-fivrepitp Kal
StaKOVOis tois crwo'ovA.ois pov iVa o edv irpao-o-rfre Kara debv Trpaxro-yre."
(Lightfoot, Apost. Fathers (Texts), p. 1 24.)
5 ad Smymaeos, 8. " pqSels xwP^ emo-KOTrov ri irpao-o-kria rav avi;-
Kovrtav eh rrjv eKKXyo-iav. eKeivq /je/Jaia evx<s.piaria r)yeio-8o> r) V7rd tov
ejr«rK07rov ov\ra i) <J dv avrbs eirirptyy." (op. cit. p. I 29.) cf. Ephesians 5, etc.
L

74 The Sacrament Reserved
But, with the development and expansion of the
Church, the primitive custom of concelebration ceased
to be usual, and therefore other means had to be employed
to emphasize in the local ecclesiastical unit the oneness of
the Christian offering. Of these the most striking was
the use of the Fermentum. In order to secure the
recognition of this unity a whole Host or a portion of
the consecrated Bread was sent by the bishop to the clergy
of the district churches.
This custom was established at an early date in Rome,
but it is doubtful whether we are to follow the judgement
of some writers and see an allusion to it in the Life of
St. Zephyrinus (a.d. 203-221), as recorded in the Liber
Pontificalis.1 There are two other passages in the same work in which
the Fermentum is definitely mentioned. They occur in the
lives of two fourth-century Popes, Miltiades (a.d. 3 1 1-3 14)
and Siricius (a.d. 384-399).
Of Miltiades it is related that he caused the consecrated
offerings to be sent from the bishop's mass to the city
churches, and that this was the Fermentum.2 Siricius
1 " Zepherinus . . . fecit constitutum de ecclesia et patenas vitreas ante
sacerdotes in ecclesia et ministros supportantes, donee episcopus missas
celebraret, ante se sacerdotes adstantes, sic missae celebrarentur ; excepto
quod jus episcopi interest tantum, clerus sustineret omnibus praesentes ;
ex ea consecratione de manu episcopi jam coronam consecratam acciperet
presbiter tradendam populo." (Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne) I. p. 139.)
Duchesne is of opinion that the passage, which is very obscure, is
concerned with the attendance of the clergy at the pontifical mass. His
interpretation is subjoined.
" Zephyrin fit (c.a.d. etablit l'usage de tenir) des patenes de verre devant
les pr&tres, a l'eglise et (de les faire tenir par) des ministres, qui les portent
pendant que l'ev6que celebre la messe, les pretres se tenant debout devant
lui (sacerdotes adstantes — sacerdotibus adstantibus). C'est ainsi qu'on doit
celebrer la messe. Le clerge, sauf le droit de l'evdque (de dispenser ou
d'occuper ailleurs) doit assister a toute la c£remonie (omnibus praesentes).
La consecration etant ainsi faite, le prStre recoit de la main de l'eveque,
la couronne consacree pour la donner au peuple." He remarks that the
phrase, " tradendam populo," excludes the supposition that the consecrated
Bread was carried away to be used as Fermentum. Concelebration of
the Pope and the cardinal priests persisted on certain great festivals —
Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and St. Peter's Day — until the eighth or
ninth century (Ordo Romanus Primus, 48).
2 " Miltiades . . . ab eodem die fecit ut oblationes consecratas per
ecclesias ex consecratu episcopi dirigerentur quod declaratur fermentum."
(op. cit. p. 168.)

The Sacrament Reserved 75
ordained that no priest' should celebrate at any time in
the week unless he had received the Fermentum as a sign
of the bishop's permission to do so.1
As evidence for the persistence of the custom at Rome
into the next century there is the letter of Pope Innocent I
(a.d. 401-417) to Bishop Decentius of Eugubium. In the
course of his counsel, Innocent says that, according to the
custom of the Romans, the sending abroad of the Fermen
tum was limited to the churches within the city : there was
no need to send out to the country and cemetery churches.2
The actual ceremony was very simple. It is described
in the eighth or ninth-century supplement to the Ordo
Romanus Primus, where directions are given for the cele
bration of the Liturgy at a stational church in the absence
of the Pontiff".
" Sixthly, when The Peace of the Lord be "with you always
is to be said, the subdeacon-oblationer brings a frag
ment of the Fermentum, which has been hallowed by the
Pope, and gives it to the archdeacon ; and he offers it
to the bishop, who, making the sign of the cross with it
thrice as he says, The Peace of the Lord be with you always,
drops it into the chalice. Bishops who rule over cities
perform all things as the Pope himself." 3
1 " Siricius . . . constituit ut nullus presbiter missas celebraret per
omnem ebdomadam nisi consecratum episcopi loci designati susciperet
declaratum quod nominatur fermentum." Locus designatus is the church
at which the stational mass is celebrated, (op. cit. p. 216.)
2 " De fermento vero, quod die dominica per titulos mittimus, super-
flue nos consulere voluistis, cum omnes ecclesiae vestrae intra civitatem
sint constitutae. Quarum presbyteri, quia die ipso propter plebem
sibi creditam nobiscum convenire non possunt, idcirco fermentum a
nobis confectum per acolythos accipiunt, ut se a nostra communione
maxima ilia die non judicent separatos ; quod per parochias fieri
debere non puto, quia non longe portanda sunt sacramenta, nee nos
per coemeteria diversa constitutis presbyteris destinamus, et presbyteri
eorum conficiendorum jus habent atque licentiam." (P.L. xx. 556,
557.) Duchesne (op. cit. p. 169) accepts this letter as genuine. Other
writers have suspected its authenticity.
3 Ordo Romanus Primus, Append. I. 22. "Quando diei debet : pax
domini sit semper fobiscum, deportatur a subdiacono oblationario particula
fermenti quod ab apostolico consecratum est, et datur archidiacono :
ille vero porrigit episcopo. At ille consignando tribus vicibus et dicendo :
pax domini sit semper vobiscum, mittit in calicem. . . . Episcopi qui
civitatibus praesident, ut summus pontifex ita omnia peragunt."
(Atchley, Ordo Roman. Trim. pp. 146, 148.)

-j6 The Sacrament Reserved
The Ordo of St. Amand, which (according to Duchesne) '
represents a ninth-century recension of the First Order,
drawn up somewhere in Gaul, describes the use of the Fer
mentum in similar terms, but uses the word Sancta, where
the meaning is obviously Fermentum. Possibly some con
fusion has been caused by the fact that the Order still
keeps up the semblance of the Pontiff's control of a
stational mass, where, as a matter of fact, the conditions
are entirely different.2
The terms Sancta and Fermentum are confused again in
the ceremonies of Easter Even, set forth in the same
document.3 The ceremony that at first took place on every day that
was liturgically observed came at a later date to be limited
to certain solemn occasions. Its restriction seems to be
alluded to in the Capitulare Evangeliorum, where the use
of the Fermentum is specially ordered for the Saturday
preceding Holy Week.4
Mabillon notes an ancient gloss on the Letter of Innocent
to Decentius, which he found in an MS. in the Library of
St. Emmeram at Ratisbon. Here the days on which the
Fermentum was sent abroad are given as Maundy Thurs
day, Easter Even, Easter Day, Pentecost, and Christmas
Day ; and it is further stated that no presbyter of the
"baptismal "churches may give the communion on Easter
Even before receiving the Host from the Pope's mass.S
1 Christian Worship, p. 149.
2 "Et dum dixerit (episcopus) pax. domini sit semper vobiscum, tenet
subdiaconus de sancta cum corporale ad cornu altaris quod pontifex
consecravit, et accipit earn diaconus et tradit earn episcopo aut presbytero.
Et exinde facit crucem super calicem, dicendo pax" etc. (Duchesne,
op. cit. (English trans. 1904), p. 464.)
3 " . . . Ipsa nocte, omnes presbiteri cardinales non ibi stant, sed
unusquisque per titulum suum facit missa et habet licentiam sedere
in sede et dicere gloria in excelsis deo. Et transmittit unusquisque
presbiter mansionarium de titulo suo ad ecclesiam salvatoris, et expectant
ibi usque dum frangitur sancta, habentes secum corporales. Et venit
oblationarius subdiaconus et dat eis de sancta quod pontifex consecravit
et recipiunt ea in corporales, et revertitur unusquisque ad titulum suum
et tradit sancta presbitero. Et de ipsa facit crucem super calicem et
ponit in eo et dicit dominus vobiscum." (op. cit. pp. 470, 471.)
* See for example Gerbert's text in Monumenta Lit. Alem. I. p. 426.
" Sabbato. Datur fermentum in consistorio Lateranense."
s " De fermento quod dicitur mos est Romanis ut de missa quae
cantatur in cena domini et in sabbato sancto et in die sancto paschae

The Sacrament Reserved 77
The close resemblance between the giving of the
Fermentum and the use of a Host at ordination is very
apparent. In both cases the act symbolizes the unity
°f the Church, and guarantees as valid and regular the
ministrations of the recipient.

C. The Sancta
That which was expressed in regard to space by the
Eulogiae and the Fermentum — the oneness and continuity
of the eucharistic offering — was symbolized in point of
time by the ceremony of the Sancta.
A fragment of the Host consecrated at a previous
mass, or an entire Host reserved for this purpose, was
placed in the chalice at the words, pax domini sit semper
vobiscum. As the earliest definite allusion to the ceremony1 occurs
in the sixth-century work of St. German of Paris, we may
suppose it to have originated in Gaul, though it was not
confined to that country.
The rather elaborate accompaniments of the procession
that brought in the Sancta from the place of reservation for
use in the mass are described by St. German thus : —
" The Lord commanded Moses to make silver trumpets,
which the Levites were to sound whenever the sacrifice was
offered ; and this was to be the signal by which all the
people should know the hour at which the oblation was
being carried in, so that all might bow down and adore the
Lord, while the column of fire or cloud approached which
sanctified the sacrifice. And now the Church hymns the
Body of Christ as it advances to the altar, yet no longer
with trumpets but with spiritual voices singing the glories
of Christ in sweet measures."
He tells us that the sacrament was carried into the
et in pentecosten et in natali domini die sancto per totum annum ser-
vatur, et ubicumque per stationes si ipse papa ad missam praesens non
fuerit de ipsa missa mittitur in calicem cum dixit pax domini sit semper
Vobiscum. Et hoc dicitur fermentum. Tamen sabbato sancto paschae
nullus presbyter per ecclesias baptismales neminem communicat antequam
mittatur ei de ipsa sancta, quam obtulit dominus papa." (Iter (jerman.
Descript. p. 65.)
1 See, however, chap, xiii, s.v. Capsa.

78 The Sacrament Reserved
church enclosed in a vessel called, from its shape, a tower
(turris).1 It is to this procession of the Sancta from the sacrarium
that Gregory of Tours refers in his story of an unworthy
deacon, and the miracle that rebuked him. This is what
he says : " I recall something that I heard of in my
youth. It happened on the day of St. Polycarp's martyr
dom and in Riom, a town in Auvergne. After the reading
of the passion and the other lections . . . the time
for offering the sacrifice approached, and a deacon, taking
the tower in which the mystery of the Lord's Body was
kept, began to carry it to the door (i.e. the door that
opened from the sacristy into the church). But, on his
entering the church to place it on the altar, it slipped from
his hands and was borne through the air, and so came to
the altar by itself."2 The deacon had been guilty of a crime
that he afterwards confessed.
The story is of interest because it shows the liturgical
point, i.e. the offertory, at which the Sancta were brought
into the church from the sacristy, according to the early
Gallican use.
At Rome the ceremony took place at a different point,
namely, after the introit. The Ordo Romanus Primus has
the following directions : —
1 Expositio brevis Antiquae Liturg. Gall. De Sono. " Praecepit dominus
Moysi ut faceret tubas argenteas, quas levitae clangerent quando offerebatur
hostia, et hoc esse signum per quod intelligent populus qua hora
inferebatur oblatio, et omnes incurvati adorarent dominum, donee veniret
columna ignis aut nubes, qui benediceret sacrificium. Nunc autem
procedentem ad altarium corpus Christi non jam tubis irrepraehensibilibus
sed spiritalibus vocibus praeclara Christi magnalia dulci modilia psallet
ecclesia. Corpus vero domini ideo defertur in turribus, quia monumen-
tum domini in similitudinem turris fuit scissum in petra, et intus lectum
ubi pausavit corpus dominicum, unde surrexit rex gloriae in triumphum."
(P.L. lxxii. 92, 93.)
2 Miracuhr. Lib. I. de Gloria Martyr. 86. " Nam recolo quod in
adolescentia mea gestum audivi. Dies passionis erat Polycarpi martyris
magni et in Ricomagensi vico civitatis Arvernae ejus sollemnia celebrabantur.
Lecta igitur passione cum reliquis lectionibus, quas canon sacerdotalis
invexit, tempus ad sacrificium offerendum advenit, acceptaque turre
diaconus, in qua mysterium dominici corporis habebatur, ferre coepit ad
ostium ; ingressusque templum ut earn altari superponeret, elapsa de manu
ejus ferebatur in aera, et sic ad ipsam aram accedens, nunquam earn manus
diaconi potuit assequi : quod non alia credimus actum de causa, nisi quia
pollutus erat in conscientia." (P.L. lxxi. 781.)

The Sacrament Reserved 79
"Then two acolytes approach, holding open pyxes
containing the Sancta ; and the subdeacon who accom
panies them takes the Sancta, holding his hand on the
mouth of the pyx, and shows the Sancta to the Pontiff or
to the deacon who precedes him. Then the Pontiff or the
deacon salutes the Sancta, and looks to see whether there
be more than is necessary, that he may bid some to be put
aside into the aumbry." l
The actual use of the Sancta comes later, as we have
remarked — at the point where the words pax domini,
etc., are said before the kiss of peace. " When the Pontiff"
says, The Peace of the Lord be with you always, he makes the
cross with his hand over the chalice thrice, and drops
the Sancta into it."2
This use of the reserved sacrament disappeared at
a date not long after the eighth century, probably through
confusion with the fraction and commixture. Thus
Amalarius of Metz quotes (from an ordo closely akin to
the ordo ii of Mabillon's enumeration) the phrase, cum
dixerit pax, etc., mittit in calicem de sancta, but is evidently
not familiar with the ceremony ; for he says, in the
introductory part of his chapter, de immissione panis in
vinum. " I notice that there is some variety of use in
regard to the placing of the bread in the wine. Some first
drop a fragment of the holy element (sancta) into the chalice,
and then say, The Peace of the Lord ; while, on the other
hand, some delay the act until the pax has been made and
the fraction as well." 3 Here the confusion is obvious.
1 Ordo Romanus Primus, 8. " Et tunc duo acolythi tenentes capsas cum
Sanctis apertas, et subdiaconus sequens cum ipsis tenens manum suam in ore
capsae ostendit sancta pontifici vel diacono qui praecesserit. Tunc inclinato
capite pontifex vel diaconus salutat sancta et contemplatur, ut, si fuerit
superabundans, praecipiat ut ponatur in conditorio. . . ." (Atchley, Ord.
Rom. Trim., p. 128.)
2 ibid. 18. "Cum dixerit: pax domini sit semper vobiscum, faciens
crucem tribus vicibus manu sua super calicem, mittit sancta in eum. . . ."
(Atchley, op. cit. p. 138.)
A Carolingian recension (Ordo Romanus II) of this order gives the
following directions : " Et pertransit pontifex in caput scholae et in gradu
superiore, inclinato capite ad altare, primo adorat sancta, et stat semper
inclinatus usque ad versum prophetalem " ; and later, " Cum dixeihpax, etc.,
mittit in calicem de sancta oblata." (Mabillon, Mus. Ital. ii. pp. 43, 49.)
3 De eccl. officiis III. 31. " Immissionem panis in vinum cerno apud
quosdam varie actitari, ita ut aliqui primo mittant de sancta in calicem et

80 The Sacrament Reserved
There is no trace of the actual ceremony of the Sancta
in the ninth-century Order of St. Amand. It had gone out
of use ; and, though the term " Sancta " is retained, it is
clearly used as meaning the Fermentum.1
D. The Communion of the Presanctified
It lies beyond the scope of this work to give more than
a bare outline of the history of the particular use of the
reserved sacrament that ultimately developed into the
so-called Liturgy and mass of the Presanctified. All that
is here attempted is to draw attention to the conditions
under which it probably arose, and to notice some of the
more important modifications in the development of the
rite, after it had definitely acquired a kind of quasi-liturgical
character. On account of the light which it throws upon
the subject of official reservation in general, the former of
these aims is of considerable importance to our inquiry.
I. The origin of the communion of the Presanctified is
to be sought in the conjunction of two circumstances that
were operative to a greater or less extent throughout the
Church during a period extending from the third century
to the end of the fifth. One of these was the habit of
frequent communion ; the other, the restriction of the
celebration of the Liturgy to certain days of the week.
In regard to both of these particulars there was con
siderable variety of local custom, but frequent and even
daily communion during the greater part of this period
is attested by a number of writers from all parts of
Christendom.2 As to the other point, it is necessary to
remark that a primitive instinct which regarded seasons
and days of a penitential character as unsuitable for the
celebration of the Eucharist was specially prominent in the
postea dicant, pax domini ; e contra aliqui reservent immissionem usque
dum pax celebrata est et fractio panis." (P.L. cv. 1151, 1152.)
1 cf. Duchesne, Christian Worship, p. 461.
2Frequent or daily Communion — at Rome, Augustine (Ep. 54),
Jerome (Ep. 48, Ep. 71) ; in Spain, Jerome (Ep. 71) ; in Africa, Cyprian
(De orat. dom. 18) ; Augustine (De sermone domini, lib. II, c. 7, n. 25,
Serm. 227, etc.) ; at Alexandria, Clement (Quis dives salvetur, 23),
Origen (Horn, x in Genes.) ; in Gaul, Hilary of Poitiers (Frag. vii. P.L.
x. 725). See Dictionnaire d'Areheologie ei de la Liturgie, art. " communion
quotidienne."

The Sacrament Reserved 8i
East, and left a permanent impression on the usage of
the Oriental Churches.1
An expression of this point of view is to be seen in
a decree of the fourth-century Council of Laodicea, restrict
ing the Liturgy in Lent to the Sabbath and the Lord's Day.2
It is more difficult to determine the limitation of
liturgical observance in the West. There are early writers
who speak of a daily offering of the sacrifice, and these are
either to be understood as referring to special circumstances
or to be making statements concerning local custom, that
admit, in all probability, of certain exceptions. 3
St. Augustine, who knows of daily celebration, and
speaks of daily communion as the custom of the African
Church, is witness in another place for diversity of custom
elsewhere.4 Again, Wednesday and Friday, the station-
days, were everywhere observed, but the services on these
days did not in all places include the celebration of the
Eucharist. At Rome and Alexandria the station-days were
for a long time (probably until the fifth century or later)
non-liturgical, and this was the case during Lent in the
1 Probably because in the East the Liturgy is above all, the Eucharist,
" the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving " ; the propitiatory aspect has been
more dominant in the West. cf. remarks on this point by Allatius and
Balsamon. The present Lenten custom of the East (based upon a canon
of Council " in Trullo") is given below, p. 84.
2 Can. 49. " oti ov Se? T17 reo-o-apaKOOTQ dprov Trpoar<pkpeiv, ei pr) ev
o-aPf$dr<i) Kal KVpiaKy povov." (Hefele-Leclercq, Hist, des Conciles, I. 2.
p. 102 1.) cf. Can. 6, op. cit. p. 1008.
3 Frequent or daily celebration is implied in many references to
frequent communion, though not necessarily in all. In St. Cyprian (Ep. 58,
ad Thibaritanos, §1), "milites Christi . . . cotidie calicem sanguinis Christi
bibere," the mention of the chalice precludes reference to private habit.
But this may be merely a figurative reference to St. Matt. xx. 22. In
De Dom. Oratione, § 18, " hunc autem panem dari nobis cottidie postulamus,"
it is not clear whether the reception is public or private.
St. Augustine (Ep. 98, § 9). " Nonne semel immolatus est Christus in
seipso, et tamen in sacramento non solum per omnes paschae solemnitates,
sed omni die populis immolatur, nee utique mentitur qui interrogatus eum
responderit immolari ? " See index to Opera, Benedictine ed.
Condi. Tolet. i. Can. 5. All clerks must attend the daily sacrifice
(sacrificium quotidianum). (Hard. I. 990.) Chrysostom (Horn, in Ephes. iii)
complains that the daily sacrifice is neglected.
+ Ep. 54 : " alii quotidie communicant corpori et sanguini domini,
alii certis diebus accipiunt ; alibi nullus dies praetermittitur quo non
ofteratur, alibi sabbato tantum et dominico, alibi tantum dominico." M

82 The Sacrament Reserved
East, where the Liturgy was normally celebrated on these
days at other seasons of the year. Saturday — in the East
a liturgical day — was from an early date a fast in the West,
and on this day too the Eucharist was not celebrated at
Rome and Alexandria.
Little is known of the early observances of Holy Week
in the Latin Church (apart from the fasts and the ceremonies
connected with baptism). We have only a few scattered
allusions on which to build.1 Pope Innocent I, if he is
really the author of the letter to Decentius, makes the
definite statement, however, that the Eucharist is not to be
offered on Good Friday or Easter Even, because on those
days the apostles were in sorrow and in fear.2
To sum up, then : At a time when synaxes that did
not include the Liturgy were not uncommon, and indeed
were in some places a regular part of the weekly and
seasonal observances, and when, again, the habit of private
reservation had begun to disappear, some means was likely
to be found by which the custom of frequent communion
might be maintained. It seems a safe conclusion to draw,
that the " Communion of the Presanctified " must have been
usual in places where the desire for frequent reception of
the sacrament found itself faced with restricted liturgical
observance. We should therefore expect to find no definite
date nor special place of origin for a custom that would be
likely, from the circumstances of the case, to arise sporadic
ally in response to a practical need.
How necessary it would be at some seasons to make
provision for communion apart from the performance of
the Liturgy is apparent when we consider the vast numbers
that were baptized and immediately communicated in the
city churches on Easter Even. The custom at Constanti
nople (in the fourth and fifth centuries) was to reserve from
the Coena Domini a sufficient quantity of the sacrament in
both kinds to serve for the communion of the newly-
1 e.g. the omission of the kiss of peace in Holy Week (Tert. de
Orat.S). 2 Epist. ad Decent. " Nam utique constat apostolos biduo isto et in
moerore fuisse, et propter metum Judaeorum se occuluisse. Quod utique
non dubium est in tantum eos jejunasse biduo memorato ut traditio
ecclesiae habeat isto biduo sacramenta penitus non celebrari." (T.L. xx.
5S5-)

The Sacrament Reserved 83
baptized on the Easter Vigil ; 1 and it is unlikely that
this was a local peculiarity, or that reservation was
entirely confined to this season, and unknown at any
other time.2
To these considerations and the conclusions to which
they lead we shall return when we discuss official reserva
tion for the communion of the sick. We must now turn
to the development of the "Liturgy" or "Mass," of the
Presanctified, with the preliminary remarks that neither
term is rightly applied to a service in which no consecration
occurs, and that such a description is particularly inapplicable
to the form ultimately assumed by the Presanctified in the
Latin Church.
For some reason or other the compilation of the
" Liturgy of the Presanctified " has been attributed by
Eastern theologians to St. Gregory the Great. There is,
however, no unanimity on this point, and the fact that a
Western origin is implied in this ascription is of no great
value in determining the area wherein the rite first appeared
as a developed form. 3
Although the earliest unambiguous references to the
rite are to be found both in East and West in the seventh
century, the claim to priority seems to be more justly
assigned to the East, for the document containing the
1 Chrysostom, Epist. ad Innocent. Papam. 1. 3. (Opera, edit. Gaume,
iii. 618.) 2 The later developments of extra-liturgical communion in public,
from the sacrament reserved in church, such as is still practised in churches
both of the Latin and Greek obedience, seem hardly to call for notice here.
They merely constitute a perpetuation or an unintentional reversion to
early custom on grounds of practical necessity or convenience. For an
early reference, cf. Humbert, Adv. calumn. Qraecor. 33. (P.L. cxliii. 952.)
He states that communion was administered to pilgrims at Jerusalem in
the sole species of Bread, which had been consecrated the previous
day. 3 " It is generally attributed in MSS. and editions to St. Gregory
Dialogus, i.e. St. Gregory the Great of Rome ; but otherwise to St. Epi-
phanius (Vat. Graec. 1213, Bodl. Cromw. 11.) or to St. Germanus of Con
stantinople (Corsiniana 41. E 29, 41. E 31, Bodl. Auct. E 5. 13.), and a
passage common to Theodore of Andida, Qomment. liturg. 32, and Sophronius,
Comment, liturg. I, states that some attribute it to St. James, others to
St. Peter, and others to other authors; and in Sinai Graec. 1040 it is
apparently assigned to St. Basil. See Mai, Nov. patrum biblioth. V. (4),
pp. 97-99." (Brightman, he. cit.) See Scudamore, N.E.p. 898, note 3.
ad he.

84 The Sacrament Reserved
earliest Western reference bears marks of an Eastern
origin.1 Reference to " Liturgy of the Presanctified " in the East
occurs first in the Chronieon Paschale (a.d. 645) ;2 and toward
the end of the same century the Council in Trullo (a.d. 692)
published a canon wherein it was decreed that on all days of
Lent except the Sabbath and the Lord's Day and the Feast
of the Annunciation, the Liturgy of the Presanctified was
to be performed. That is to say, the celebration of the
Eucharist was limited during this season to the days
specifically named. 3 This rule has ever since continued
in force among the Orthodox Churches of the East, for
with them the canons of this council are reckoned as
supplementary to the decrees of the Sixth General Council
(Constantinople iii), and so have oecumenical force.
As to the form of service in which the communion was
administered on non-liturgical days at that date, it was
doubtless very similar in all essentials to that which is to
be found in the Byzantine rite of the ninth century,4 from
which the form in current use also has made very little
departure. With the omission of the consecration and
associated matter the important features of the Liturgy are
retained. The prothesis, the " mass of the catechumens,"
with the lections and other constituents, and the dismissals
form, as usual, the preliminaries. In the "mass of the
faithful," at the greater entrance, the conjointly reserved
elements are produced, instead of the bread and wine,
intended for consecration, as in the Liturgy proper. A
number of prayers, including the Lord's Prayer, the
inclination, the elevation, consignation, and commixture
1 See below, p. 85.
2 Brightman, Liturgies, p. xciii. (P.G. xcii. 989.)
3 Can. 52. " Ev irao'eus rrjs dyias reo-o-apaKoo-rfjs ypepais . . .
irapeKTbs o-af$(3drov Kal KvpiaKrjs Kal rrjs dyias rov evayyeXio-pov r)p£pas
yiveoSb) r) rev 7rporryiao-pevo>v icpa Xeirovpyia."
The " Liturgy of the Presanctified " is used only during Lent, on
Wednesdays and Fridays ; in the fifth week of Lent, on Thursday ; and
on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Easter. (Hapgood, Service
Booh, p. 600.)
+ Brightman, op. cit. p. 586. It is described as being "constructed
from the ordinary liturgy by the omission of all between the offertory and
the Lord's Prayer, the offertory prayer becoming the proem of the Lord's
Prayer."

The Sacrament Reserved 85
follow, and then the communion.' In other words we
have the structure of the Liturgy with the central action
removed and the communion of the Presanctified inserted
at the liturgical point where the communion normally
occurs.2 In the West the Regula Magistri directs that on Maundy
Thursday « the sacraments of the altar are to be consecrated
(finiantur) in the greater glass paten ; so that when the Jews
shall come seeking Christ for His passion on the sixth day,
He may be hidden that very day in our minds, and on the
Sabbath appear to us through His Resurrection in a new
sacrament." 3 Those who take food on Good Friday must
go without communion.
The exact meaning of some details of this statement is
not altogether clear, but it seems that the use of the Pre
sanctified on Good Friday is implied. It is noteworthy
that the document bears marks of being translated from
the Greek, especially the use of the form finiantur, which is
the equivalent of the common use of eKreXeia-dai for con-
secration.4 The Latin version was made some time in the
seventh century, by an unknown writer, for the regulation
of life and worship in a monastery.
A fairly full description is given in a Roman ordo
adapted to the use of a Benedictine house, which probably
dates from the eighth century. 5 It follows the same order
that is prescribed in the Gelasian Sacramentary. Since this
important document preserving the use of the Gallican
1 Brightman, op. cit. pp. 345 ff. A scheme of the Liturgy of the
Presanctified in the twelfth century according to the Syrian (Greek) Rite is
given on pp. 494 ff. In the Egyptian group the Presanctified of the
apostle Mark is mentioned in a rubric of the (Greek) Egyptian Liturgy of
St. Basil. (Brightman, op. cit. p. lxvi.)
2 In the Orthodox Russian Church vespers and a special form of
the offices for the third, sixth, and ninth hours precede the service of the
"Presanctified." (Hapgood, op. cit. p. 601.)
3 Auctoris incerti regula. 53:" sacramenta vero altaris in patena majore
vitrea finiantur ; ut cum sexta feria Judaei ad passionem Christum quaesierint,
sit ipso die mentibus nostris inclusus, ut sabbato nobis per resurrectionem in
novo sacramento appareat. Jam qui sexta feria refecturi sunt, sine commu-
nione reficiant ; ut agnoscatur jam quis sexta feria injuste refici sine Christo."
(T.L. lxxxviii. 1016.)
? Scudamore, N.E., p. 899.
5 Antiquus Ordo Romanus ad usum Monast. in Thesaur. Nolo. Anecdot.
v. 108. (P.L. lxvi. 997.)

86 The Sacrament Reserved
Church about a.d. 800 probably represents a much earlier
Roman tradition, the Liturgy of the Presanctified as it
occurs in the sacramentary deserves a fuller notice.
On Good Friday, at the ninth hour, all go to church,
and the holy cross is placed upon the altar. A silent pro
cession of the clergy takes place from the sacristy to the
altar. After the first prayer has been said a lection is read,
with its respond, and another prayer. Another lection and
respond lead up to the reading of the passion, as it is given
in the Gospel according to St. John. The long series of
solemn prayers succeeds, and at their conclusion two
deacons enter the sacristy, and come forth bearing the
sacrament, " the Body and "Blood of the Lord which remain
over from the preceding day " (i.e. Maundy Thursday). It
is placed upon the altar, and then the priest approaches,
salutes the cross, and begins the prayer, praeceptis salutaribus
moniti, says the pater nosier, and concludes with the usual
libera nos domine. Then all present salute the cross, and
a general communion follows.1
This type of service is also to be found in the ordines
1 " Incipit ordo de feria vi, passione domini. Hora nona procedunt
omnes ad ecclesiam ; et ponitur sancta crux super altare. Et egreditur
sacerdos de sacrario cum sacris ordinibus, cum silentio, nihil canentes, et
veniunt ante altare postulans sacerdos pro se orare, et dicit : oremus. Et
annuntiat diaconus : flectamus genua. Et post paululum dicit : legate. Et
dat orationem, deus a quo et Judas" etc. " Ista oratione expleta vadis
retro altare et legitur lectio. Deinde sequitur responsorium. Iterum dicit
sacerdos : oremus. Et annuntiat diaconus ut supra, et sequitur alia oratio,
deus, qui peccati veteris haereditariam mortem" etc. " Item sequitur lectio
et responsorium. Inde vero legitur passio domini. Ipsa expleta, incipit
sacerdos orationes solemnes, quae sequuntur. . . ."
" Istas orationes supra scriptas expletas, ingrediuntur diaconi in sacrario.
Procedunt cum corpore et sanguinis domini quod ante die remansit : et
ponunt super altare. Et venit sacerdos ante altare, adorans crucem domini
et osculans. Et dicit oremus. Et sequitur praeceptis salutaribus moniti, et
oratio dominica. Inde libera nos domine quaesumus. Haec omnia
expleta, adorant omnes sanctam crucem et communicant." H. A. Wilson,
The (jelasian Sacramentary, pp. 74—77. The Merovingian spelling and
grammar are left uncorrected. The Gelasian rubric was copied into many
later rituals, e.g. those of Noyons, Rheims, and Gellone (Mart., De Ant. Eccl.
Rit. iv. 23, § 27). Before the introduction of the Gelasian Sacramentary it
would seem that the Gallican Church was content with a primitive non-
liturgical synaxis on Good Friday, without any regular rite for communion
on that day. Provision for such a service, without the Presanctified, is
found in sacramentaries of Gallican type. No " Mass of the Presanctified "
was known to the contemporary Church in Spain.

The Sacrament Reserved 87
of the eighth and ninth centuries that provide, for the
communion of the Presanctified in the churches a't Rome,
or in those parts of Christendom that took as their models
the usages of the pontifical see. ' It has retained this
form in the West ever since. The setting in which the
communion of the Presanctified has been preserved is easily
separable from the primitive rite which it enshrines. For
the structure of the Latin " fMissa Presanctifieatorum" in spite
of some modifications in points of detail, represents a typical
non-liturgical synaxis (complicated on Good Friday by the
added ceremony of the adoration of the cross),2 in which
communion is administered from the sacrament reserved
for this purpose since Maundy Thursday. This short
sketch of the two forms assumed by the framework
enclosing the rite in different parts of the Church is enough
to show that structurally they have developed independently
of each other. Their only real point of contact is their
common origin in the attempt to provide for public com
munion on days when the Eucharist was not consecrated.
Removed from the frame that contains it, the administra
tion of the Presanctified both in East and West is simply
the communion isolated from the Liturgy.
We have next to notice that while the communion of
the Presanctified is characteristic, in the East, of many of
the non-liturgical days of Lent, it is confined in the West to
Good Friday alone, for by the time that the rite had
reached its permanent form, this day alone of all the year
remained non-liturgical.3
Two of the more important modifications, affecting
more particularly the Latin rite, that appear subsequently
to the ninth century now claim our attention. These are,
first, the disappearance of the species of Wine from the
communion ; and, secondly, the restriction of communion
to the celebrant.
1 They may be seen in the supplements affixed to the Ordo Romanus
Primus, and in other Ordines in Mabillon's collection (Mus. Ital. II).
2 The Adoration of the Cross was known in the East as early as the
fourth century, but it is not stated at what date it was introduced into the
West before the seventh century.
3 An exception to the general Western Rule occurs in the Milanese
custom of keeping every Friday in Lent as a dies aliturgica. (Magistretti,
Cenni sul Rito Ambr. (Milan, 1895), p. 28. Beroldus, Ordo, ed. Magis
tretti, pp. 90, 205.)

88 The Sacrament Reserved
At first both species of the sacrament were employed
in the communion of the Presanctified, as was the case at
Constantinople when provision was made for the commu
nion of the newly-baptized on Easter Even.
And when the Presanctified appears in the West, we
find explicit mention of the two elements, e.g. in the
eighth-century Benedictine order to which reference was
made on a preceding page. "The deacon receives the
Body and Blood of the Lord which was left the day
before (the Coena Domini), and was then consecrated,
and places (them) on the altar ; and all communicate of
the Body and Blood of the Lord in silence without any
singing." 1 It is just possible that the use of singular
forms of the verb (remansit et consecratum fuerit) may
point to reservation in a conjoint manner, but this
cannot be pressed.
The sacrament is referred to in similar terms by the
compiler of the Gelasian Sacramentary,2 and Mabillon draws
attention to the mention of both species in the monastic
Sacramentary of Gellone, but explains the phrase to mean the
Corpus Domini alone. 3
Some time in the ninth century a change was made in
the ministration of the communion on Good Friday. For
in the description of the Holy Week services, in the
additions to the Ordo Romanus Primus, unconsecrated wine
is substituted for the consecrated species, and the sacrament
is reserved only in the form of Bread.
Moreover, priests and not deacons 4 bring the sacrament
forth from the place in which it was kept. " Two of the
principal presbyters go to the sacrarium or wherever the
Body of the Lord which remained from the previous day
was kept, and place it upon a paten. Let a subdeacon hold
1 Ant. Ordo %om. ad usum Monast. : " Et accipit diaconus corpus et
sanguinem domini quod ante die coena domini remansit et consecratum
fuit, et ponit super altare." (Thesaur. NoV. Anecdot. v. 108.)
2 " Ingrediuntur diaconi in sacrario. Procedunt cum corpore et san
guinis (sic) domini quod ante die remansit." (Wilson, he. cit.)
3 Mus. Ital. II. p. lxxi : " Corpus Christi quod corpus et sanguis
domini appellatur."
* cf. Mabillon, op. cit. ibid. : " . . . Augustinus Patricius in suo
ceremoniali, ' quod ante Johannem xxii diaconus portabat ante altare sacra-
mentum, quod etiam communis rubrica habet. Post ilia tempora,' inquit,
' pontifex portat, et melius.' "

The Sacrament Reserved 89
before them a chalice filled with unconsecrated wine, and
another subdeacon the paten with the Lord's Body."
Chalice and paten are then taken by the two presbyters
and placed on the stripped altar. After the salutation of
the cross by the people, the pontiff leaves his place and
stands before the holy Table while he says the usual prayers.
" Then as the people respond tAmen, he takes a portion of
the holy element and drops it into the chalice, without
saying anything. Every one communicates in silence, and
the service concludes." l
Communion was apparently still made not only by
partaking of the consecrated Bread, but also of the wine
which was held to be hallowed by the admixture described.
But not long after this date the use even of unconsecrated
wine disappeared by degrees, and various explanations were
offered for its omission from the rite.2
The Easterns have long made use of the reserved
intincted species for communion at this service, and the
Euchologion gives detailed directions for the preparation of
1 " Presbyteri vero duo priores . . . intrant sacrarium, vel ubi positum
fuerat corpus domini, quod pridie remansit, ponentes eum in patena ; et
subdiaconus teneat ante ipsos calicem cum vino non consecrato, et alter
subdiaconus patenam cum corpore domini : quibus tenentibus accipit unus
presbyter patenam et alter calicem, et deferunt super altare nudatum. . . .
Cum dixerint, Amen, sumit de sancta [pontifex] et ponit in calicem nihil
dicens : et communicant omnes cum silentio et expleta sunt universa."
(Mus. Ital. II. pp. 23, 35.)
2 There is evidence that in some places in the ninth century the
hallowing of the wine in this manner was regarded as a breach of the rule
that no consecration should ever take place on Good Friday. " Qui juxta
ordinem libelli per commixtionem panis etvini consecrat vinum, non observat
traditionem ecclesiae, de qua dicit Innocentius, isto biduo sacramenta
penitus non celebrari. Percussus est pastor, oves gregis dissipatae sunt.
Pastores, qui videntur esse in ecclesia, declinatione sui officii demonstrant
statum illius temporis, qui tunc agebatur apud discipulos Christi. Dominus
enim dixit pridie, non bibam de hoc genimine vitis, donee bibam illud
vobiscum novum," etc. (Amalarius, De diVinis officiis, 1 . 1 5. in Hittorp. 340.)
This follows immediately the statement that Amalarius records the arch
deacon of Rome to have made : " In ea statione ubi apostolicus salutat
crucem, nemo ibi communicat." It is not certain, therefore, whether
Amalarius is stating his own opinions, or whether the substance of these
further remarks about the impropriety of consecrating by admixture formed
part of the archdeacon's reply.
Amalarius himself elsewhere speaks only of the corpus domini as reserved
for use on Good Friday. N

90 The Sacrament Reserved
the sacred elements.1 But some variety of custom once
prevailed. In the twelfth century at Constantinople, the
consecrated Bread alone was employed in the Presanctified.2
This exceptional usage may have been due to the local
influence of Latin custom, but in the eleventh century
the Bread alone was reserved at Jerusalem for the daily
communion of pilgrims. 3
A general communion is expected at the Presanctified
by the Easterns, but in the Western Church communion
at this service grew less and less usual until at last it
became confined to the celebrant.
The early Western orders, monastic and secular, provide
for a general communion. For example the Regula
Magistri, a monastic document, forbids only those who
are not fasting to receive ;4 and the Benedictine recension
of a Roman ordo, to which we referred on a preceding
page, speaks of all the brethren communicating. This
was the custom in religious houses for some considerable
time. 5 We find provision made for general communion in
convents and monasteries as late as or later than the twelfth
century. 6
The laity are supposed to communicate according to
Mabillon's text of the Ordo Romanus Primus. " Com
municant omnes cum silentio;"7 but this direction was
copied in later ritual injunctions after it had ceased to be
1 Except that the consecrated Bread is not dried after intinction, the
preparation of the species for use in the Presanctified is similar to the
preparation of the Eucharist to be reserved for the sick.
2 Thus Michael the Patriarch, 1167: " Not a drop of the Divine
Blood is poured upon them [i.e. the hosts] thus reserved." (Scudamore,
N.E. p. 899. Allatius, De Missa Praesanct. § xvii. 1586.)
3 Humbert, Adv. Column. Graecor. 33. (P.L. cxliii. 952.)
* " Jam qui sexta feria refecturi sunt sine communione reficiant ; ut
agnoscatur jam quis sexta feria injuste refici sine Christo." (P.L. lxxxviii.
1016.) The sense of this passage is not altogether clear, but it certainly
admits the- inference in the text.
s Thesaur. NoV. Anecdot. v. 108. " adorant omnes sanctam crucem
et communicant." 6 Sicardus of Cremona (t 121 5), Mitrale vi. 13. "Cum igitur hac
die (Good Friday) non sit corpus domini conficiendum, ad hanc diem est
causa triplici reservandum : prima est propter infirmos, ne aliquis decedat
sine viatico ; secunda est propter religiosos, qui his tribus diebus communicant ;
tertia est propter officium adimplendum." (P.L. ccxiii. 320.)
1 Mus. Ital. II. pp. 23, 24.

The Sacrament Reserved 91
observed in practice. It reappears, for instance, in the
mixed ordo printed in Hittorp. l
The Ordo of St. Amand, which represents a Gallican
recension of a Roman ordo, and dates from somewhere
about a.d. 800, provides for communion at the titular
churches. For it retains many traces of its Roman origin,
and maintains the semblance of the arrangements that
were customary in the pontifical see. The clergy are
supposed to meet, as it were, at the Lateran for the lections
and solemn prayers, and afterwards return to their own
churches, where at the ninth hour the services are repeated,
and, after the adoration of the cross, a general communion
follows.2 References to communion on Good Friday are found
in the fragment of an Ordo Romanus contained in the
Einsiedeln MS. printed by Duchesne from de Rossi.
After a description of the procession to the Church of the
Holy Cross of Jerusalem, the pontiff is directed to return
to the Lateran. But it is stated that neither he nor the
deacons who accompany him communicate, though, if any
one wishes to do so, the Eucharist reserved in pyxes from
the previous day is employed for the purpose. Or, in
case anyone does not desire to communicate at the Lateran,
he may receive the sacrament at another church. 3
1 De diyinis officiis, 7 5 . in Bibliotheca Patrum x.
2 " Ipsa autem die, hora V, procedit ad ecclesiam omnis clerus et ingre-
ditur archidiaconus cum aliis diaconibus in sacrario et induunt se planetas
fuscas, et egrediuntur de sacrario et duo cereostata ante ipsum cum cereis
accensis, et veniunt ante altare. Osculantur altare et vadunt ad sedem
pontificis secundum consuetudinem. Deinde annui archidiaconus sub
diacono et legatur leccio prima. Sequitur responsorium domini audivi ;
deinde alia leccio, et sequitur tractus qui habitat. Deinde legitur passio
domini secundum Johannem. Hoc expleto psallit sacerdos de parte
sinistra presbiterii in partem dextram altaris infra thronum et dicit orationes
sollempnes. Deinde revertuntur presbiteri per titula sua et hora nona tarn
de lectionibus quam responsoriis vel evangelium seu et oraciones sollemnes
faciunt similiter, et adorant sanctam crucem et communicantur omnes."
(Duchesne, Christiai Worship, p. 468.)
3 The rite at Jerusalem contains some peculiarities. See Duchesne,
op. cit. pp. 482, 483. " Et precedent iterum ad Lateranis psallendo beati
immaculati. Attamen apostolicus ibi non communicat nee diaconi ; qui
vero communicare voluerit, communicat de capsis de sacrificio quod V. feria
servatum est. Et qui noluerit ibi communicare vadit per alias ecclesias
Romae seu per titulos et communicat." (he. cit.)

92 The Sacrament Reserved
Amalarius, early in the ninth century, learnt from the
local ecclesiastics that no one communicated in Rome at
the station where the pontiff saluted the cross ; J but he
observes elsewhere that he himself was familiar with the
custom of communicating on these occasions.2
Others than the celebrant appear to have communicated
in the time of Rabanus Maurus (ninth century)3 but
general communion at the Liturgy of the Presanctified
gradually died out (except in religious houses) during the
ninth and tenth centuries, although it was not until 1622
that a final decision was given on the subject.4 Then the
Congregation of Rites decreed that the Eucharist is not to
be administered on Good Friday, except to the sick. This
1 De eccles. officiis, i. 15. "... interrogavi Romanum archidiaconum
et ille respondit : In ea statione ubi apostolicus salutat crucem, nemo ibi
communicat." (Hittorp, op. cit. 340.)
2 De eccles. officiis, i. 12. "Panis coelestis, id est, corpus domini
reservatur a feria quinta usque in parasceven. ... In parasceve non
conficitur corpus domini. Necesse est ut hi, quibus est voluntas com-
municandi, habeant sacrificium ex priori die." (Hittorp, op. cit. 330.)
On this passage, pseudo-Alcuin (eleventh century) comments thus :
" De eodem vero die (Maundy Thursday) legitur in ordinibus quod reser-
vandum fit de corpore domini ad communicandum in crastinum . . . quia
in parasceve non conficitur corpus domini, necesse est ut hi quibus est
voluntas communicandi, habeant sacrificium ex priore die, quod tamen
Romani non faciunt." (De d'ivin. officiis, Hittorp, 249.)
De eccles. officiis, iv. 20. " Simile est et illud quod Innocentius papa
scripsit, non missam celebrari in parasceve et in sabbato sancto : tamen
celebratur missa, quae celebrabatur ab apostolis, scilicet per solam ora-
tionem dominicam. Si hoc voluit monstrare verbis suis ubi dicit, sacra
menta penitus non celebrari, ut nullo modo celebrarentur, nemo id servat
apud nos. Sed ut populus qui reficiendus erat ipso die haberet in funda-
mentum corpus dominicum, et nihilominus reducatur nobis ad memoriam
missa apostolorum, celebratur eadem : quod non est necesse fieri in
sabbato sancto, quia expectant omnes jejuni usque ad noctem, quando
missa celebratur resurrectionis domini." (Hittorp, 470.)
3 De Instit. Qleric. II. 37. " Ipsa die a pontifice et a clero et ab omni
populo species sanctae crucis salutatur : quia passio redemptoris a fidelibus
in hora redemptionis suae digna laude veneratur. In hac die sacramenta
penitus non celebrantur ; sed eucharistiam in coena domini consecratam,
peracto officio lectionum et orationum, et sanctae crucis salutatione,
resumunt." (Hittorp, 605.)
? Provision for general communion on Good Friday is made in some
of the later ordines in Martene's collections, e.g. St. Germain des Pres,
Besancon, Angers, all of the twelfth century. A Strasburg missal of the
fourteenth century has " communicet ipse (presbyter) et alii qui
voluerint."

The Sacrament Reserved 93
was then stated to be the universal custom of the
Church. *

E. Consumption of the Remains after the Liturgy
Some brief notice must be taken of a number of customs
that aim at securing the consumption of what is left of the
consecrated elements at the conclusion of the Liturgy. It
is evident that the existence of such customs must be
recognized and considered before we pass on to speak of
the official reservation of the sacrament for the general
use of the sick.
Among the Syrian Christians who follow the Persian
Rite the celebrant's communion is delayed until the end of
the Liturgy, when he communicates by consuming that
which remains of the sacrament in paten and chalice. The
priest's prayers appended to the Liturgy of the Nestorian
Church, which are full of allusions to the act of communion,
are said at this point.2
This can hardly represent the survival of any early
usage, since it involves an unnatural and unparalleled
separation of the priest's communion from that of the
people at a service where a general communion is contem
plated. It is rather a practice peculiar to this part of
Christendom. In the pseudo-Clementine Second Letter to James,
the Lord's "Brother, any superfluity of the sacrament
beyond that which is needful for communion is re
garded as undesirable ; and that which happens to remain
is to be consumed by the clergy immediately afterwards,
or at least in the course of the day. Elaborate direc
tions as to this duty are given in a paragraph that begins
thus : —
" So much of the sacrifice ought to be offered on the
1 Cavalieri, Commentaria (1778), torn, iv, c. iv, deer, iii, p. 33. "In
feria sexta parasceves non est ministranda eucharistia, nisi infirmis."
2 Brightman, Eastern Liturgies, pp. 304, 305. The prayers are placed
under the heading, when they order the mysteries, and conclude with the
" Seal" — " For that Thou hast accounted us worthy, O my Lord, to delight
in Thy Body and Thy Holy Blood, account us now worthy to delight in
Thy kingdom which passeth not away nor is destroyed, with all Thy saints
now and ever and world without end. Amen."

94 The Sacrament Reserved
altar as is sufficient for the people. If any remain, it shall
not be kept till the morrow, but it is the duty of the
clergy to see that it be consumed with reverence and
fear."1 Very similar are the directions of the Sahidic Ecclesiasti
cal Canons : " Whatsoever remains over let the presbyters
and the deacons gather up, taking careful heed lest there be
much over, that so there be not exceeding great judgement
upon them like the sons of Aaron and the sons of Eli,
whom the Holy Ghost smote because they refrained not
from setting at naught the Lord's sacrifice : how much
more them that shall think scorn of the Body and Blood of
the Lord, deeming that it is only bodily food that they
receive and not spiritual."2
It might be contended that non-reservation of the
Eucharist is intended by the rubric of the Liturgy of the
Apostolic Constitutions, where it is ordered that when all have
communicated, the deacons are to carry the remains into
the sacristy.3 But as nothing is said as to what must be
done with the sacrament, it is uncertain whether it is
intended that the Eucharist is there to be consumed, or
reserved, for the sacristy or pastophorium was the place
where the sacrament was often kept.4 A similar direction
is to be found in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, as at present
1 Epistola II. ad Jacobum fratrem domini. " Tribus enim gradibus
commissa sunt sacramenta divinorum secretorum, id est presbytero, diacono
et ministro, qui cum timore et tremore clericorum reliquias fragmentorum
corporis dominici custodire debent, ne qua putredo in sacrario inveniatur
ne cum negligenter agitur portioni corporis domini gravis inferatur injuria.
. . . Certe tanta in altario holocausta offerantur quanta populo sufficere
debeant. Quod si remanserint, in crastinum non reserventur, sed cum
timore et tremore clericorum diligentia consumantur. Qui autem residua
corporis domini, quae in sacrario relicta sunt, consumunt, non statim ad
communes accipiendos cibos conveniant ; ne putent sanctae portioni com-
misceri cibum, qui per aqualiculos digestus in secessum funditur. Si ergo
mane dominica portio editur usque ad sextam jejunent ministri qui earn
consumpserunt. Et si tertia vel quarta hora acceperint, jejunent usque ad
vesperam. Sic secreta sanctificatione aeterna custodienda sunt sacramenta."
(P.L. i. 483—85.) This document, a forgery of seventh-century date, is
included by pseudo-Isidore in the " Decreta."
2 Brightman, op. cit. p. 463.
3 " Kai orav irdvres peraXdf3cxri Kal Trdo-ai, Xa/36vres 01 SiaKovoi Ta
rrepio-o-evo-avra eio-<pepkr<ao-av els rd 7rao-ro<popia." (Brightman, op. cit.
p. 25.) 4 See chap. xiii.

The Sacrament Reserved 95
used in the Greek Orthodox Church, where it cannot be
held to imply the exclusion of reservation.1
The Sixteenth Council of Toledo (a.d. 693) published a
canon dealing with the bread to be used in the mass, and the
clergy were admonished to provide specially-prepared obleys
of proper material, whole and wheaten, and of moderate
size.2 The reason for this last requirement was that if there
were no occasion to reserve, whatever remained might be
consumed without inconvenience. Probably the celebrant
or some other clerk would receive that which was left over,
or (as in our own rite) it may have been given sometimes
to lay-communicants. This, however, is doubtful : in some
places such a practice was thought unseemly.
In a series of canons of uncertain date that have been
placed by some authorities in the seventh century, but are
probably of later date, the clergy are forbidden to perpetuate
the custom of giving the contents of the chalice, after mass
is done, to laymen and women. The Wine only is definitely
mentioned ; the other element may be alluded to in the
cautionary remark, "who know not how to discern the
Lord's Body " ; but this is probably the assertion of a
general principle, for there follow immediately the words,
"that is, to discern between spiritual and carnal food."3
1 " d Se SiaKovos elo-eX8<ov Kal avrbs Sia tou (iopeiov pApovs o-vo-reXXei
rd dyia perd <po/3ov Kal Trdo-ys ao"<f>aAeias &rre pySev ri rZv dyav Xerrro-
rdrmv eKtrecreiv i) KaraXei<p8yvai Kai dTroviirTeTai tcis x£'Pa? ev r<$ orwr]8ei
Tojnj)." (Brightman, op. cit. p. 398.)
The text printed in Goar (p. 86) differs considerably from this.
" perd 8e ri)v drroXvo-iv, ei ovk eo-riv SiaKovos, elo-kpxerai o lepevs eis ryv
rcp68eo-iv Kal peraXapfidvei rb vrroXy<p8ev ev T(j> dyi(p Trorypio) wpoo-ex<os Kai
evXdf3ias, Kal drrorrXvvei rb dyiov rrorypiov rpis, Kal op£ pi) peivy rb Aeyo-
pevov pap/yapirys. . . . Kal o-vareXXei Ta ayia, rb rrorypiov rbv Sktkov
pera tou KaXvpparos Kara rb eo'os. Ei Se eo-riv SiaKovos 6 auTbs xoiei."
It is noteworthy that the priest is supposed to dispense with the
deacon's ministrations in the ceremony.
2 Can. 6. "... non aliter panis in altari domini sacerdotali bene-
dictione sanctificandus proponatur nisi integer et nitidus qui ex studio
fuerit praeparatus : necque grande aliquid, sed modica tantum oblata
secundum quod ecclesiastica consuetudo retentat : cujus reliquiae aut ad
conservandum modico loculo absque aliqua injuria facilius conserventur ;
aut, si ad consumendum fuerit necessarium, non ventrem illius qui sump-
serit gravis farciminis onere premat. . . ." (Hard. Conc- "i> J7970
3 Can. 2. "Dictum est nobis quod quidam presbyteri, celebrata missa,
detrectantes ipsi sumere divina mysteria quas consecrarunt, calicem domini
mulierculis, quae ad missas offerunt, tradant, vel quibusdam laicis qui

96 The Sacrament Reserved
As communions at the weekday masses, at least, grew
less and less frequent, and therefore it might often happen
that a considerable portion of the sacrament remained
unconsumed, the expedient of giving the remains of the
consecrated elements to innocent children came into use.
There are references to this practice in writers and docu
ments both in East and West.
Evagrius, in the sixth century, writes that this method
was recognized as an ancient custom in Constantinople,1
and according to Nicephorus Callistus the practice persisted
until his times (i.e. the fourteenth century) in the East. He
tells us that, when a child, he frequently received the
sacrament in this way.2
As to the West, the first reference to the custom occurs
in a canon of the Second Council of Macon (a.d. 585),
which directs that innocent children should be brought
fasting to the church for this purpose on Wednesdays and
Fridays.3 The exact meaning of the canon is not obvious ;
dijudicare corpus domini nesciunt, id est, discernere inter cibum spiritua-
lem atque carnalem. Quod quantum sit omni ecclesiasticae religioni
contrarium pietas fidelium novit. Unde omnibus presbyteris interdicimus
ut nullus in posterum hoc facere praesumat, sed aut ipse cum reverentia
sumat, aut diacono aut subdiacono, qui ministri altaris sunt, colligenda
tradat. . . ." (Hard. vi. 1. 205.)
As to the date of the series in which this occurs, see Hefele-Leclercq,
Hist, des C"«ciles III. 1. pp. 287 f. Hardouin places it under the title
Rodomi Synodus Generalis, and dates it a.d. 878. It is contained in Regino's
collection, I. 202 (Wasserschleben).
Ancient Coptic constitutions forbid the laity even to cleanse the sacred
vessels, but James of Edessa allows the laity to consume in wine any par
ticles of the Eucharist which may have become mouldy by oversight.
Perpetuiti de la Foy, III. vii. (torn. IV. pp. 253, 255).
1 Hist. Eccl. iv. 36. ""Eflos iraAaiov /3ovXerai dvd ri)v fiao-iXevovo-av
(ttoXiv) orav rroXv ti xfiVP1"1, T®v dyiwv pepiSwv rov dxpdvrov o-<aparos
Xpio-rov rov deov ypiov evarropeivoi iraiSas d<pdopovs peraTrepirrovs yiyveo-Qai
rrapa riav es xap,ai8iSao"KaAou <j>oiru>vro>v Kal Tairra Kareo~8ieiv"
2 Hist. Eccl. xvii. 25.
3 Cn- 6. "... Quaecumque reliquiae sacrificiorum post peractam
missam in sacrario supersederint, quarta vel sexta feria innocentes ab illo
cujus interest ad ecclesiam adducantur, et, indicto eis jejunio, easdem
reliquias conspersas vino percipiant." (Hard. iii. 459.)
The story of the little Jew, told by Gregory of Tours (Hist. Mirac. de
Gloria Mart. 10), which is sometimes referred to as an instance of this
custom (at Jerusalem or Ephesus), seems, as a matter of fact, to have no
bearing whatever on the subject, and to allude to the regular communion
of children at the Liturgy. (P.L. lxxi. 714.)

The Sacrament Reserved 97
it will bear more than one interpretation. No mention is
made of the Sunday mass. The larger number of commu
nicants on Sunday would naturally render this custom
unnecessary on that day.
Scudamore l is mistaken in supposing that nothing more
is heard of this practice in the West after the date of this
council. It lingered in some dioceses for a considerable
period. It was forbidden by a synod that is supposed to
have been held under Odo of Paris about the year 1198,
and as an additional precaution the distribution of such
obleys as were not required for consecration was forbidden
at the same time.2 Even later than this the synods of
Clermont (i268),3 of le Mans, and of Bayeux (both held
about 1300), found it needful to issue prohibitions touching
this point.4
In some parts of the East they used to burn what re
mained of the consecrated species. Perhaps because of the
associations natural to the minds of Jewish converts ; this
was at one time the custom of the Church of Jerusalem.
Hesychius (t c. a.d. 438), in his comment upon the
verse " And that which remaineth of the flesh and of
the bread shall ye burn with fire " (Lev. viii. 32), says,
" We shall see this same thing actually done in the Church,
and that which happens to remain unconsumed committed
to the fire ; not only that which has been kept one or two
or many days ; for it was not this that the lawgiver
commanded, but that which was left over he commanded
to be burned." S
This method had passed out of common use in Jerusalem
by the eleventh century, for the Cardinal Humbert, in his
controversial treatise against the Greeks, says that the
1 N.E. p. 897.
2 praescript. 39. " Item districte praecipitur presbyteris ne hostias, licet
non sacratas, dent pueris ullo modo. . . ." (Hard. vi. 2. 1945.)
3 " Inhibemus presbyteris ne hostias non consecratas dent pueris, nisi
in die paschae loco panis benedicti." (Hard. vii. 593.)
* Syn. Baiocen. 16. "Inhibemus presbyteris ne hostias sacras dent
pueris ullo modo infra septennium constitutis." (Hard. vii. 1228.)
5 In Levit. 11. " Sed hoc quod reliquum est de carnibus et panibus
in igne incendi praecepit (Lev. viii. 32). Quod nunc videmus etiam
sensibiliter in ecclesia fieri, ignique tradi quaecumque remanere contigerit
inconsumpta, non omnino ea quae una die vel duabus aut multis servata
sunt : sicut enim apparet non hoc legislator praecepit sed quod reliquum
est incendi jubet." (T.G. xciii. 886.) O

98 The Sacrament Reserved
sacrament was reserved for the use of pilgrims in the
churches of Jerusalem, and remarks that in his days it was
not burnt, as was the custom elsewhere in the East." 1
Lastly, a strange direction occurs among the ancient
oriental documents translated by the author of La Perpetuiti
de la Foy — " If it happen that on a solemn feast some
of the Eucharist remains over, it must be treated with
reverence ; and the following day it shall be divided among
the priests who shall communicate therefrom. But if
there is no one to consume it, it must be reverently buried
somewhere, but not burnt — for the dignity of the holy
Bodies forbids them to be burnt."2
With the exception of the practice of the Nestorians,
who have ceased to make use of the reserved sacrament,
the majority of these instances do not necessarily preclude
reservation. They are to be understood as providing for
the consumption of what is superfluous, after the needs of
the people, including the reservation of the Eucharist for
the sick, have been met.
F. Administration to the Dead and other Abuses
Certain customs involving the use of the sacrament,
such as the deposition of consecrated Hosts in the structure
of an altar at the consecration of a church,3 the employment
of the sacred species of Wine as writing fluid in subscribing
the condemnations of heretics 4 — these we may pass over as
1 Adversus column. Graec. 33. " Graeci autem cohabitantes eis alii sic,
alii qualiter a suis acceperunt. Ad haec, si quid ex sancta et venerabili
eucharistia in Hierosolymitanis ecclesiis superfuerit, nee incendunt nee
in foveam mittunt, sed in pyxidem mundam recondunt et sequenti die
communicant ex eo populum, quia quotidie communicant ibi, eo quod
conveniunt illuc ex diversis provinciis Christiani qui propter fidem et
maximum amorem Filii Dei communicare ibi desiderant, quia et locus ipse
venerabilior et sanctior est omnibus locis in omni terra." (P.L. cxliii. 952.)
See his further remarks (he. cit.) : " Subterrare autem vel infodere
sanctam eucharistiam in terra, sicut quidam dicuntur agere, aut in lagenam
mittere, aut effundere illam, negligentia magna est et nullus timor dei."
2 op. cit. III. 7 (torn. IV. p. 254).
3 The ceremony appears first in the eighth century. Pontifical of
Egbert of York. Surtees Soc. vol. xxvii. p. 46.
4 As was done, e.g. at the condemnation of the Eutychian, Pyrrhus,
by Pope Theodore (Theophan. Chronographia, ad ann. 621) ; and by the
prelates who condemned Photius in a.d. 869 (Labbe, Concilia, viii. 1231).

The Sacrament Reserved 99
foreign to our quest. They are not of early date, and so
are of no value in tracing the origin and development of
reservation for the sick. Neither need we relate the
many wicked abuses that the curious may discover in
mediaeval literature of the baser sort ; for these abuses
were most prevalent at a date when official reservation
had become the universal custom.1
But it is necessary to take note of the use of the
sacrament in connection with the dead, because some of
these practices appeared in early times, and their existence
witnesses to the freedom conceded to the laity and others
in the matter of private reservation.
A distinction must first be made between the custom
of burying the Eucharist with a corpse and the habit of
attempting to communicate the departed.
(a) In the former we may have an extension of the use
of the sacrament as an amulet. According to Balsamon,
who writes as if it were only employed in the case of
bishops, the object of this custom was to scare away evil
spirits from disturbing the repose of the body.2 He is
certainly wrong in supposing that the sacrament was only
interred with bishops, for, in the Life of St. Benedict, it is
recorded that the saint took the following course of action
to secure the repose of the body of a monk that would not
remain buried. He produced a consecrated Host, and
gave it to the dead man's parents, commanding them to
lay it with all reverence upon the breast of the corpse and
1 For example, in the pages of Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialog.
Monachorum. 2 His opinion is cited thus in Diet. d'Archeol. Chret. et de Liturgie
(s.v. Commun. des Morts), 2445 : " Quod autem sanctus panis anstitibus
post mortem tradatur, et sic sepeliantur, existimo hoc fieri ad avertendos
daemonas, et ut per ipsum tamquam viaticum deducatur ad coelum, qui
magna et apostolica professione dignus est habitus." This occurs as
a comment on Can. 8 2 of the Council " in Trullo."
If this abuse originated in any other locality it may have come from
Egypt, where superstition infected Christianity from the first. The
Egyptian practice of providing food for the dead is well known, and a
possibly intermediate step between the pagan custom and the Christianized
form is furnished by the description of a gnostic (?) grave at Antinog, in
Scott Moncrieff, Paganism and Christianity in Egypt, pp. no ff, 118,
119. On the other hand, the gift of food to the departed was in some form
or other well nigh universal and of ancient standing.

ioo The Sacrament Reserved
to proceed with the burial. This expedient, we are assured,
had the desired effect.1
Little cases of gold, with rings at one side, were found
inside coffins disinterred in the course of excavations made
at the Vatican in 1571. Similar boxes were found in the
oratory of St. Ambrose and elsewhere on the breasts of
Christian bodies.2 These encolpia were generally used to
contain relics of written passages of the scriptures ; and
similar receptacles were worn on the person to bear about
the Eucharist. It is not certainly known whether the
sacrament was ever enclosed in these receptacles and
buried in this manner with the dead, but it seems not
improbable that in some cases this may have been done.
Exhumation of the bodies of ecclesiastics has often
revealed the remains of obleys upon and about the corpse.
Obleys were found on the breast of St. Cuthbert ;3 and Iso
of St. Gall, who wrote in the ninth century, speaks of the
finding of obleys upon and about the body of St. Othmarus
(f a.d. 759) on the occasion of its translation. " Under
the head and about the breast of the man of God were
certain little breads, such as are commonly called obleys."
The bishop who presided over the translation " marvelled
that they still remained incorrupt and unspoilt " ; and he
replaced some of them upon the body, while others were
retained and preserved as curiosities in a pyx. It does not
appear that these were consecrated Hosts, or even that the
bishop believed them to be such.4 Here, as in many other
cases, the obleys had probably been buried as symbols of
sacerdotal office, comparable with the chalice and paten
that were laid in the grave with the bodies of mediaeval
ecclesiastics. The attempt to communicate the dead might well arise
from familiarity with the custom of communicating the
dying at the moment of departure. Reference is made
to this habit as usual at Rome in the Life of St. Melania
1 Gregory (Dialog, ii. 24). "... Manu sua protinus communionem
dominici corporis dedit, dicens ' hoc dominicum corpus super pectus eius
ponite et sic eum sepulturae tradite.'" (P.L. lxvi. 125 f.)
2 Binterim, Denkwilrdigkeiten.
3 Amalarius, De eccles. offic. iv. 41 (Hittorp, Bibl. Pair. x. 498). He
claims the authority of Bede for this statement..
4 De Mirac. S. Othmari I. 5. II. 1. (P.L. cxxi. 783, 792.)

The Sacrament Reserved ioi
the Younger (t a.d. 437). She had already received the
sacrament twice on the day that she died ; and yet, at
the last, the Bishop of Jerusalem (who was in attendance)
placed a Host between her lips. " For," says the writer
of her Life, " it is the custom of the Romans to take care
that the sacrament is in the mouth at the moment that
the soul departs."1
It is doubtful whether the well-known story, told by
the pseudo-Amphilochius, of St. Basil of Caesarea, alludes
to the communion of the dead or to the habit of burying
the Eucharist with a corpse. He is said to have been
inspired when celebrating the Liturgy, and in consequence
to have divided the Host into three parts, one of which he
consumed at the altar, another he placed in the dove that
hung above the holy Table, and the third he reserved
against his death. And this third portion was buried with
him ; but the words ev tw crrofiaTi are probably interpolated
by some one familiar with the custom to which the bio
grapher of St. Melania refers.2
Speaking generally, however, there is no need to seek
any other origin for the attempt to communicate the dead
elsewhere than in mistaken notions of piety. The enact
ments that forbade it may have had in view more
particularly the perpetuation of this abuse by ignorant
clerks ; but the layfolk would have opportunities of doing
the same sort of thing as long as they were allowed to
keep the Eucharist in their possession.
The Council of Hippo (a.d. 393) found it necessary to
publish a canon forbidding both baptism and communion
of the dead : " It is decreed that the Eucharist be not
given to dead bodies. For the Lord's command was,
' Take ye, and eat ' ; but the bodies of the dead can
neither take nor eat." 3 This prohibition was repeated,
1 " Consuetudo autem est Romanis, ut cum animae egrediuntur,
communio domini in ore sit."
Vita S. (Melaniae ; no. Iv. in Rampolla y Tindaro, Santa fMelania
giuniore (quoted in Diet. d'Arche'ol. tyre*., etc., 2446).
2 Vita S. Basilii, ps.-Amphilochius (ninth century) cap. 6 : " Kai SieXiov
rbv dprov eh rpeis pepiSas ri)v pev piav pereXafiy <poj3ta iroAA<j>, ri)v Se
e<pvXa£e o~vvra<jyrjvai avT(j!, ri)v Se erepav ev#eis Trepiorepp XPV<TV eKpepao-ev
errdvu) rov dyiov 8vo-iao-rypiov." (Amphilochii Opera (1644, Paris), p. 176.)
3 Can. 8 : " Item placuit, ut corporibus defunctorum eucharistia non
detur. Dictum est a domino : Accipite et edite. Cadavera autem nee

102 The Sacrament Reserved
along with other canons, by the synod held at Carthage
in a.d. 525. 1
The mind of the Church was constantly against the
custom, but it was not easily extirpated. The question
came up again before a Council of Auxerre in a.d. 578 ;2
and St. Boniface included the canon of this council, non licet
mortuis eucharistiam nee osculum tradi, in his collection of
statutes for the German Church, nearly one hundred and
fifty years later. 3
That the abuse was not confined to the West is apparent
from a canon put forth by the council, supplementary to
the Fifth and Sixth Oecumenical Councils, which is distin
guished by the title " in Trullo." The eighty-third canon
is in effect a transcription of that enacted on this point at
Hippo.4
accipere possunt nee edere. Cavendum est etiam ne mortuos etiam
baptizari posse fratrum infirmitas credat, cum eucharistiam mortuis non
dari animadverterit." (Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. II. pt. 1, p. 86.) Hard. i.
961 (as Concil. Carthag. iii. a.d. 397. Can. 6).
1 Hard. ii. 1078.
2 Can. 12: "Non licet mortuis nee eucharistiam nee osculum tradi. . . ."
(Hard. iii. 445.) Unction of and kissing the corpse is described in the
pseudo-Dionysian Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, c. 7, late fifth century.
3 Cap. 20. (Hard. iii. 1943.) cf. Instructions in ordo ad visitandum
infirmum of Theodulf of Orleans : " Hoc autem omnibus modis observari
oportet, ut post mortem communio eucharistiae in os cadaveris (non)
immittatur aliquo intuitu misericordiae : quod prohibent valde canones."
(Mart. De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. viii, art. 4, ord. 2.) The Responsio ad Rusticum
Narbonensem, an Isidorian fabrication, makes St. Leo state that the practice
was forbidden (c. 8) : " Nos autem quibus viventibus non communi-
cavimus, mortuis communicare non possumus. . . ." (Hinschius, p. 1 7.)
This was in reply to the question whether it were lawful to communicate
penitents who had died without viaticum.
4 Can. 83 : " pySels tois o-ixtpao-i ru>v TeAei>Taii/Ta>v rrjs evyapurrias
peraSiSoro). . . ." (Hard. iii. 1 69 1.)

PART II
OFFICIAL RESERVATION FOR THE
COMMUNION OF THE SICK

103

CHAPTER VIII
Official Reservation during the First Six
Centuries
OF the practices and customs associated with the
reserved Eucharist so far reviewed some were purely
ceremonial. For the most part, however, we have been
concerned with temporary expedients of a practical sort
that were suppressed, or at least became obsolete, when the
conditions that were the occasion of their first appearance
had passed away. Such expedients as these lingered on
locally and in special circumstances, or might reappear from
time to time. But in general they were forbidden by the
Church as irregularities and even as abuses, after the real
need for them had ceased to exist. But to minister to the
necessities of the sick and dying remained a constant
obligation ; and we have now to turn our attention to the
history of that method of providing for clinical communion
which finally superseded all others ; that is to say, the official
reservation of the Eucharist. In this matter, as always,
ecclesiastical authority studied practical convenience accom
panied with decency and order. Moreover, practical con
siderations, it is well to remember, are usually antecedent
to theoretical reasons in cases where changing circum
stances demand a modification of existing practice.
A handy division of the history of the official reserva
tion of the Eucharist for regular clinical use may be made
by throwing the material bearing upon the subject into
three periods. The first of these closes with the end of
the sixth century, and is the age of the Fathers ; the second
covers the early Middle Ages, from the seventh century to
the beginning of the tenth ; while the eucharistic contro
versies in the eleventh century form a natural landmark for
the opening of the third period. It will not be necessary,
for reasons given in the preface, to follow the history
of the practice beyond the date of the Fourth Lateran
Council (1215). 105 p

106 The Sacrament Reserved
Between the last waves of persecution there were
intervals of comparative peace and freedom during which
Christians were able to lay aside to some extent that extreme
secrecy and caution that in earlier and more perilous times
had accompanied the administration of the sacraments.
When they were allowed openly to erect and to use build
ings of their own, provision was made on an adequate scale
for dealing with the multitudes that sought and obtained
admission into the Church. For example, the development
in complexity of the rite of baptism and the architectural
evolution of the baptistery reflect, not an increase in the
importance attached to the sacrament, but the greater
publicity which was the natural consequence of the admin
istration of baptism to ever-increasing numbers. The
Liturgy, in the same way, expanded and grew more elabo
rate as it became more and more conspicuously the great
public service of the rapidly Christianizing State. The
partial secrecy that still surrounded the central mysteries
had now become part of the discipline of the catechumenate
rather than an attempt to hide the Christian worship from
the eyes of the world.
It is reasonable to suppose, then, that a similar develop
ment would take place in connection with the provision
made for the communion of the sick and dying. The
recognition of their wants would undoubtedly lead in time,
under the new conditions, to the regular and official reser
vation of the sacrament. In the larger centres of Christi
anity, at least, the need of furnishing that which had always
been regarded as the indispensable preparation for death
would be a pressing problem.
But it must be acknowledged that evidence of a satis
factory kind for the official reservation of the sacrament
is extraordinarily scanty ; and the task before us resolves
itself into the elimination of mistaken or doubtful references
to the custom rather than the discovery of further informa
tion on this subject. It may be well to begin, therefore, by
clearing away certain passages that have been mistakenly
cited as containing allusions to the custom ; and then to
proceed with the consideration of those which seem to
afford definite information.
There is first a passage in St. Gregory Nazianzen ' to
1 Orat. viii. (in laudem Gorgoniae) 18. Ed. Bened. 1 778, p. 229.

The Sacrament Reserved 107
which a brief reference may be made here ; but as it has
been chiefly prominent in controversy concerning the
antiquity of the cultus of the reserved sacrament, a fuller
discussion of its meaning is deferred until we come to deal
with that question.1 Certain statements made by St. Gregory
in the funeral sermon which he preached on the occasion of
his sister's death (c. a.d. 380) have been taken to mean that
the Eucharist was at that period reserved on or near the
altars of churches. Here it is only necessary to remark
that the ambiguity of the passage excludes it from being
used as witness for official reservation.
Nor may we retain any longer as evidence in this
inquiry two expressions that are to be found in Optatus's
treatise against the Donatists. It is true that he asks,
" What else is the altar but the seat (sedes) of the Body
and Blood of Christ ? " And lower down in the same
chapter he says of the holy Table that it is " the place where
Christ's Body used to dwell (habitabai)." At first sight,
and divorced from their context, these expressions might
well seem to imply that the sacrament was there in some
form reserved. But, though they have been taken to carry
this sense, the context clearly shows that the presence
recognized at the altar is associated with the actual celebra
tion of the Liturgy, and not with any sort of reservation.2
A letter of St. Ambrose to Felix, Bishop of Como, is
concerned with the forthcoming consecration of a basilica,
and herein the worship of the Church is represented in
terms of the religion of the tabernacle. In spite of the
fact that St. Ambrose compares the furniture of the ancient
sanctuary, not with the actual ornaments of a Christian
church, but with the ideals and principles of Christian
religion, one detail in this passage is sometimes quoted as
evidence for the reservation of the Eucharist in the
churches of that age. " There," he says, " is the ark of
the covenant covered on all sides with gold ; that is to say,
1 See Appendix, The origins of extra-liturgical Cultus of the Eucharist,
p. 255. 2 De schism. Donat. vi. I . : " quid enim est altare ? Sedes et corporis
et sanguinis. . . ." " Ubi corpus Christi habitabat." But these must
be interpreted by " quod vos offenderat Christus, cuius illic per certa (al.
caetera) momenta corpus et sanguis habitabat," which occurs lower down.
(P.L. xi. 1066.)

108 The Sacrament Reserved
the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the wisdom of God.
There is the pot of gold containing the manna, that is, the
receptacle of spiritual food and the repository of divine know
ledge. There is Aaron's rod, typical of priestly grace," I
and so on. The whole passage is clearly too metaphorical
to be used in argument for the antiquity of reservation in
a church ; and the most that can be said of it is that the
parallel would be specially appropriate if the custom of
keeping the sacrament in a vessel of some sort were in
existence at that time.
Perhaps the most familiar passage of all is that which
occurs in the letter sent by St. John Chrysostom to Pope
Innocent I. He deplores the scenes of sacrilege which
were enacted in his cathedral of St. Sophia during the Holy
Week of a.d. 403. Soldiers sent by the Empress Eudoxia
(whom Chrysostom had offended by his condemnation of
feminine extravagance) entered into the church on Easter
Even at the time when baptism was being administered ;
and, not content with this demonstration, they pushed
through the crowds of worshippers to the innermost recesses
of the building, " in which confusion," St. Chrysostom says,
" the most holy Blood of Christ was spilled upon the
soldiers' clothes."2
Now it is evident that these outrages did not take place
during the Liturgy, because there were catechumens in the
church that Sunday waiting to be baptized. The solemn
rite of baptism would precede the Liturgy of the Easter
Vigil, and therefore the mention of the spilling of the
sacred Blood has been claimed as proof of the regular
reservation of the sacrament, in both kinds, at the
cathedral at Constantinople in the fifth century.
1 Epist. iv. 4. " Ibi est area testamenti undique auro tecta, id est,
doctrina Christi, doctrina sapientiae dei. Ibi dolium aureum habens
manna ; receptaculum scilicet spiritalis alimoniae et divinae promptuarium
cognitionis. Ibi virga Aaron insigne sacerdotalis gratiae. . . ." (P.L. xvi.
891.) 2 Epist. I. ad Innocent. Papam. 3. "... dXX' ev8a to oiyia drreKeivro
eiceXdovres 01 o-rpanwrai <5v tvioi Kadibs eyvutpev dpvyroi TjO-av rrdvra re
eoipviv Ta evSov Kai rb dyidrarov atpa rov xpioroi! <*>s ev too-oi'to) dopvflip
eis Ta. tcov rrpoeipypkvutv orpaTiuTcov ipdria e^e^etTO. . . ." (Opera
(ed. Gaume) iii. 618.)
The letter containing the account of this incident is incorporated in
Palladius' Life of St. John Chrysostom (Gaume xiii. 9).

The Sacrament Reserved 109
But for such a conclusion there is no adequate ground.
Almost certainly the sacrament had been consecrated two
days before (on Maundy Thursday), to serve for the
communion of the faithful on Good Friday, and for that
of the newly-baptized on Easter Even ; for it was, of
course, the custom at this period to receive communion
immediately after initiation.
It was therefore to meet the special needs of this season
that the Eucharist was kept in the basilica : the passage
yields no evidence for what we are in search of — the prac
tice of constant reservation for the sick.
So, again, it is in connection with the observance of the
Cena Domini that St. Mary of Egypt is said to have
received her Viaticum. She lived in the fourth century,
but the narrative of her last communion belongs to the
seventh. It is doubtful, therefore, whether the details are
altogether reliable.
Some time before her end St. Mary is represented as
making her request to the Abbot Zosimas that on the
evening of Maundy Thursday he should come into the
desert and bring her "the sacred vessel of the life-giving
Body and Blood of Christ." Her wishes were fulfilled
when the day came round. Zosimas did as he was bidden,
and, taking a portion of the sacrament (par)>um poculum
intemerati corporis ac venerandi sanguinis Christi), he set out
for the bank of the Jordan, where the saint had arranged
to meet him.1
This is virtually an instance of coincident communion ;
the sacrament was carried out from the evening Liturgy,
immediately after the service was over. It is also interesting
to notice that the communion was apparently administered
on this occasion in the two kinds conjointly.
St. Jerome, whose witness to the habit of private
reservation has been considered, is quoted as evidence
for reservation of the official sort as well. This may be,
and probably is, implied in the reference to Exsuperius
of Toulouse ; 2 but there would be no ambiguity at all
about the matter if a passage commonly cited from his
works were genuine. In his Commentary on Ezekiel xl,
where he mystically interprets the structure of the ideally
reconstituted temple, and in particular the little chambers
1 Boll. AA.SS., April 2nd. 2 Vide p. 62.

no The Sacrament Reserved
(irao-rocpopia, egSpai) annexed thereto, the following passage
is said to occur : "And therefore, the sacristy in which is
laid the Body of Christ, Who is the true Bridegroom of
the Church and of our souls, is well called the bridal-
chamber (thalamus) or pastophorium." l
There are indeed points in his exegesis of this and
other chapters where such a note would come in very
appropriately ; but, as a matter of fact, it does not appear
that he makes this or any similar remark.
There is a passage in the works of St. Paulinus of Nola
(t a.d. 431) which has been held to provide the evidence
that Jerome proves unable to supply. Writing to Bishop
Severus of Mileum a description of the church of St. Felix
at Nola, he mentions, among other features of the building,
the double secretaria (irao-ro<p6pia), one on either side of the
apse. Above the entrance of each he had had inscribed
a couplet. Over the door of the left-hand sacristy there
were written verses that may be paraphrased thus : —
" He who is moved by the holy desire to meditate upon the Law
Here may sit and ponder the sacred books."
In other words, this was the library. The correspond
ing verses over the opposite door were these : —
" Hie locus est veneranda penus qua conditur et qua
Promitur alma sacri pompa ministerii." 2
The association of veneranda penus and conditur seems to
have been responsible for the citing of this passage. Penus,
of course, usually means a supply of food ; but here it has
the rarer signification of a shrine ; and the verse must be
understood simply to mean that the right-hand sacristy was
the place where the clergy vested, and whence the pro
cessions started. Even if we are to suppose that the lines
contained an allusion to reservation of the Eucharist in the

1 " Quare sacrarium in quo jacet corpus Christi qui verus est ecclesiae
et animarum nostrarum sponsus, proprie thalamus seu Trao-ro<f>6piov appel-
latur." This passage, which is no doubt a later marginal note that has
become incorporated in some texts of Jerome, is frequently quoted by
ecclesiologists of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, e.g. Durantus,
Martene, etc., and is referred to as authentic in A Catholic Dictionary,
Addis and Arnold.
2 Epist. (32) ad SeVerum. (P.L. Ixi. 338.)

The Sacrament Reserved i i i
sacristy,1 the context would show the reference to be rather
to reservation for a liturgical purpose than for com
munion of the sick.2 We must look for better evidence
than this.
More satisfactory, perhaps, than anything noticed
hitherto is a further passage from Optatus. At the time
when he wrote, i.e. about the year a.d. 365, the Catholics
of Africa were complaining bitterly of the outrages per
petrated in their churches by the Donatist schismatics, who,
by permission of Julian, had returned exultant from their
exile. Optatus accused their leaders of ordering the
Eucharist, the sacred Body, he says, to be cast out to
the dogs ; and tells of the strange vengeance that over
took the guilty agents of the sacrilege. 3 Now it is
doubtless possible that these profane irruptions took place
during the celebration of the Liturgy ; but the fact that
the Donatists are also charged with throwing away the
ampullae containing the chrism suggests that they were
accustomed to break into the churches out of mass time,
and to ransack the sacraria where the sacred vessels (and,
it may be, the sacrament) were stored. The use of the
phrase corpus sanctum is possibly noteworthy, and should
be contrasted with the mention of both species in other
passages from this author given above. In the next
century the Vandals came to the Province and set up
a kingdom there. Catholics fared as ill under the rule
of these Arian barbarians as during the Donatist outbursts ;
and accordingly we find a repetition of their troubles.
The churches were invaded at the time of communion,
and the Eucharist was trampled under foot ;4 but when
1 Vacant and Mangenot (op. cit. (37), p. 1204. s.°f>. Eucharistie) leave
the question undecided. The note appended to the passage in Migne
(u.s.) favours the view that the allusion is to the preparation of persons and
materials for the Liturgy.
2 St. Paulinus himself, at his end, had mass said by his bedside.
See p. 25.
3 De Schism. Donat. II. 19 : " Jusserunt eucharistiam canibus fundi,
non sine signo divini judicii : nam eidem canes accensi rabie ipsos dominos
quasi latrones sancti corporis reos dente vindici tamquam ignotos et ini-
micos laniaverunt." (T.L. xi. 972.)
4 Victor Vitensis, De persecut. Vandal. I. 13 : " tempore quo sacramenta
dei populo porrigebantur introeuntes maximo cum furore corpus Christi
et sanguinem pavimento sparserunt et illud pollutis pedibus calcaverunt."
(T.L. lviii. 198.)

112 The Sacrament Reserved
we are told that Valerian, Bishop of Abbenza, was exiled
in consequence of his refusal to surrender the " divine
sacraments " at the bidding of the emissaries of Gieseric,
it may be that a reference to the reserved sacram-ent
underlies this ambiguous remark.1
As for the East, at an earlier date (c. a.d. 343) Lucius
of Hadrianople was responsible — if his Eusebian oppo
nents are to be believed — for acts of sacrilege resembling
those of the Donatists in Africa. They charge him with
commanding, after his reinstatement in his see, that " the
sacrifice consecrated by holy and valid priests " should be
thrown out into the streets.2
From Alexandria, where the private habit was common,
we have at least one satisfactory piece of evidence for the
existence of official reservation in the story of Serapion's
last communion. This is related at length at an earlier
page,3 and there is <no need to repeat it here. It is unlikely
that when once the custom had come into use it would
ever be discarded. 4
Possibly, it was the practice of official reservation that
occasioned one of the misbeliefs of the Anthropomorphites
which St. Cyril of Alexandria is eager to condemn. In
a letter to Bishop Calosyrius he dismisses the contention
of these heretics that the effect of consecration on the
matter of the Eucharist is merely temporary. " I hear,"
he says, " that they assert that the mystical blessing fails
to secure consecration if any portion remain until another
day. They are mad who make such statements ; for
Christ is never other than Himself, nor does His holy
Body suffer change, but the virtue of the blessing and the
life-giving grace remain constantly in it." 5 It is clear that
1 ibid. I. 12: "tunc etiam sanctus Valerianus Abbenzae civitatis
episcopus, dum viriliter sacramenta divina ne traderet dimicasset, foras
civitatem singularis jussus est pelli." (u.s. 197.)
2 Hilary of Poitiers, Opus Hist. frag. III. 9 : " post reditum suum
sacrificium a Sanctis et integris sacerdotibus confectum, si fas est dicere,
canibus projiciendum jubebat." (P.L. x. 665.)
3 See p. 13.
4 Palladius, in his Life of St. John Chrysostom, charges Theophilus of
Alexandria with having burnt a monastic establishment, and states that the
sacrament (rd o-vp/3oXa rZv pvo-rypiutv) was destroyed in the fire.
5 AdV. Anthropomorph. 1 : " aKovio Se Sri eis dyiao-p.dv drrpaKreiv <pdo-iv
rrjv pvo-riKyv evXoyiav el drropevoi Xeixj/avov avrrjs eis erepav ypkpav.

The Sacrament Reserved 113
some kind of reservation is in question, but whether it be
official and public, or of the private sort, cannot be decided.
The Alexandrine Canons of Athanasius, for the nucleus
of which some degree of authenticity is claimed, contain
a prohibition which seems to presuppose the frequent use
of the Eucharist reserved in church. "No priest shall
carry forth the mysteries and go with them about the
streets, except for a sick man, when the end and death's
hour of need draw nigh. And when they carry the
mysteries (without) they shall suffer none but the sick
to partake. And they shall not do according to favour
and give unto any beside the sick, but unto the sick alone.
And if any constrain them that they should give him of
the mysteries, he shall be unto him as he that hid his
lord's money in the earth, because that he favoured not
the Church. Let him go thither and not be sluggish,
for there is no need."1 Here we have symptoms of the
policy of restriction in the matter of private communion.
Hitherto the Church of Alexandria had been characterized
by great leniency in this matter.
To return to the West. At a later date, Caesarius of
Aries (a.d. 501-542), or whoever wrote a certain sermon
attributed to him, warns the people against flying for aid
in sickness to magical and heathen rites, and urges them
to look rather to the sacraments for help. " Whenever
a malady overtakes any one of you, let him receive the
Body and Blood of Christ, and then let him anoint his
body" ;2 this was the regular order of the two sacraments
— communion and unction — at that period. Elsewhere
he says, in a similar context : " How much better and
paivovrai Se TavTa XeyoVTes ¦ ov yap dXXoiovrai xPi0"Tds ovSe rb ayiov
avrov o-Zpa pera/3Xy8yo-erai, dXX' r) rrjs euAoyias Svvapis Kai y foorroibs
Xapis SiT^veKijs eo-Tiv ev auTip." (P.<j- lxxvi. 1074, 1075.)
1 (Can. 36.) Arabic version (translation). Riedel and Crum, Canons
of Athanasius (Text & Transl. Socy. 1904), pp. 32, 33. (For discussion of
authenticity see pp. xiv-xxvi.)
2 Sermo. 265 : "Quotiens aliqua infirmitas supervenerit, corpus et san
guinem Christi ille qui aegrotat accipiat ; et inde corpusculum suum
unguat, ut illud quod scriptum est impleatur in eo, infirmatur aliquis,
inducat presbyteros, etc. . . . Videte, fratres, quia qui in infirmitate ad
ecclesiam cucurrerit et corporis sanitatem recipere, et peccatorum indul-
gentiam merebitur obtinere." (Append, ad. torn, v Operum S. Augustini,
edit. Benedict. 437.) Q

114 The Sacrament Reserved
more wholesome is it for people to have recourse to the
church, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and to
anoint themselves or their friends with the blessed oil ! "J
The admonition to "run to the church" can hardly be taken
literally ; for obviously the invalid cannot be expected to
go and fetch his own Viaticum. It seems that we have
here a medicinal use of the Eucharist, supplementing an
administration of unction that expects the recovery of the
patient. All that may be concluded from these two pass
ages is that the reserved sacrament is probably intended ;
and nothing more precise is discoverable in the incident
related by Anastasius Bibliothecarius of one Philip (c. a.d.
597) who, in anticipation of sudden death, sought to receive
communion in the night time.2
The works of St. Gregory the Great furnish evidence
for the custom of private reservation^ but contain no
unmistakeable reference to the official use of the reserved
Eucharist for the sick. He touches upon the discipline of
the last communion of penitents without informing us
whether the sacrament was reserved against such con
tingencies. All that is proved by these and other
allusions to 'viaticum in his writings is that people looked
to be houselled at the time of their death. In addition
to the well-known instance of St. Benedict,4 he tells, for
example, of a woman named Romula living under a reli
gious rule, who, before she died, called in the night for
the head of the community, and asked for the Eucharist.S
This may suggest that the sacrament was kept ready to
hand by authority, but such a conclusion is precarious.
Nor again, in the case of another religious, the hour of
whose death had been made known to him previously,
1 Sermo. 279: "Quantum rectius et salubrius erat ut ad ecclesiam
currerent, corpus et sanguinem Christi acciperent, oleo benedicto et se et
suos fideliter perungerent ; et secundum quod Jacobus apostolus dicit,
non solum sanitatem corporum sed etiam remissionem acciperent pecca
torum." (op. cit. 465.)
2 Hist. Eccl. (Chronographia Tripart). (P.G. cviii. 886.)
3 See pp. 62, 63.
4 Dialog. II. 37 : "sexta die portari se in oratorium a discipulis fecit,
ibique exitum suum dominici corporis et sanguinis perceptione munivit."
(P.L. lxvi. 202.)
s Dialog. IV. 5 : "Nocte igitur quarta eamdem magistram suam iterum
vocavit ; qua veniente, viaticum petiit et accepit." (P.L. lxxvii. 345.)

The Sacrament Reserved 115
can more be learnt than that he received at the last "the
mystery of the Body and Blood of the Lord."1
Finally, we note that in making provision for the
regular consumption of the Eucharist that remained in the
sacristy the Council of Macon (a.d. 585) seems implicitly to
enjoin the renewal of the reserved sacrament during the
week ; and further, from the injunction that its consump
tion was to be facilitated by the use of common wine, that
the Bread alone is in question.2
It must be confessed that although these few and
scattered passages go some little way toward establishing
the fact that in the sixth and preceding centuries the
Eucharist was here and there officially reserved, they fail
entirely to place beyond doubt the existence of any general
practice of this sort. Nor have we been able to decide in
what form and in what manner the reserved sacrament
was commonly employed for clinical communions.
1. There are, however, some considerations which
supplement the meagre information at our disposal. From
these it would appear that the practice of official reser
vation was more usual during this period than might
otherwise be supposed.
(a) In the first place, the notion of periodical reser
vation for official and public occasions was not unfamiliar
to the Early Church. Eulogiae were sent from bishop to
bishop in the days of Irenaeus ; the Fermentum is said to
have been introduced into Rome in the fourth century ;
the beginnings of the Sancta are obscure but may be of
early date. Indeed, unless we are prepared to maintain
that the turres which formed usual gifts to churches in the
fourth and succeeding centuries were always, like the early
forms of the columbae, merely symbolical ornaments, we
must suppose them to have been used for some kind of
1 ibid. 35: " Cumque decrescentes quotidie computaret dies, ante
triduum quam vocaretur ex corpore, febre correptus est. Ad horam vero
mortis veniens, mysterium dominici corporis et sanguinis accepit."
(P.L. u.s. 377.)
2 Can. 6 : "Quaecumque reliquiae sacrificiorum post peractam missam in
sacrario supersederint quarta vel sexta feria innocentes ab illo cuius interest,
ad ecclesiam adducantur, et indicto eis jejunio, easdem reliquias con-
spersas vino percipiant." (Hard. iii. 462.) The use of unconsecrated
wine in private communion from the reserved sacrament is considered
by Pargoire, L'Eglise byzantine, pp. 229, 3 39 fF.

1 1 6 The Sacrament Reserved
reservation, either in connection with the ceremonies
of the Liturgy or for extra-liturgical communion.1
There was no general dislike of reserving the Eucharist,
provided that the elementary conditions of reverence and
seemliness could be secured. It is true that occasional
opposition to reservation in any form or for any purpose
is made by heretics who deny the permanence of the effect
of consecration ;2 and from time to time objection might
arise in quarters where the correspondence between the
Eucharist and the paschal sacrifice or the manna of the
wilderness had impressed itself strongly on men's minds.
From the last point of view a show of argument against
any form of the practice might indeed be maintained ; hence
we are not surprised to find in Origen possible disapproval
of reservation^ and indications of the same attitude in
the Sahidic Canons 4 and the pseudo-Clementine Epistle to
James. 5 But on the whole there were no reasons, either
practical or theoretical, why the practice should not develop
in answer to actual needs.
(b) Secondly, if we study the early canons dealing with
the communion of the sick, and, more especially, those
concerned with the viaticum of persons under penitential
discipline, the language of these enactments points to the
conclusion that even while considerable freedom was still
allowed to the faithful in the matter of private reservation,
the administration of the last communion had already
been brought under the strict control of the clergy. A
certain licence in this direction that could be safely accorded
to a laity, disciplined by the possession of high ideals and
by the stress of more or less constant peril, was naturally
withdrawn in view of the problems presented by the crowds
of penitents who had lapsed as the result of the later inter
mittent persecutions.
A continuation of the same policy of restriction was
demanded when the imperial recognition of Christianity
led to an unavoidable relaxation of discipline and a general
declension in Christian standards. It was essential in these
circumstances that the administration of Viaticum should be
closely guarded by the local ecclesiastical authority.
From a very early date the bishop was supposed to be
1 See chap. xiv. 2 See p. 1 12. 3 See p. 35.
4 See p. 94. s See p. 93.

The Sacrament Reserved 117
informed of penitents in sickness or in danger of death ;
and as the severity of the discipline imposed depended
upon his ruling, so the indulgence granted to the penitent
in extremis was largely determined by the same authority.
It was by the bishop's will that permission to communicate
was granted or withheld. For example, the Council of
Nicaea treated " the ancient and canonical law " of com
municating the dying penitent as a matter that lay within
the control of the bishop of the local church ; and the
same principle was asserted by other ecclesiastical pro
nouncements of the age.1 Such considerations as these
are im themselves no proof of the existence of official
reservation ; the conditions stated or assumed in regard
to the administration of clinical communion are compatible
with other expedients, such as distribution from the public
service or private celebrations.
But the policy that they indicate is an important circum
stance in ascertaining the origins of the custom of reserving
the Eucharist officially for the houselling of the sick ; and
we have seen reason to believe that the extension of the
open communion by distribution to the absent was gener
ally discarded at an early date, and that private celebrations
were not commonly favoured by authority.
(c) To what extent the desire for frequent communion
operated in this direction we have already tried to deter
mine. But even if the piety of the laity led to provision
for frequent communion at synaxes of a non-liturgical
character, this factor could only have been operative during
a comparatively short period. For a general falling away
from the habit of frequent communion marked the fifth
and the following centuries, and the communion of the
Presanctified became confined to special occasions. If,
before this date, arrangements had been made whereby the
people might communicate at other times than in the cele
bration of the Liturgy, it seems fair to suppose that some
constant form of providing 'for the more pressing needs of
the sick would have also come into existence.
We may, then, set down these provisional conclusions.
From the third century onwards, that is during a period
when persecution alternated with times of comparative
safety, the discipline of the lapsed and penitent Christians
1 See p. 7.

1 1 8 The Sacrament Reserved
made official regulation of viaticum necessary. Such use
of the reserved Eucharist for this purpose as was con
trolled by ecclesiastical authority could not be termed
private, even if by reason of the circumstances of the time
it was needful to keep the sacrament in secret, borne upon
the person or hidden elsewhere. If the Eucharist was
reserved at all in this restricted manner, it was reserved by
the authority of the local church for the people's needs.
So we see in the case of Serapion that the dying penitent
applies to the priest for reconciliation sealed by communion.
To all intents and purposes the principle of official reser
vation was in existence ; and after the peace of the Church
had become established, it is noteworthy that among the
earliest ornaments of the basilica is the eucharistic turris.
2. As to the further question whether the Eucharist
thus officially reserved and administered was kept in one
or both kinds, since the origin of the practice is the result
of restriction of the private habit, in which the Bread alone
was employed, the use of the one species would naturally
be perpetuated. This is implied in some of our passages,
where only the Body is mentioned. The use of the single
species was, indeed, associated with other occasions than
private communion ; e.g. the Eulogiae and the Fermentum.
Nor do we lack witness for the employment of the Host
without the consecrated Wine when for purposes of con
venience this mode of communion was thought expedient.
St. Gregory the Great tells of Pope Agapetus carrying the
Body of the Lord from the altar in order to restore to
perfect health a lame and dumb man.1 We are perhaps
justified also in concluding that the Manichees were able
to communicate along with Catholics without exciting
remark until this dissimulation on their part was checked
by St. Leo's insistence upon the necessity of always receiving
in both kinds at the public communion. 2
1 Dialog, iii. 3 : " . . . cui dum in virtute dei, ex auctoritate Petri,
fixam salutis illius spem habere se dicerent, protinus venerandus vir orationi
incubuit, et missarum solemnia exorsus, sacrificium in conspectu dei omni-
potentis immolavit. Quo peracto, ab altare exiens, claudi manum tenuit,
atque assistente et aspiciente populo, eum mox a terra in propriis gressibus
erexit. Cumque ei dominicum corpus in os mitteret, ilia diu muta ad
loquendum lingua soluta est." (P.L. lxxvii. 224.)
2 Serm. xlii. 5 : "... cumque ad tegendam infidelitatem suam nostris
audeant interesse conventibus, ita in sacramentorum communione se tern-

The Sacrament Reserved 119
The fact that reservation of both species was at first the
rule for communion in the " Presanctified "J does not
affect the question, because there the point of portability-
had not been considered ; and whatever we may think of
the evidence usually cited for the use of the Host alone in
other circumstances, for sick communions at a distance
from the church the use of the chalice must always have
been a standing difficulty.2 So far we must also remember,
no trustworthy evidence has been found for the existence
of that kind of intinction in which both sacramental
elements are employed. 3
We conclude, therefore, that during the period which
we have surveyed, the consecrated Bread alone was com
monly used in official reservation. Those passages in
which mention is made of both eucharistic species are
probably to be explained as referring to "viaticum adminis
tered otherwise than by the reserved sacrament,4 or they
may be merely instances of inexactness of diction.
perant ut interdum, ne penitus latere non possint, ore indigno Christi
corpus accipiant ; sanguinem autem redemptionis nostrae haurire omnino
declinent. Quod ideo vestrae notum facimus sanctitati, ut vobis huius-
cemodi homines et his manifestentur indiciis, et quorum deprehensa fuerit
sacrilega simulatio, a sanctorum societate sacerdotali auctoritate pellantur."
(P.L. liv. 279 f.)
The decree in Gratian III, de consecrat. ii. 1 2) attributed to Pope
Gelasius (t a.d. 496) is to the same effect : " aut integra sacramenta per
cipiant, aut ab integris arceantur." (P.L. clxxxvii. 1736.)
For other passages bearing on the point of communio sub specie panis soli
see Vacant-Mangenot, Diet, de theol. cathol. III. 5 5 5—5 5 6, art. Commun'on
sous les deux espkes ; and Cabrol-Leclercq, Diet. a"archeol. chret. art.
Communion sous une seule espke. As an example we may cite Gregory of
Tours, Hist. Francor. x. 8. (P.L. Ixxi. 535), where reception of the
Eucharist is proposed by a bishop of Arvernes as the test of the innocence
of a man popularly accused of parricide : " Tu vero si idoneus es, ut
asseris, accede proprius et sume tibi eucharistiae particulam atque impone
ori tuo." Is the omission of any mention of the Wine significant ?
1 See p. 88.
2 See, however, p. 62, for the case of Exsuperius of Toulouse.
3 The use of intinction is implied in certain accounts (of seventh-
century and later idate) of the communion of religious in the desert, cf.
the Viaticum of St. Mary of Egypt (p. 109).
4 "Caesarius Arelat.," Serm. 265, 279 ; Greg. Magn. Dialog. II. 37 ;
IV. 35.

CHAPTER IX
Official Reservation in the Early Middle Ages
BY following the common custom of reckoning the first
six centuries together as an age by itself, it has been
possible to sum up the evidence of that period, and to come
to some tentative conclusions as to the origin and prevalence
of official reservation of the Eucharist. This will help to
carry us through the two hundred years of transition
between the days of Gregory the Great and those of
Charlemagne. The seventh and the eighth centuries form the first half
of the period that we have now to consider. This period,
the early Middle Ages, is made up of two clearly-marked
divisions of approximately equal length : the first is charac
terized by the ebb in learning and culture that succeeded
the high-tide of the Fathers ; the second, by the recovery
that followed for a while the Carolingian reforms. We
will take the evidence of these two divisions separately.
The Seventh and Eighth Centuries
(a) The first division (c. a.d. 600-800) is, as regards our
subject, an age of obscurity. It is still necessary to depend
as largely upon supposition here as in the period that has
just been discussed, for of direct evidence there is great
scarcity. If the considerations proposed at the end of the
last chapter have any value, we start with something
approaching a conviction that official reservation for
clinical communion in the one species of Bread was coming
into common use, at any rate in certain localities. It does
not seem possible to avoid the conclusion that a method
which was so natural a development of the private custom,
and had so many points of convenience to recommend it,
must have been widely employed. We have found plentiful
evidence for the existence of private reservation by the
clergy and the religious during this period. Official

The Sacrament Reserved 121
reservation only differs from the private form in that the
supply and ministration of the sacrament are restricted to,
and regularized by, the normal ecclesiastical authorities.
Nevertheless, the only direct reference to official
reservation appears to be contained in a canon of the
Sixteenth Council of Toledo (a.d. 693). This council
turned its attention to a number of careless habits that had
grown up among the clergy in connection with the bread
used in the mass. In the canon dealing with these abuses
allusion is made incidentally, but unmistakeably, to the
practice of reserving the Eucharist. Whether it was
reserved for the use of the sick, or for one of those
liturgical ceremonies which have been described in Part I
of this work, is open to question. The sense of the relevant
passage in the canon is as follows : —
" No bread shall be prepared for use at the altar other
than such as is whole and wheaten, and this shall be made
with care. Nor shall it be too large, but of moderate size,
according to ecclesiastical custom ; so that whatever remains
over may be kept for reservation in a small receptacle (ad
conservandum modico loculo . . . conserventur) without risk of
harm ; or else, in case it seem necessary, may be consumed "
without inconvenience. '
For whatever purpose it was intended to be used, it will
be noticed that the Bread alone is mentioned as being
reserved ; 2 and this, so far as it goes, bears out the
conclusions reached at the end of the last chapter as to the
usage of the preceding period. Some little light is thrown
upon the question by the canons of two other councils of
this age, which dealt with the ministration of the Eucharist,
and issued rulings that touch, though only indirectly, upon
the matter of our inquiry. First, an earlier (Eleventh)
1 Can. 6. "... Unde temeritatis hujus aut nescientiae cupientes
terminum ponere, id unanimitatis nostrae delegit conventus, ut non aliter
panis in altari domini sacerdotali benedictione sanctificandus proponatur
nisi integer et nitidus, qui ex studio fuerit praeparatus ; neque grande
aliquid sed modica tantum oblata, secundum quod ecclesiastica consuetudo
retentat ; cujus reliquiae aut ad conservandum modico loculo absque aliqua
injuria facilius conserventur, aut si ad consumendum fuerit necessarium,
non ventrem illius qui sumpserit gravis farciminis onere premat, nee quod
in digestionem vadat sed animam alimonia spirituali reficiat. . . ." (Hard.
iii. 1797.) 2 cf. Can. 6 of Council of Macon, p. 1 1 5. R

122 The Sacrament Reserved
Council of Toledo (a.d. 675) than that to which we have
just referred concerned itself with the subject of clinical
communion by publishing an explanation of a canon
promulgated by the First Council held in the same city
nearly three hundred years before (a.d. 400). This canon
has been noticed in a former place as ordering the expulsion
of those who did not immediately consume the sacrament
they received at the open communion. Now the later
council was at pains to make quite clear the real reason for
this regulation — that it was aimed against sacrilege, and
was not intended to apply to the case of the sick and others
who had difficulty in swallowing the Host. After referring
to the physical weakness of persons in extreme sickness,
the canon goes on to remark that in many cases " those
who earnestly desire the viaticum of Holy Communion
reject the Eucharist brought to them by the priest ; not
because they act in unbelief, but because they cannot
swallow the Eucharist that is given them, apart from a
draught from the chalice of the Lord." J
The interest of this passage is apparent. First, because
the common use of the sole species of Bread is implied ;
and, secondly, because it is recognized that there are cases
in which a draught from the chalice must, for physical

1 Can. 11. " Cum nihil in divino canone debeat esse confusum, nihil
dubium, nihil etiam indiscretum, in collatione nostrae coetus relatus est
canon Toletani concilii primi, in quo praeceptum est ut si quis acceptam a
sacerdote eucharistiam non sumpserit, velut sacrilegus propellatur ; nee
adjecta est ibi discretio voluntatum : cum et infidelis haec et talia infideliter
agat, et fidelis fidenter accipiat quod naturalis ilium necessitas deglutire non
sinat. Solet enim humanae naturae infirmitas in ipso mortis exitu prae-
gravata tanto siccitatis pondere deprimi ut nullus (sic) ciborum illationibus
refici, sed vix tantumdem illati delectetur poculi gratia sustentari. Quod
etiam in multorum exitu vidimus, qui optatum suis votis sacrae commu-
nionis expetentes viaticum, collatam sibi a sacerdote eucharistiam rejecerunt ;
non quod infidelitate hoc agerent sed quod praeter dominici calicis haustum,
traditam sibi non possent eucharistiam deglutire. Non ergo hujusmodi a
corpore ecclesiae separandi sunt qui talia non infidelitate sed necessitate
fecerunt, praesertim hi de quibus nihil fidei sinistrae sentitur. Placuit ergo
definire quod nee fideli officiat nee infideli inultum exsistat. Quicumque
ergo fidelis inevitabili qualibet infirmitate coactus eucharistiam perceptam
rejecerit in nullo ecclesiasticae damnationi subjaceat. Similiter nee illos
cujusdam punitionis censura redarguet qui talia tempore infantiae faciunt,
aut, in qualibet mentis alienatione positi, quid fecerint ignorare videntur . . ."
(Hard. iii. 1028.)

The Sacrament Reserved 123
reasons, accompany the delivery of the Host.1 But exactly
what is meant by the dominici calicis haustum 2 is not obvious.
The Eucharist brought to them by the priest must, from
the context, be taken to signify the Host alone ; for it is
this that the dying person cannot consume by itself. To
suppose that the phrase eucharistiam collatam sibi a sacerdote
includes the consecrated Wine would be to give to the
term eucharistia two different meanings in two consecutive
sentences. Moreover, against such an interpretation of the
passage we have to consider not only the inconvenience and
risk attached to carrying forth the chalice and its contents
to any great distance from the church, but also the fact that
whatever precise information can up to this point be adduced
is practically all on the side of reservation in the one kind.
How, then, is the reference to the chalice to be explained ?
There are two alternatives from which a choice may be
made. We may suppose that when the council issued
this canon it had in mind the substitution of communion
at a private celebration, in or adjoining the sick-room, for
the regular method of administering viaticum. Such cele
brations, though unusual, were, as we have seen, by no
means unknown ; and they may have been allowed when,
for the reasons stated in the canon, the use of the chalice
was necessary.3 But this interpretation hardly suits the
phrase, " the Eucharist brought by the priest " ; and if the
substitution of a private celebration for the use of the
reserved sacrament was intended, it is less clearly expressed
than might have been expected.
It is possible, on the other hand, to understand that the
draught accompanying the delivery of the Host (in this
case reserved) was of unconsecrated liquid ; and if this
were the sense of the passage, it seems necessary to explain
the use of the expression calix dominicus by the theory that
1 That the canon gives permission to communicate the dying and others
in the single species of wine can hardly be maintained without violence to
the text. As notice is taken of infants who are unable to swallow the Host
by itself, it may here be remarked that it is not until much later that we
meet with definite and unambiguous injunctions to communicate infants
under the species of Wine alone. See chap. xi.
2 The use of haustum excludes the supposition that steeping the Host
was intended.
3 Private celebrations for the sick coexisted with reservation in Spain
until the sixteenth century.

124 The Sacrament Reserved
contact or admixture of the eucharistic Bread with uncon
secrated wine hallowed the contents of the vessel employed.
For the existence of this theory at so early a date we have
no certain evidence, though it had a very general vogue for
a time after the eighth century.1
While it must be admitted that no really satisfactory
sense of the passage can be determined, it is none the less
fairly evident that the use of the reserved species of Bread
is regarded as normal in the administration of clinical
communion.2 It is reasonable to suppose, however, that there was
some diversity of practice. All manner of strange usages
in connection with the Eucharist were to be found within
the limits of Spain alone. The Third Council of Braga,
sitting in the same year (a.d. 675) as the Eleventh Council
of Toledo, published a canon concerning certain abuses of
this sort, and included among them the use of intincted
Hosts for communicating the people. The prohibition of
intinction was based upon the fact that according to the
Gospel account of the institution of the Eucharist the
disciples received the Bread and the Wine separately, and
to the traitor alone was given a sop, intinctum panem (St. John
xiii. 26, Vulg.).3
1 Consecratl0 e contactu hostiae may possibly be alluded to in a canon of
the Council of Orange, held in a.d. 441. See pp. 149—152 below.
2 This is also the case in the passage in a work of fifth-century date,
formerly ascribed to Prosper of Aquitaine : " Manu igitur faciem eius sus-
tentante sacerdote ne sanctum projiceret, a quodam diacono suggestum est, ut
calicem salutarem gutturi eius pontifex applicaret : quod ut factum est
statim ut locum ilium quem diabolus obsederat salvatoris imperio reliquit,
sacramentum quod ore gestabat, cum laude redemptoris transglutiisse
puella clamavit." Opera (1609) p. 161. The invalid was given the
Host, and this would have sufficed for communion if she could have
swallowed it : but for physical reasons a little of the Wine was given in
addition. The circumstances suppose a private celebration ; it is strange
that this incident should be thought to furnish an early example of intinc
tion, e.g. by Scudamore, ZKJE. p. 1019.
3 Can. 2. " Cum omne crimen atque peccatum oblatis deo sacrificiis
deleatur, quid de cetero pro delictorum expiatione domino dabitur, quando
in oblatione sacrificii erratur ? Audivimus enim quosdam schismatica
ambitione detentos contra divinos ordines et apostolicas institutiones lac pro
vino in divinis sacrificiis dedicare ; alios quoque intinctam eucharistiam
populis pro complemento communionis porrigere : quosdam etiam non
expressum vinum in sacramento dominici calicis offerre, sed oblatis uvis
populos communicare. Quod quam sit evangelicae atque apostolicae doc-

The Sacrament Reserved 125
In the absence of any special statement to the contrary,
this prohibition would doubtless be held to apply to clinical
communions as well as to communion at the mass ; yet,
if it be rightly assigned to the First Council of Lestines
(a.d. 743), a canon put forth in Belgium in the following
century possibly prescribes the use of some sort of intinction
where the invalid is unconscious.1
The liturgical sources of this age do not greatly help
in our inquiry. The Leonine Sacramentary provides no form
for the communion of the sick. In the Gelasian Sacra
mentary, edited by Wilson, and assigned by him to the
seventh century or the early part of the eighth, there is
contained a series of prayers which accompany the celebra
tion of mass in a private house,2 but there is no mention of
trinae contrarium et consuetudini ecclesiasticae adversum non difficile ab
ipso fonte veritatis probabitur, a quo ordinata sacramentorum mysteria pro-
cesserunt. Cum enim magister veritatis verum salutis nostrae sacrificium
suis commendaret discipulis, non illis lac sed panem tantum et calicem sub
hoc sacramento benedixisse cognoscimus. Ait enim evangelica Veritas :
Accepit Jesus panem et calicem et benedicens dedit discipulis suis. Cesset
ergo lac in sacrificando offerri, quia manifestum et evidens exemplum evan-
gelicae veritatis illuxit quod praeter panem et vinum aliud offerri non sinit.
Mud vero quod pro complemento communion is intinctam tradunt eucha
ristiam populis, nee hoc prolatum ex evangelio testimonium recipit, ubi
apostolis corpus suum et sanguinem commendavit ; seorsum enim panis,
et seorsum calicis commendatio memoratur. Nam intinctum panem aliis
Christum praebuisse non legimus, excepto illi tantum discipulo quem
intincta buccella magistri proditorem ostenderet, non quae sacramenti hujus
institutionem signaret. . . ." (Hard. iii. 1032, 1033.)
1 " Is qui poenitentiam in infirmitate petit si casu dum ad eum sacerdos
invitatus venit oppressus infirmitate obmutuerit vel in phrenesim versus
fuerit, dent testimonium qui eum audierant et accipiat poenitentiam. Et
si continuo creditur moriturus reconcilietur per manus impositionem et
infundatur ori eius eucharistia. . . ." (P.L. lxxxix. 823.) The date and
source of this canon are most uncertain. Smend (Kehhspendung u. Kehhver-
sagung, p. 20) marks it as doubtfully assigned to Concil. Leptinense (743).
Hefele-Leclercq discusses the group in which it occurs without coming to
any very definite conclusions (Hist, des Conciles, II. pt. 1, pp. 102 ff.), but
inclines to the belief that the series was compiled in the diocese of Aries
in the early part of the sixth century. The series (commonly cited as
Ecclesia Statuta Antiqua) was formerly supposed to have been issued by a
pretended council of Carthage in a.d. 398 (so in Hard. i. 983). The
capitularies of Carolingian canonists and prelates contain extracts from this
group of canons, e.g. Isaaci Lingonensis, Canones. 20 (P.L. exxiv. 108 1).
Some writers, laying stress upon the expression infundatur, suppose that the
use of the Wine alone is intended.
2 See p. 27 above.

126 The Sacrament Reserved
sickness made in them, nor is any formula of administration
provided. Sickly infants are to be communicated imme
diately after baptism, apparently with the eucharistic Bread,
but the language of the rubric is ambiguous.1 As to the
Gallican rites, the Bobbio Sacramentary gives a similar missa
in domo cuiuslibet ;2 the texts of the others are imperfect.
No doubt the very simplicity of the rite of administration
of the reserved Eucharist may account for the fact that no
special directions on this point are to be found in the early
sacramentaries. It would only be necessary to use, with
whatever modification was necessary, the formulae employed
at the delivery of the elements at the public service ; and
these were assumed to be so familiar that documents of
the period do not insert them even in the text of the
Liturgy. 3
Of some importance too is the frequent occurrence at
this time of forms for hallowing the chrismal A As this
vessel is named among the ornaments of a church, it seems
fair to maintain that a receptacle for use in official reser
vation is intended. From a comparison of the benediction
of a chrismal in the Missale Francorum,S and the benediction
of a turris in the Missale Vesontionense,6 it appears that the
two receptacles are equivalent, and that both were used in
official reservation for some purpose or other, that may
include the necessities of the sick.
From the numerous biographical notices of the period
we derive again but little aid toward solving the problems
which we have set ourselves to consider. The evidence at
our disposal gives no warrant for any very definite assertions
1 Sacr. Gelas. I. 75 : " postea (i.e. after baptism) si fuerit oblata, agendae
sunt missae, et communicat ; sin autem, dabis ei tantum sacramenta corporis
et sanguinis Christi, dicens : corpus domini nostri Jesu Christi sit tibi in
vitam aeternam." (Wilson, p. 1 1 7.)
2 See p. 30 above.
3 The words of delivery were omitted from documents of a later period
for another reason — namely, because communion of the people was very
rare. * e.g. in the Gelasian Sacramentary : " . . . ut per nostram benedic-
tionem hoc vasculum sanctificetur et corporis Christi novum sepulchrum
Spiritus Sancti gratia perficiatur." (Wilson, p. 136.) For other forms of
benediction, see chap. xiv.
5 P.L. lxxii. 330.
6 This is Mabillon's Sacramentarium Gallicanum. (Neale and Forbes,
Ancient Liturgies of the Gallican Church, p. 362.)

The Sacrament Reserved 127
concerning the manner and form in which the sacrament
was administered.
In the story of Caedmon's end the use of the Host
alone is plainly implied, and we gather that it was
customary to reserve the Eucharist in the hospital where
he died. He conversed with the inmates of the hospital
in a pleasant manner for some time, " until it was past
midnight, and then he asked whether they had the
Eucharist in the house. * What need is there of the
Eucharist ? ' they answered, ' for you are not likely to
die : you talk as merrily as if you were in the best of
health.' ' However,' he replied, ' bring me the Eucharist.'
So he received it into his hand, and asked if they were all
in charity with him. . . . ' Then, fortifying himself with
the heavenly viaticum, he prepared to enter upon another
life.'"' It is rarely, however, that so detailed a picture is drawn
as that which Bede has given us in his account of Caedmon's
death. Most descriptions of clinical communion seem to
presuppose the use of the reserved sacrament, but positive
information as to the mode of administering it is exceedingly
scanty. Mention of the two species is, indeed, frequent ;
but we possess no means of ascertaining the real value of
such phrases — that is to say, how far expressions of this sort
correspond with actual practice. Moreover, where there is
reason to believe that both the Bread and the Wine were
actually employed, we are still left to surmise in what form
they were administered, whether conjointly or separately.
A few instances will suffice to illustrate these remarks.
We meet, of course, with the term viaticum (with or
without further specification) scattered through the literature
of the time ; as, for example, in the story of St. Hild, who
according to Bede received after midnight, " the viaticum
of the most holy communion."2
1 Baedae Hist. Eccl. iv. 22 (24). " Cum jam mediae noctis tempus esset
.transcensum, interrogavit si eucharistiam intus haberent. Respondebant :
' Quid opus est eucharistia ? neque enim mori adhuc habes, qui tam
hilariter nobiscum velut sospes loqueris.' Rursus ille : ' Et tamen, ait,
afferte mihi eucharistiam.' Qua accepta in manu, interrogavit si omnes
placidum erga se animum, et sine querela controversiae ac rancoris haberent."
(Plummer, Baedae Opera Hist. i. p. 261.)
2 Hist. Eccl. iv. 2 1 (23). " Septimo ergo suae infirmitatis anno, converso
ad interanea dolore, ad diem pervenit ultimum, et circa galli cantum,

128 The Sacrament Reserved
Bede often uses the expression, " the Body and Blood
of the Lord." He tells of St. Cuthbert that he was asked
to send a priest with the " corporis et sanguinis dominiei
sacramenta " to the dying wife of an official at the court of
King Egfrid ; l and, when the saint's own end was upon
him, he also received the Body and Blood.2
In language similar to this the same author describes
the last communion of St. Chad 3 and of Benedict
Biscop.4 The use of the two species seems to be implied
again in the Life of St. Eloy of Noyon (f a.d. 659)^
which was compiled by his contemporary, St. Ouen ;
and in the biographies of St. Ansbert of Rouen (f a.d.
695),° of St. Vaast of Arras (f a.d. 54o),7 and in the
percepto viatico sacrosanctae communionis . . . de morte transivit ad
vitam." Plummer, Baedae Opera Hist. i. p. 256.
It seems unnecessary to give many instances of the use of the term
viaticum at this period: cf. Jonas, Vita Columbani, etc., ii. 25 (Krusch,
Passiones, iv. p. 151); Vita S. Eremberti Tolosan. ep. (Boll. AA.SS.,
May 14th) ; Vita Betharii ep. Carnoten (t c. a.d. 623), 16 (Krusch, op. cit.
iii. 619). 1 Vita S. Cudbercti, 15. " obsecro, quia uxor mea male habet et videtur
jam proxima morti, ut mittas presbyterum qui illam priusquam moriatur
visitet, eique corporis et sanguinis dominiei sacramenta ministret ; sed et
corpus ipsius hie locis Sanctis sepeliri permittas." (Stevenson, Baedae Opera
Hist. ii. p. 77.) Her husband was ashamed to say that she was out of her
mind, but St. Cuthbert diagnosed her case as a visitation of the devil and
went himself to see her.
2 ibid. 39. " exitum suum, quern jam venisse cognovit, dominiei
corporis et sanguinis communione munivit." (Stevenson, op. cit. ii. p. 125.)
3 Hist. Eccl. iv. 3. "postquam obitum suum dominiei corporis et
sanguinis perceptione munivit." (Plummer, op. cit. i. p. 210.)
4 Hist. Abbat. ii. 14. "dominiei corporis et sanguinis sacramentum
hora exitus instante pro viatico datur." (Plummer, op. cit. i. p. 378.)
5 bk. ii. 16. "praeterea quotiens aliqua infirmitas supervenerit, non
quaerantur praecantatores, non divini, non sortilogi, non caragi, nee per
fontes aut arbores vel bivios diabolica filacteria exerceantur ; sed qui aegrotat,
in sola dei misericordia confidat et eucharistiam corporis ac sanguinis
Christi cum fide et devotione accipiat oleumque benedictum fideliter ab
ecclesia petat, unde corpus suum in nomine Christi ungeat, et secundum
apostolum oratio fidei salvabit infirmum. . . ." (Krusch, Passiones, iv.
p. 70,7.) Practically a quotation from the sermons attributed to St. Caesarius
of Aries (see p. 113).
6 c. 9. " perceptione corporis et sanguinis domini se muniens."
(Analecta Boll. i. p. 189.)
t Vita Vedasti Episc. Atrebatensis. ii. 9. " sacrosancto corporis et
sanguinis Christi confirmatus viatico." (Krusch, op. cit. iii. p. 423.) This

The Sacrament Reserved 129
eighth-century Life of St. Vincentian,1 and elsewhere
besides. How was the invalid actually communicated in these
cases ? Doubtless, as most of these people died in
monasteries, we may believe that, in some instances at
least, they were houselled directly from the altar, either
during or immediately after one of the regular masses,
or from one that was celebrated for the express purpose
of providing viaticum. Such expedients, as we have already
noticed, were not unusual in religious houses.
Bede's story of the child who died in the monastery at
Selsey is a case in point. It has already been mentioned in
another place ; but here we may remark, first, that there
was no use of the reserved sacrament on this occasion,
and secondly, that whereas the child is bidden in his vision
to ask for " viaticum of the Lord's Body and Blood," the
abbot is represented as sending to him from the mass in
the monastic church a " fragment (particulam) of the Lord's
oblation."2 It is hazardous to use these two phrases, as
some have done, in argument for the prevalence at this
period of conjoint administration of the two species.
" viaticum dominiei corporis et sanguinis " and similar
expressions are probably only common phrases of the
time, meaning merely the last communion, without
reference to the form in which it was given.
If we turn to the pages of Jonas of Bobbio, who wrote
the Lives of St. Columban and the early abbots of Bobbio,
we find that he constantly uses language which implies the
use of the Host alone as viaticum. A typical passage is
to be found, e.g. in his story of the death of another
Columban, a companion of the saint who bore the name,
where he relates that the dying man received as viaticum

occurs in the earlier stratum of the text, which may date from the seventh
century. 1 Vita, auctore pseudo-Heremberto (? 712—715) : "eucharistiam cor
poris ac sanguinis domini Jesu Christi ei tradidit." (Krusch and Levison,
Passiones, v. p. 123.)
2 See p. 21. Hist. Eccl. iv. 1 4. " viatico dominiei corporis ac
sanguinis accepto, sic infirmitate simul et morte absolutus, ad aeterna in
caelis gaudia subleveris." " simul et infirmanti puero de eodem sacrificio
dominicae oblationis particulam deferri mandavit." (Plummer, op. cit. i.
PP- 234> *35-) S

130 The Sacrament Reserved
the Body of Christ.1 And once more, in reference to the
last communion of a monk named Agibodus, he makes
mention only of the one element.2 Other examples from
this writer, showing his frequent use of similar phrases,
are subjoined below.3 The impression left by the perusal
of these passages is that Jonas was probably familiar with
the form of clinical communion in which the Bread only
was employed ; and we might adduce in support of this
conclusion that passage in the additions to the rule drawn
up by its founder for the monastery at Bobbio, wherein
participation in the chalice at any time seems to be forbidden
to uninstructed novices.4
1 Vitae Columbani abbat. discipulorumque i. 1 7. " corpus christi abeunti
de hac vita viaticum praebet." (Krusch, Passiones, iv. p. 85.)
2 op. cit. ii. 25. "cumque sacrum corpus domini sumpserit. . . ."
(Krusch, op. cit. iv. p. 1 5 I .)
3 ii. 13. "cumque objurgata a praefata matre fuisset ut admissae
noxae culpam lueret, et quoadusque poenitentiae interdictae normam
implesset, se a corpore domini privaret, cumque ilia sacri corporis priva-
tione interdictu audisset," etc. (Krusch, op. cit. p. 133.) "ut a corpore
Christi sua culpa segregaretur." (ibid.) " et in hac die reconciliare corpore
Christi." (ibid.)
ii. 19. " tanti doloris atque meroris eventu mater urguet, ut per
confessionem pandantur vitia et sacri corporis communione roborentur.
At illae, audita sacri corporis mentione, garrire dentibus ac frendere
coeperunt et stridentes dicere : * eras, eras,' et interim supradictam vocem
repetere : ' expectate, expectate, sustinete paululum, sustinete,' " etc.
(Krusch, op. cit. p. 140.)
ii. 10. " viaticoque sumpto, animam caelo reddidit." (Krusch, op. cit.
p. 129.) ii. 25. "tantum viaticum capere et valedicere fratribus." (Krusch,
op. cit. p. 150.)
ibid. " viaticum poposcit."
ii. 1 6. " quadam etenim die dominico cum missarum sollemnia
saepefata Burgundofara cum famularum dei collegio expectaret et jam sacri
corporis communione participarentur, quaedam ex his nomine domina,
cum jam corpus domini accepisset ac sanguinem libasset, et sacro choro
inserta, cum comparibus caneret : hoc sacrum corpus domini et salvatoris
sanguinem sumite vobis in vitam perennem," etc. (Krusch, op. cit. p. 135.)
This was at mass in church.
The Life of St. John, abbot of Reomee (t a.d. 540), which is probably
of Jonas' authorship, contains the passages : " per multa spacia temporum
nee panis alimenta nee sacri corporis sacramenta capere possit " and
"quamquam corporis ore eucharistie sacramento non accepisses." (Krusch,
op. cit. iii. p. 511.)
4 c.io. " Et novi, quia indocti, et quicumque fuerint tales, ad calicem
non accedant ; et quando offertur oblatio, nullus cogatur coactus accipere

The Sacrament Reserved 131
We may therefore sum up the two centuries, c. a.d. 600-
800, by saying that the sacrament was officially reserved
for the needs of sick and dying : that, in some places, at
least, the ancient method of extra-liturgical communion in
the one species of Bread persisted, although it is likely that
wherever intinction was favourably regarded by diocesan or
other authority this practice might affect the mode in which
the Eucharist was reserved and administered.

The Ninth and Tenth Centuries
(b) The second division of our present period opens with
the story of Charlemagne's reforms in Church and State.
Of all the ecclesiastical reforms made at this period none
were more important than the revision of the Church's
service-books which led to the adoption of the so-called
Gregorian Sacramentary in preference to any of the rites,
Roman or Gallican, previously in use.
Between the years a.d. 784 and a.d. 791 Pope Hadrian
sent to Charlemagne the famous document that has had
so permanent an influence upon all subsequent liturgical
developments in the West.
But those who were charged with the revision and
reform of the service-books were not content to accept
this new sacramentary in its original condition. Where it
seemed to lack, they supplied the deficiency from material
contained in the local rites. Thus it came about that there
was almost immediately associated with copies of the
" Gregorian " sacramentary a varying amount of material
from Gallican and from other Roman sources.
Among the things which Adrian's original lacked
appears to have been an office for clinical communion.
sacrificium, praeter necessitatem." (P.L. Ixxx. 220.) This regulation does
not necessarily exclude the use of intincted Hosts : cf. the instructions in
Udalric's version of the " Antiquiores Consuetudines " of Cluny (D'Achery,
Spicilegium i. p. 678) : "Debent autem singuli ita se scutellae adjungere,
ut si forte inter sumendum corpus domini aliquando vel de ore sumentis
vel de manu porrigentis lapsum fuerit, nisi in scutellam cadere non possit.
Quotquot autem ipsum corpus sacrum dederit, singulis sanguine prius
intinguit." Another codex, says D'Achery, adds the note : " Quamquam
sit contra usum aliarum ecclesiarum, quia quidam maxime novitii nostri
adeo sunt rudes, ut si sanguinem ita separatim acciperent non rem.ineret ut
non magnam aliquando negligentiam incurrerent." (ibid.)

132 The Sacrament Reserved
The Carolingian ritualists, therefore, inserted services for
the sick and dying from rites with which they were already
familiar ; possibly from the revised Gelasian books which
preceded the use of the " Gregorian " sacramentaries.
One of the earliest examples of these mixed sacra
mentaries was that of St. Remi of Reims, if (as was
claimed) it was written in the last few years of the eighth
century.1 It is unfortunately no longer in existence, for
it perished by fire when the Abbey Library was burnt out
in 1774. Menard, however, before this date had examined
it, and printed in his edition of the Gregorianum the ordo
ad visitandum infirmum provided in the manuscript.2
It contains many points of interest. In the first place
it presents a very early example of a set of rubrical directions
which hereafter occur with great frequency in early mediaeval
orders for the communion of the sick.
After instructions for unction and reconciliation there
follows : " Let him (i.e. the officiant) communicate the sick
person, saying : * The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ
preserve thee to life eternal. The Blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ redeem thee to life eternal. The peace of
our Lord Jesus Christ and the communion of the saints
be with thee and with us to eternal life. Amen.'" 3
Then comes a prayer, and subjoined to it is this rubric :
" And for seven days, or if need be for longer, the patient
shall be anointed and houselled ; as the Apostle, or rather
the Holy Ghost speaking through him, directs : si in
peccatis fuerit, dimittentur ei. Moreover the ministers of
holy Church are to take care that the daily offices be said in
his presence — that is to say, Mattins, Prime, Terce, Sext,
None, Vespers, and Compline. And if the bishop be
present, he shall give a blessing ; if not, the priests present
shall say one of the following prayers apiece." 4 Here
1 Probably between a.d. 798-800. (Delisle, (Mimoires sur d'anciens sac-
ramentaires, 1886.) See also Wilson, Gregorian Sacramentary (H.B.S.), p. 206.
2 Printed in P.L. lxxviii. 529 ff. See below, pp. 240-244.
3 " communicet infirmum tunc dicens : corpus domini nostri Jesu
Christi custodiat te in vitam aeternam. Sanguis domini nostri Jesu Christi
redimat te in vitam aeternam. Pax domini nostri Jesu Christi et sanctorum
communio sit tecum et nobiscum in vitam aeternam." (ibid.)
* " et septem dies vel multo plures, si necessitas fuerit, tam de com
munione quam de alio officio erga infirmum fiat ; sicut apostolus dicit,
immo per eum Spiritus Sanctus ait : Si in teccatis fuerit, dimittentur ei.

The Sacrament Reserved 133
the words of delivery suggest the separate administration
of both species.
But if the sick man is very weak and near to death,
the whole rite of unction, of reconciliation, and of com
munion, is reduced to a minimum, and another formula of
administration is provided. " The Body and Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ preserve (custodiat) thy soul to eternal
life."1 It is noteworthy that, in contrast with the words of
administration prescribed in the former office, the two words
corpus and sanguis are here joined together, and grammati
cally form the subject of a singular verb (custodiat). It
would be too much to assert that this must necessarily
mean that the Bread and Wine are given conjointly, but
in view of the circumstances for which this rubric provides
Debent etiam ex ministris sanctae ecclesiae procurare in (leg. ut) canonici
cursus circa eum decantentur ; id est matutinae, prima, tertia, sexta, nona,
vesperum, completorium. Quod si episcopus adfuerit, benedictionem
dabit ; si non, singuli sacerdotes singulas has orationes dicant."
With certain modifications, this type of rubric, ordering in case of
need a daily repetition of unction and communion (generally for the space
of a week), and the recitation of the choir offices in the church, is to be
found in many codices of the ninth and following centuries.
Two of the best known are the ninth-century C°dex Rodradi (P.L.
Ixxviii. 522), and the tenth-century Codex Ratoldi (P.L. lxxviii. 524 ff.).
Several ordines associated with the diocese of Tours and elsewhere in
France, dating from the end of the ninth or from the tenth century, are
printed by Martene (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii, art. 4, pp. 301 ff.).
The dates of the documents referred to in this section are generally
taken from Delisle. See also the newly-published Sacramentary of Fulda,
Richter and Schonfelder (19 1 2), p. 297.
Theodulf of Orleans (fA.D. 829) alludes to directions of this sort in
his capitular : " Uncto vero infirmo cum orationibus, ut dictum est,
jubeatur a sacerdote orationem dominicam et symbolum dicere, et spiritum
suum in manus dei commendare, et signaculo crucis se munire et viventibus
valedicere. Tunc sacerdos det ei pacem et communicet eum dicens :
corpus et sanguis domini sit tibi remissio omnium peccatorum tuorum, et custodiat
te in vitam aeternam. Tunc data oratione in fine dicat sacerdos, benedi-
camus domino : et respondeant omnes, deo gratias, et expletum est. In
crastino et usque ad septem dies visitet eum sacerdos et fundat super eum
orationes ad hoc congruentes." (P.L. cv. 222.)
* " cum vero ingravari coeperit, ad succurrendum, facta aqua benedicta
dicatur oratio haec : domine, sancte pater omnipotens," etc. " tunc
unguatur oleo. Unguo te de oleo sanctificato," etc. Collect, " concede,
domine, nobis famulis tuis," etc. " communicet dicens : corpus et
sanguis domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam.
Amen." (P.L. Ixxviii. 539.)

134 The Sacrament Reserved
that seems to be a reasonable conclusion.1 For the diffi
culty in swallowing so often experienced by the dying
would be obviated by the use of a Host dipped into the
contents of the chalice immediately before delivery.
If the use of intinction is intended, the language ot
the rubric itself gives us no information as to which variety
of the practice shall be used. The use of a reserved Host
previously intincted, and used for hallowing an unconse
crated draught, would suit the conditions indicated and
be in keeping with the custom of the time. This form
of words of delivery, with unimportant variations, is
characteristic of a great number of the " Gregorian "
sacramentaries.2 The constant supply of the reserved Eucharist appears
to be definitely ordered for the first time in the Capitula
Ecclesiastica issued by a council that met at Aix-la-Chapelle
somewhere between a.d. 810-813, wherein it was enacted,
" That the priest shall always keep the sacrament in readi
ness, so that if any one be overtaken by sickness or a child
should be ill, he may give them communion immediately,
and none may die unhouselled."3
This injunction reappeared in language almost or quite
identical in such documents as the diocesan capitularies
of several prelates of this age ; for example, in those of
Rudolph of Bourges (t a.d. 866)4 and of Walter of Orleans
(fA.D. 891) ;S and it was included by Ansegisus, abbot of
Fontanelle (fA.D. 833),° and by Regino, abbot of Prtlm
(fA.D. 915V in their collections of canons. In the absence
of evidence to the contrary we should be compelled to
1 So Menard himself, u.s. 5 5 5 f.
Argument from the mere verbal form is at a later date most fallacious,
and it is doubtful whether we may make use of it here.
2 See the collection in Martene, op. cit.
3 Can. 16: " Ut presbyter semper eucharistiam habeat paratam, ut
quando quis infirmaverit aut parvulus infirmus fuerit, statim eum com
municet, ne sine communione moriatur." (Capitularia R^g. Franc. I,
p. 179, in Monumenta German. Hist.) "Parvulus" might be used of
children generally, or of infants. Here it seems to mean children who
were unconfirmed, and about whose case a priest might have doubt,
Confirmation was becoming detached from baptism in the West.
4 cap. 6. P.L. cxix. 706.
5 cap. 7. Hard. v. 461.
6 Bk. I. c. 155. (Capitularia. Reg. Franc. I. p. 412.)
1 Bk. I. Uiotitiae. c. 70. (P.L. cxxxii. 205.)

The Sacrament Reserved 135
believe that reservation of the single species was in
tended.1 It is during the ninth century, too, that we begin to
meet with inquiries, made on episcopal or archidiaconal
visitations, as to whether the parish priest provides the
reserved sacrament for the communion of the sick, and
whether he keeps it in a suitable vessel. Bishop Hincmar
of Reims (fA.D. 858) used to ask on these occasions
"Whether he (the priest) has a pyx wherein the sacred
oblation may be decently reserved for the "viaticum of
the sick."2 A similar inquiry leaves it doubtful whether
the pyx was constantly to be kept above the altar or to be
suspended over it. 3
The regular renewal of the reserved Eucharist is often
dealt with. Ecclesiastical authorities appoint a definite
term, sometimes of three, more often of seven, occasionally
of fourteen days, at the conclusion of which the Host in
the pyx was to be consumed and a newly-consecrated one to
be put in its place. Penances of varying degrees of severity
are allotted in the penitentials for failure to observe these
requirements. 4
But by far the most interesting injunction of the period
is a canon of uncertain date and origin preserved by Regino
ofPrum. " Let every priest have a pyx or other vessel worthy of
so great a sacrament, in which the Body of the Lord may
be carefully stored for the viaticum of those who leave this
world. And this sacred oblation ought to be intincted in
the Blood of Christ, in order that the priest may be able to
1 Very similar are the instructions set forth in the composite capitular
which bears the name of Archbishop Egbert of York (t 766) : Cap. 22.
" ut presbyter eucharistiam habeat semper paratam ad infirmos ne sine com
munione moriantur." CaP- 20- "ut cuncti sacerdotes . . . omnibus
infirmis ante exitum vitae viaticum et communionem corporis Christi
misericorditer tribuant." (Hard. iii. 1963.) Both canons belong to
portions of the document posterior to Egbert. The former is derived
ultimately from Carolingian sources ; the latter comes from an even later
period. 2 Capitul. ii. 8. "... si habeat pyxidem ubi congrue possit recondi
sacra oblatio reservanda ad viaticum infirmis ? " (Hard. v. 395.)
3 Regino, Sfotitiae. i. 9. " Inquirendum si pixida semper sit super
altare cum sacra oblatione ad viaticum infirmis." See chap. xii.
4 See chap. xi.

136 The Sacrament Reserved
say with truth, 'The Body and Blood of the Lord avail
thee.' And let it always be kept locked up on (or above ?)
the altar, on account of mice or wicked men ; and let it be
changed every third day ; that is to say, the reserved Host
shall be consumed by the priest, and another, consecrated
on the same day, shall be substituted for it, lest by being
kept too long it become mouldy, which God forbid." *
This is the one definite statement that we have as to
the use at this period of an intincted Host for reservation ;
and it seems to explain much that would otherwise be
ambiguous, including the often incomplete and abrupt
directions in many orders for the visitation of the sick.2
1 Notitiae I. 70. " Ut omnis presbyter habeat pixidem aut vas tanto
sacramento dignum ubi corpus dominicum diligenter recondatur ad
viaticum recedentibus a seculo. Quae sacra oblatio intincta debet esse
in sanguine Christi ut veraciter presbyter possit dicere infirmo, cor
pus et sanguis domini proficiat tibi ; semperque sit super altare obseratum
propter mures et nefarios homines, et de tertio in tertium diem semper
mutetur, i.e. ilia a presbytero sumatur, et alia, quae eodem die consecrata
est, in locum subrogetur, ne forte diutius reservata, mucida, quod absit,
fiat." (T.L. cxxxii. 205.)
Cited also by Burchard (t 1025), Decret. V. 9. And Ivo of Chartres
(1092), Decret. II. 19 (P.L. clxi. 165), and ascribed by both to a
Council of Tours.
2 e.g. in the fragment attributed by Regino to Bede (of uncertain
origin, but of no later date than the ninth century) : "postquam
infirmus sacra unctione fuerit delibutus, statim corpore et sanguine domini
recreandus est," to which is added a quotation of St. John vi. 54, 55. An
ordo of Tours in Martene's collection (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii, art 4,
ordo 6) has simply the direction, " deinde communica eum " ; another,
of Reims (u.s. ordo 10) has, "hie communica eum," but the prayer that
follows names the two species, "domine sancte, pater omnipotens,
aeterne deus, te fideliter deprecemur ut accipienti fratri nostro (p^/sorore
nostrae) sacrosanctum corpus et sanguinem Jesu Christi filii tui domini
nostri, tarn corporis quam animae sit salus. Per eundem."
This prayer is to be found in other sacramentaries of the same type.
It reappears, slightly modified, in the Stotoe {Missal, where it is used immedi
ately before the act of communicating. See below, p. 245. Generally,
when the rubrics omit all mention of the elements, the formulae employed
in administration, or some prayer closely associated with the delivery of the
sacred species, supply the deficiency.
In his notes on the " Gregorian " sacramentary, Menard transcribes
part of a " Manuale Ecclesiae Suessoniensis," in which it is supposed that the
invalid will not necessarily make his communion : " postea communicet
eum his verbis, si communicare infirmus voluerit ; sin autem, praetermissis
his quatuor orationibus, quae sequuntur, dicat istas duas : benedicat te
deus, etc. Propitietur dominus. Corpus domini nostri Jesu Christi

The Sacrament Reserved 137
The prohibition of intinction by the Council of Braga
was evidently transitory and local in its effect, and probably
had no immediate influence upon the practice of the Church
in Gaul and elsewhere. By the tenth century intinction
had come to be a common way in which communion was
given to the people at the mass.1 The injunction quoted
above shows that the sacrament was also prepared in a
conjoint form of reservation, and in this form was spoken
of as the corpus dominicum as well as in terms that express
the presence of both elements.
It is thus that we may explain the rubric contained in
the order for communion of the sick in the Leofric Missal.
The order is part of the original tenth-century sacramentary
that forms the bulk of the missal, and the rubric contains
elements of the usual " Gregorian " sort, ordering the
recitation of the daily offices on behalf of the sick person.
But the. minister of viaticum is bidden to dip the Host
in wine or water, and to say as he does so, or as he com
municates the invalid with the saturated sacrament : "May
the commixture and consecration of the Body and Blood of
conservet animam in vitam aeternam." The directions are rather con
fused. (P.L. Ixxviii. 542.) Note the phrase "corpus domini": "com
munio corporis " appears in Menard's text of the sacramentary of St. Remi.
(P.L. Ixxviii. 539.)
1 The simple primitive customs of placing the consecrated Bread in the
naked palm, and of administering the chalice directly to the lips of the
communicant were modified in the West, first, by the introduction of the
dominicak, in the case of women (if this name is rightly applied to the
linen cloth or napkin prescribed at Auxerre, a.d. 578. can. 36 and 42) ;
and later, i.e. at some time in the eighth century, by the use of the reed or
pipe (pugillaris calamus fistula, etc.) in connection with the ministerial
chalice. Although the reed was commonly employed so long as the laity
were permitted to communicate from the chalice, and continued in use
among ecclesiastics, the Host was, as a rule, placed in the mouth of the
lay-communicant during and after the ninth century at Rome and else
where. The subdeacon is communicated thus in Ordo Rom. vi (Mabill. Odus.
ltd. ii. p. 75). The local adoption of intinction and its increasing preva
lence in the West led in time to the usage, which seems to have been fairly
general in the tenth century, viz. that the clergy above the rank of sub-
deacon receive the two kinds separately, while the subdeacon and people
receive the eucharistia intineta.
This is the custom described in the Codex Ratoldi of the Benedictine
Abbey of Corbie. "Et episcopus communicet presbyteros et diaconos
cum osculo pacis, sicco tamen sacrificio : et subdiaconos mixta sacrificio."
(Menard, G,regorian Sacrament : P.L. Ixxviii. 265.) T

138 The Sacrament Reserved
our Lord Jesus Christ be to us and to all who receive for
the remission of all sins and for eternal life."1
We may suppose that the Host which is intended for
use has been previously prepared in the way prescribed
by Regino's canon, and that the immersion in wine or
water is to facilitate the swallowing of the sacrament.
Still another method of preparing and storing intincted
Hosts for "viaticum is suggested elsewhere. Instead of
a pyx, a chalice seems to have been used sometimes for
the purpose of reserving the conjoint species. We are told,
in the ninth-century Life of the Alsatian Abbess Odilia
(f a.d. 720) that her companions feared that she had died
unhouselled, and that she was restored to life in answer to
their prayers. Then she asked for the chalice wherein the
sacrament — "the Body and Blood of the Lord" — was
kept, and so made her communion.2 There is no hint in
the narrative that she sent at mass time for the Eucharist,
and the natural sense of the passage is that the sacrament
was reserved conjointly in both kinds in a chalice.
Here brief note may be taken of the Celtic Orders,
collected by Warren,3 since it seems safe to place them all
within the limits of the period. According to Duchesne
they are essentially Roman in origin, that is to say " Gre
gorian," with varying admixture of Gallican details. The
form prescribed in the " Stowe ^Missal " closely resembles
1 " hie communicetur infirmus, et ponat sacrificium in vino sive aqua,
dicens : fiat commixtio et consecratio corporis et sanguinis domini nostri
Ihesu Christi nobis et omnibus accipientibus in remissionem omnium
peccatorum et vitam aeternam. Amen." (Warren, Leofric Missal, p. 24 1 .)
Maskell (Mon. Ritual. I. p. ill) reads sine for she ; and if this were the
true reading we should be concerned with an instance of consecration
e contactu hostiae. The use of the phrase "fiat . . . consecratio " would
appear to support this interpretation. But the insistence upon the use of
wine unmixed with water for such a purpose would need explanation.
(See Warren, op. cit. lxiv.) With the use of the phrase " fiat commixtio
et consecratio corporis," etc., cf. " haec communicatio el consecratio " in the
commixture at the mass.
2 Vita 22. "illae autem e contra ferebant se hoc idcirco egisse ne
negligentia notarentur, si ipsa expers dominiei corporis exiret. Cumque
calicem in quo dominicum corpus et sanguis habebatur, sibi afferri iu-
ssisset, propriis manibus eum accipiendo, sancta communione participata,
omnibus cernentibus, animam tradidit. Ipse autem calix in eodem
monasterio ob memoriam illius venerabilis facti actenus permanet."
(Krusch, Tassiones, vi. p. 50.)
3 Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church, pp. 163-173, 223-225.

The Sacrament Reserved 139
those that are found in the early group of mixed sacramen-
taries represented by that or Noyon.1 The fragment
preserved in the Book of Deer has a vernacular rubric,
" Hisund dubar sacorfaicc dau" i.e. " Here give him the
sacrifice."2 In these and in the fragments written in the
Books of Moling 3 and of Dimma4 mention is made of the
two species, either in the words of delivery or in prayers
associated with the act of communion. The order in the
Book of Moling uses the formula, "The Body with the
Blood of our Lord," etc., and all seem to assume the use
of the sacrament conjointly administered. It seems highly
probable too that it was reserved in an intincted state.5
Hitherto we have followed in this section the evidence
1 The rite follows the rite for unction, and opens with the prayer :
" oramus te, domine, pro fratre nostro N. cui infirmitate sua officium
communionis, ut si qua eum saecularis macula invassit aut vitium mondialem
licit, dono tuae pietatis indulgeas et extergas. Per." Next, " domine,
sancte pater, te fidiliter deprecemur ut accipiendi fratri nostro sacrosanctam
hanc seucharistiam corporis et sanguinis domini nostri ihesu christi tarn
carnis quam animae sit salus. per dominum." " Exaudi nos, domine ihesu
christe, deus noster, pro fratre nostro infirmo te rogantes ut tua sancta
euchoristia sit ei tutella. per dominum." " Pax et caritas domini nostri ihesu
christi et commonicatio sanctorum tuorum sit semper nobiscum. R7. Amen."
" Corpus et sanguis domini nostri Ihesu Christi filii dei vivi altissimi rel."
(H.B.S. xxxii. 35.)
There follows a responsorial form of thanksgiving, as in the other Celtic
orders. (H.B.S. xxxii. ibid. Warren, op. cit. pp. 223, 224.)
2 Warren, op cit. p. 1 64. After the rubric are the words of delivery :
" corpus cum sangine domini nostri Ihesu Christi sanitas sit tibi in vitam
perpetua[m] et salutem."
3 " turn reficitur corpore et sanguine. Corpus cum sanguine domini
nostri Ihesu Christi sanctus sit tibi in vitam eternam." (Warren, op. cit.
P- I73-) 4 " hie pax datur ei et diets, pax et commonicatio (sic) sanctorum
tuorum, Christe Ihesu, sit semper nobiscum. Respondit, Amen.
"das ei euchari\s~\tiam dicens, corpus et sanguis domini nostri Ihesu
Christi filii dei uiui conseruat animam tuam in uitam perpetuam." (Warren,
op. cit. p. 170.) Warren (p. 224, n. 3) draws attention to the blending of
the pax and " communicatio " (this latter in a different sense) in the
German rite printed by Gerbert, Lit. Aleman. ii. 3 3 : " pax et communicatio
corporis et sanguinis domini," etc. cf. also the Salzburg Pontifical (eleventh
century) in Martene (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii, art 4, ordo 15), where the
same formula occurs.
s See Wordsworth, The Ministry of Grace, p. 96. A later (twelfth-cen
tury) document of Celtic provenance uses similar language of the sacrament
in communion of the sick at the beginning of an incomplete order, " ad
communicandum infirmum." (Warren, Missale vetus Hibernicum, p. 209.)

140 The Sacrament Reserved
provided mainly by ecclesiastical legislation and liturgical
documents. For the purpose of illustrating these injunc
tions and directions we may select from the abundant
historical and biographical sources of the period a few
instances in which allusion is made to viaticum. The
fidelity with which the rubrics found in sacramentaries of
the St. Remi type were carried out in practice is seen in the
story of how St. Rembert of Hamburg (t a.d. 888) was
prepared for his end. A contemporary but unknown hand
has preserved his history. " On the seventh day preceding
his death they began to administer to him the unction with
holy oil, and also the communion of the Body and Blood
of the Lord ; until the day of his soul's departure from
the body he daily received this salutary remedy."1
More often the narratives are less detailed, but mention
of two species is frequent. For example, St. Peter Urseolus
(f c. a.d. 997), who had once been Duke of Venice and
Dalmatia, but spent his later years in the monastery of
St. Michael, at Coxano in Catalania, made his last commu
nion thus : " Knowing beforehand the time of his departure,
he called the brethren with the father (i.e. the abbot) of the
monastery, and said good-bye to them, and gave them the
kiss of peace. Then he received the Body and Blood of
the Lord, and blessing and absolution (absolutio "Viatica),
and was laid in ashes and sackcloth " to await the end.2
This one instance must serve as a specimen of many
similar passages.3 Again, reference is made to both species
1 Vita S. Remberti, c. 23. " Septimo ante obitum die ministerium
sacrae unctionis cum oleo sancto ei fieri coepit, et una cum communione
corporis et sanguinis domini usque in diem animae exeuntis de corpore
hoc salutare remedium omni die percepit. Et cum jam migraturus esset de
mundo, convocatis presbyteris et universis fratribus, veniam petivit de
omnibus quaecunque fortassis in aliquem illorum peccasset. Et cum ipse
vicissim reconciliationem fecisset omnibus Christianis, a quocunque in eum
aliquid commissum fuisset, veniamque eis a domino poposcisset, percepto
corpore et sanguine domini sacram animam emisit." (P.L. cxxvi.
1008.) 2 Vita, c. 18. "... advocat fratres cum patre monasterii, eisque
pacem tribuendo valedicens, corpore et sanguine domini assumto et
benedictione et absolutione viatica assumta in cinere et cilicio jacens. . . ."
(Mabill. AA.SS. o.s.B. saec. V. p. 888.)
3 e.g. in the redaction of the Life of St. Corbinianus (+ c. a.d. 730),
edited in the ninth or tenth century, where the phrase "post perceptionem
corporis et sanguinis Christi" replaces "post tanti Christi perceptione

The Sacrament Reserved 141
in a canon issued by the ninth-century Synod of Pavia
(Regia Ticina), which laid down that penitents under public
discipline were not to receive unction unless they had been
granted reconciliation, and so were fit to receive the com
munion of the Body and Blood of Christ.1
In many biographies, such as that of Charlemagne, the
accounts of the passing are very meagre ; it is merely
stated that the dying were accorded unction and viaticum.2
More interesting, perhaps, are some scattered passages
which seem to imply the use of the one species of bread.
The capitular of Isaac, bishop of Langres (f a.d. 880),
contains a reference to the " sacrosanctum corpus," without
any mention of the other species. " If any one be over
taken by sickness, let him not end his life without commu
nion, nor let him lack unction with the sacred oil : rather,
when he sees death approach, his soul shall be commended
to God by the priest, with prayers and the most holy
Body." 3
So again the ninth-century author of the Life of St. Wal-
frid (fA.D. 765) says that the saint kissed the brethren one
by one and blessed them ; and then bade the Body of the
Lord be brought, and so made his communion.4 Such
expressions may refer to the use of intincted Hosts, for
in the canon quoted by Regino, " corpus dominicum " is
used for the sacrament in conjoint form. But the same
corporis " in the original document written by Arbeo, or Aribeo (t a.d.
783). (Krusch, Tassiones, vi. pp. 588, 627.)
The Life of St. Riquier (t c a.d. 645), written by Alcuin : " et dum
salutifero corporis Christi et sanguinis viatico suum iter munivit."
(Krusch, op. cit. iv. p. 398.)
1 Can. 8. " Hoc tamen sciendum, quia si is qui infirmatur poeniten-
tiae publicae mancipatus est, non potest hujus mysterii [i.e. unctionis]
consequi medicinam, nisi prius reconciliatione percepta communionem
corporis et sanguinis Christi meruerit. . . ." (Hard. v. 27.)
2 Vita : " oleo autem sancto inunctus ab episcopis et viatico sumpto et
omnibus suis dispositis commendans domino spiritum suum obiit in pace."
(P.L. Ixxviii. 522.)
3 Cap. I. 23. "Si in infirmitate deprehensus quis fuerit, vitam sine
communione non finiat nee unctione sacrati olei careat : et si finem per-
spiciat, sacrosancto corpore deo anima ejus a sacerdote precibus commen-
detur." (P.L. exxiv. 1082.)
4 Cap. ii. 8. " fratres singillatim exosculans benedicens, jussit sibi
corpus domini nostri Jesu Christi afferri, quo accepto," etc. (AA.SS.,
February 15 th.)

142 The Sacrament Reserved
canon suggests (by insisting upon the correspondence of
actual practice with the formula employed) that the words,
" The Body and Blood of our Lord avail thee," were sometimes
used to accompany the delivery of a non-intincted Host.1
This is important. For unless the allusion is to mere dis
regard of existing practice on the part of individual priests,2
the canon seems to be aimed against the perpetuation of
* The formulae of delivery in clinical communion would follow the
same lines of development as those which were employed in the public
administration of the sacrament. The simple statements, o-apa xP^ov
. . . atpa xP'^toi), rrorypiov fays, to which the communicant replies,
'Apyv, are given in the Liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions (viii. 13).
Similarly, "corpus Christi," "sanguis Christi" are noted in the
(?) fifth-century work, De sacramentis (iv. 21), formerly attributed to
St. Ambrose. " dicit tibi sacerdos, ' corpus Christi,' et tu dicis ' Amen,'
hoc est, vcrum" (P.L. xvi. 445). cf. the instructions given by St. Cyril
of Jerusalem (Catech. v. 18) : " Kal KoiXdvas t^v rraXdpyv Se^ou rb o-iopa
rov \purrov, erriXeyiav rb Apyv. . . . EZVa, perd rb Koivu>vrjcrai o-e rov
o~(i>paros x/,'0"ro(), Trpoo-epxov Kal t<j> rrorypup rov aijaaTOs' pi) avareivutv
Tas xetpas dXXd K-inrriav Kal rpairut irpoo-Kvvyo~ev>s Kal o-e/3dxrparos Xeyiav
rb Apyv" (P.G. xxxiii. 1 1 24). In these Amen is the reply to whatever
words of delivery were used, and means, as above, " ita est." See Cornelii
Papae ep. ix ad Fabium 8, in Euseb. : Hist. Eccl. vi. 43. § 19.
The next stage of development is the addition of such expressions as
"prosit tibi," "proficiat tibi," "custodiat te," and similar phrases. The
Amen that follows as a response bears the sense of "fiat." Further
elaboration leads to such a form as " corpus domini nostri Jesu Christi
prosit tibi in remissionem omnium peccatorum et vitam aeternam," which
is the form given in Paul the Deacon's (eighth century) Life of St. Gregory
the Qreat, c. 23 (P.L. lxxv. 52). In the same narrative, as told by
John the Deacon (ninth century), Lib. ii. 41, the formula is: "corpus
domini nostri Jesu Christi conservet animam tuam." (P.L. op. cit. 103.)
" Perceptio corporis et sanguinis," etc., " communio corporis et sanguinis"
possibly used originally with conjoint administration are common.
For the long-continued variety and instability of these formulae
" Micrologus," i.e. Bernold of Constance is witness, in the eleventh century :
"orationem quam inclinari dicimus antequam communicemus non ex
religiosorum traditione habemus, scilicet hanc : domine Jesu Christe, qui
ex voluntate patris. Item et illud : corpus et sanguis domini nostri Jesu
Christi, quod dicimus cum aliis eucharistiam distribuimus. Sunt et aliae
multae orationes, quas quidem ad pacem et communionem privatim fre-
quentant ; sed diligentiores antiquiorum traditionum observatores nos in
hujusmodi privatis orationibus brevitate studere docuerunt, potiusque pub-
licis precibus in officio missae occupari voluerunt." (Hittorp, De divinis
officiis, Bibliotheca Patr. x. 742.)
Many rites omit words of delivery at public communion.
8 It must be confessed that opportunities for private experiment were
provided by the not infrequent absence or paucity of rubrical directions

The Sacrament Reserved 143
the usage that was in vogue before the introduction of
intinction, where the Bread alone was held to suffice in
clinical communions.
The conclusions to which this review of the first ten
centuries lead are briefly these. The definite directions
as to constant reservation that first appear in the era of
Carolingian reform do not introduce a new or unfamiliar
practice.1 They merely insist upon due observance being
maintained of existing custom, and appear to have given
sanction in certain areas to modifications of the primitive
type of official reservation. The most important of these
modifications was the substitution of an intincted for a
simple Host.
in the rite of administration to the sick, and by the omission or varying
form of the words of delivery in some ordines.
1 The view here taken is not prejudiced by the fact that insistence
upon the duty of reserving the sacrament coincided with legislation against
celebrating the Eucharist in private houses for the sake of the sick, e.g.
Council of Metz (a.d. 888), can. 9. Reference to chapter iii will
show that the attitude taken with regard to performance of the Liturgy
in non-consecrated buildings was fairly constant from early times. The
legislation of this era on the point is only one of the symptoms of the
quickened interest and zeal that produced the Carolingian reforms.

CHAPTER X
Official Reservation and the Eucharist Contro
versies of the Eleventh Century
A. The Different Forms of Intinction
IN the preceding pages the term intinction has been
used in a general sense, and no attention has yet been
drawn to the fact that under this term are included three
different usages. This is a convenient point at which to
distinguish between the forms of intinction, and to describe
them in what seems to be the chronological order of their
appearance. i. From very early times there was in use the practice
of steeping the Host in some unconsecrated liquid in order
to render more easy its consumption. This practice was
confined to cases of clinical communion in which the
recipient was wholly or partly unconscious, or in the
extremity of weakness. Since there was no intention to
do more than administer the consecrated Bread by itself
in a form that could be easily swallowed, we may distin
guish this sort of intinction by the term " non-sacramental."
It would be a matter of indifference whether the liquid
employed to steep the Host were water or wine, or a
mixture of both.
In this manner, as we gather from the testimony of
Dionysius of Alexandria (preserved by Eusebius),1 it was
customary to communicate persons in extremis in the third
century. Moreover, so long as the ancient tradition of using
the single species of Bread for viaticum continued in general
use, this form of intinction would doubtless be employed
whenever necessary.
It is by no means certain, but it is not impossible, that
the use of a Host saturated by some unconsecrated liquid is
intended by the injunction contained in a canon of doubtful
1 H.E. vi. 44. Scudamore (N.E., p. 705) quotes pseudo-Prosper for
another instance at Carthage in the fifth century.
H4

The Sacrament Reserved 145
date and unknown origin, where the minister is directed to
pour (infundere) the Eucharist into the mouth of an uncon
scious penitent.1 After a certain date, however, it is most
difficult to decide whether an expression of this sort does
not refer to one or the other of the later kinds of intinction,
rather than to this simple and primitive expedient. Yet,
by reason of its very simplicity, and because it involved the
use of only the one consecrated species,2 this " non-sacra
mental " type of intinction might well reappear in a period
when other varieties were forbidden because they seemed
to contradict the doctrine of concomitance.
When, therefore, the consuetudines of Cluny provide
that, in communicating a sick brother, the Host is to be
dipped into a mixture of wine and water, and no assertion
is made about the effect of the action upon the liquid
employed,3 it is possible that the old custom has re-emerged
after a period of neglect,4 in which it had been superseded
by other usages.
The reception of the sacrament was in this particular
instance to be followed by a "purifcatio oris," in which the
ablutions of the chalice, that held the wine and water, and
of the priest's fingers were employed.
Ultimately, the ilpurifcatio oris" alone was found to be
all that was necessary in most cases in order to ensure
complete consumption of the Host ; and the primitive
sort of " non-sacramental " intinction disappeared again.
1 (?) Concil. Leptinense (a.d. 743) : " is qui poenitentiam in infirmi
tate petit, si casu, dum ad eum sacerdos invitatus venit, oppressus infirmitate
obmutuerit, vel in phrenesim versus fuerit ; dent testimonium qui eum
audierunt, et accipiat poenitentiam. Et si continuo creditur moriturus,
reconciliatur per manus impositionem et infundatur ori eius eucharistia.
Si supervixerit, admoneatur a supradictis testibus petitioni suae satisfactum :
et subdatur statutis poenitentiae legibus quamdiu sacerdos, qui poeniten
tiam dedit, probaverit."
Some authors have taken the sense to be that the penitent shall be
communicated in the species of Wine alone. For discussion of date,
etc., see p. 125.
2 Of course, a Host previously intinct and dried could be steeped in
unconsecrated liquid : either wine or water, according to the Leofric
Missal, see p. 138, and cf. the Russian usage prescribed in theTrebnik, p. 253.
3 Statuta 5. " ipsum autem domini corpus in vino aqua mixto intin-
guitur, quo epotato ebibit quoque ablutionem calicis et si potest ablutionem
digitorum sacerdotis." (Martene, De Ant. Monach. Rit. V. viii. 19.)
4 It is enjoined, e.g. by Giraldus Cambrensis, Gemma Scclesiast. 1. 9.
(R^S. 21. 2. p. 29.) U

146 The Sacrament Reserved
2. By true or " sacramental " intinction is to be under
stood that variety in which both consecrated species are
used. Of its origin and early history practically nothing is
certainly known. There are no very satisfactory grounds
for the assertion, so frequently made, that this form of
administration arose in the East, and passed from thence
to the rest of Christendom. On the contrary, indisputable
references to true intinction in the Eastern Church are rare
before the ninth century ; and such early examples as are
to be found occur only in association with clinical com
munion.1 In the West the custom had become so usual
in some parts of Spain by the seventh century that it formed
the subject of unfavourable legislation. It would appear
that it was this particular variety of intinction which was
forbidden by the Third Council of Braga (a.d. 675). That
this prohibition was ineffective at a later date so far as
other parts of the Church were concerned, we have
already seen. Intinction may or may not have become
fairly general by the ninth century. After that period it was
regarded in some dioceses of the empire as the proper
manner in which the laity were to receive communion, and
was used in preparing the sacrament for reservation. So
far, then, as direct evidence is concerned, the West may
have led the way in this matter.2
It is more probable, however, that the practice arose
independently in the two areas, as a symptom of the
process that culminated at last in the entire omission
of the species of the chalice from the communion of the
people in Western Christendom. The Easterns went no
further with the development than conjoint delivery of
the elements, and have since adhered to this usage which
was once common to both parts of the Church.
A further point that has not yet been determined is
whether intinction of this "sacramental" sort came first
into use as the regular method employed in clinical
administration, and was subsequently adopted into the
1 Apophthegm. Patrum <j> (P.G. lxv. 433). Life of St. Mary of Egypt.
(Boll. AA.SS. (Ap. 2), p. 83).
2 The only argument of weight for the early appearance in the East of
intinction for communion of the people at the Liturgy is to be found in
the fact that this usage is common to all the Oriental Churches, ortho
dox and schismatical. This in itself is by no means convincing.

The Sacrament Reserved 147
public communion, or "Vice "Versa. We might venture
to think that since there was already one simple and
primitive usage of communicating the sick, it is more
likely that "sacramental" intinction was first employed
at the mass, as the earliest of the several expedients by
which the chalice has been secured from exposure to
accident. From this general use it may have passed into
use at the bedside. Liturgical usages are not commonly
initiated by the practical requirements of occasional
offices. As to conjoint delivery of the elements in the mass,
it is clear that one of two modes might conceivably be
followed. Either the act of intinction might be repeated
at the communion of each individual ; or the conjunction
of the two species might be effected at some point after the
consecration and before the communion of the people.
The former of these methods, which was in use at Cluny
in the tenth century,1 clearly requires the presence of at
least one assistant minister. For the alternative method
we have no definite evidence, and it is precarious, in the
absence of such support, to venture an opinion. Yet the
conclusion seems inevitable that, where there was no second
minister to bear the chalice, the intinction of the Hosts
must have been previously performed at the altar, as it
would be obviously impossible to intinct the Bread im
mediately before delivery to each communicant. In such
circumstances the present long-standing custom of the
Greek Church may have been followed. Intincted Hosts
are prepared for the " Presanctified " and for viaticum, by
dipping the communion-spoon (Xa/3/y) in the Wine and
making a cross with it upon each loaf.2 There is no
1 Antiq. Consuet- C^un'ac- 3° : "quotquot autem ipsum corpus sacrum
dederit singulis, sanguine prius intinguit." (D'Achery, Spicihg. I. p.
678.) 2 The preparation of the Hosts for use at the communion of the
Presanctified takes place in the prothesis of the preceding Sunday, and
proceeds as follows : " OT6 Se peXXei o-<ppayio-ai toxis aprovs, Xkyei • woiyo-ov
rbv pev dprov rovrov, eviKais, os ets 6 xjotoros. . . . Kai OTe p*XXei v\faxrai,
v\f/oi oAovs opov, Kal peXi^ei rbv rrpocrKopiljopevov irpZrov dprov, Kal ri8yo~i
¦njv pepiSa ev T(j> dyiia rrorypitp, koi eyxeei Kai rb feov, (us e6os. etra Xa/3iov
rr)v dyiav XafiiSa perd rrjv 8e£ids xe^pos, fid\pei airyv ev T(j> dy«{> aipart.
ry Se dpurrepq. X£'l°' Xapfidvei ?Ka<rTov aprov, (cat elo~<f>epei t^v dyiav
XaftiSa perd to? dyiov a'iparos ftefiappkvyv, Kal eyyifru ev to dyuj) apry

148 The Sacrament Reserved
evidence to show that a spoon was ever used in the West
for delivery of the sacrament. But a similar instrument
was, and in the Latin rite still is, employed in preparing the
mingled wine and water, and for the removal of foreign
bodies from the chalice. This, or perhaps the fistula, may
well have served the purpose. In other cases, Hosts may
have been lightly dipped, or even immersed, in the con
secrated Wine.1 So much, then, for sacramental intinction
at the open communion.
In regard to the use of the " eucharistia intincta " at the
communion of the sick, it is obvious that when, as was
sometimes the case, the sacrament was actually consecrated
in the sick room at a private celebration, the needs of the
occasion would best be met by steeping the Host in the
chalice immediately before administering it to the invalid,
for in this state it would be most easily swallowed.
But the canon preserved in Regino insists upon the
previous intinction of the sacrament that is to be reserved,
in terms that hardly leave it doubtful that the true or
" sacramental " form of intinction is intended ; 2 and we
may believe that the preparation of the Host destined to
be reserved would coincide with the intinction of those
intended for use at the open communion.3
o-ravpoei8ws ev rt[ pepei, Iv $ ex&pdx8y b arravpbs vrrb ri)v \yixd, Kal
aTroriOyo-i rovrov ev rta dprocpopi<p." Eucholog. 'Eppyveia rrjs delas Xeirovp-
ytas riav irporryiao-pkvmv.
See Neale, Eastern Church, ii. p. 716. cf. also the remark of the
Patriarch Michael (1 167) as to the omission of this ceremony at Constanti
nople. (Allatius, De Missa Praesanct. xvii. 1586.)
1 As in the Armenian rite (Le Brun, Diss. x. art. 21. t. 5, p. 339).
For the orthodox manner of preparing the conjoint Viaticum, see chap. xvii.
2 Notitiae I. 71 : "quae sacra oblatio intincta debet esse in sanguine
Christi ; ut veraciter presbyter possit dicere infirmo : corpus et sanguis
domini proficiat tibi," etc. For the full text see p. 136.
Sometimes the intincted Host was prepared at a mass specially said for
this purpose, and was carried forth immediately after the service, cf. the
directions given in pontifical of Narbonne (eleventh century) : " dum
unguendus est infirmus, celebret pro eo missam sacerdos. Deinde con-
venientibus omnibus, veniat et ipse cum portione corporis et sanguinis
domini, quam portet levita," and the words of delivery are : "corpus
domini nostri Jesu Christi sanguine suo tinctum conservet animam tuam
in vitam aeternam. Amen." (Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii. art. 4,
ordo 13.)
3 Maldonatus, cited by Scudamore (N.B. 675), remarks : " Because the
priest could not steep the Eucharist at a more convenient time than at the

The Sacrament Reserved 149
If the Hosts to be used for viaticum were not merely
tinged with the Wine, but prepared by immersion in it,
some superfluity of the liquid species could hardly be
avoided. It is in such cases, we may suppose, that a
chalice ' was preferred to the pyx as the receptacle for the
reserved sacrament. St. Odilia received the reserved
elements conjointly from such a vessel ;2 and St. Peter
Damian3 has a story of a miracle worked by the few drops
of the precious Blood that remained in a chalice after the
Eucharist had been borne therein to a sick man. 4
3. For some time a third variety of intinction was in
common use. Here, as in the first kind, only the con
secrated Bread was employed, but it was dipped into the
usual mixture of wine and water in the belief that contact
with the Host sufficed to consecrate the contents of the
chalice. Therefore, since the intention is clearly to com
municate the recipient in both kinds, this form of intinction
becomes indistinguishable in effect from that in which both
elements, previously consecrated, were employed.
Intinction of this " consecratory " kind seems to be
something more than a modification of the simple process
fraction and communion, he therefore put a particle of the Host into the
cup, and afterwards separated it with a spoon and reserved it." cf. the
usage in the Orthodox Church.
1 The " calices ad communicandos infirmos," of which mention occurs
not uncommonly at this time, were not used for reservation. They con
tained the wine to be hallowed e contactu hostiae at clinical communion ;
or were used simply for the " purificatio oris." See chap. xiv. Calix.
2 Vita, 22 (Krusch, Passiones (M.G.H.) vi. p. 50).
3 Opuscula Varia, xlvii. 2. Rainaldus, Bishop of Como, tells the tale :
" presbyter, inquit, in ecclesia cui, deo auctore, deservio, hodieque nisi
fallor advivit, qui tarn parvam ac tenuem in litterarum habet doctrina, ut
aperte quoque scriptionis articulum syllabatim vix valeat legere ; nimia
tamen paupertate constrictus, utcumque missarum cogitur solemnia cele-
brare. Hie aliquando dum sacri muneris eucharistiam detulisset aegroto,
ut erat utique deses et negligens, aliquantulum dominiei sanguinis remansit
in calice. Quod cum ille in ecclesiam rediens comperisset, sed fastidio
praepeditus noluisset accipere, mox calicem lavit et in labrum marmoreum
in quo erat aqua sanctificata, projecit. Et, o magnum divinae virtutis
judicium ! illam labri partem quam id quod effusum est de calice contigit,
in sanguineum ruborem repente convertit. . . ." (P.L. cxlv. 712.)
4 Under the head of sacramental intinction are to be reckoned the
various forms of preparing and using the conjoint Eucharist that exist in
the oriental churches, but for the sake of convenience the discussion of these
is deferred to chap. xvii.

150 The Sacrament Reserved
of soaking the Host. Its origin is rather to be sought in
association with two usages of which the briefest description
must here be made.
Before the eighth century — possibly long before — there
was in vogue a custom of mingling, after the communion
of the clergy, a portion of the consecrated Wine with a
quantity of common wine in a large vessel (variously
termed calix ministerialis or communiealis, seyphus, etc.) for
the communion of the people. This custom provided
a convenient method of augmenting the quantity of the
consecrated element. It was doubtless anterior in origin to
any exact theory as to the result of the action ; but even
at the first the mingled liquids were together spoken of as
the Lord's Blood.1
A still closer resemblance exists between the " con-
secratory " form of intinction and the practice of placing
a fragment of the Host in the chalice in order to hallow
its contents for communion in the mass. The action of
dropping a portion of the consecrated Bread into the cup
was customary in several ceremonies, as we have seen in
a preceding chapter.2 But it is in the directions for the
communion of the Presanctified in the ninth-century
supplements to the First Roman Ordo that the actual
consecration of the wine first seems definitely to be
assumed.3 1 Caerimoniale S. Benigni Divionen. " debet autem vinum in ampulla
juxta eum (scil. diaconum) jugiter esse, ut quando opus esse perspexerit,
eodem vino sanguinem dominicum augere possit." (Martene, De Ant.
ZMonach. Rit. II. iv. 15, p. 64.)
The opinion that by this admixture the whole of the wine was actually
consecrated did not live long. But with some show of reason it might be
contended that the unconsecrated wine served as a vehicle for the Blood
of the Lord ; for if the two liquids were intimately mixed, a draught of
the contents of the ministerial chalice would convey particles of the
hallowed element to the communicant.
This method of increasing the quantity of the eucharistic Wine persisted
locally until the thirteenth century. Durandus (t 1 296) in his Rationale
Divin. Offic. iv. 42, 1, says : " unde in quibusdam locis post sumptionem
corporis et sanguinis Christi aliquid de ipso sanguine reservatur in calice
et superinfunditur vinum purum ut ipsi communicantes inde sumant : non
enim esset decus tantum sanguinem conficere nee calix capax inveniretur."
(P.L. Ixxviii. 903.)
2 Chap. vii.
3 Ordo Rom. Primus Append, vi. 25. "... subdiaconus teneat . . .
calicem cum vino non consecrato et alter diaconus patenam cum corpore

The Sacrament Reserved 151
Again, as in the case of " sacramental " intinction, we
cannot be certain whether it was in connection with the
public ceremonies that the custom had its origin, or whether
its employment for the purpose of clinical communion
preceded any liturgical use of it. But, in spite of opposition,
the theory that the chalice could be consecrated by the
admixture or contact with the Host continued to be held
for some considerable time and over a wide area. The
theory left its mark, too, upon the usage of later times,
after the opinion itself had been discarded.
As a mode of communicating the sick " consecratory "
intinction possessed many practical advantages. It was
only necessary to bring the Host, previously intincted or
not, enclosed in the pyx, to the sick-room, and there
to moisten it with an unconsecrated mixture of wine and
water. Not only did this secure (according to the theory
then accepted) the full communion of the invalid in both
sacred species ; but the form of a freshly-intincted Host
was peculiarly well adapted to the houselling of one who
lay weak or even unconscious.1
domini. . . . Cum dixerint Amen, sumit [pontifex] de sancta et ponit in
calicem nihil dicens : et communicant omnes cum silentio . . ." (Mabillon,
Mus. Ital. ii. p. 23.) According to Amalarius the practice of thus hallowing
the contents of the chalice in the " Presanctified " had become obsolete at
Rome in the ninth century, because it seemed to contravene the tradition
that no consecration should take place on Good Friday and the following
day. He quotes the ordo on which he comments as enjoining " ut duo
presbyteri afferant post salutationem crucis corpus domini quod pridie
reservatum fuit et calicem cum vino non consecrato, quod tunc consecretur
et inde communicet populus." The practice lasted longer elsewhere, as
appears from Amalarius' remarks. (De Eccl. OfficA. 15.) (P.L. cv. 1032.)
It is possibly indicated in a canon of Orange (441). See p. 204.
A modified form of belief taught that the wine was " sanctified " rather
than consecrated by contact with the Host or by the admixture of a fragment
thereof. St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Ep. Ixix) says " liquorem etsi non ex
consecratione propria atque solemni in sanguine mutatum, sacrum tamen
fuisse ex contactu corporis sacri." (Opera, edit. Mabillon, i. 67.)
This view is retained, e.g. in the Hereford Missal and in the Cluniac
Missal of 1530. (Mabillon, Mus. Ital. ii. p. lxxxviii.)
Further instances of consecration e contactu hostiae are given by Scuda-
more. (N.E. pp. 709 ff.)
1 cf. the tenth-century rubric in the Leofric Missal : " hie communi-
cetur infirmus et ponat (sell, sacerdos) sacrificium in vino sive aqua, dicens :
fiat commixtio corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Jhesu Christi nobis et
omnibus in remissionem omnium peccatorum et vitam aeternam. ~Bj. Amen."

152 The Sacrament Reserved
We find this method recommended in the appendices
to a late Ordo Romanus. The rite of sick communion
there prescribed contains the injunction that " the priest
shall then deliver him the Eucharist of the Lord's Body
intincted in wine, and the wine that by such intinction has
been consecrated and transmuted into the Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ, saying, ' Receive, brother, the 'Viaticum
of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may
He preserve thee from the malicious enemy and bring thee
to eternal life.' " 1

B. The Controversy about Intinction
The use from earliest times of the eucharistic Bread
alone in private reservation, and the high probability that
under this sole kind the sacrament was also at first officially
reserved, lead us to recognize, that the belief, which later
found expression as the doctrine of concomitance, was ever
implicit in certain uses of the Eucharist sanctioned by the
Church.2 But, until this doctrine had been definitely
It would seem that a Host previously intincted was used in this instance,
with the result that the distinction between the two forms of intinction is
obscured. See p. 138 above.
1 Ordo x in Mabillon (op. cit. p. 1 1 4). " Tunc tradat ei sacerdos
eucharistiam dominiei corporis intincti vino, et vinum tali intinctione
sanctificatum in Christi sanguinem transmutatum, dicens : accipe, frater,
viaticum corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Jesu Christi qui te custodiat
ab hoste maligno et perducat te ad vitam aeternam."
2 The term was coined by St. Thomas, but the formulation of the
doctrine begins with Eutychius of Constantinople (t a.d. 582) in the East
and Isidore of Seville (t a.d. 636) in the West. (See Darwell Stone,
History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, i. pp. 140, 198.)
In our period Hildebert of Tours (t 1 1 3 3) is prominent as a teacher
of this doctrine ; De Cena Domini : " in acceptione sanguinis totum
Christum, verum deum et hominem, et in acceptione corporis similiter
totum." (P.L. clxxi. 535.) Witmund of Aversa, pupil of Lanfranc and
opponent of Berengar, treats of an allied question : " eucharistiae sacrae
perceptio non in quantitate sed in virtute consistit . . . tota hostia est
corpus Christi ut nihilominus unaquaeque particula separata sit totum
corpus Christi." (P.L. cxlix. 1434 f.) Anselm (Ep. iv. 107) is careful
to combat the opinion of certain divines that either species conveys a special
gift : " non tamen intelligendum est quod in sanguinis perceptione solam
animam, non etiam corpus ; vel in acceptione corporis solum corpus non
etiam animam suscipiamus ; sed in acceptione sanguinis totum Christum,
deum et hominem, et in acceptione corporis similiter totum suscipiamus."

The Sacrament Reserved 153
formulated by theologians, and had met with general
acceptance,1 there was room for the introduction of intinc
tion, either of the " sacramental " or of the " consecratory "
sort. Each of these modes of administration avoided any
real or fancied inconveniences attached to the use of the
chalice, and yet secured what was always considered the
perfect and primitive ideal — the employment of both species.
It was especially in clinical communion that the use of one
or the other variety of intinction recommended itself by
certain inherent advantages such as have already been
discussed ; and there is some evidence to show that during
the ninth century definite attempts were made to bring the
communion of the sick into closer conformity with the
contemporary manner of communicating the people at
mass. This was achieved sometimes by the reservation
of intincted Hosts for "Viaticum, sometimes by " con
secratory " intinction at the bedside.
We shall probably not be wrong in reckoning these
modifications of ancient usage as a result of the Carolingian
reforms — for, at that period, eucharistic theology began
to acquire an importance to which it had never before
attained.2 We have now to take note of the continuous witness
for the use of intinction during the eleventh century, and
at the same time see how a further phase of eucharistic
controversy threw into confusion all existing custom in
connection with the communion of the laity, and, in
suppressing intinction, brought about an undesigned
return to primitive tradition in the ministration of the
Eucharist to the sick.
Widespread as the custom had become both at open
and at clinical communion, intinction began again to find
(P.L. clix. 255.) Other theologians, e.g. Peter Lombard and Albertus
Magnus, while asserting the sufficiency of communio sub una specie, admit
the greater perfection, at least in symbol, of reception in both kinds.
cf. also William of Champeaux, as quoted below, p. 159.
1 It was not until the Council of Trent that concomitance was actually
defined as defide. Even at Constance (141 5) the withdrawal of the chalice
from the laity was treated only as a point of ecclesiastical discipline : " quod
nullus presbyter sub poena excommunicationis communicet populum sub
utraque specie panis et vini." (Sessio xiii. in Hard. £>«/. viii. 382.)
2 For the eucharistic controversy initiated by Paschasius Radbert, see
Gore, Dissertations, pp. 236 ft. x

154 The Sacrament Reserved
opponents even before the close of the tenth century. This
is plain from the writings of Abbo of Fleury (t 1004), who,
at that time, thought it necessary to apologize for the
practice. " The example of Christ is quoted against it,"
he says, " Who delivered a piece of steeped bread to Judas
the traitor, into whom Satan entered after the sop. Yes,
but as one who knows all hidden things, He gave it, that
He might thereby expose the lost disciple ; whereas we,
who are conscious of our own sins, offer the Eucharist to
the brethren, not with this purpose but in commemoration
of Christ." :
The old objection — that the intincted Host recalled the
sop given to Judas — was strongly revived ; and, stated in
the terms employed by the Council of Braga, it gained the
more acceptance because it appeared as a decree of the
fourth-century Pope Julius I, and as such passed into
Canon Law.2
In the eleventh century other factors came in to militate
against the use of intinction. The strained relations exist
ing between East and West were leading controversialists
1 Collectio Canon, ad Hugon. (43) de communione : " attamen Christi
exemplum occurit, qui Judae proditori intinctum panem porrexit, de
quo scriptum est, quia post bucellam introivit in eum Satanas. Sed
ille, ut secretorum non ignarus, ad ostensionem perditi discipuli panem
porrexit : nos vero peccatorum nostrorum conscii, non ad ostensionem, sed
ob commemorationem Christi, eucharistiam praebeamus fratri." (Mabillon,
Vet. Analecta. (vol. iv of D'Achery, Spicileg. p. 1 46).)
2 The " decree " (in Canon Law, Decret. III. ii. 7) is really a patch
work, of which the chief constituents were drawn from the first canon of
the Third Council of Braga (a.d. 713) and from one promulged by the
Fourth Council of Orleans (a.d. 541). No reference to intinction occurs
in the latter source.
In part of the text subjoined the principal extracts from the authentic
canon of Braga are indicated by italics :
(7). "... audivimus . . . alios quoque intinctam eucharistiam populis
pro complemento communionis porrigere, quos (guosdam) etiam expressum vinum
in sacramento dominiei calicis qfferre ; alios vero pannum lineum in musto
intinctum per totum annum reservare, et in tempore sacrificii partem eius
aqua lavare et sic offerre ; quod quam sit evangelicae et apostolicae doctrinae
contrarium et consuetudini ecclesiasticae adversum . . . Illud vero quod pro
complemento communionis intinctam tradunt eucharistiam populis nee hoc prolatum
ex evangelio testimonium reeepeiunt ubi apostolis corpus suum commendavit et
sanguinem. Seorsum enim panis, et seorsum calicis commendatio memoratur. Nam
intinctum panem aliis Christum praebuisse non legimus, excepto illo (illi) tantum
discipuh, quern intincta buccella magistri proditorem ostenderet, non quae sacramenti
huius institutionem signaret. . . ." (Bruns., ii. 97.)

The Sacrament Reserved 155
on either side to seize upon points of difference hitherto
ignored, or at least regarded as unimportant, in order to
emphasize the growing antagonism. For example, the use
of unleavened bread for the Eucharist having become fairly
general in the West by the end of the ninth century, this
was later elevated into a serious matter of disagreement
between the Greeks and Latins by partisans on both sides.1
Similarly, when Cardinal Humbert, bishop of Silva Candida,
and papal legate, was busy collecting pretexts for abuse of
the Easterns, he condemned intinction and the delivery of
the sacrament in a spoon as undesirable customs that
traversed the commands given at the institution of the
Eucharist. He asserts that in the West the Bread and the
Wine are administered separately.2 This statement, which
denies the existence of intinction among the Latins, is hard
to reconcile with the facts of the case, for undoubtedly
the practice was in full vigour in many parts of the West
at this time. But his remarks serve to show how the
custom would soon cease to be viewed as a matter of
indifference when the absence of intinction could be cited
in controversy with the Greeks. This consideration would
therefore help to account for the growing disfavour with
which the practice came to be regarded in the West. Yet
this was after all a minor point. In any case intinction
stood condemned as soon as ever the implications of con
comitance were worked out. Moreover, toward the end of
1 See Woolley, Bread of the Eucharist (Alcuin Club Tracts xi), pp. 1 8 ff.
Neither the question of leavened and unleavened bread, nor the question
of intinction was raised by Ratram in his Contra Qraecorum Opposita.
(P.L. cxxi. 223-346.)
2 Adv. Qraecorum calumnias. 32 : "deinde quod sanctum panem vitae
aeternae in calicem intritum cum cochleari sumere consuestis. . . . Neque
enim ipse dominus panem in calice vini intrivit et sic apostolis dedit,
dicens : accipite et cum cochleari comedite ; hoc est corpus meum. Sed,
sicut sancta Romana ecclesia usque nunc observat, panem integrum bene-
dixit et fractum singulis particulatim distribuit, dicens : accipite et comedite,
hoc est corpus meum. Quibus, postquam coenatum est, calicem porrexit
dicens : bibite ex eo omnes. ..." c. 3 3 : " siquidem tenues oblatas
ex simula praeparatas integras et sanas sacris altaribus nos quoque super-
ponimus, et ex ipsis post consecrationem fractis cum populo communicamur.
Et tunc demum calice meri et liquidi cruoris potamur : quandoquidem
nemini discipulorum nisi Judae proditori intinctum panem a domino por-
rectum invenimus, significante quod eum esset traditurus ; pari modo etiam
residuum dominicae oblationis reponimus." (P.L. cxliii. 951, 952.)

156 The Sacrament Reserved
the eleventh and during the early part of the succeeding
century teachers like Hildebert of Tours and Anselm were
asserting the doctrine in plainer terms than had ever been
used before ; while in certain localities zealous ecclesiastics
were ready to carry the implication of this teaching to
practical conclusions.
For some time, however, intinction did not lack sup
porters and apologists. Bishop John of Avranches (f 1069),
for example, while forbidding the clergy to receive intincted
Hosts, defended the practice of communicating the people in
this manner.1 That is to say, he approved of the common
Gallican usage of the preceding century, such as is described
in the Codex Ratoldi,2 in which the bishop is ordered to com
municate the clergy above the rank of subdeacon with the
separate species, while the subdeacons (and, by inference,
all subordinate orders and lay folk) receive an intincted
Host.3 His defence of intinction is, as usual, made to rest
upon an exaggerated fear of risk in administering the chalice
to the laity. Anxiety on this score and the desire to avoid
other forms of involuntary irreverence (which had already
been the cause of several modifications in the administration
of the chalice) were reinforced by the steadily growing
acceptance of transubstantiation as the doctrine of the
Church.4

1 De officiis eccles. : "non autem intincto pane, sed juxta definitionem
Toletani (sic) concilii seorsum corpore seorsum sanguine, sacerdos com
municet, excepto populo, quern intincto pane, non auctoritate, sed summa
necessitate timoris sanguinis Christi effusionis, permittitur communicare."
(P.L. cxlvii. 37.)
2 Menard, (jregorian Sacram. : " episcopus communicet presbyteros et
diaconos cum osculo pacis, sicco tamen sacrificio ; et subdiaconos mixto
sacrificio." P.L. lxxvii. 265. Custom varied from place to place : monastic
usages frequently differed from those followed in secular churches. See
Smend (Relchspendung), pp. 2 1 ff and footnotes.
3 cf. Cowuetud. Antiq. Cluniacen. ZMonast. II. 30 : " quotquot autem
ipsum corpus sacrum dederit singulis sanguine prius intinguit." (D'Achery,
Spicileg. I. 678 ; Martene, De Ant. {Mon. Rit. II. iv. 15.)
4 The term " transubstantiatio " occurs first in the writings of St. Peter
Damian (t 1071), if the treatise, Expositio canon missae, be really his (cc. 7,
14, 16 ; in P.L. cxlv. 883, 888, 889). See Darwell Stone, Doctrine oj
Holy Eucharist, I. pp. 259, 260. It is also used by Hildebert of Tours
(Serm. xciii ; in P.L. clxxi. 776), and the verb transubstantiare by Stephen
of Autun (t 1 139) in his work De sacramento altaris (cc. 13, 14 ; in P.L.
clxxii. 1 291, 1 293). Both noun and verb are generally used from the twelfth

The Sacrament Reserved 157
It was obviously open to an opponent of intinction to
retort that the better way was to omit the second species
altogether from the lay folks' houselling, since all were
agreed that reception in the one kind was enough to pro
cure the benefits of communion.1 This argument, indeed,
finally prevailed. But a worthy champion for intinction
was found in the person of Ernulph, Bishop of Rochester.
Early in the twelfth century he wrote a defence of the
practice in reply to a correspondent who had asked him the
reason why the communion was commonly delivered in a
conjoint manner. Ernulph admits that the custom then in
daily use was of comparatively recent growth, but he
justifies it in a very able fashion. He draws attention to
the fact that in instituting the sacraments our Saviour
commands what we are to do, but leaves the manner of
doing it to the discretion of the Church. No one is
scandalized because customs and ceremonies have developed
in connection with baptism ; and the divine command to
baptize contains no regulations about triple or simple immer
sion. As to the mere fact of mingling the two sacred
species of the Eucharist, a priest does this whenever he
performs the commixture, and no exception can be taken,
therefore, to the act in itself. Then, of course, there is
the objection that the conjoint sacrament resembles the sop
given to the traitor. But, if this is allowed to have weight,
we must be consistent and not only never use sops at our
meals, but also abolish the kiss of peace ; because by a kiss
Judas betrayed his Lord. Every one knows that men's
beards and moustaches are apt to be a cause of unintentional
irreverence at communion when the chalice is used ; and it
is not to be expected that a priest should housel some of
his flock in one way and some in another. Intinction seems
to be a natural and reverent way of delivering the sacrament.
If it is still further urged that a (papal) decree can be
quoted against it, there are other cases of such decrees
century. The Lateran Council of 121 5, in authorizing the term and its
implications, only set the seal to opinions that had for some time been
current and powerful.
1 Certain divines of the period, e.g. Peter Lombard, Alexander of Hales,
and Albertus Magnus, while asserting the sufficiency of the communio sub
una specie, admitted the "greater perfection," at least in symbolism, of
the fuller form of communion. See Scudamore, N.E., pp. 718 ff., for
quotations.

158 The Sacrament Reserved
being overruled by the practice of the Church. The section
of Ernulph's letter dealing with these points is subjoined
at length below, for it is written with independence of
judgement and practical wisdom beyond the common.1
1 Epist. II ad Lambertum : "Prima ergo posita est percunctatio de Sacra
mento altaris ; ita proposita, ut quaeratur, cur hodierna ecclesiae consuetudo
alio et pene contrario ritu censeat porrigi corpus dominicum quam a
domino in coena discipulis suis fuerit distributum. Id enim quotidianus
ecclesiae praetendit usus, ut tribuatur hostia sanguine intincta, cum a
domino prius corpus, deinde sanguis porrectus fuisse memoretur. Quem
etiam morem ecclesiae ex decretis Julii papae nitimini improbare, quibus
idem papa dominicum commendat ordinem et apostolica confidentia
ecclesiasticam arguit dispositionem, adjiciens intinctam panis buccellam
dominum proditori suo contulisse. . . . De cuius dubietatis ambiguitate
quod intelligimus, quod a nostris doctoribus accepimus, edicere parati
sumus. "Redemptor noster veniens in mundum quia propter hominum salutem
inter homines apparuit, quaeque reparationi infirmitatis humanae commoda
seu necessaria fore praevidit, sicut oportere vidit in sapientia sua ita ab
hominibus fieri et esse voluit in ecclesia sua. Haec eis cum quibus conver-
sari dignatus est, verbo vel exemplo insinuavit, quae facienda erant docens,
certum quo facienda erant modo praefigere omittens. Hinc esse videtur
quod ait, hoc facite in meam commemorationem. Non ait, hoc modo facite.
Et, ite baptizate omnes gentes in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Non
ait, hoc modo baptizate, non ait semel mergite aut tertio mergite. Non
ait, scrutinium facite, chrisma sacrate. Qua in re insinuasse videtur quae
praecepta sunt non fieri non licere ; pro ratione vero necessitatis vel
honestatis alio et alio modo fieri licere. . . . Qui ergo quaerit cur non
accipiantur exemplo dominico singulatim, quae de altari sumuntur nova
consuetudine simul mixta, simili ratione quaerere potest, cur non sumantur
in simili loco aut de simili mensa vel in simili forma, aut cur etiam aliud
sumatur, videlicet aqua, quae a domino non legitur in coena esse porrecta.
Si vero ea necessariis causis intelligit rationabiliter esse parta ac reperta,
noverit et ea de quibus quaeritur, et cur aliter fiant quam a domino facta
sunt inquiritur, ratione non inferiori esse comparata. Porro cur miratur
quispiam quod sacramenta porriguntur simul mixta ? Nonne indesinenter
in dominiei corporis et sanguinis consecratione, diviso corpore in tres
partes, una a sacerdote, videlicet quae ab ipso sumenda est, in calice
reservatur, sanguini admiscetur,sanguine infunditur, cum sanguine sumitur?
Quis sacerdotem peccare dicat dum in quotidiano tanti mysterii officio
carnem cum sanguinis suscipit admixtione ? Si ergo bonum est sumere
hostiam sanguine infusam, malum erit sumere hostiam sanguine intinctam ?
Quod qui malum non esse agnoverit, desinet mirari, cum ratione factum
esse cognoverit. Arguitur iste mos ex eo quod buccellae intinctae a domino
traditori suo porrectae similitudinem videtur habere. Id si diligenter
inspiciatur, nihil dignum reprehensione continere videbitur. Si enim
exteriora pensentur nemo dicet justum hominem edere non debere panem
intinctum in sua coena, quia id proditor manducavit Judas in dominica
coena. Aut nemo ideo non dabit osculum pacis, quia Judas osculo dedit

The Sacrament Reserved 159
Intinction was usual elsewhere than in England.
William of Champeaux (t 1 12 1), Bishop of ChMons-sur-
Marne, and a friend of St. Bernard, also discusses the
question ; and, while fully admitting the sufficiency of
communion in the one kind, was impatient of the objection
signum proditionis ? Simili modo quid nobis obstat accipere corpus
domini dominico sanguine intinctum, licet Judas accepit buccellam de
manu domini dominico vino intinctam. Si autem interiora cogitemus,
propter aliud ille, propter aliud nos. Ille in suae signum nequitiae, in
signum doli et proditionis, quam mente gerebat, de manu domini buccellam
intinctam intinctus fraude suscepit. Nos carnem domini intinguimus in
sanguine domini, non ut designemus malitiam esse in cordibus nostris, sed
ne accipientes, sive porrigentes, peccemus non habita forte competenti
cautela in labiis et manibus nostris. Evenit enim frequenter ut barbati et
prolixos habentes granos; dum poenlum inter epulas sumunt prius liquore
pilos inficiant, quam ori liquorem infundant. Ii si accesserint ad altare
liquorem sanctum bibituri, quo modo periculum devitare poterunt inter
accipiendum, quomodo uterque, accipiens videlicet et porrigens, effugient
grande peccatum i Praeterea si imberbes et sine granis, aut mulieres, ad
sumendam communionem sanctam conveniant, quis sacerdotum poterit tarn
provide ministrare, tarn caute calicem domini distribuere, ut multis eum
singulatim dividat, dividens sic in ora eorum fundat, ut infundens nihil
effundat ? Saepe enim dum sibi soli calicem infundere disponit, negligentia
aut imprudentia faciente effusionis periculum incurrit ; quanto facilius in
multitudine posito sacerdoti, multis diversarum formarum ministranti, con-
tingere potest, unde graviter offendat, unde eum asperam poenitentiam agere
oporteat ?
" Ne ergo polluamus sanguinem nostrae redemptionis, ne tamquam
impietatis manibus effundamus poculum humanae salutis, a religiosis viris
provide actum est, ut dominiei portiuncula corporis non sicca, sicut
dominum egisse novimus, porrigatur, sed domini infusa sanguine fidelibus
tribuatur. Quo pacto evenit, ut secundum salvatoris praeceptum eius
carnem edat, sanguinem bibat, periculum evadat, quem in tanta re offendere
oppido formidat. Id enim solidum edimus, id liquidum bibimus, quod
simul separatimve ore sumptum per guttum trajicimus : in qua distributione
nemo ut dictum est formidare debet, quod buccella panis intincta proditori
domini a domino similiter est porrecta. Non enim ea operatio congruam
habet similitudinem, quae causae habet dissimilitudinem. Unde Julii papae
decreta quamquam rationabiliter data perfuere, apud aliquos modernos hac
in parte quievere, ecclesiae praevaluit consuetudo, quae pondere rationis
antecellit eminentiore. Nee mirum, rationabilem usum tantis actum
necessariis causis Julii decretis anteponi, cum legamus et ipsis quotidianis
actionibus frequentari videamus, caeterorum instituta pontificum propter
similes, aut inferioris, ut videtur, generis causas discretiore prudentia esse
mutata. Telesphorus papa in decretis suis missarum officia qua hora
celebranda sint, his verbis absolvit. 'Nocte sancta nativitatis domini
missas celebrent, etc. Reliquis temporibus missarum celebrationes ante horam
diei tertiam minine sunt celebrandae, quia eadem hora et dominus crucifixus
et super apostolos Spiritus Sanctus descendisse legitur.' Quod cujus

160 The Sacrament Reserved
commonly urged against intinction. " As to reception of
the Eucharist," he says, " there is a certain diversity of
practice, based upon various reasons, but it is really all one
and the same thing. Reception of the intincted Bread has
been forbidden on a frivolous pretext ; namely, on account
of the intincted morsel which the Lord delivered to Judas
in order to expose him." Then he goes on to show that
although the separate reception of the two species serves to
bring to mind the manner of our Lord's offering of Him
self ; yet Christ in His entirety is received under either
species. This, he says, is clear from the fact that infants
are communicated, immediately after baptism, from the
chalice alone.1
decretum quam pauci servavere, quam multi abjecere, testatur ecclesiastici
frequentia servitii ; testatur ipsa pro fidelibus vivis ac defunctis sacerdotalis
oratio et domini corporis et sanguinis quotidiana immolatio, testatur nec-
non pro se ac suis sive id fieri petens, seu praesentiam suam exhibens
popularis multitudo. Intellexerunt enim satius esse, multis horis multas
fieri oblationes quam usque ad horam tertiam pluribus omissis paucarum
oblationum fieri dilationes. Similiter Victor papa in decretis suis docet
baptismum faciendum esse in pascha, sic dicens : ' eodem tempore, id est
paschae, baptismus est celebrandus catholicis. Si tamen mortis periculum
ingruerit, gentiles ad fidem venientes quocumque loco, vel tempore bap-
tizentur,'" etc. (D'Achery, op. cit. III. pp. 471, 472.)
1 De sacramenta altaris : " De perceptione eucharistiae diversi quidem
usus sunt secundum aliquas causas, sed res eadem. Quod enim panis
intinctus prohibitus est accipi, ex frivola causa fuit, scilicet pro buccella
intincta, quam dominus Iudae ad distinctionem porrexit : tamen cum fide
bonum est. Item quod utraque species per se accipitur, eo fit, ut memoria
corporis quod in cruce visibiliter pependit, et memoria sanguinis qui cum
aqua de latere fluxit, arctius teneatur, et quasi praesentetur. Tamen sciendum,
quod qui alteram speciem accipit, totum Christum accipit. Non enim
accipitur Christus membratim vel paullatim, sed totus, vel in utraque specie,
vel in altera. Unde et infantulis mox baptizatis solus calix datur, quia pane
uti non possunt, et in calice totum Christum accipiunt. Dandus autem est
calix eis, quia sicut non potest ad vitam quis ingredi sine baptismo, ita nee
sine hoc vitali viatico. . . . Quod ergo dicitur utramque speciem opportere
accipi, haeresis plane est. Quamvis enim utraque sacramenta ibi sint
secundum fractionem et odorem et colorem et saporem ; tamen in utraque
specie totus est Christus, qui post resurrectionem quidem ex toto est
invisibilis, impassibilis, indivisibilis ; ita ut nee sanguis sine came, nee caro
sine sanguine, nee utrumque sine anima humana, nee tota humana natura
sine Verbo Dei sibi personaliter counito. Et ideo licet in alterutra specie
totus sumatur ; tamen pro causa praedicta sacramentum utriusque speciei ab
ecclesia immutabiliter retinetur. Sunt enim in ecclesia sacramenta quae
mutari .licet, sunt quae non licet ; ut de aqua baptismi, de his speciebus, de
oleo consecrationis. . . ." (P.L. clxiii. 1039.)

The Sacrament Reserved 161
But, in spite of all that might be said in its favour by
isolated theologians, Intinction was doomed. Anselm was
the dominant figure of the time, and under his guidance
England led the way in applying the practical implications
of concomitance. Robert Pullen (t 1 1 50), an eager parti
san of the dominant theory, asked rhetorically, " Who will
dare to join together that which the Lord preferred to
minister apart ? " r The final blow was dealt to intinction
in this country in 1175, when a Synod sitting at West
minster forbade the practice altogether ; still on the sup
position that an early Pope was the author of the pro
hibition to which reference has so often been made in
this chapter.2
Now, as intinction was falling into disrepute and at last
came to be forbidden, it is clear that appeal might be
made to earlier precedent for the restoration of the
1 Sentent. viii. c. 3 : "Qualiter a laicis Eucharistia sumi deberet,
sponsae suae commisit judicio, cuius consilio et usu pulchre fit, ut Caro
Christi laicis distribuatur. Nimirum periculose fieret, ut Sanguis sub
liquida specie multitudini fidelium in ecclesia divideretur, longe peri-
culosius infirmatis per parochiam deferretur. Nam quia Caro absque
Sanguine non est, nee Sanguis alibi est nisi in Came, quisquis alteru-
trum sumit, neutrum insumptum derelinquit. Quod si bene credit,
non tamen se bene credere ostendit, quisquis dum Carnem tribuit,
Sanguine intingit, quasi aut Caro Sanguine careat, aut Sanguis extra
Carnem existat. Libere utique et secure fatendum est, alterum absque
altera sumi non posse ; dubiumque non est, quin si cui, ut facilius in-
sumatur, pervalde infirmato Sanguis infunditur, satisfactum sit com-
munioni. Nam panem intinctum quis audeat porrigere, cum Dominus
per se panem, per se calicem porrexerit I Quis audeat conjungere, quae
Dominus maluit separata ministrare ? — Sed dices : absque exemplo
Domini cur non praebeam intinctum, cum tu praebere non dubites
alterum sine altero ? Dispensatio ecclesiae, ne quid inconvenientis subori-
atur utrumque circumferre non consuevit, eademque ratione vitans
effusionem, intingere pertimescit. Intinctus panis intinctae inquina-
taeque mentis viro tradebatur Iudae. Nihil tale taliterque fidelibus
exhibeatur. Tamen pleraque per loca panis intinctus porrigitur, qua-
tenus, ut aiunt, et iuxta evangelium utrumque distribuatur et res ita
securius atque expeditius transagitur. Verum et Christus aliter fecit,
et id mutari auctoritas Romana obnixe interdicit." (P.L. clxxxvi. 963,
964.) 2 Can- *6 : "Inhibemus ne quis quasi pro complemento communionis
intinctam alicui Eucharistiam tradat. Nam intinctum panem aliis Chris
tum praebuisse non legimus excepto illi tantum discipulo, quern intincta
buccella magistri proditorem ostenderit, non quae Sacramenti hufus
institutionem signaret." (Hard, vi, pt. 2, 1638.) Y

1 62 The Sacrament Reserved
communion of the people in both species separately.
To lodge such an appeal would be to ignore the real
causes for which intinction had encountered disapproval ;
yet, in point of fact, it was actually made. Echoes of
the controversy are found in the work of Micrologus,
who is probably to be identified with Bernold of Con
stance (tnoo).1 He argues from the Ordines Romani
against intinction, but at the same time he adduces against
communion in the sole kind of Bread that prohibition
which was supposed to have been put forth in the fifth
century by Pope Gelasius against the Manichees.2 His
remarks apply to the communion at the mass, from which
the old regular custom of separate delivery to the laity
had never wholly disappeared, even in those parts of the
Western Church where intinction had become the pre
vailing fashion.
The ruling of the Council of Claremont (1095) was in
favour of separate administration, and the use of the con
joint sacrament was confined to cases of necessity, or where
some risk was involved in the use of the chalice.3 The
same policy was approved by Pope Paschal about the same
time.4 It is possible to cite writers of this period, including
1 de eccles. observat. 29 : " de vitanda intinctione : non est autem
authenticum quod quidam Corpus Domini intinguunt et intinctum pro
complemento communionis populo distribuunt. Nam Ordo Romanus
contradicit, quia et in Parasceve vinum non consecratum cum dominica ora-
tione et dominiei Corporis immissione jubet consecrare ut populus plene
possit communicare. Quod utique superflue praecipere si intinctum
dominicum a priore die Corpus servaretur et intinctum populo ad com
municandum sufficere videretur. Julius quoque papa in ordine trige-
simus sextus, episcopis Aegypti scribens, huiusmodi intinctionem penitus
prohibet, et seorsum panem, seorsum calicem, juxta dominicam institu-
tionem sumenda docet. Unde et beatus Gelasius Papa . . . scribens
quibusdam episcopis, excommunicari illos praecipit, quicumque sumpto
Corpore dominico a calicis participatione se abstinerent." (Hittorp,
op. cit. p. 742.)
2 As before remarked, this decree cannot with any certainty be ascribed
to Gelasius : " comperimus . . . quod . . . sumpta tantum Corporis
sacri portione, a calice sacri Cruoris abstineant . . . aut Integra Sacra
menta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur." (P.L. clxxxvii. 1736.)
3 Can. 28 : "Ne aliquis communicet de altari nisi Corpus separatim
et Sanguinem similiter nisi per necessitatem et cautelam." (Hard, vi,
pt. 2, 1719.)
4 See the passage quoted below, p. 170.

The Sacrament Reserved 163
some of the most prominent theologians of the day, who
appear to regard separate delivery of the elements to
the laity as the rule at the public communion. Ivo of
Chartres (fc. 11 15) includes the Gelasian injunction in
his Decretal* and elsewhere speaks as though the reception
of the two distinct species by the laity were usual.2 Lan-
franc, writing after 1063, says that "the Flesh of the
Lord is that which we receive in the sacrament hidden
under the form of bread, and that is His Blood which
we drink under the appearance and taste of wine. "3 He
may not have had in mind the communion of the people,
but Rupert of Deutz (t 1 135) is certainly speaking of the
faithful generally when he says that the Bread and Wine
placed by the priest in their mouths is consumed and
passes away .4 Honorius of Autun (f after 1130) is even
more explicit : " the people who have been redeemed by
the Blood of Christ and washed in the water of Baptism,
communicate in Christ by feeding upon this Food and
by drinking this Wine. "5 Elsewhere he refers to the
deacon's privilege of distributing in the church the sacred
Blood.6 St. Bernard, writing against the early Albigenses,
alludes to the existence of evil priests who none the less,
by virtue of their office, distribute the Body and Blood of
the Lord to good and bad alike. Lower down in the same
treatise he speaks of the Blood of the Lord being set before
us in the appearance of wine, and being tasted and drunk
under this form. 7 The list might be extended, but here
1 Decret. II, de Corpore et Sang. Dom. 89. (P.L. clxi. 182.)
2 Serm. I. (de sacramentis neophytorum) : " unde etiam, si eius est
valetudinis, sacramentis unitatis, id est Christi Corpore et Sanguine, con-
firmatur." (P.L. clxii. 5 1 2.) Again, " Ipsi qui sumimus communionem
sancti panis et calicis unum Christi Corpus efficimur." (P.L. cxlix. 1434.)
3 de Corpore et Sanguine Domini : " caro eius est quam forma panis
opertam in Sacramento accipimus, et Sanguis eius, quern sub vini
specie ac sapore potamus." (P.L. cl. 423.)
4 de officiis divinis. II. 9 : " cum in ora fidelium sacerdos distribuit,
panis et vinum adsumitur et transit." (T.L. clxx. 40 f.)
s Gemma animae I. 33 : "quia populus Sanguine Christi redemptus
per aquam baptismatis ablutus per pastum huius cibi et per potum huius
vini Christo communicatur." (P.L. clxxii. 555 f.)
6 op. cit. 180 : " diaconorum officium est in ecclesia Sanguinem Domini
distribuere." (P.L. clxxii. 599.)
7 adv. Catharos. Serm. 11:" Dominus tolerat malos sacerdotes et sinit
eos potestatem habere in ecclesia et distribuere Corpus et Sanguinem

164 The Sacrament Reserved
are names enough to show that, in spite of the growth of
other customs, the primitive manner of communicating at
mass either survived in many places or was reassumed
after intinction had begun to pass out of use. At the
most, however, this perpetuation of, or reversion to,
separate administration of the elements to the laity was
only a temporary phase.
For, apart from the main factor in this matter, i.e.
the dominance of concomitance, the atmosphere of the
time was in every respect favourable to the develop
ment of the discipline by which the sacrament of the
chalice was withdrawn entirely from the communion of
the people. The carefulness in regard to the material
of the Eucharist that the penitentials had fostered was
magnified, under the influence of those opinions that had
issued victorious from the Berengarian controversy, into
extreme scrupulosity concerning the remotest risk of
mishap. The lines of Rudolph of St. Trond express
perfectly the mind of his age : —
" Every where let this precaution be had ; that the priest
to lay-folk, sick and whole, deliver not the Blood of Christ.
For it might lightly be spilled ; and the simple would think
that Jesus in His fullness is not in each kind." *
Therefore we find Papal authority, in the person of
Innocent III, deciding in the early years of the thirteenth
century that intinction must cease,2 and that henceforth
suum tam bonis quam malis . . . Sanguis dominicus in specie vini
nobis praesentatur et in sapore vini gustatur et hauritur." (T.L. cxcv.
88 f.) 1 " Hie et ibi cautela fiat ne presbyter aegris
aut sanis tribuat laicis de Sanguine Christi.
Nam fundi posset leviter ; simplexque putaret
Quod non sub specie sit totus Jesus utraque." (P.L. clxxiii. 193 f.)
Contrast, however, instructions issued under Richard Marsh, Bishop
of Durham, in a Synod c. 1 2 20 : " Instruere insuper debetis laicos
quoties communicant quod de veritate Corporis et Sanguinis Christi
nullo modo dubitent. Nam hoc accipiunt, procul dubio, sub panis
specie, quod pro nobis pependit in cruce. Hoc accipiunt in calice
quod effusum est de Christi latere. Hoc bibunt, dicit Augustinus,
credentes quod prius fuderunt saevientes." (Wilkins, Concil. i. 578.)
2 de sacro altar, myst. vi. 13: " Quia vero Christus buccellam intinctam
Judae porrexit. Unde constitutum est ab ecclesia ut Eucharistia non detur
intincta." (P.L. cexvii. 866.)

The Sacrament Reserved 165
statements that contradict the doctrine of concomitance
will be regarded as heretical.1
C. The Effect of the Controversy about Intinction
upon Clinical Communion
As regards clinical communion, it is evident that
reaction against intinction would not be able at this
date to import the novel expedient of reserving the
consecrated Wine. The use of intinction in connection
with reservation was itself an innovation upon the
primitive tradition ; and the obvious result of discarding
the use of intincted Hosts and of consecration e contactu
hostiae in the sick room would be a return to the reserva
tion and administration of the eucharistic Bread alone.
Wherever the separate use of the two species as "viaticum
is stated or clearly implied in biographical notices of this
period we may be fairly certain that the sacrament given
in this manner was brought to the invalid from the Liturgy.
This was the case, for example, in the last communion
of a lay-brother at Marmoutier, of whom it is related
that he received the sacrament of the Body and Blood
of the Lord ; " and then, when he had drunk some
wine after the Blood, he expired in the hands of those
who bore him."2 Lewis the Fat, King of France (t 1 137),
received both kinds separately as his viaticum ; but the
sacrament was brought to him straight from the church
where mass had been said for this very purpose. 3 There
1 ibid. : " Constitutum est nihilominus et pro haeresi exstirpanda
quae dogmatizavit Christum sub neutra specie totum existere sed sub
utraque simul existere totum." (P.L. loc. cit.)
2 " Mane adveniente pro bona iterum devotione dominiei Corporis
et Sanguinis Sacramenta percepit : ubi, cum post Sanguinem vinum
ebibisset, inter manus sese baintantium exspiravit." (Cited by Mabillon,
Praefationes ad AA.SS., Saec. Sext. 96, p. 5 1 5).
3 Vita : " . . . quaerit rejecto pudore omni ob reverentiam divinitatis
et sanctorum angelorum coram devotissime confiteri et securissimo Dominiei
Corporis et Sanguinis viatico exitum suum muniri. Cum idipsum prae-
parare festinant, rex ipse inopinate se levans et praeparans vestitus came-
ram cunctis admirantibus obviam Corpori Domini nostri Jesu Christi exit,
devotissime assistit . . . humillime flexis genibus ante sacratissimum
Corpus et Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi (qui enim mox missam
celebraverant illuc ei cum processione devote attulerant) in hanc oris et
cordis verae et catholicae confessionis vocem, non tanquam illiteratus, sed

1 66 The Sacrament Reserved
is no need to labour the point, but it may be worth while
to point out that no reliance may be placed at this date
upon the mere verbal form of statements concerning
"viaticum, as is evident from many instances where ex
pressions implying the use of the one kind are employed
interchangeably with the mention of both. For example,
St. Robert of Arbrisselle (t 1130), falling ill on a journey,
asked (according to his biographer) for "Viaticum of the
Body and Blood of the Lord, while the narrative goes
on to say that he actually received the Corpus dominicum,
and the other species is not named again.1 Again, the
use of the plural sacramenta in such phrases as sacramenta
dominiei Corporis et Sanguinis is not in itself sufficient ground
for supposing that anything else but the non-intincted Host
is intended.2
tanquam literatissimus theologus erumpit. ' Ego peccator Ludovicus
confiteor. . . . Hanc autem sacratissimi Corporis eius eucharistiam illud
idem credimus Corpus quod assumptum est de virgine. . . . Hunc
sacratissimum Sanguinem ilium eundem qui de latere eius pendentis in
cruce defluxit. . . .' Cum autem . . . devotissime Corpori et Sanguini
Jesu Christi communicasset, ad cameram rediit." (P.L. clxxxvi. 1337,
1338.) 1 Vita (Andrew of Fontevrault (?)). (P.L. clxii. 1070, 1071.)
2 e.g. Vita St. Geraldi (t 1 090) : " Sumptis . . . sacrosanctis dominiei
Corporis et Sanguinis . . . sacramentis." (AA.SS., April 5th.) Vita
St. Theotonii (f 1 1 66) : " Sacramento Domini Corporis et Sanguinis se
munivit." (AA.SS., February 18th.)
It may be of interest to add a few notices of the last communion
to show the various expressions commonly used in this connection at the
period. Pope Leo IX (t 1054) died, " munitus Corporis et Sanguinis
Domini communione." (Acta, auct. Wiberto 11. 6. P.L. cxliii. 503.)
Of the death of St. Bernard the Penitent (t 1 182) it is said : " et
primo quidem, ut moris est, Corpore et Sanguine illius cuius ipse erat
membrum eum munientes . . ." (AA.SS., April 1 9th.) In the thirteenth-
century Life of St. Notker Balbulus : " munitus est viatico sacrosancti
mysterii Corporis et Sanguinis Christi." (AA.SS., April 6th.)
Hugh de Flavigny's Life of the Abbot Richard (eleventh century) :
"viatico coelesti pastus." (AA.SS., June 14th.) St. Odilo (t 1049) :
" Salutaris Eucharistiae sacramenta percepit." (Vita, AA.SS., January
1st.) "Guarinum abbatem Uticensem . . . dominiei salvifica percep
tione." (Twelfth century, AA.SS., February 6th.) St. Gilbert of Sem-
pringham (t 1 1 89) received the communion " Corporis Domini " (Vita,
AA.SS., February 4th); St. Hildegund (tn88), "Corpore dominico
sibi dato." And her mother died, " accepto sacrosancto dominiei Corporis
viatico." (Vita, AA.SS., April 2nd.) St. William of Bourges (t 1209) :
"coelesti pane refici instantissime postulavit." (AA.SS., January 10th.)

The Sacrament Reserved 167
Naturally the practical results of contemporary theo
logical development made their way and established
themselves more rapidly in some places than in others.
We may believe that changes in the manner of com
municating affected the religious houses more slowly
than the secular churches. The tendency of monasticism
in such matters is conservative. Yet it is to monastic
sources that we must go if we wish to have a full record
of these changes.
From successive Consuetudines of one monastery alone
(the famous house of Cluny) we are able to gather an
interesting series of directions for the communion of sick
brethren and of others to whom the monks were called
upon from time to time to minister.
A study of these directions will serve to show how
unsettled at this period were the customs in use at
communion, open and clinical ; and, at the same time,
to indicate the general drift towards the use of the
eucharistic Bread alone as sufficient at all times for par
ticipation in the sacrament.
We have first a set of customs from the first half of the
eleventh century that until lately were supposed to have
originated at Farfa, but in fact belong to Cluny.1 These
contain rather bare statements to the effect that, after
Unction has been administered, the Host (Qorpus Domini)
is to be fetched for the invalid from the church where
it is reserved, and to be brought into his presence with
some ceremony ; that the invalid is to raise himself as
well as he can, out of reverence for the Eucharist ;
and that the priest shall communicate him, and then
wash his (own) fingers in wine. Who is to consume
these ablutions is not stated.2
1 ReVue Benedictine xvii. pp. 164, 165 ; xxiv. pp. 374-385. Cited by
Miss R. Graham, Relation of Cluny to some other (Movements of Monastic
Reform, J. T. S. xv. No. 58, January, 1914, whose conclusions are followed
in the text.
2 " Consuetudines Farfenses " : " dum hec patrantur sacerdos cum
quattuor conversis pergat in ecclesiam et tollat inde Corpus Domini et
calicem desuper opertum mappula, et duo conversi accipiant candelabra,
tertius turibulum et quartus ampullam cum vino, et tunc veniant hos
psalmos decantando, (Miserere mei Deus, Deus in nomine tuo, Deus misereatur,
Deus in adjutorium. Cum domum intrare caeperint omnes flectant genua
contra dominicum Corpus, etiam ipse infirmus in quantum se valet erigere,

1 68 The Sacrament Reserved
But while no mention is made in these Consuetudines
of any other kind than the Bread, we learn from Udalric,
who wrote about the same time, that while at the open
communion the Hosts were intincted in the consecrated
Wine before being delivered to each communicant,1 in
communicating the sick the Host was dipped in a«con-
secrated wine.2 The discrepancies between these two
almost contemporary accounts may be due to the fact
that Udalric's version is a recension of earlier Consuetu
dines compiled by a writer named Bernard. At the same
time, we must believe that Udalric describes the practice
with which he was himself familiar.3
Toward the end of the century William, Abbot of
Hirschau, who wished to form his house on the Cluny
model, and was not content with the customs that Udalric
had composed, sent to the house for further information.
et tunc communicet eum, ac profundat digitum suum cum vino. Psalmos
denique expletos dicant Kyrie eleison, Christe, Kyrie. Pater noster. Ca-
pitula : Ostende nobis, Mitte ei dominus, Nichil proficiat inimicus, Esto ei
domine turris fortitudinis, et hanc orationem, Deus, qui famulo tuo Szechia,
et alias quae sequuntur. Post hec osculetur isdem infirmus crucem atque
omnes fratres etiam infantes. His expletis incipiat abbas psalmum,
Miserere mei Deus ; et sic omnes cum silentio recedant." (Albers,
Consuetudines Monasticae, I, p. 1 9 1.)
1 Antiquiores Consuetud. Cluniacens. II. 30 : " debent autem singuli
ita se scutellae adjungere ut si forte inter sumendum Corpus Domini
aliquando vel de ore sumentis vel de manu porrigentis lapsum fuerit,
nisi in scutellam cadere non potest. Quotquot autem ipsum Corpus
sacrum dederit singulis Sanguine prius intinguit." (D'Achery, Spicileg.
I. p. 678.)
2 ibid. III. 28: "Si autem communionem sacram percepturus est,
tunc ab alio dicuntur praefatae collectae, et ipse interim sacerdos, cruce
et aqua benedicta remanentibus, redit cum geminis candelabris ad eccle
siam ut Corpus Domini apportet, quod accepturus prius veniam petit
et prius incensat, frangit, et partem quam allaturus est, super calicem
tenet ; et tam ipse calix, quam manus sacerdotis, linteolo candidissimo
cooperitur. Quicumque illi obviaverint, veniam petunt. Interea curatur
ut infirmi bucca lavetur recepturi ipsum Corpus Domini, quod recipit
vino intinctum : quo epotato, ebibit quoque ablutionem calicis et secundo
ablutionem digitorum sacerdotis et adhuc tertio calicis. Adhibetur illi
crux ut earn osculetur : osculatur etiam quasi ultimum vale facturus, primo
sacerdotem, deinde omnes fratres, ipsos quoque pueros. Redit conventus
rursus imposito L psalmo." (D'Achery, op. cit. p. 700.)
3 It is possible that the Corpus Domini of the first-mentioned Consuetu
dines is the intincted Eucharist, cf. the language of the twelfth-century
monastic ordo ad communicandum infirmum given above, p. 139.

The Sacrament Reserved 169
He then drew up a new and wordy code in which Udalric's
version and other sources were laid under contribution and
expanded. In this there is no mention whatever of in
tinction at the mass. Host and chalice are ministered
separately, and augmentation of the Wine is permitted.1
But the Host is still steeped in common wine for the
communion of the sick.2
Only a few years later, somewhere between 1 1 09 and
1 1 18, Pope Paschal II, who was in frequent correspon
dence with the Abbots of Cluny, insisted, in a letter to the
Abbot Pontius, that the two eucharistic elements should be
1 0»rt7. Hirsaugiens. I. 84 : " statim (scil. sacerdos, accepta Corporis
dominiei portione) diacono Corpus Domini tribuit ac deinde ipse san
guinem sumit et calicem diacono dat. Cum quo ille mox in competentem
locum secedit, ut ipse, et si quis de fratribus Corpus Domini sumpsit,
de eodem Sanguine Domini communicare possint. Deinde vero sub
diaconus Corpus Domini accipit, et post eum omnes qui volunt, ac novis-
sime minister, qui tenet scutellam si quid remanet . . . debent autem
singuli scutellae ita se adiungere ut si forte inter sumendum aliquando
Corpus Domini vel de ore sumentis vel de manu tribuentis lapsum fuerit
non nisi in scutellam cadere possit . . . postquam autem subdiaconus
Corpus Domini acceperit, statim ad diaconum cum arundine et ampulla
venit, de qua vinum in calicem fundit cum Sanguinem deinde a bibentibus
minui viderit . . . postquam omnes dominico Sanguini communicaverint
qui Corpus Domini acceperant, novissime ministro defertur, ut et ipse
de eodem Domini Sanguine bibat, si tamen Corpus Domini acceperat :
nam ex usu non communicat, nisi aliqua pars Corporis Domini remaneat."
(P.L. cl. 1013, 1014.)
2 ibid. II. 72 : " si autem res exigit ut Corpus Domini accepturus sit,
tunc armario designante, alius sacerdos easdem collectas prosequitur et
sacerdos interim, cruce et aqua benedicta remanentibus, redit cum geminis
candelabris ad ecclesiam ut Corpus Domini apportet. Ibi denuo lotis
manibus vinum et aquam calici infundit et priusquam illud accipiat tantum
inclinat, et pixide, in qua Corpus Domini, quod reconditum est, super
altare posita, crucem cum incenso quod sacrista interim ad hoc paravit
desuper facit, et Corpus Domini, quod super calicem frangit et partem
quam delaturus est, super calicem tenet, et tarn manus sacerdotis quam
ipse calix linteo candidissimo per armarium cooperitur ; item ut prius
imposito psalmo Laudate revertitur. Cui etiam, si opus est, psalmus
Deus in nomine tuo, et Miserere mei Deus adduntur. Quoscumque pertran-
sierit, vel qui illi obviaverint, veniam petunt. Nee minus interim curatur,
ut os infirmi lavetur. Recepturus Domini Corpus confessionem dicit,
sacerdote caeterisque respondentibus, Misereatur vestri. Quo dicto sub-
iungit sacerdos, Indulgentiam, etc. Recipiet autem intinctum de vino.
Sed deinde hausto eodem vino, ebibit quoque ablutionem calicis, et
secundo ablutionem digitorum sacerdotis et adhuc tertio calicis," etc.
(P.L. cl 1 133.) z

170 The Sacrament Reserved
delivered separately at communion. He allowed depart
ure from this rule only in the case of such infants as
the monks baptized, and of the sick who could not swallow.
In these circumstances the Wine alone need be used.1
Later in the same century, perhaps about the year
1 132, the Abbot Peter the Venerable undertook a reform
of the monastery, and a new set of Consuetudines, under
the title of Statuta, was put forth. In this version wine
is still used for moistening the Host at clinical communion,
but it is to be mixed with water.2 If the intention of
Paschal II was to do away with Intinction altogether, it
seems that his ruling was disregarded.
Closely associated with the Cluny customs are Lanfranc's
Statutes, written c. 1077. They contain no mention of the
intincted species, except in the Presanctified ; and in pre-
1 Epist. (85) ad Pontium : ". . . scribens ad Caecilium B. Cyprian us
ait : ' Quando aliquid Deo inspirante et mandante praecipitur, necesse
est Domino servus fidelis obtemperet, excusatus apud omnes quod nihil
sibi arroganter assumet, ne aliud flat a nobis quam quod pro nobis Dominus
prior fecit.' Igitur in sumendo Corpore et Sanguine Domini, juxta
eundem Cyprianum, dominica traditio servetur, nee ab eo quod Christus
magister et praecepit et gessit, humana et novella institutione discedatur.
Novimus enim per se panem per se vinum ab ipso Domino traditum.
Quern morem sic semper in sancta ecclesia conservandum docemus atque
praecipimus, praeter in parvulis ac omnino infirmis, qui panem absorbere
non possunt ; quibus satis communicare in Sanguine." (P.L. clxiii.
442.) 2 Statuta 5 : "Si autem communionem suscepturus est, tunc ab alio
dicuntur praefatae collectae et ipse (scil. sacerdos) . . . per parlatonum ad
ecclesiam redit, comitante armario . . . postquam in ecclesiam venerint,
unum de quotidianis calicibus in armario accipit vel ipse sacerdos vel
armarius, prius tamen lotis manibus, et vinum et aquam ac si missa cantari
inde deberet, infundit ; tunc sacerdos ad maius altare super quod Corpus
Domini servatur accedit, et priusquam accipiat incensat. Postmodum
accipiens frangit super ipsum calicem et illam partem quam allaturus est
super calicem tenet ; aliam in pixide reponit et tunc ab armario tarn
manus sacerdotis quam ipse calix linteo mundissimo cooperiuntur. Si
tunc conventus in choro est, quando discedit ab altari, totus veniam pro
reverentia dominiei Corporis petit ; similiter ubicumque viderint eum
fratres transeuntem faciunt. Interea curatur ut infirmi bucca lavetur
recepturi ipsum dominicum Corpus. Priusquam accipiat, Confiteor dicit,
et fratribus in commune respondentibus, Misereatur vestri, solus sacerdos
prosequitur, Indulgentiam et remissionem, etc. Ipsum autem Domini Cor
pus in vino aqua mixto intinguitur, quo epotato ebibit quoque ablutionem
calicis et, si potest, ablutionem digitorum sacerdotis et adhuc calicis ; si non
potest, alius ebibit. Adhibetur quoque ei crux," etc. (Quoted by Mar
tene, De Ant. Monach. Rit. V. viii. 19.)

The Sacrament Reserved 171
scribing for the communion of the sick no details of the
rite are supplied.1
For the next century we may cite the Customs of
Citeaux, and here we find that both kinds are separately
administered in the mass,2 while the one kind of Bread
is used for the sick.3 There does not appear to be any
1 Statuta, c. 23: " quo facto, dictis collectis, quae sequuntur, vadat
sacerdos praecedentibus duobus conversis cum candelabris, vadat [scil.
ad ecclesiam pro Sacramento] et tertius ad thuribulum deferendum, quibus
revertentibus flexis genibus adorent omnes Corpus Domini, quod a sacer
dote affertur ; quo allato, abluto prius ore eius communicetur infirmus,
nisi forte ipsa die communicatus sit." (P.L. cl. 509.)
2 Consuetudines 53:"... sacerdos communicet diaconum et subdiaconum
de tercia parte hostie, deinde de aliis hostiis ceteros qui communicaturi sunt.
Provideat autem quantum poterit ne aliqua pars dominiei Corporis remaneat.
Diaconus . . . convenienter aperto ore percipiat Corpus Domini. Quo
percepto surgat et supplicet ; similiter et subdiaconus. Quod postquam
fecerit sumens fistulam si tunc necessaria est, eat ad sinistram partem per
retro altare. Quod si tunc necessaria non fuerit sequatur diaconum. Qui
diaconus veniens ante calicem inclinet et ad nutum sacerdotis accipiat
ilium, sumatque sanguinem eadem parte qua et sacerdos ; nee tangat earn
manu donee vino abluatur. Quod si unus vel duo tantum post eum com
municaturi sunt, ministret eis Sanguinem eadem parte calicis qua ipse
recepit, ita ut ipse dextra manu calicem tenens sinistram mento illorum
subponat. . . . Quod si plures fuerint, diaconus percepto Sanguine
ibidem ponat calicem super sinistrum cornu altaris tenens ilium, subdia
cono sibi assistente atque adiuvante, hoc modo, scilicet ut dextram manum
teneat expansam juxta labium calicis deforis, sinistra vero teneat pedem
ipsius calicis. Diaconus autem teneat utraque manu in calice fistulam
a subdiacono antea preparatam. Qui subdiaconus percipiat Sanguinem
cum fistula priusquam se componat ad tenendum calicem eo modo quo
diximus. Dum autem fratres percipiunt Sanguinem," etc. (Guignard,
Rkgle Cistercienne, p. 148.)
Reception sub utraque specie at mass was limited by General Chapter
(1198) to the sacred ministers: "diebus quoque quibus monachi com
municaturi sunt, possunt ad missas privatas communicare vel ubi abbas
decreverit faciendum ; nulla tamen persona Ordinis nostri, exceptis minis-
tris indutis sacris vestibus, ad sacrum calicem de caetero pro percipiendo
Sanguine accedere praesumat, propter periculum et scandalum evitandum."
(Nomasticon Cisterc. (Ant. Definit.), p. 406.)
3 Consuetudines 93 : " Quodsi statim communicari debuerit, eat cum
ministris ad ecclesiam qui eum perunxit, aut alius pro eo si necesse fuerit.
Et ablutis manibus in piscina deferat sacram Communionem cum calice
offertorio cooperto, preeunte cruce, lumine, aqua benedicta. Alius etiam
inter lumen et aquam deferat ampullam vinariam ad conspergendos digitos
in calice. . . . Sacerdos vero dicat ei, Ecce frater CorPus Domini nostri
Ihesu XPI quod tibi deferimus. Credis hoc esse illud in quo est salus Vita et
resurrectio nostra ? Quo respondente Credo, moneat eum dicere Confiteor

172 The Sacrament Reserved
trace of the custom of steeping the Host in unconsecrated
liquid, either for purely practical purposes or with the
intention of hallowing the wine e contactu hostiae. A draught
of ablutions twice repeated is prescribed as a sequel to
communion.1 One or two liturgical points call for remark. There
were in use formulae of administration in which precise
statements as to the conjoint nature of the sacrament occur.
Such, for example, are those given in documents from
Milan and elsewhere. The rite ad baptismum gravitalem of
the Manuale Ambrosianum (eleventh century) contains the
form : " the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, intincted with
His Blood, preserve thy soul to life eternal."2 Another
MS. of similar provenance and approximately equal date
enjoins the use of the same words at a sick communion.3
A fuller form is prescribed in a Bobbio MS. : " the Body
of our Lord Jesus Christ anointed (and) intincted with His
Blood cleanse thee from all sin and preserve thy soul to
eternal life." 4 In none of these is there any indication,
apparently, as to which sort of intinction is intended. In a
twelfth-century monastic source from Rheinau, cited by
si monachus est. Quo dicto sacerdos cum his qui aderunt dicat, Mise-
reatur tui ; et postea solus subiungat Indulgentiam et remissionem. Deinde
communicet eum dicens : Corpus Domini nostri Ihesu XPI custodiat te in
vitam aeternam." (Guignard, op. cit. p. 205.)
1 ibid. 100: " Quando hospitalis viderit hospitem debere communicari,
dicat priori. Qui provideat quis sacerdos hoc faciat, et qui cum eo eant.
Sacerdos vero ablutis manibus indutus alba stola et manipulo, sumat
partem dominiei Corporis de vasculo in quo reservatur. Quam tenens
super calicem, utraque manu offertorio cooperta, eat ad infirmum fratribus
preeuntibus. . . . Cum autem venerint ad infirmum, inquirens fidem
eius communicet eum sacerdos. Postea aspergat digitos suos vino in
calice. Quod ministret ei tenens sinistram manum sub mento illius.
Et iterum liniens calicem vino, det ei," etc. (ibid. pp. 217, 218.)
2 " Corpus Domini nostri Ihesu Christi Sanguine suo tinctum conservet
animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen." (Mon. Vet. Liturg. Ambros.
pt. II. p. 473.) This formula occurs again in the eleventh-century
Sacramentary of O^arbonne, printed by Martene (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii.
art. 4, ordo 13).
3 Cited by Sala in his edition of Bona (Bonae Opera. II. 18, § 3) :
" Communica eum et die : Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Sanguine suo
tinctum, conserVet animam tuam in Vitam aeternam."
4 Cited by the same author (he. cit.) : " Corpus Domini nostri Jesu
Christi Sanguine suo inlitum intinctam (sic) mundet te ab omni peccato et
conservet animam tuam in vitam aeternam."

The Sacrament Reserved 173
Gerbert, the Host has probably been reserved in an intincted
state : " after unction of the invalid, let the priest wash his
hands and bring forth the Body of the Lord, psalms being
sung the while. Then the priest says the Our Father, etc.,
and two prayers ; and after these have been said, let him
communicate the sick man while the brethren stand. And
before he communicates him, the priest shall say : The
Body of our Lord Jesus Christ intincted with His Blood
cleanse thee from all sin and preserve thy soul to eternal
life." : Such forms as these could not of course survive
the abolition of intinction.
More commonly the words of delivery used during this
period take the form in which both species are named
together as the subject of a singular verb. It is probable,
as has been suggested elsewhere, that this type was originally
devised to accompany delivery of the Eucharistia intincta in
some shape. But it is evident that after the sufficiency of
communion in one kind had been expressly stated, these
forms were equally suitable to the administration of a non-
intincted Host. For this reason they continued in use
long after Intinction had become obsolete. Formulae of
this type are, therefore, untrustworthy after a certain date
for determining the actual mode of sick or other com
munion. If we are right in supposing them to have
originated in connection with intinction, it is impossible to
ascertain at what date words of delivery, that name both
species together, ceased to correspond with actual practice.
As we have seen, there was great variety of custom.
The CMissal of Robert of Jumieges (early eleventh century)
contains English rubrics in the communion of the sick,
one of which has this sense : " Then let him taste of God's
Body and Blood, thus saying " ; but a prayer replaces the
customary words of administration.2 Somewhat later a
'Pontifical of Salzburg retains the usual " Gregorian " rubrics
1 Vetus Liturg. p. 487 : " Peruncto infirmo lavet sacerdos manus suas
et educat Corpus Domini, dum canuntur psalmi. Postea dicit sacerdos
Pater noster, etc., cum duabus orationibus. Hie finitis communicet infirmum
stantibus fratribus. Et antequam communicet, dicat sacerdos : Corpus
Domini nostri Jesu Chtisti intinctum Sanguine suo mundet ab omni peccato et
conservet animam tuam in Vitam aeternam."
2 " Onbypie |>onne gooes lichoman 7 blober J>us cpefcenbe : Domine,
Sancte Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus, te fideliter deprecamur," etc.
(Missal of Robert of Jumieges : H.B.S. 1896, pp. lxxi, lxxii, and 294).

174 The Sacrament Reserved
in the rite of clinical communion, and the words of delivery
are still : "The Body and the Blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ preserve (custodiat) thy soul," etc. ; J and the early
twelfth-century Regula Clericorum provides for the adminis
tration of " Christ's Body and Blood " as "Viaticum.2 If it is
probable that these examples (and many others could be
given) illustrate the persistence of language originally asso
ciated with an obsolescent custom, there is no doubt about
the fact in, e.g. the thirteenth-century Ordines of Fleury and
Pontlevy.3 Early instances of forms that omit any mention of the
sacred Blood are the monastic ordo of Moissac, which has
merely the rubric, Then let the Lord's Body be communicated ; 4
and the Cambrai Pontifical, probably of twelfth-century
date, where the directions are : " Then let the priest com
municate him, and let him say, The Body of our Lord
Jesus Christ preserve thy soul," etc.S
Here this part of our inquiry comes to an end. It is
important to note again, in conclusion, that the factors
1 " Oratio ante perceptionem eucharistiae : Corpus et Sanguis Domini
nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. 1$?. Amen.
Ac deinde : Pax et communicatio Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat
animam tuam in vitam aeternam." (Mart., De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii. 4,
ordo 15.)
2 Petrus de Honestis, Reg. Cleric. II. 22 : "Quod si languor magis
magisque increverit, per presbyteros aqua benedicta aspersi, oleo sancto
perungantur et Christi Corporis et Sanguinis perceptione muniantur."
(P.L. clxiii. 727.)
3 Ordo of Fleury : " Expletis his orationibus, infirmus lavato ore accipiat
Corpus Domini," followed by the prayer, "Domine Sancte . . . te
suppliciter deprecamur pro infirmo accipiente eucharistiam sacrosancti
Corporis et Sanguinis Filii tui," etc. (Martene, op. cit. I. vii. 4, ordo 23.)
In the Ordo of Pontlevy (Martene, u.s. ordo 24) a similar prayer precedes
the act of communion. The rubric, Hie detur infirmo sacrificium ita dicendo,
recalls the language of the Bk. of Deer. Alternative forms are provided :
" Corpus et Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi," etc., and " Accipe viaticum
Corporis et Sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui te custodiat ab hoste
maligno et perducat ad vitam aeternam et resuscitet in novissimo die."
The thanksgiving prayer that follows has " Celtic " affinities : " quern
refecisti, Domine, coelesti mysterio Corporis et Sanguinis Jesu Christi,"
etc. 4 " Benedictio ab uno sacerdote dicenda : Tunc communicetur Corpus
Domini. Benedicat te Deus Pater," etc. (Martene, u.s. ordo 11.)
s " Tunc communicat eum sacerdos et dicat : Corpus Domini nostri
Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam," etc. The two elements are named
in the following prayer. (Mart., u.s. ordo 19.)

The Sacrament Reserved 175
which led to the withholding from the laity of their ancient
privilege of receiving communion under both species at
the mass, brought about the resumption of primitive
custom in the communion of the sick. The intincted
Host was no longer employed : the Bread alone, as in early
times, sufficed. The only form of Intinction that still
lingered a little while was that simple and primitive variety,
of which the sole purpose was to facilitate deglutition ; l
and before long this expedient was replaced by the practice
of administering a draught of unconsecrated liquid after
communion to ensure the total consumption of the Host.2
1 On which Giraldus Cambrensis has the following note (Gemma
Ecclesiast. I. 9) : " Nullus panem intinctum accipiat excepto sacerdote con-
secrante (i.e. at the commixture) et excepto infirmo, qui propter ariditatem
aliter nequeat deglutire. Et nota quamvis viaticum in specie panis pro
infirmis servetur, non tamen in specie vini, turn quia cito corrumpitur, turn
quia cito effunditur, turn etiam quia sub una specie utrumque accipitur."
(R.S. 21. II. p. 29.)
2 Not only, of course, in connection with clinical communion. Arch
bishop Peckham (Constitutiones) refers to the use of a draught of wine after
communion at mass, which became the general custom (purificatio oris) :
" Attendant insuper sacerdotes quod cum Communionem sacram porrigunt
simplicibus Paschali tempore vel alio, sollicite eos instruant sub panis specie
simul eis dari Corpus et Sanguinem Domini, immo Christum integrum
vivum et verum qui totus est sub specie Sacramenti. Doceant eosdem,
quod id quod eisdem in calice propinatur, non est Sacramentum, sed vinum
purum eis hauriendum traditum, ut facilius sacrum Corpus glutiant quod
ceperunt. Solis enim celebrantibus Sanguinem sub specie vini consecrati
sumere in hujus modi minoribus ecclesiis est concessum." (P.L. clxxxvi.
1056.) Contrast with this the canon issued by the Synod of Durham
(c. 1220), in which the laity are expected to communicate from the chalice.
(Wilkins, op. cit. I. 578.)
Without digressing too far from the point in question, we may remark
that the Rule of St. Benedict had already provided for the "purificatio oris "
after communicating : " Frater autem lector hebdomadarius accipiat mixtum
prius quam incipiat legere, propter Communionem sanctam et ne forte
grave sit ei jejunium sustinere." (c. 38.) Mixtum is a draught of wine
and water or a portion of bread and wine (cf. c. 35), allowed to the reader,
not only lest his task should prove too fatiguing if undertaken fasting, but also
to prevent any unintentional irreverence after reception of the Eucharist.
cf. Regula ZMagistri (seventh century) xxiv. : " Ipse suum merum propter
sputum Sacramenti accipiat et tunc incipiat legere." (P.L. Ixxxviii. 992.)

CHAPTER XI
Communion in the Sole Species of Wine
THE adequacy of sacramental communion in the single
species of Wine is asserted in every careful statement
made in the interest of the developed mediaeval theory of
concomitance.1 But here again, as in the separate use of
the eucharistic Bread, ancient custom had anticipated the
conclusions of the Schoolmen. From early times the
sacrament was thus administered to infants ; and there are
scattered allusions also to the occasional use of this method
in communicating sick or unconscious adults.
For infant communion in this fashion in the third
century we have the testimony of St. Cyprian. He tells
of a little child who, after having been made to partake of
an idolatrous sacrifice, refused the chalice at the Liturgy.2
His description of the incident suggests that it was then
customary for infants to receive the eucharistic Wine in
the open communion at the same time that their parents
communicated after the usual manner. St. Augustine, who
appears on the whole to have held the view that communion
is generally necessary to the salvation of infants,-alludes to
reception of the Eucharist in this one, as well as in both
kinds, immediately after Baptism. 3 It does not appear from
1 See notes to chap. x.
2 de lapsis 25: " ubi vero sollemnibus adimpletis calicem diaconus
offerre praesentibus coepit et accipientibus ceteris locus eius advenit, faciem
suam parvula instinctu divinae maiestatis avertere, os labiis obdurantibus
premere, calicem recusare. Perstitit tamen diaconus et reluctanti licet de
sacramento calicis infudit. Tunc sequitur singultus et vomitus. In corpore
atque ore violato eucharistia permanere non potuit, sanctificatus in Domini
Sanguine potus de pollutis visceribus erupit." (Hartel iii. p. 255.)
cf. also Ep. (63) ad Caecil, 8 : "per baptisma Spiritus Sanctus accipi
tur, et sic baptizatis et Spiritum Sanctum consecutis ad bibendum calicem
Domini pervenitur." (Hartel iii. p. 707.)
3 Contra Julian op. imperf. ii. c. 30 (T.L. xlv. 1 1 54) ; Serm. clxxiv. 6
(P.L. xxxviii. 944).
Contra duas epistol. pelagian. I. 22. (P.L. xliv. 570.)
176

The Sacrament Reserved 177
his works that communion was ever repeated during
infancy ; ' nor was this ever the early custom anywhere.1
According to the interpretation of the canon of Toledo
xi (a.d. 675) adopted in the text of this work, the actual
use of the single species of Wine is not there intended,2 but
the use of an accompanying draught from the chalice was
likely to lead on to the employment of the Wine alone for
the communion of those who were unable to swallow the
Host, especially in areas where intinction in any form was
regarded with disapproval. Some writers have seen a
reference to sole administration of the Wine in another
canon dealing with clinical communion, the date and origin
of which are not certainly known. It is, however, doubtful
whether this is the sense of the injunction to "pour the
Eucharist into the mouth " 3 of an unconscious penitent.
The Gelasian Sacramentary 4 and the early forms of the
" Gregorian " Service books 5 provide for the communion
of babes after their initiation, but do not seem to contem
plate the use of the Wine by itself for this purpose. Perhaps
the growing fashion of intinction may account for this.6
Familiarity with infant or sick communion in the
liquid species seems to explain what is narrated, in the
ninth-century Life of St. Anskar of Bremen, of a certain
woman named Fridburga, who lived far from a church, and
in view of her death devised a makeshift for viaticum.
1 Epist. (217) ad Vital, pelag. (P.L. xxxiii. 984.) 2 Seep. 122.
3 It contains the phrase " infundatur ori eius eucharistia." See pp. 144,
'45- Contrast Qan. 3 * °f ^Elfnc's Canons '¦ " They will give the housel to
the sick if they are able to swallow, but not to a man who is half dead, for
Christ meant that men should eat it as food." (Thorpe, op. cit. p. 446.)
* Sacr. Gelas. I. 75 : " postea, si fuerit oblata, agendae sunt missae, et
communicat ; sin autem, dabis ei tantum sacramenta Corporis et Sanguinis
Christi, dicens : Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi sit tibi in vitam aeternam."
(Wilson, p. 117.) The infant is here baptized in sickness.
s e.g. in the appendices to Muratori's Sacramentum Gregorian, where
immediately after baptism and chrism follows : " et vestitur infans vestimentis
suis. Si vero episcopus adest, statim confirmari eum oportet chrismati, et postea
communicare. Et si episcopus deest, communicetur a presbytero, dicente
ita : Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat te in vitam aeternam. Amen."
This takes place on Easter Even. (Muratori, Lit. Rom. Vet. ii. 158.)
6 There is of course abundant evidence that infants were frequently
communicated in both kinds. See, for a discussion of this question,
D.C.A. I. pp. 835 ff. s.v. Infant Communion ; HergenrOther u. Kaulen,
Kirchenlexicon vii. 460 f. s.v. Kindercommunion. 2 A

178 The Sacrament Reserved
" Out of her affection for the sacrifice," so the story tells,
"which she had heard was the "Viaticum of Christian folk,
she caused a little wine to be set aside in a phial. This she
entrusted to her daughter to the intent that whenever her
last hour should come some of this wine might be poured
into her mouth — for she lacked the sacrifice — and that thus
she might commend her passing to the grace of the Lord.
And she kept this wine by her for the space of nearly three
years." l In the end, we are told, she received the last com
munion in the normal way at the hands of a priest.
Passing on to the twelfth century, when concomitance was
much to the fore, we find that a writer of the period, Robert
Paululus, speaking of newly-baptized children, remarks :
"If they are able to do so, they should receive the sacrament
of unity, that is, the Body and Blood of Christ ; but to
infants lately born, the same sacrament is to be administered
in the species of the Blood by means of the priest's finger,
because they can suck naturally."2 He disapproves of the
practice by which common wine was substituted for the
consecrated species ; and adds, " that if, in reserving the
Blood of Christ, or in administering it to the children, any
risk is involved, it seems better that the custom should be
discontinued." 3 Pope Paschal II, in his letter to the
1 Vita S. Anscharii. 32:" Ipsa amore Sacrificii quod audierat viaticum
esse Christianorum, de vino aliquantulum in quodam fecit reservari vasculo :
et filiae suae in fide commendans ut siquando ei ultimum tempus instaret,
de ipso vino, quia sacrificium non habebat, ei in os distillaretur, ut sic
Domini gratiae exitum suum commendaret : illud itaque vinum tribus fere
annis apud earn conservatum est." (P.L. cxviii. 982.)
2 de Caer%mon^s L 2° : " Si ejus valetudinis est, sacramenta unitatis, id
est, Corpus et Sanguinem Christi accipere debent. Pueris recens natis
idem sacramentum in specie Sanguinis est ministrandum digito sacerdotis,
quia tales naturaliter sugere possunt." (P.L. clxxvii. 392.) This treatise
is included among the works of Hugo of St. Victor. A leaf is allowed as a
substitute for the finger by the rubric giving directions for infant Commu
nion in the Pontifical of the Latin Church at Apamea : " Communicantur
pueri qui nondum noverunt comedere vel bibere sive cum folio sive cum
digito intincto in Sanguine Domini et posito in ore ipsorum, sacerdote ita
dicente : Corpus cum Sanguine Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat te in vitam
aeternam. Amen." (Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. i. art. 18, ordo 15.)
3 ibid. ; " unde ignorantia presbytorum adhuc formam retenens sed non
rem dat eis loco Sanguinis vinum, quod penitus supervacuum arbitrarer, si
sine scandalo simplicium dimitti potest. Si autem in reservando Sanguinem
Christi vel in ministrando pueris immineat periculum potius supersedendum
videtur." (P.L. clxxvii. 392 ut s.)

The Sacrament Reserved 179
Abbot of Cluny in the same century, permits the use of the
eucharistic Wine alone in communicating infants and adults
in the extremity of sickness, forbidding at the same time
the employment in such cases of the intincted Host ; ' and
other authorities of this age might be quoted as favouring
the same expedient.2
Ultimately, as part of the discipline by which com
munion in the chalice was altogether withdrawn from the
laity, the practice disappeared in the West. It was super
seded locally by the custom to which Paululus alludes, in
which a drop of unconsecrated wine was administered in a
similar fashion immediately after Baptism. 3
As for the East, the peculiar form of intinction there
commonly in use allows conjoint delivery of both species to
an infant. But Goar remarks that in his day, " in practice,
although the rule is otherwise, the Eucharist is given to
infants under the species of Wine alone."4 Apart from
this statement no precise information seems to have been
recorded concerning the genuine use in the Orthodox
churches of the species of the chalice pro complemento com
munionis. According to Gabriel the Sionite, the separated
bodies, Nestorians, Jacobites, Armenians, and Maronites,
were accustomed to use the Wine alone for infant com
munion. 5
1 See above, p. 170.
2 e.g. William de Champeaux (de Sacrament. Altaris) : " . . . infantulis
mox baptizatis solus calix datur, quia pane uti non possunt, et in calice
totum Christum accipiunt." (P.L. clxiii. 1039.) For adults, Robert
Pullen (Sentent. viii. 3) : " dubiumque non est quin si cui, ut facilius
insumatur, pervalde infirmo Sanguis infunditur, satisfactum sit commu-
nioni." (P.L. clxxxvi. 963.)
3 Traces of infant communion in the sole species of Wine lasted long.
According to HergenriJther u. Kaulen (Kirchenlexicon. vii. 462), a Manual
of Amiens, dated 1524, orders the administration of common wine to
newly-baptized infants, the delivery to be accompanied by the formula :
" Corpus et Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat te in vitam
aeternam." Thalhofer (Handbuch der Kathol. Liturg. I. p. 289) quotes,
as seventeenth-century custom at Cologne, the following : " Praemissis
omnibus ad baptisterium rite peractis, sacerdos procedat ad altare, et si
baptizatus est adultus communicet ; sin infans, ponat sacerdos de vino in
os ejus, dicens : N. hujus vini perceptio sit tibi in salutem aeternam corporis et
animae." 4 Cited by D.C.A. I. 837 : " Annot. Nihusii ad Allatii Dissert, de
(Missa Praesanct. ad fin ; (Allat. de occ. et or. consent, col. 1659)."
s D.C.A. u.s.

180 The Sacrament Reserved
Early custom and later doctrine agree in witness to the
belief that, when circumstances make it necessary to admin
ister the Eucharist thus to those who are unable to receive
it in any other manner, the use of the consecrated Wine
secures the full benefit of sacramental communion. It was
necessary to produce some evidence for this belief before
asking the question, whether the Eucharist was ever
reserved in this form.
Reservation of the Wine is undoubtedly associated with
two occasions.
i. In the earliest known form of the "Presanctified,"
provided for those who wished to communicate on non-
liturgical days, we have seen that both elements were used
separately. They must therefore have been separately
reserved until the customs of "sacramental," and later,
of " consecratory," intinction paved the way for the entire
omission of the second species from this rite.1 But reser
vation in connection with this service would not at any
time be a continuous affair. Moreover, before the use
of the Wine disappeared in the West from the " Presanc
tified," it was, at last, reserved only from the mass of
Maundy Thursday until the following morning ; while, with
the adoption of intinction among the Easterns, the separate
reservation of the Wine for use in communion on non-litur
gical days became obsolete in that part of the Church also.
2. In order to communicate those who were baptized
on Easter Even, it was customary at Constantinople in the
fourth century to set aside at the Liturgy on Maundy
Thursday a supply of the two sacred elements for this
purpose. This we learn from St. John Chrysostom ;2 and
there is no reason to suppose that this practice was confined
to that one area of Christendom. The existence of altars
in the baptisteries of basilicas, where these were situated at
some distance from the main building, points to the close
connection which was at one time universally recognized
between baptism and first communion. It is very pro
bable that altars in this position served at seasons of public
baptism as suitable places from which distribution of the
Eucharist might take place. 3
Still, chiefly in association with Baptism, we find injunc-
1 See chap. vii. 2 Epist. ad Innocent. Papam 33. See p. 108.
3 See chap. xiii.

The Sacrament Reserved 181
tions or permissions issued in the twelfth century regarding
the use of the single species of Wine for communicating
infants and others ; and the question arises whether it was
constantly reserved for this purpose. Paululus certainly
warns priests against incurring the risk of accident to the
chalice by attempting to reserve. Judging from the context,
this reservation must be allowed to mean more than a mere
delay of the ablutions until after opportunity had been
given for any newly-christened infant present at the mass
to be communicated in the Wine hallowed in the service.1
The contents of the chalice are evidently supposed to be
kept for some space of time. But in the absence of more
precise information than we at present seem to possess, it is
impossible to argue that there was ever in vogue a constant
and regular custom of reserving the eucharistic Wine
separately for the communion of infants.2
As for the reservation of the Wine for the sick, in
previous chapters we have discussed the one or two pas
sages that are capable of being interpreted to imply the
existence of such a practice. We have found that they do
not furnish trustworthy evidence on this point, and are,
in fact, satisfactorily explained as containing no allusion to
the supposed custom.3
1 See above, p. 178.
2 Several mediaeval writers who handled the point of sick communion
insisted (inter alia) upon the imminent risk of corruption in reserving the
Wine. e.g. Giraldus Cambrensis (as already quoted) in G,emma Ecclesiast.
I. 9 : " Et nota quod quamvis viaticum in specie panis pro infirmis
servetur, non tamen in specie vini, turn quia cito corrumpitur, turn quia
cito effunditur turn etiam quia sub una specie utrumque accipitur."
(R.S. xxii. 2, p. 29.)
3 It is, perhaps, worth while to call attention to the fact that in northern
latitudes, where wine was scarce, curious expedients were sometimes employed
in order to secure a supply of the matter of the Sacrament. These forms
of reservation, so to say, of awconsecrated wine were marked for con
demnation by authority. The false decree of Pope Julius forbade the
practice of soaking a linen cloth in wine and keeping it in a dried state for
infusion into water to provide the matter of the chalice. Pope Alexander III
admonishes the Scandinavian hierarchy, through the Archbishop of Upsala,
that on no account shall they allow the use of dried-up remains of wine, or
of particles of bread steeped in wine and dried, or any other such shift, in
preparing the sacramental Cup : " . . . apostolica prohibemus auctoritate
ut cum sicca faece vini, vel cum micis panis vino intinctis vel alio modo
quam dominus instituit nullus de cetera sacrificare attentet. . . ." Epist.
(in append. 23) ad Upsellen. archiep. (Hard. vi. 2. 1446.)

CHAPTER XII
Renewal of the Reserved Eucharist
FROM the beginning it must, of course, have been
apparent that to keep the sacrament — in whatever
form reserved — for an indefinite length of time was to
expose it to the peril of corruption and to other accidents.
But for six centuries we meet with no trace of legislation on
this subject. The first definite injunction known concerning
the renewal of the reserved Eucharist appears in the East.
A series of canons issued by St. Sahak (Isaac III), a seventh-
century Catholicos of Armenia, dealt, inter alia, with the
custom of reserving the Eucharist for a year or even
longer, and enjoined that the sacrament should be kept
" only from Lord's Day to Lord's Day, or from sacrifice to
sacrifice," and not for any longer period. The Bread alone
is named, and we may suppose that the species reserved
throughout the year was hallowed, as it is to-day in the
Greek Church, on Maundy Thursday. The canon makes
provision for a certain diversity of custom in the same area,
with the celebration of the Liturgy every Sunday, prescribed
probably as a desirable minimum.1
It was also the frequency of celebration that largely
determined the period of reservation in the West, in places
where the same minimum of a weekly Sunday mass was
commonly observed.2 We do not, however, find in the
earliest allusions to the matter any direct reference to a
1 Q. : " Utrum liceat panem oblatum consecratum ac in Corpus Dei
conversum anno integro in tabernaculo conservare, uti aliqui solent, vel
etiam ultra annum ; necne ? " R. : " Minime licet, nisi a die dominica
ad dominicam, vel a sacrificio ad sacrificium, non autem diutius." (Transla
tion in Mai, Script. Vet. $(oV. Coll. x. p. 301.)
2 For weekly celebration see Wordsworth, Ministry of Grace, pp. 335 ff.
It is unusual to find a fortnightly celebration ordered as the minimum,
but this occurs in the Statuta Synodalia of Reims, e.g. : " Sacrosanctam
eucharistiam sacerdos celebraturus se praeparet et probet : et ut minimum
bis in mense id faciat." For source and date of this canon, see Hefele-
Leclercq, op. cit. III. 1. p. 264.

The Sacrament Reserved 183
fixed interval after which renewal of the sacrament should
take place.
An early collection of graduated penalties attaching to
neglect of the sacrament is found in the second part of the
Rule of St. Columban. Penances of increasing severity are
allotted according as the Host is discovered to have under
gone any change of colour, to be partially corrupt, or
entirely dried up (siccetur) and perished.1 But it is not
clear from the text whether it is the sacrament officially
reserved for general use that is here in question, or that
which was borne privately upon the person. It is probable
that the latter use of the sacrament is the one that is contem
plated, because the contents of Columban's Rule are not
original, but represent the usage of the Celtic Churches, and
the absence of allusion to any stated time after which
renewal is necessary is explained if these penalties relate to
the private habit.2
From the Rule of St. Columban, and from the sources
that lie behind it, regulations of this character passed into
the later penitentials, which have therefore on this point as
on others a certain Celtic savour. 3
Allusion to the loss of the natural features of the con
secrated species is frequent in literature of this sort, and the
test of change in colour has been used as an argument for
the conjoint reservation of the two kinds at this time ; 4
while the use of the phrase siccetur in Columban's Rule has
been quoted as affording additional evidence for the sup
position that the Host was intincted for reservation. It is
1 c. 1 o : " qui negligentiam fecerit erga sacrificium ut siccetur et a
vermibus consumatur ita ut ad nihilum devenerit, dimidio anno poenitent.
Qui negligentiam erga sacrificium incurrerit ut inveniatur vermis in eo, et
tamen plenum sit, igne comburat juxta altare et abscondat cinerem eius
intra sub altare, et ipse poeniteat quadraginta diebus. Qui negligit sacri
ficium et immutatum fuerit et panis amiserit saporem, si rubra colore,
viginti dies poeniteat, si hyacinthino, quindecim dies poeniteat. Si autem
non immutatum fuerit colore sed conglutinatum, septem dies poeniteat."
(P.L. lxxx. p. 222.) Notice that the reddish colour is taken to be a mark
of corruption, and cannot therefore refer to the presence of the species of
wine. cf. also de Mensura Poenitentiae 13 (P.L. Ixxxvii. 996).
2 See chap. v.
3 The penances, at first in the form of fastings and abstinences, are
commuted to money payments in later Penitentials, e.g. Leges Presbyter.
O^orthumbr. (tenth century), in Liebermann, Geietze der A.S., i. 380.
4 e.g. by Warren, Liturgy of Celtic Church, p. 139.

184 The Sacrament Reserved
a fact that these tests are applied more particularly. during a
period when conjoint administration was probably in use ;
but on the other hand we have strong grounds for belief
that in Columban's circle, at any rate, the eucharistic Bread
alone was used at clinical communion.1
In the original portion of the Penitential of Theodore, a
seventh-century document, it is directed that the Host
which has become corrupt through overlong keeping shall
be burnt ;2 and that the reference is still primarily to the
Eucharist privately borne is clear from another injunction
in the same series : " Whosoever loses the sacrifice, and it
be eaten by beast or fowl," shall do suitable penance.3 In
the eighth-century Penitential that bears the name of Egbert
we have similar regulations, with additions which include
the injunction (also in Columban) that the incinerated
Hosts are to be buried near the altar.4 Still there is no
stated time for renewal. 5
In the extract preserved by Regino — possibly a canon
1 See chap, ix, p. 129.
2 Poenitent. Theodori XII. : " De communione eucharistiae vel sacrificio
... 6. omne sacrificium sordida vetustate corruptum igni comburendum
est." (Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. III. p. 187.)
3 ibid. 8 : " qui sacrificium perdit feris vel avibus devorandum, si casu,
ebdomadas jejunet, si neglegens, III. xlmas. (ibid.) These two injunctions
are part of the original work, drawn up, probably under Theodore's eye,
by the Discipulus Umbrensium. (See Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. III.
pp. 173 ff.)
4 Poenit. Egberti XII. " de eucharistia : 1 . Si quis eucharistiam negligen-
tiae causa perdiderit, unum annum vel III. quadragissimas seu XL. dies
peniteat. 2. Si sacrificium in terra ceciderit causa negligentiae L. psalmos
cantet. 3. Qui neglexerit sacrificium, ut vermes in eo sint vel colorem non
habet saporemque, XX. vel XXX. vel XL. diebus peniteat et in igne accen-
datur,-cinis eius sub altare abscondatur. 4. Si usque ad terram ceciderit,
unum diem peniteat. 5. Qui in ecclesia modicam partem perdiderit et
non ihvenit, XX. diebus peniteat, vel unoquoque die psalmos LXX. cantet.
6. Quis autem in plebe suum crismal perdiderit et non invenit, XL. dies
peniteat, vel III. quadragissimas peniteat." (Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit.
III. pp. 427, 428.) Some of these injunctions evidently contemplate
accidents at Mass, as well as loss of or accident to the Eucharist privately
reserved. They appear again in such documents as the Judicia ascribed to
Gregory III. (Hard. iii. 1876.)
s " de eucharistia inveterata per quinquaginta dies " is the title of a
section (54) in the sixty capitula communicated to Petit (Paris, 1 677) by
Nicholas Favier, reproduced as part of Theodore's Penitential by Migne
(P.L. xcix. 951, 952). These capitula are of later date, and range down
as far as the tenth century. (Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. III. pp. 174, 175.)

The Sacrament Reserved 185
of some ninth-century Council of Tours — three days are
appointed as the term after which the Host must be
renewed ; J and here the mention of a definite term,
together with the injunction that the sacrament must be
kept securely locked up on account of mice and the designs
of wicked persons, show that the Eucharist reserved in the
church is in question.
Generally speaking, from some time in the ninth century
onward, the renewal usually took place once a week at the
Sunday mass.2 So it was ordered by the Council of
Lanciano (Ansanum) in a.d. 990: "The Body of the
Lord shall not be reserved in the church for longer than
eight days, and shall be always renewed on the Sunday." 3
Nearly a hundred years later a Council of Rouen (1072)
remarked that there were priests who kept the "viaticum
and holy water beyond the eighth day, and condemned the
practice.4 There is evidence for the local existence of a curious
custom in England during the tenth century. Peculiar
sanctity was attached to the Eucharist hallowed on Easter
Day, and a portion was sometimes reserved through the
year for the needs of the sick. This habit is forbidden in
the Canons of Mlfric (1003). The old English text is given
1 !}(otitiae. I. 71: " (oblatio) semperque sit super altare obseratum
propter mures et nefarios homines, et de tertio in tertium diem semper
mutetur." 2 Martene notes several exceptions to the rule of weekly renewal of the
Eucharist. During the eleventh century at Limoges, in parish as well as
in monastic churches, it was customary to reserve for the month by papal
permission : " Consuetudo est apud Lemovicenses propter auctoritatem
Clementis papae de diligentia Corporis Domini ut non solum per monasteria,
sed etiam per omnes ecclesias Primatis Lemovicensis, ne vetustate inveniatur
aliqua putredo in fragmentis dominiei Corporis, renovetur Corpus Domini
per duodecim terminos in anno, et vetus quod mutatur non nisi a clericis
nostris sumatur." (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. 1. 5. art. 3, 9.)
The custom at one time among the Carthusians was to renew the
Eucharist every month ; at another once a fortnight. (Martene, De Ant.
Mon. "RU. II. 4.)
3 Can. 2 : " nunquam autem servetur Corpus dominicum in ecclesia
amplius quam diebus octo, et semper renovetur in die dominico." (Martene
and Durand, Thesaur. Anecdot. iv. 75.)
4 Can. 6 : " Item, sunt quidam qui viaticum et aquam benedictam
ultra octavum diem reservant ; quod et damnatum est. Alii vero non
habentes hostias, consecratas iterum consecrant : quod terribiliter inter-
dictum est." 2 B

1 86 The Sacrament Reserved
by Thorpe, and translated thus : " Some priests hold the
housel, that was hallowed on Easter Day, for sick people ;
but they misdo very deeply, that the holy housel should
become mouldy, and will not understand how great a
penance the penitential enjoins if the housel be mouldy
or discoloured, or if it be lost, or if mice or beasts eat it
through negligence. The holy housel should be kept with
great care and not be retained ; but other new be hallowed
for sick men, always every seven days or fortnight, that it
may not at least be mouldy : because the housel that was
hallowed to-day is just as holy as that which was hallowed
on Easter Day." r
A Council held at Westminster under the Papal Legate
in 1 138 prescribes a week as the lawful period ;2 and in the
decrees of a Synod of York, a few years later (1 195), occurs
an injunction of similar import : "Let care be taken that
the Host be kept in a pyx, clean and fair ; and that it be
renewed every Lord's Day."3 At approximately the same
date (1 198) a Synod of Paris, presided over by Bishop Odo
(Eudes de Sully), decreed that every eighth day the priests
of the province were to renew the water of the font and
the Holy Eucharist, lest neglect of these duties might be
the cause of any impiety or misapprehension.4
Another Council of Westminster (1200) drew attention
to the point that when the sacrament was renewed on
Sunday, the priest should make sure that a consecrated
Host was employed for reservation, and take care to avoid
the accident of substituting an unconsecrated wafer by
mistake. 5
It is natural to find regulations on the subject of the
material of the Eucharist frequent at this time ; at the
1 Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, p. 449.
2 Can. 2 : " Sancimus etiam ut ultra octo dies Corpus Christi non
reservetur. . . ." (Hard. vi. 2. 1204.)
3 C^P- 1 : " - . . provideatur etiam ut in pyxide munda et honesta
hostia reservetur, singulisque dominicis diebus renovetur. . . ." (Hard.
vi. 2. 1930.)
4 praescr. 21:" Sacerdotes die octavo semper renovent sacramenta ad
fontem benedictum oleo et chrismate, et sanctam eucharistiam, ne vetustate
aliqui ad indevotionem moveri valeant aut errorem." (Hard. vi. 2. 1943.)
s deer. 2 : " . . . renovetur quoque hostia ipsa singulis dominicis diebus,
habeaturque certitudo circa ipsam eucharistiam ita quod non sumat non
consecratam pro consecrata. . . ." (Hard. vi. 2. 1957.)

The Sacrament Reserved 187
period, that is, when the general acceptance of Transub-
stantiation was making for the recognition of this theory as
a dogma of the faith at the Lateran Council of 12 15.
From Udalric's descriptions of the customs at Cluny1
in the eleventh century we learn how and when the weekly
renewal of the Eucharist took place there. On Sundays,
after Terce and before the Chapter mass began, the deacon
took down the dove that used to hang constantly above the
altar, and removed from the body of the dove the little cork
pyx that contained the Host, dusted it, and placed it on
the right side of the altar, under the covering cloth. At
the Pax he took out the Host reserved from the previous
Sunday, from which the brethren were forthwith communi
cated ; and placed a newly-consecrated wafer in the pyx,
which, after mass was done, was restored to the pendent
dove.2 The earlier version of the Cluniac Consuetudines,
written by Bernard, assert that the Host for reservation
was wrapped in linen, and so laid in the dove.3
1 Antiquiores Consuet. Cluniacen. Monast. II. 30 : " Sciendum quoque
quoniam omni die dominica Corpus Domini mutatur ; et dum sacerdos pro-
cedit ad pacem, recens consecratum a diacono in pixide cortica reponitur :
et quod praeterita dominica consecratum fuerat, inde accipitur et ab eodem
diacono dividitur, et patres inde communicantur ; duae tantum particulae
illius hostiae quam sacerdos dividit non mutantur. Praedictam autem
pixidem, dum psalmi familiares post tertiam dicuntur, diaconus de columba
jugiter pendente super altare bene cum linteolo de pulvere exterius tersa
abstrahit et super dextrum cornu sub coopertorio ponit, missaque finita in
eodem loco reponit." (D'Achery, Spic. I. p. 679.)
2 Further information of this kind is given by Martene, who prints
several extracts from monastic customs of various dates (De Ant. Mon. Rit.
II. 4). The Cistercian Consuetudines (early twelfth century) contain no very
clear directions for renewal of the Host. All that is there prescribed on
this point is : " Sacerdos autem antequam recipiat calicem si que hostie
integre superfuerint communicatis reponat in vasculo." (Guignard, p. 149.)
3 Ducange, Cjhssar. s.v. Columba.

CHAPTER XIII
The Place of Reservation
A. The Sacristy
FROM the few passages of early date that allude to the
custody (temporary or constant) of the reserved
Eucharist, it appears that the sacristy was the place in
which the sacrament was originally kept. In the fourth-
century Liturgy of the ^Apostolic Constitutions, the deacons
are ordered to remove what remains of the consecrated
species after the communion, and to deposit them in
the pastophoria, i.e. the sacristies that were built on either
side of the apse.1 It was here that the elements were
prepared for the Liturgy, and hither it would be natural
to return with any portion of the hallowed species that
remained, whether by intention or by accident, uncon-
sumed. The cupboards and presses with which the
sacristy was furnished provided suitable places of safe
keeping for the Eucharist as for other sacred things.
Hence the statement mistakenly attributed to St. Jerome
that " the sacristy in which is laid the Body of Christ,
Who is the true Bridegroom of the Church and of our
souls, is well called the bridal chamber or pastophorium."2
We have already considered the possible reference to
this use of the sacristy that is to be found in a letter
of St. Paulinus of Nola.3 We have seen reason to sup
pose that in Africa the Eucharist was reserved in this
1 " Kal orav irdvres peraXdf$<ao-i Kal rrdo-ai, Xa/36vres ol SiaKovoi rd
rrepio-crevo-avra eio-(f>epkroxrav els rd Trao-ro<popia." (Brightman, Liturgies,
I. p. 25.)
2 " Quare sacrarium in quo jacet Corpus Christi qui verus est Ecclesiae
et animarum nostrarum sponsus, proprie thalamus seu Trao-ro<p6piov
appellatur." The term rrao-ro<f>6piov has many meanings in both pagan
and Christian literature ; and in this passage it is rightly traced back
to rrao-ros, of which the primary sense is an inner room, and hence
a bridal chamber. For ref. see p. 109.
3 Epist. (32) ad Severum. See p. no.

The Sacrament Reserved 189
part of the basilica at the time of Optatus.1 In Gaul
the Council of Macon (a.d. 585) ordered that whatever
remained of the eucharistic Bread should be kept in the
sacristy, whither children were to be brought on Wed
nesdays and Fridays in order to consume it.2 At about
the same date and in the same area it is from the sacristy
where they had been reserved that the Sancta were carried
in the turris to the altar. 3 In the early years of the eighth
century the Missale Francorum contains a possible allusion
to reservation in the sacristy ; the episcopal address
to the subdeacon at his ordination warns him against
preparing a greater quantity of obleys than would be
needed for the communion, "lest any should remain
corrupt in the sacrarium." 4 This is not, of course, to
be understood as forbidding reservation ; it merely
requires that excess should be avoided.
In England we are told that one of the names for the
sacristy was " husel portic" (i.e. " eucharistiae porticus"),5
which suggests that early custom in this country agreed
with that which prevailed at the same period in Gaul.
At Rome, in the ninth century, the Sancta were brought
to the Pope at the introit, and as much as was not required
for the ceremony was replaced in the conditorium,6 and this
may have been in the sacristy.7
1 De schism : Donat. II. 19. See p. 1 1 1 .
2 Can. 6 : " . . . Quaecumque reliquiae sacrificiorum post peractam
missam in sacrario supersederint," etc. See p. 115.
3 St. German, Expositio. (P.L. lxxii. 93) ; Gregory of Tours, De
gloria (Mart. 86. (P.L. lxxi. 781.) See pp. 77, 78.
4 "de ipsis oblationibus tantum debet esse in altario poni quantum
populo possit sufficere, ne aliquid putridum in sacrario maneat." (P.L.
lxxii. 319.)
5 Bridgett, op. cit., p. 168. But the lines of ^Ethelwolf in his poem
about Lindisfarne Abbey Church suggest a different explanation of this
name. He speaks of the porticus in medio [altaris], that is, the vaulted
dome above the altar ; and in the next line of the pyx containing the
pretiosae munera vitae (P.L. xcvi. 1337). Husel portic may therefore be the
dome over the altar from which the pyx was (?) suspended, somewhat after
the manner of later times.
6 Atchley, Ordo Roman. Primus, p. 128.
7 In 1 5 12 Spanish bishops sitting in council at Seville published the
following : " Ordinamus ut in omnibus ecclesiis . . . adsit sacrarium
ac loca bene constructa et ornata cum bonis seris et clavibus in quibus
reponantur S. Sacramentum, oleum ac chrisma. . . . Jubeantque pariter

190 The Sacrament Reserved
B. An Aumbry in the Church
As more attention came to be bestowed upon the
" matter " of the sacrament there was a tendency to
regard the sacristy no longer as a suitable place for
reservation. A locker or cupboard was constructed in
the walls or pillars of the sanctuary, or in the reredos
behind the altar. It was in such a place, it would seem,
that the Eucharist was kept in some French churches in
the twelfth century. Among the canons and injunctions
issued (about the year 1198) by Eudes de Sully, Bishop
of Paris, is one that bids reverence be paid to the laltars,
and particularly to that whereat the Host is reserved or
mass is being said.1 That no reference is made to any
custom of reserving in a standing receptacle placed upon
the holy table is clear from the language of another
injunction in the same series, which orders the Body of
the Lord to be kept with all care under lock and key
in the fairest part of the altar.2 We are to understand
that .an aumbry made in some mural structure behind the
altar is intended. This was called the tabemaculum accord
ing to a third injunction, and in it was placed the ivory pyx
containing the Eucharist.3
The Fourth Lateran Council (12 15) insisted upon the
safe custody of the reserved sacrament ;4 and that the
canon issued on this point contemplates the use of an
aumbry for the purpose is fairly certain. If we go a little
beyond the limits of the period covered by this work we
have the Constitutions of Archbishop Peckham (1281) for
a commentary upon the canon of the Lateran. He ordered
ut die noctuque ardeat lampas coram dicto loco et sacrario. . . ." (Cited
by Ducange, Ghssar. s.v. Sacrarium.) But this seems to have been a locker.
1 Cap. v. 1 : "summa reverentia et honor maximus sacris altaribus
exhibeatur et maxime ubi sacrosanctum Corpus Domini reservatur et
missa celebratur." (Hard. vi. pt. 2. 1939.)
2 Cap. v. 7 : "in pulchriori parte altaris cum summa diligentia et
honestate sub clave sacrosanctum Corpus Domini custodiatur." (u.s.)
3 Praec. 35:". . . ita sunt negligentes quod nondum habent
pyxidem eburneam nee tabemaculum ubi reservetur cum honore Corpu
Domini. . . ." (Hard. u.s. 1944.)
4 Can. 20: "Statuimus ut in cunctis ecclesiis chrisma et eucharistia
sub fideli custodia clavibus adhibitis conserventur : ne possit ad ilia teme-
raria manus extendi ad aliqua horribilia vel nefaria exercenda." (Hard.
vii- 35-)

The Sacrament Reserved 191
that for every parish church there should be made a
tabemaculum, seemly and fair, wherein the pyx might be
safely kept.1 The synodical decrees of Bishop Quivil
of Exeter (1287) mention as part of the necessary furniture
of the church a fixed sacramentarium of stone.2 From these
records it is perfectly clear that even in England, where
suspension of the pyx was the common practice at this
time, ecclesiastical authorities who desired to enforce the
decree of the Lateran Council insisted upon the provision
of an aumbry for reservation. 3
Durandus, who wrote in the early part of the thir-
1 " Ut in qualibet ecclesia parochiali fiat tabemaculum cum clausura
decens et honestum secundum curae magnitudinem et ecclesiae facultates,
in quo ipsum Corpus Domini in pyxide pukherrima et lineis tegumentis
. . . collocetur." (Wilkins, Concil. II. 48.)
A gloss by Lyndwood, sometimes misunderstood (e.g. by Scudamore
(K-E., p. 913), is as follows : "Simile habes extra, de celeb. (Mis. cap.
Sane (a reference to Canon Law, Decret. III. 41. c. 10) ubi dicitur quod
in loco singulari, mundo et signato debet servari eucharistia. * Et ex
hoc videtur quod usus observatus in Anglia, ut scilicet in canopeo pendeat
super altare, non est commendabilis, quia contra mentem dicti cap. Sane
ubi statuitur quod non custodiatur in loco patenti sed singulari. Licet
enim consuetudo anglicana commendabilis sit ilia consideratione qua citius
repraesentatur nostris aspectibus adoranda, non tamen est commendabilis
eo respectu quo ponitur in loco publico, sic quod ad earn manus
temerariae de facili valeant extendi. Nam licet in cuppa quae
forsan clausa est pendeat, tamen ad illam deorsum mittendam, vel forsan
cum ilia cuppa totaliter auferendam, manus temerariae de facili possunt
opponi. Et ideo, ut mihi videtur, commendabilior est usus aliorum
locorum quae vidi ; viz. in Hollandia et Portugallia, in quibus ordinatur
unus locus singularis honestus prope altare, in quo reponitur eucharistia
sub clavibus infra parietes vel locum bene munitum conservanda, sic quod
nullus ad ipsam eucharistiam accedere poterit, nisi sacerdos loci illius
clavem custodiens." (Provinc. III. 25, p. 248.)
He takes tabemaculum cum clausura to mean a locked cupboard, and
prefers it to the hanging pyx as a place of greater security. It is note
worthy that he writes as though no " tabernacles " were in use in this
country at the time (c. 1433).
2 " sacramentarium lapideum et immobile." (Wilkins, Concil. ii,
p. 139.) Ducange (Ghssar. s.v.) takes this to mean an altar-slab : "id est,
lapis in quo sacrosanctum sacrificium peragitur."
3 For a discussion on the " tabernacle " as the place of Reservation in
mediaeval England and Scotland, see Bridgett, op. cit., pp. 173-187,
especially the note (on pp. 186, 187) by Fr. Thurston : also Trans. St.
Paul's Eccl. Socy. Ill, " Practical considerations on the Gothic or English
altar," J. N. Comper, pp. 199 ff ; and IV, "The Reasonableness of the
Ornaments Rubric," etc., by the same author, pp. 80 ff.

192

The Sacrament Reserved

teenth century, remarks that as in the dispensation of the
Ancient Law the mercy-seat was above the ark of the
covenant, so in his day there were churches in which an
ark or tabernacle above the altar contained the sacrament
and the holy relics.1
The tabernacle, or aumbry, need not be over the altar ;
it might be built anywhere in the chancel walls. It was
still used for reservation in some of the churches visited
in the early years of the eighteenth century by the authors
of the "Voyage Littiraire," 2 although in other places they
remark that the aumbry was no longer used for this
purpose. The Eucharist was commonly kept in such places
in the south of Europe until the sixteenth century,3 but it
was in Germany and the Low Countries, and later in Scot
land, that the aumbry reached its highest development in
the form of an elaborate sacrament house.
1 Rationale divin. offic. I. ii. 5 : "in quibusdam ecclesiis super altare
collocatur area seu tabemaculum in quo Corpus Domini et reliquiae
ponuntur." The juxtaposition of Host and relics was forbidden at
a later date.
2 Voyage Litteraire de deux religieux Benedictines (Paris, 171 7). e.g. at
the abbey of St. John at Autun, " on voit . . . derriere l'autel, un peu a
cdte, une petite armoire ou l'on gardoit autrefois le saint Sacrement."
(I. p. 1 60.) In Maurienne Cathedral, " le saint Sacrement non plus qu'a
Moutier ne se conserve pas au grand autel, mais a c6te, dans un tabernacle
d'un tres-beau travail. II est dans un vase de marbre, dans lequel il y a
une petite bogte ou il est renferm£." (I. p. 1 47.) In the church of the
Praemonstratensian monastery at Case-Dieu, " ou y conservoit autrefois le
saint Sacrement a c6te de l'autel." (II. p. 13.) At the Austinian abbey
of Choque there was, "a c6te de l'autel, une pyramide de marbre d'un
travail admirable, qui s'eleve presque jusqu' a la voute, dans laquelle on
conserve le tres-saint Sacrement " — i.e. a regular Sacrament house. (II.
p. 183.) 3 Thiers (Exposition, p. 38) cites a sixteenth-century bishop of Cosenza
in Calabria as writing to this effect : " La coutume qu'on avoit de conserver
le tres-saint Sacrement dans des armoires bastis dans la mvraille a c6te de
l'autel, est deja perdue par tout ce diocese, encore, qu'ils fussent ornes par
le dehors d'images et peintures d'or et d'azur, selon l'ancien usage non plus
approuve par la sainte Eglise, ainsi d'icelle saintement retranche par plusieurs
raisons." Mabillon (de Azymo. 8) says that in the north wall of the sanctuary
there used to be aumbries in which the Eucharist was reserved. "This is
even so now," he says, " in certain churches " ; and he gives as an instance
Santa Croce at Rome, but he is not quite sure about it. A similar arrange
ment was to be seen in his time in the parish church of St. John at
Peronne, and a few years before at Fours and in some other churches.

The Sacrament Reserved 193
C. The Altar
Elsewhere the altar itself is apparently designated as the
place of reservation. We must first of all refuse to see any
allusion to the practice of reserving in some vessel upon or
near the holy table in one or two stock passages quoted by
the older ecclesiologists. Such are the story of Gorgonia in
St. Gregory Nazianzen,1 and certain verses written by
St. Paulinus of Nola.2 Regino has, however, two extracts
that mention the sacrament as being reserved " super altare."
The first of these — " Let inquiry be made whether the pyx
is always super altare with the sacred oblation for the
viaticum of the sick " 3 — occurs in the list of questions to be
asked at visitations. The second is that oft-quoted canon
that refers to the intincted Host, and directs that the
sacrament shall always be (kept) locked up super altare in
order to avoid accidents and sacrilege.4
An injunction, sometimes quoted as a decree of Pope
Leo IV, and incorporated into a number of tenth-century
Capitulars and the like, runs as follows : — " Nothing is to
be placed upon the altar (super altare) except the capsae and
the relics, or perhaps the four Gospels, and the pyx with
the Lord's Body for the "Viaticum of the sick." 5 All these
1 See Appendix, p. 256.
2 Ep. 32:" Divinum veneranda tegunt altaria foedus,
Compositisque sacra cum cruce martyribus
Cuncta salutiferi coSunt insignia Christi :
Crux, Corpus, Sanguis martyris, ipse Deus." (P.L. lxi. 334.)
On which Mabillon's comment (de Liturg. (^all. I. 9, p. 94) is : " Ipse
Deus, hoc est ipsum Domini Corpus in columba appensum in medio. Hie
vero loquendi modus, ipse Deus, indubitanter asserit veram non umbraticam
Christi in Eucharistia praesentiam."
3 Notitiae. 9 : " Inquirendum si pixida semper sit super altare cum
sacra oblatione ad viaticum infirmis."
4 I. 7 1 : " Ut omnis presbyter habeat pixidem," etc. "... Semper
sit (sacra oblatio) super altare obseratum propter mures et nefarios homines,"
etc. Carmen de Lindisfarn 1 4 :
" Porticus in medio, sancti quam fronde coronant,
Dum buxis claudunt pretiosae munera vitae." (P.L. xcvi. 1338.)
5 " Super altare nihil ponatur nisi capsae et reliquiae aut forte quatuor
evangelia et buxida (i.e. pixida) cum Corpore Domini ad viaticum infirmis :
caetera in nitido loco recondantur." The passage occurs in the Synodical
2 C

194 The Sacrament Reserved
and other similar passages seem to refer to the use of an
aumbry built in the walls at the back of or in the reredos
behind the altar. Super altare will therefore most probably
mean above the altar, and not upon it.1
We must note in passing that among the Greeks the
movable artophorium stands directly upon the holy table ;
but formerly it was customary also to hang up the pyx in a
bag on a nail or peg within the eikonostasis.2
As to the suspension of the Eucharist above or before
the altar, this had become the common practice in some
parts of Christendom by the twelfth century. We have
no very definite information concerning the first appear
ance of this custom. The habit of hanging up symbolical
figures of doves, especially in the neighbourhood of the
font or the altars, and sometimes over tombs, was very
ancient. It is noteworthy, too, that one of the earliest
forms assumed by the vessel of reservation or its case
was the shape of a dove. 3 The sacrament was possibly
suspended at Lindisfarne ; at any rate, the pyx was kept
somewhere near the altar (c. a.d. 8o2).4 But the first
unambiguous reference to the use of a suspended vessel
for reservation occurs in the Life of St. Basil, written by
decrees of Bishop Ratherius of Verona (t a.d. 958) and other similar docu
ments of the same age. It is also to be found in the forged " Eutychiani
Tapae exhortatio," printed in P.L. v. 165.
1 But in the thirteenth-century Ordo Roman, of Peter Amelius it is said
that the copbinus or pyx stood on the altar during service-time (Mus. Ital. II.
p. 522) ; and a capsa stood in this position at Cluny, Consuet. Antiquior. xxv.
(Albers, Consuet. Monast. ii. p. 22.) The use of this capsa is not stated.
Seventeenth-century ecclesiologists and some of later date have seen an
early allusion to the position of the reserved sacrament in the third canon
of the Second Council of Tours (a.d. 567), which enacts : " Ut Corpus
Domini in altari non in imaginario ordine sed sub crucis titulo componatur."
The reference is, of course, to the symbolical fraction of the Host and
disposition of the fragments, a complicated ceremony according to Gallican
rites, and one into which a certain amount of superstition had crept.
Grotesque arrangements of the particles are forbidden by this canon : they
may only be placed in the form of a cross.
These early writers supposed the prohibition to refer to the pyx con
taining the Eucharist, which, according to their misinterpretation of the
canon, was not to be placed among the images (imaginario ordine) and relics
of the saints, but either inside the altar cross or below it ! They had in
mind the later injunction forbidding the juxtaposition of Host and relics.
2 See chap. xvii. 3 See chap, xiii., s.v. Columba.
4 See the quotation above, p. 193.

The Sacrament Reserved 195
the pseudo-Amphilochius (probably in the ninth century).
Here it is related that the saint caused a golden dove to be
fashioned, and, having placed in it a portion of the sacred
Bread, hung it above the altar. J
Hugh of Flavigny 2 and Udalric of Cluny 3 in the
eleventh century speak of suspension as the custom with
which they were familiar. Reinerus of Liege (c. 11 82)
witnesses both to suspension and to the use of an aumbry
for the custody of the pyx. He records that once a flash
of lightning fused the iron chain by which the pyx was
hung without damaging the receptacle of the Host ;4 and in
another place tells how a fire, that was so fierce as to melt
the bells, spared the wooden aumbry where the pyx was
kept.5 In Italy and Spain suspension seems never to have
been usual ; the aumbry, as we have noted, continued
in use in these countries until the growth of the cultus
of the reserved sacrament led everywhere to a more
conspicuous method of reservation.
Suspension of the Pyx in English Churches
In spite of the industry of antiquarians and ecclesi-
ologists, there are certain details connected with the custody
of the reserved sacrament in mediaeval England that still
remain obscure. Although no unambiguous reference to
the custom seems to be known from an earlier date, there
can be no doubt that from the twelfth century at least the
1 VitaS. Basilii,c. 6 : "ryv Se erepav evdels rrepio-repp Xiowr0 eKpkpoxrev
erravto rov dyiov dvo-iacrrypiov." As the result of a vision that appeared
to him while celebrating, he is said to have divided the Host into three
parts, one of which he consumed, another he preserved against his burial,
and the third he placed in a golden dove above the altar. Later he sent
for a goldsmith and caused him to make a new dove of gold for the
preservation of this fragment of the Host.
2 Chron. Virudinens : "pyxidem I de onychino in qua servaretur
Corpus dominicum dependens super altare." (Cited by Ducange, op. cit.
s.v. Pyxis.) 3 See p. 187.
4 Opusculum adamicum, etc. (P.L. cciv. 141.)
s de incendio eccles. S. Lamberti : " cum fuerit namque tanta conflagratio
ut etiam campanas liquefecerit eiusdem ecclesiae, armariolum tamen lig-
neum quo in pixide clausum Corpus dominicum habebatur corrumpi adus-
tioni non potuit." (P.L. cciv. 151 f.)

196 The Sacrament Reserved
prevailing fashion was to hang up the Eucharist in a cuppa
or pyx before or above the high altar.1
Here are subjoined a few extracts from inventories
and other documents of early thirteenth-century date,
relating to the Diocese of Sarum, in which the vessels
used for reservation are described and the manner of
custody is indicated.
When the new cathedral began to be built in 1220,
William Brewer gave " a handsome cuppa, silver-gilt
within and without, for reception of the Eucharist, with
a silver hoop which was to be hung above the high altar "
of the new church : " pulchram cuppam argenteam deaur-
atam intus et extra ad reponendum eucharistiam, cum
circulo argenteo, quae quidem dependet super magnum
altare."2 In an inventory of the ornaments of the cathe
dral^ that covers the years 12 14-1222, the following
vessels used for the reserved sacrament are noted.
There was an empty and apparently discarded turris.
It is named among the relics, and was probably preserved
as a curiosity after the new custom of suspension came in :
" turris una cooperta argento nichil continens." 4 There
was also a silver dove slung in a hoop of the same metal :
" Item, corona una argent, cum cathenis iii. argent, cum
columba argent, ad eukaristiam." 5
An additional inventory gives the ornaments presented
to the cathedral during the time that Abraham de Winton
held the office of treasurer. Here William Brewer's gift
is recorded again, and with it "a costly vessel of silver in
which the Eucharist is kept," given by Bishop Herbert
Poore : " Item, vasculum unum argenteum pretiosum, in
quo reponitur eucharistia." 6
The record of a Visitation7 made in the diocese about
the year 1220 contains some points of interest in this
matter. Among the ornaments of the Church of St. Peter
at Swallowcliffe was a wooden pyx out of repair : "pyxis
1 While King Stephen heard mass at Lincoln on Candlemas Day,
1141, " cecidit super altare pixis, cui Corpus Domini inerat, abrupto
vinculo." (Rog. Hoveden, Chron. (R.S.) Ii. i. 201.)
2 Regist. S. Osmundi. II, p. 13. (R.S. Ixxviii. 2.)
3 ibid., pp. 127-136. 4 ibid., p. 128.
s ibid., p. 129. See below, p. 211.
6 ibid., p. 137. t Regist. S. Osmundi. I, pp. 275-314.

The Sacrament Reserved 197
ad eucharistiam, lignea, debilis." It is noted as a defect ;
and a " pyxis ad eucharistiam honesta " is to be pro
vided.1 The church at Hill Deverel did not possess a pyx
of any kind, and the Eucharist was reserved in a silk
purse : " Non est ibi pixis continens eucharistiam, sed
deponitur in quadam bursa serica."2 Horningsham had
a wooden pyx suspended in a silken case of some kind,
which was called a tabernacle : " Pyxis lignea in tabernaculo
serico dependens ultra altare continens eucharistiam." 3
At Mere they had three pyxes. One of ivory hung above
the altar ; another of silver was used for taking the sacra
ment to the sick ; and the third, perhaps no longer in use,
was of wood and decorated with paintings : " . . una
pixis eburnea dependens supra altare cum eucharistia,
et alia argentea ponderis iii. solidorum, ad deferendum
Corpus Domini infirmis ; et alia lignea, depicta . . ."4 The
chapel at Hurst possessed a hanging pyx of Limoges
work : " Item pixis dependens supra altare de opere
Lemovicensi."5 At Sunning there was a silver gilt pyx :
" Pixis argentea, exterius deaurata, in qua reponitur
eucharistia."6 A number of other parishes visited do
not seem to have possessed pyxes, for there is no mention
of them in the lists of ornaments.
It may be well to call attention to the fact that the
modern tabernacle, a little cupboard or coffer standing
upon, or inserted into, a gradine at the high or other altar
of a church is a late development of the locker or aumbry.
Archbishop Peckham certainly ordered the use of an
aumbry for greater security in reserving the Eucharist.7
But his rule was apparently generally ignored, and sus
pension was the regular practice in this country during
the later Middle Ages. For this reason the exceptional
use of a standing coffer, for which we have evidence
toward the end of the fifteenth century,8 was of the nature
of an innovation. It was more or less contemporaneous
with the introduction into Scotland of sacrament houses
of the Low Country model. In the following century
1 ibid., p. 311. 2 ibid., p. 312. 3 Ibid., p. 313.
4 ibid., p. 291. s ibid., p. 281. 6 ibid., -p. 276.
"> See above, p. 191.
8 Trans. St. Paul's Eccl. Socy. IV. u.s., p. 80 n.

198 The Sacrament Reserved
we find Cranmer arguing against the hanging pyx ;! and
Cardinal Pole, during the Marian reaction, substituted the
use of a locker or coffer for the pre-existing custom.2 The
events that followed Mary's reign prevented any further
development in this direction. 3
D. The Baptistery
The possibility of reservation in the baptistery for the
communion of the newly-baptized need not detain us long.
1 And against reservation generally, in answer to the Devonshire
rebels, 1549 : "Your fourth article is this, We wil have the Sacrament hang
over the high altar, and there to be worshipped, as it was wont to be ; and they
•which wil not therto consent, we wil have them dy like Heretics against the holy
Catholic Faith. What say you, O ignorant people in things pertaining to
God ? Is this the holy Catholic Faith, that the sacrament should be
hanged over the altar and worshipped ? . . . I pray you, who made this
Faith ? Any other, but the Bishops of Rome ? And that after more than
a thousand years after the Faith of Christ was ful and perfect. Innocent
III, about 1 2 1 5 years after Christ, did ordain, that the sacrament and
chrism should be kept under lock and key. But yet no motion be made
of hanging the sacrament over the high altar, nor of the worshiping of it.
After him came Honorius III, and he added further, commanding that
the sacrament should be devoutly kept in a clean place and sealed, and
that the priest should often teach the people reverently to bow down to
the Host, when it is lifted up in the Mass time, and when the priests
should cary it to the sick folkes. And although this Honorius added the
worshipping of the sacrament, yet he made no mention of the hanging
therof over the high altar, as your Article purporteth. Nor how long
after, or by what means, that came first up into this realm, I think no man
can tel. And in Italy it is not yet used until this day. And in the
beginning of the Church it was not only not used to be hanged up, but also it
was utterly forbid to be kept." (Strype, App. xl to Memorials ofAbp. Cranmer!)
2 " Fiat tabemaculum decens et honestum cum sera et clavi, quod in
altum elevatum in medio summi altaris affigatur si commode fieri potest ;
alias in commodiori et honorabiliori summo altare vicino loco, qui haberi
potest." (Wilkins, op. cit. iv. 1 21, 797.)
3 Tabemaculum is sometimes used for the vessel in which the recep
tacle of the Eucharist was enclosed, e.g. in an extract from an early
fourteenth-century inventory recorded in Ducange (<Ghssar. s.v.) : "Item
vas unum, quod dicitur tabemaculum, de argento cum cascia sua." A
suspended silver-gilt tabernacle, containing a golden pyx (cupa) is noted
in an inventory, belonging to the same century, of the ornaments of La
Sainte Chapelle at Paris : " Quaedam cupa auri, ubi reconditum est
sacrum Sacramentum, una cum tabernaculo argenti deaurato suspensum
tribus cathenis argenteis." (Ducange, u.s.) We have already noted that
the name tabernacle is applied to a silken covering for a wooden pyx in
the visitation records of Salisbury (1220).

The Sacrament Reserved 199
Where, as was not infrequently the case, the baptistery was
a separate erection at some distance from the main building
of the church, it might appear advantageous in some
circumstances to communicate the neophytes there rather
than in the basilica itself.1 At the most this would be an
instance of temporary reservation to meet a special need.2
For constant reservation in the baptistery there is no
evidence whatever.3
The original use of such altars as stand in the baptisteries
of Pisa and Florence is doubtful ; but it is worthy of note
that Pope Hilary presented to the baptistery of the Lateran
Church a turris of silver.4
1 cf. Diet. d'Archeol. Chret.s.V. Baptistere, 392, 399.
2 The numbers that were baptized on Easter Even made some provision
for temporary reservation necessary. When the church at Constantinople
was invaded by soldiers on Easter Even, in the time of St. Chrysostom,
three thousand men had already been baptized, and there still remained the
female catechumens. But the sacrament, reserved, as we have seen, in both
kinds separately, was not apparently placed in the baptistery.
3 The columbae that Severus took away from the fonts and altars of the
churches of Antioch were in all probability 'purely ornamental figures.
Reference is made by some writers to the edicts baptismales as connected
with the communion of the newly -baptized in the baptistery. Ducange
defines them thus : " in quibus recens baptizati post perceptam eucharistiam,
dominicus Sanguis hauriendus datur," but they are more likely to have
been the vessels in which a draught of honey and milk was given to the
newborn member of the Church. Nothing is known for certain about the
baptismal chalice or its use. The illustration of a vessel having this descrip
tion in the Dictionnaire d'Archeol. Chre'tienne is inserted merely on the
strength of its bearing symbolical figures of fish and shells, which may allude
to the common allegories connected with Baptism.
Pope Innocent I. (a.d. 401-417) is said to have given three baptismal
chalices to a basilica at Rome. (Liber Tontificalis, edit. Duchesne I. p. 221)
" calices argenteos ad baptismum iii. pens. sing. lib. ii."
4 " turrem argenteam cum delfinos pens. lib. lx." This is placed
under the heading, " Item ad sanctum Johannem intra sanctum fontem."
(op. cit. I. p. 243.)

CHAPTER XIV
The Vessel of Reservation
THE most convenient method of describing the various
forms assumed at one time or another by the vessel
of reservation will be to arrange in alphabetical order the
names by which it has been called, and to note where
possible under each the approximate date of its first appear
ance and other points of interest. In this section we shall
not scruple to go beyond the limits of our period whenever
later usage seems to represent a survival of, or to throw
light upon, earlier customs.
The list that is appended does not claim to be complete,
and such general terms as loculus, "Vas, "Vasculum, repositorium,
gerulum, etc., are purposely omitted.
It is not possible to divide the different types into
groups according as the vessels were suspended or not,
because custom varies from place to place and from time to
time. Nor can any absolute distinction be maintained
between vessels used for private and for official reserva
tion ; for some, e.g. the Chrismal, were employed for both
purposes. We must also take note of the fact that it came
to be usual for two vessels to be provided : one to be con
stantly in the church, and one to be used for carrying the
Eucharist abroad to the sick.1
As for the material used in making the receptacle of
the sacrament, the precious metals were naturally always
regarded as most suitable. From an early date we have
mention of vessels of gold, silver, and silver-gilt. Copper
and orichalcum (i.e. brass) were used when nobler metals
were not to be obtained. Ivory was at one time much in
1 e.g. Constit. ProVinc. S. Edmundi Cant. Archiep. (1236) : "...
habeat sacerdos aliam pixidem mundam et honestam in qua sit linea bursa
munda et in ea Corpus dominicum deferat ad aegrotum." (Wilkins, Concil.
I. 657.) ibid. : " . . . una (pixis) semper in ecclesia remaneat, et in alia
in qua sit Eucharistia in bursa posita mundissima, in qua deferat Corpus
dominicum ad aegrotum. . . ." (u.s. 638.)

The Sacrament Reserved 201
favour. Less commonly rock-crystal J and onyx and even
glass were employed. Wooden vessels were used for
kck of better ; and for some reason or other they had a
cork pyx in the hanging dove at Cluny. Occasionally a
silken purse served as the receptacle of the reserved Host.2
The sacrament was not as a rule immediately in contact
with the vessel that contained it ; it was commonly wrapped
in a silken or linen corporal.3
Arca, Arcula. — A general term for a box or chest,
made of wood or metal or other material. St. Cyprian
uses it to describe the vessel in which people were accus
tomed to keep the sacrament in their homes ; 4 and a
wooden box is mentioned as being used for the same pur
pose in the Life ofSt.Inda according to Simeon Metaphrastes.5
It is from another late source that there comes a passage in
which the word arca is used of the receptacle wherein the
sacrament was reserved in church.6 In view of the fashion
1 Durandus, Rationale I. iii. 25.
2 The use of a purse alone for reserving the Host is forbidden, e.g. by
Archbishop Peckham in his Constitutions (128 1) : " Dignissimum Eucharistiae
sacramentum praecipimus de caetero taliter custodiri ut videlicet in bursa
vel loculo propter comminutionis periculum nullatenus collocetur, sed in
pixide pulcherrima intrinsecus lino candidissimo adomata, in qua ipsum
Corpus Domini repositum in aliquo cooperticulo de serico, purpura vel lino
purissimo operiri praecipimus, ita quod sine comminutionis periculo possit
inde faciliter extrahi et apponi." (Wilkins, op. cit. ii. 48.)
3 Stated, e.g. in Bernard's version of the Cluniac Consuetudines. The
use of a corporal for this purpose is frequently required in mediaeval
regulations concerning the custody of the reserved sacrament. Modern
Orthodox allow the Eucharist to be placed directly in contact with gold or
silver. Where the receptacle is of inferior materials, they insert a piece of
clean paper.
4 de Lapsis. 26 : " arcam suam in quo Domini sanctum fuit." (Hartel,
p. 256.) s Tassio. 6 • ' " lignea arcula in qua reposuerant sacram oblationem " ;
see the Latin version of Surius (December 28th) — the only form in which
the reference could be consulted. St. Inda and St. Domna are said to
have been martyred in the fourth century.
6 Vita S. Eudociae xii : " Verum antequam traderet ultro se lupis agna
Christi, brevi mora impetrata prodeundi, accurrit in sacram aedem (i.e. the
convent church), reserataque illic arcula in qua divinum reliquiarum sancti
Corporis Christi servabatur, inde particulam acceptam sinu recondidit ; et sic
statim cum militibus abiit." (AA.SS., March 1st, p. 19). St. Eudocia is a
mythical saint of the second century ; her life was written after a.d. 600.
The arca mentioned by St. Augustine (contra Cre!Con- Donat. iii. 33) was
probably the treasury-chest or poor-box.
2 D

202 The Sacrament Reserved
popular in patristic times of finding exact parallels between
the worship of the Old and the New Israel, it is rather
remarkable that the term did not come into common use
for whatever vessel was used for reserving the Eucharist.1
Among ecclesiastical writers and in the Vulgate arca is the
equivalent of }1"1K aron, the Ark of the Covenant ; and manna
is, of course, frequently the type of the Eucharist. But the
nearest approach to an identification of the receptacle of the
sacrament with the Ark or the Host with its contents occurs
in a highly metaphorical passage in St. Ambrose.2
Artophorium (aprocpopiov). — The usual name for the
receptacle of the reserved Eucharist among the Greeks :
from what date it is uncertain. Synonyms : irv^U, rrv^lov,
7rv^opy\ov (all rare). It is called by the Russians, kivot,
i.e. ki/3wtiov, and kovtcheg, which is the equivalent of arca.
These and other forms of the pyx used in the Eastern
Churches are described in chapter xvii.
Calix. — It has been suggested in a previous chapter
that when the Host was steeped in the species of Wine,
the chalice would have been a suitable vessel for reserving
in a conjoint manner.3 We are not, as we have seen,
without evidence for this usage. The Life of St. Odilia
represents her as calling for the chalice to be fetched in
which were reserved the Body and Blood of the Lord ; 4
and St. Peter Damian furnishes another example of the
1 It is worthy of note that the arca or tabout of the Ethiopic Liturgy
has been the subject of much discussion. The term is the same word as
the borrowed nan, tebhah, in Hebrew, which means originally a box ; but
nan is not used in the Scriptures for the Ark of the Covenant ; that
is always J11K. Major Harris (Highlands of Ethiopia iii. p. 138) declared
that the tabout contained records of the church to which it belonged.
Neale (pastern Church, General Introduction i. p. 186) believed that the
tabout, for which a Benediction is provided, contained the reserved sacra
ment. Renaudot (Lit. Orient. Collect, i. p. 474) translates the title of the
Benediction : oratio super arcam sive discum maiorem. Brightman (Liturgies,
Eastern, p. 589) and Cabrol-Leclercq (Diet. s.v. Arca) understand it to mean
the altar-slab or altar-board, and, by extension, the altar itself.
2 Ep. IV. 4. (See p. 107.) Kempe (Reservation, p. 119) refers this
passage to St. Augustine, and, quoting the text as containing the phrase
" in doliis aureis," adduces it as evidence for the separate reservation of the
species of Wine.
3 See pp. 138, 149.
4 Vita 22 : "calicem in quo dominicum corpus et sanguis habebatur."
(M. G. H. Vita, vi. p. 50.)

The Sacrament Reserved 203
same kind.1 To these may be added the more ambigu
ous allusion that is contained in a distichon in calice,
appended to the letters of Pope Gerbert : —
" Hence flee both thirst and hunger : hasten, then, ye faithful,
Bishop Adalbert distributes these treasures, to the people." 2
The " calices ad communicandos infirmos," not infrequently
mentioned in mediaeval literature, were not used for
reserving the sacrament. They were employed for those
forms of intinction in which the Host was dipped before
delivery into unconsecrated liquid ; and, later, as the vessels
over which the minister of "Viaticum held the sacramental
Bread as he bore it to the invalid. From this vessel also
the draught (purificatio oris) was given after reception of the
Eucharist in clinical communion. 3
Canistrum. — A wicker basket, such as was used to
contain household stores and the like. St. Jerome says of
Bishop Exsuperius of Toulouse that he was accustomed to
carry the sacred elements in a canistrum "Vimineum, and in
a vessel of glass.4 In such baskets Dorotheus, Bishop
of Thessalonica, caused the eucharistic Bread to be dis
tributed among the people before the emissaries of Pope
Hormisdas arrived in his diocese (a.d. 5 19). 5
The eucharistic Bread lies in a wicker basket in some
of the pictures in the Catacombs illustrating or allusive to
1 opuscula varia . xlvii. 2 : "- . . dum sacri muneris eucharistiam detulisset
aegroto . . . aliquantulum dominiei sanguinis remansit in calice." (P.L.
cxlv. 712.) " Hinc sitis atque fames fugiunt : properate fideles,
Dividit in populo has praesul Adalbero gazas."
(Quoted by Mabillon, Praefationes, Saec. III. p. 1 17.)
3 " Calices ad communicandos infirmos " are referred to, e.g. in the
Synodical Statutes of Odo of Paris : " calices quibus infirmi communicantur
decorentur et mundi custodiantur ut devotius communicent infirmi "
(Hard. vi. 2. 1939) ; and frequently in later documents. Smend (Kelch-
verspendung, etc., p. 1 6) mentions one of these vessels in the cathedral at
Prague. It was described in an Inventory of 1354 as: "Item, cyphus
ovichinus cum pede argenteo deaurato pro infirmis et pro communicantibus
in Parasceve deputatus."
4 Epist. (125) ad Rustic. 20: "... qui corpus domini canistro
vimineo, sanguinem portat in vitro." (T.L. xxii. 1085.)
5 It is reckoned a count against him in the indictment drawn up by
his opponents : " Si haeretici non sunt, quomodo tanta sacramenta con-
fecerunt ut canistra plena omnibus erogarent, ne imminente (sicut dicebant)
persecutione communicare non possent ?" (P.L. Ixiii. 482.)

204 The Sacrament Reserved
the sacrament.1 The Feeding of the Five Thousand and
the eucharistic discourse in St. John vi are illustrated by
baskets full of round cakes marked with a cross.2 The use
of canistra among the Jews for the firstfruits, and of cistae
among the Greeks for a like purpose, e.g. at the feasts of
Bacchus, may have suggested this manner of reserving and
distributing the Eucharist. 3
Capsa, Capsula, Capsis. — Used of the cases, generally
of cylindrical form, in which the manuscript scrolls of the
ancients were stored.
In ecclesiastical use, as early as the Council of Orange
(a.d. 441), capsa is the name of some sort of eucharistic
vessel. Canon 17 of this council orders that " Along with
the capsa, the chalice also is to be offered and consecrated
by admixture of the Eucharist." 4 Such is the bald
translation of the injunction. It is difficult to get at its
exact meaning. The following is the substance of a note
appended in Hefele-Leclercq. At the same time that the
capsa, that is to say, the turris (tour) that contains the
obleys, is offered, there should also be offered the chalice,
that its contents may be consecrated by admixture with
a portion of the Host. 5 But the opinion of Dom Ceillier
is also cited, who believes that the allusion is to the Sancta,
which in the Roman rite was brought in at the beginning
1 de Rossi, Inscript. Christ (passim) : Diet. d'Archeol. s.v. v. Canistrum,
Ciste. Wilpert, Le pitture delle catacombe romane (1903), pi. 28.
In the cemetery of Callixtus there are two paintings representing the
symbolical fish (IX0Y2) having a cista in the foreground filled with round
loaves. The use of red pigment in the interstices of the wicker work
suggests that there is some intention of representing the sacred Wine.
2 D.C.A. s.v. Eucharist (in Christian Art).
3 " C'est surtout dans la celebration des mysteres antiques que la ciste
occupe un rang distingue ; son r61e y etait parfaitement determine et
invariable. La ciste, fermee d'un couvercle, servait a conserver, caches
aux yeux des profanes, ces objets sacres et mysterieux (lepd) dont la revela
tion aux mystes constituait l'acte essentiel de toutes les initiations ; cet
acte, que l'on appelait, rrapaSoo-ts rQv lepZv, comprenait presque toujours
une veritable communion, car dans les objets de la ciste, il y avait des
gateaux, auxquels goutaient les inities." (Diet. d'Archeol. s.v. Ciste.)
4 Can. 17:" cum capsa et calix offerendus est et admixtione eucharis-
tiae consecrandus." (Hard. 1. 1785). Some MSS. read inferendus for
offerendus. s Hist, des Conciks. II. pt. I, p. 444 : " Avec la capsa (tour contenant
le pain a consacrer) on doit offrir en meme temps le calice pour le con-
sacrer (consecrare) en y melant une parcelle de l'eucharistie."

The Sacrament Reserved 205
of the mass, but at a later point according to the Gallican
use.1 In the Ordo Romanus Primus the word capsa occurs in
the description of the Introit : " Two acolytes holding
the open capsae containing the Sancta," which the Pontiff
salutes with bowed head.2 The form capsis is used in the
eleventh-century Ordo Romanus X, where the phrase "a
decorated capsis with the Body of the Lord reserved from
the previous day " is found in the rationale of the Good
Friday services.3 So again, in a later Roman Ordo, num
bered XI in Mabillon's collection, capsula is the receptacle
of the reserved Eucharist used at the communion of the
Presanctified.4 1 ibid. " Le diacre apportait alors cette hostie deja consacree dans un
vase particulier, capsa. Notre canon demande que cette coutume soit
conservee, et que l'on place toujours en m6me temps sur l'autel cette
capsa, de meme que le calice ; on devait aussi deposer une parcelle de
l'hostie dans le calice. . . . Le sens du mot coniacrer s'explique par
ces mots : ' haec communicatio et consecratio ' que le pretre recite
encore aujourd'hui lorsqu'il met une partie de l'hostie dans le calice."
Mabillon (Comment, in Ordo Roman. Trim., p. cxxxix. Mus. Ital. ii)
remarks on this canon : " Is vero mihi sensus huiusce loci videtur, nempe
ut una cum capsa in qua sacra suppelex initio Missae ad altare, fortasse
etiam Eucharistia, deferebatur, etiam et calix afferetur ; qui calix postea
consecratus, immissa in eum Eucharistia de more particula utramque
speciem consecratam simul contineret et quasi una eademque consecratione
sacratus esset." His supposition that the capsa contained the sacra supellex
is accounted for if he read ministerium for mysterium in Gregory of Tours'
story (see p. 78). Lower down in the same note Mabillon refers to this.
Thiers (Exposition, p. 41) also read ministerium in that place, and will not
allow, as Mabillon does, that the turris might contain the consecrated Host.
See Turris.
2 O.R^.P. 8 : " duo acolythi tenentes capsas cum Sanctis apertas."
(Atchley, p. 128.) Binterim (Denktfilrdigkjiten vii. I. 369) takes Sancta to
mean the unconsecrated obleys, which are so termed, he says, by anticipa
tion ; and he draws a parallel between the Roman rite and the greater
entrance of the Eastern Church.
Mabillon (ubi supra) remarks : " capsa ad praeferendam Pontificis sacra
facturo eucharistiam sumatur : cum alia vocabula rem loco fixam signifi-
cent." 3 O.R.P. x. 1 3 : " adomatum capsidem cum dominico corpore hestema
die reservato." (Mus. Ital. ii, p. 102.) In the account of the services of
Coena Domini, it is termed the pyx : " corpus domini positum in pyxide."
(ibid., p. 1 o 1 .)
4 O.R.P. xi. 42 : " In parasceve . . . quidam cardinalis honorifice
portat corpus domini praeteriti diei conservatum in capsula corporalium."
(ibid., p. 137.)

206 The Sacrament Reserved
Chrismale. — Great variety of spelling exists : chrismal,
crismal, crisma, etc. The term was originally used of the
vessel containing the chrism ;' and in the forms chrisma-
torium, chrismarium, with their variants, it appears always
to have this meaning. But in Celtic hagiography, in the
penitentials and many sacramentaries, this name is com
monly given to some kind of receptacle for the reserved
Eucharist. This use of the term has, on the whole, a
Celtic provenance. The reason for the transition from its
original meaning is to be found, perhaps, in the similarity
of shape that existed between the vessels employed for
these two purposes.
The chrismal as a receptacle for the Host privately re
served and borne upon the person is mentioned in the Life
of St. Comgall,2 and in that of St. Mochoemog.3 With
these may be compared some of the directions given in the
second part of the Rule of St. Columban. Here we find such
statements as these : " Whosoever shall forget his chrismal
when he goes far afield to his labours shall receive twenty-
five stripes. If he drops it on the ground and finds it
immediately, fifty stripes. If he hangs it up on a tree and
leaves it there all night thirty stripes " ; and so forth. 4
From this it is clear that the Celtic monk was supposed
to carry the sacrament with him wherever he went, and to
lay it aside as he laboured in the fields. The Penitential of
Cumean provides penances for the loss of the chrismal or
its contents by various accidents :5 and that of Halitgar
1 Crismal has this sense in a document of the seventh century, included
in Saecul. vii et viii Eccl. Mon. (P.L. lxxxviii. 1 184.)
2 Vita S. Comgalli. 22. "Quodam die cum sanctus Comgallus esset
solus in agro operans, posuit crismale (al. crismal) suum super vestem
suam." (Plummer, Vitae Sanctor. Hibern. II, p. 11.)
3 Vita S. (Mochoemog. 1 8. " Buculus meus et crismale (al. crismal)
cum isto interim in extremo loco sepelientur." (ibid., p. 173.)
4 c. 10. " Qui oblitus fuerit chrismal, pergens procul ad opus aliquod,
quinis quinquies percussionibus. Si super terram in agro dimiserit et
invenerit statim, denis quinquies percussionibus : si in ligno illud levaverit,
ter denis, si ibi maneat nocte, suppositione. . . . Cui chrismal ceciderit et
nihil confringens, duodecim percussionibus." (P.L. lxxx. 217, 219.)
s de Mensura Poenit. 13. "Qui non bene custodierit sacrificium et
mus comederit illud, quadraginta dies poeniteat ; qui autem perdiderit in
ecclesia, et [aut] pars ceciderit, et non inventa fuerit, viginti dies poeniteat ;
qui autem perdiderit suum chrismale aut solum sacrificium in regione [loco]
qualibet, et non invenitur, tribus quadragesimis vel anno poeniteat. . . .

The Sacrament Reserved 207
also considers the loss of the sacred contents as well as of
the vessel itself.1 The penitential that goes by the name of
Theodore uses the form chrisma in similar injunctions.2
Elsewhere we find that the name was not restricted to
the little case or box in which the sacrament was privately
reserved. It was also used of the vessel in which the
Eucharist was kept in churches. Instances of this use
occur in forms for hallowing the receptacle of the reserved
sacrament, in the Missale Francorum and a number of
" Gregorian " sacramentaries.3 Such a vessel is described
in verse by St. Aldhelm in a letter to one Acircius : it was
made of gold and elaborately decorated with jewels.4
Ciborium (Kifidbpiov). — As an ecclesiastical term, ciborium
at first meant the domed canopy over the altar. The other
use of the word, in the sense of a receptacle for the Host,
appears to be late. Scudamore remarks that it first occurs
with this meaning in the Chronicles of Hariulf of Centule ;S
Qui autem mergit sacrificium, continuo bibat aquam et quod in chrismale
fuerit sumet sacrificium et emendet per decern dies culpam solutus." (P.L.
lxxxvii. 996.)
1 in Poeniteni. 10. "... qui autem perdiderit suum crismal aut
solum sacrificium in regione qualibet ut non inveniatur . . . poeniteat."
(Schmitz, BussbUcher (1898), p. 298.)
2 Lib. poenitent. 40. "... qui autem perdiderit suum crisma, aut
solum sacrificium . . ." p. 300. cf. also Pen. pseudo-Egbert, xii. 6.
" qui autem in plebe suum crismal perdiderit, et non invenit . . . poeni
teat." (Haddan and Stubbs, iii, p. 428.) In pkbe, presumably means
when visiting, or going about from house to house.
Pseudo-Bede contains a similar injunction : " Qui autem in plebem
suum chrismalem perdiderit. . . ." (P.L. xciv. 574.) /
3 See the section dealing with the consecration of the vessel of reserva
tion at the end of the present chapter.
4 "de Crismale, sive Chrismaro.
Alma domus veneror divino munere plena ;
Valvas sed nullus reserat, nectimina pandit,
Culmina ni fuerint aulis sublata quaternis,
Et licet exterius rutilent de corpore gemmae,
Aurea dum fulvis flavescit bulla metallis :
Sed tamen uberius ditantur viscera, crassa
Potis qua species flagrat pulcherrima Christi.
Candida sanctarum sic floret gloria rerum
Nee trabes in templo surgunt, nee tecta columnis."
(Opera, Giles, p. 264.)
5 {}(.£., p. 912. The passages referred to occur in a description of
the altars and their ornaments in the Church of St. Riquier, and elsewhere
at Centule. Chron. II. 5 : "de altariis et altariorum sanctique [Ricarii]

208 The Sacrament Reserved
but this is certainly a modern instance of the mistake often
made by the older ecclesiologists, who frequently confused
the two senses of the word.1
Perhaps some confusion between Ki/3a>piov 2 and ki{Swtiov,
a little box (a term that is in common use among the
Russian Orthodox for the receptacle of the Host), 3 may
account for the use of ciborium as a name for the pyx ; and
a false etymology connecting the word with cibus may also
have been responsible for the perpetuation of the error.
No indisputable use of the term in this latter sense can
be found before the fourteenth century, at which time it
appears frequently.4 Ducange has several passages illus
trating the use of the word for the vessel of reservation. 5
ornatu. ... Id sunt in ecclesia sancti Salvatoris, sanctique Ricarii altaria
fabricata undecim, ciboria duo, lectoria auro, argento et marmoribus parata
duo. In ecclesia sanctae Dei genetricis Mariae et sanctorum Apostolorum
altaria fabricata xiii, ciborium unum et lectorium optime paratum unum."
(D'Achery, Spicileg. II, p. 306.)
1 Macri (Hierolexicon) alludes to the Life of Pope Leo III (in the
Liber Pontificalis) and takes " ciborium . . . ex argento purissimo " to mean
a pyx, where, in point of fact (as always in this work) the canopy above
an altar is intended. So again, Thiers (Exposition, p. 39) gives a list of
churches in Rome where ciboria are to be seen, under the impression that-
they are receptacles of the reserved eucharist. Martigny (s.v.) " is of
opinion that, besides the usual ciborium, the columns of which rested on
the ground, there was sometimes a lesser one, the columns of which rested
on the mensa of the altar : and that these last were more properly called
peristeria, as enclosing a vessel in the shape of a dove, in which the Host
was contained." But Martigny's authorities (Liber Pont, passim) are not at
all in favour of this interpretation. See D.C.A. s.v. Altar, where Mar
tigny's remarks are cited.
2 Ki/3u>piov is originally the hollow seed-case of the Egyptian " bean "
(Nymphaea nelumbo), and is used for a drinking-cup (e.g. Didym. ap. Ath.
477c Liddell & Scott) because of the resemblance of such a vessel to the
seed-case. Hence, in secular use, its signification of a vase or cup is earlier
than its meaning of a hollow dome.
3 JQyot. (See artophorium supra.)
•t Scudamore u.s. Invent. S. Capell. Paris, 1376: "Item quoddam
repositorium sive cigboire gallice quod supra maius altare est appensum,
in quo est quaedam cupa auri ubi reconditum est sacrum sacramentum."
(Ducange, (jhssar. s.v. Repositorium.)
5 op. cit., s.v. : " die crastina octavae ss. sacramenti debet celebrari
missa de requiem ad maius altare pro domino Papa Clemente vii, quon
dam Episcopo Morinensi, qui dedit ecclesiae Morin. quandam cappam
notabilem ac vas seu ciborium deauratum ad deferendum corpus domini
cum in die ss. sacramenti altaris." (Obituar. Eccle. Morin. ann. 1440.)
" Le suppliant print dedens le ciboire ung calixe avec lequel estoit enve

The Sacrament Reserved 209
Columba, irepio-repa. — Gifts to churches in early days
often took the form of columbae. It is not possible to
determine whether at first these were always merely sym
bolical ornaments, or whether they were sometimes recep
tacles made in the shape of a dove for the reservation of
the Eucharist. But it is noteworthy that in the earliest
allusions to such gifts the columbae are named in association
with eucharistic vessels, such as the paten, the chalice, and
the turris.1 Constantine gave a dove to St. Peter's Church

loppe une petite boite dedens laquelle estoit le corps de Notre Seigneur."
(Lit. remiss, ann. 1443 in Reg. 176. Chartoph reg., c. 278.)
Ciborium is probably intended by Siboigne, in the sixteenth-century
extract cited by Ducange : " . . . une lampe devant le siboigne de l'eglise
du dit Seunc. . . ."
1 There is little doubt that the columbae which the heretic Severus
took away from the baptisteries and from over the altars at Antioch were
purely ornamental objects. The complaint of the clergy of Antioch con
cerning his action, which was presented at the Council of Constantinople
(a.d. 536) is given: " ras els rvrrov rov dyiov irvevparos XPV0'^ T£ Ka'
dpyvpds Trepio~repds Kpepapkvas vrrepdvw ruiv Oeiiav KoXvpf$y8pZv Kal
8vo-iao~rypiu>v." The ground upon which Severus removed them is
stated. He disapproved of the use of such symbolical images of the Holy
Ghost. See p. 198, above, Reservation in the Baptistery. Many writers
are apt to see an allusion to reservation of the Eucharist in any and
every mention of a dove, not only in ecclesiological, but even in theo
logical contexts, e.g. Paulinus of Nola, in one of his descriptive letters,
writing of the decoration of churches, introduces a poem with the line,
" et per columbam Spiritus Sanctus fluit." A long note is appended to
this in Migne, P.L. lxi. 336. And there is, according to Cabrol and
Leclercq (Diet. s.v. colombe eucharistique), a eucharistic context to
Sedulius' verse, "... Sanctusque columbae Spiritus in specie Christum
vestivit honore." (Carmen Paschale, II. 168, 169.)
St. John Chrysostom is hardly to be taken as witness for the reserva
tion of the sacrament in a columba, when, speaking of the Host upon
the altar, he says that our Saviour is present no longer in a cradle,
wrapped in swaddling bands, but clothed with the Holy Ghost (Homil.
xiii, ad populum Antioch). He is obviously referring to the Presence of
Christ in the sacrament, at the celebration of the Liturgy, that is
brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit ; and there is no
reference at all to reservation. Again, it is altogether fanciful to see
any such reference in the passage of Tertullian (adv. Valentin. 3) " Nostrae
columbae etiam domus simplex, in editis semper et apertis at ad lucem.
Amat figura Spiritus Sancti orientem, Christi figuram." Yet these are
quoted in Cabrol and Leclercq. Diet. s.v. colombe eucharistique.
There is a story told about a golden dove, that either hung suspended
or was otherwise placed above the tomb of a saint, in the Gloria Martyrum
of Gregory of Tours (t a.d. 594). If, as is possible, the tomb was also an
2E

210 The Sacrament Reserved
at Rome.1 In the following century the Popes Innocent 1 2
and Hilary 3 are said to have made similar presents to
other basilicas in the city.
The so-called Will of St. Perpetuus of Tours contains the
direction that one of the legatees, a priest named Amalarius,
is to receive a silver dove for use as a receptacle of the
sacrament ; unless the Church at Tours would rather give
that which was there in use to Amalarius, and keep for
itself the dove bestowed in the will .4 Reference has
already been made to the suspended dove of gold in which
St. Basil is said by his ninth-century biographer to have
placed a portion of the Host. 5
When the suspended dove came to be in many places
the usual vessel for reservation, the sacrament was gener
ally enclosed immediately in a little pyx,6 which was placed
in the body of the columba. At a later date the memory
of the ancient fashion sometimes survived in the figure of
a dove surmounting the vessel of reservation itself, or the
canopy that veiled it.7 Columbae were not commonly
altar, the columba may have contained a portion of the sacrament. But no
such statement is made in the text : " Super sepulchrum sanctum calcare
non metuens (scil. an officer of King Sigebert, who was then besieging
Paris) dum columbam auream laceam quaerit elidere." (P.L. lxxi. 769.)
1 Liber Pontificalis (Silvester xxiii). "Patenam auream cum turrem,
ex auro purissimo cum columbam, ornatam gemmis prasinis et yachintis
qui sunt numero margaritis ccxv, pens. lib. xxx." (Duchesne, I, p. 176-)
cf. p. 199, supra. The text is varied in some MSS. : "cum turre . . .
cum columba."
2 op. cit. (xiii). " turrem argenteam cum patenam et columbam
deauratam, pens. lib. xxx." (ibid., p. 220.) This gift was made to the
basilica of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius.
3 op. cit. (xlviii). "columbam auream, pens. lib. II," following
"turrem argenteam." (ibid., p. 243.) Given to St. John Lateran,
for the baptistery. (See p. 1 99, supra.)
4 " Similiter et Amalario ibidem presbytero . . . peristerium et
columbam argenteam ad repositorium ; nisi maluerit ecclesia mea illam
qua utitur eidem Amalario transmittere, meam retinere." (T.L. lviii.
753.) Teristerium — "Ciborium in cujus cavo appensa est columba, ex
qua pendebat pyxis sacram eucharistiam continens." (Ducange, Glossar.,
s.v. — a sort of canopy above the eucharistic dove.)
s Vita St. Basilii. 6. (See p. 195, supra.)
6 The pyx enclosed in the dove was made of cork at Cluny in the
eleventh century, (cf. p. 187, supra, and Mabillon, Iter. Ital. in (Mus.
Ital. I, p. 217.)
f " Dans l'eglise collegiale de St. Julien (d' Angers)," writes Moleon,
" le saint ciboire est suspendu en haut audessus de l'autel : il y a une

The Sacrament Reserved 211
suspended in some parts of Europe, e.g. in Italy, or at
least this kind of vessel disappeared in certain areas at
a comparatively early date.' Elsewhere they were long
in use. A number survived until the seventeenth cen-
tur7> .anc* even later> *n France 5 they were remarked as
curiosities by ecclesiologists and antiquaries, but in some
instances they were still in actual use.2 Eucharistic doves
were very rare in England. 3
colombe audessus." (Voyage Liturg., p. 103.) Thiers also refers to such
figures. (Exposition, I, p. 36.)
1 cf. Archbishop Cranmer's reply to the Devonshire insurgents.
(Strype, Life of Cranmer, No. xl. art. 4) ; and cf. Mabillon (Itin. Ital. u.s.,
p. 186) : "in Italicis basilicis nusquam suspensa est eucharistia." He
noted as a great curiosity the dove that he saw in the sacrarium of the
monastic church at Bobbio : " vetus columba ex aurichalco ad reponen-
dum olim viaticum." (ibid., p. 215.) Chardon thought that St. Colum
ban might have brought it with him from Burgundy to Bobbio in a.d.
614: his name is enough to have suggested this.
2 Macri, in his Hierolexicon, published in 1677, writes under the
article " Ciborium " : " . . . antiquorum usus erat conservandi hoc
sacramentum in quibusdam columbis . . . super altare pendentibus,
ut adhuc mos est in aliquibus Galliae ecclesiis, Parisiis praesertim. . . ."
Twenty years later, Mabillon (Mus. Ital. I, p. 2 1 7) says there was one
in use at the Benedictine Abbey Church of St. Maur des Fosses near
Paris : " hactenus eucharistia columbae inclusa super altare appensa
cernitur." It was also seen by Moleon, who adds that it was made of
gold : " colombe d'or au lieu de ciboire." (Voy. Liturg., p. 179.)
Another, that hung in the parish church of St. Luperc (Liperche),
near to Chartre9, is described by Thiers (Exposit. I, p. 36, 3) : " Elle est
de cuivre rouge, emaillee par endroits ; vers le milieu du corps elle a
comme une petite boete ronde, creuse environ d'un demy-doit, doree par
le dedans et ouverte pardessus le dos entre les deux aisles avec un petit
couvercle de cuivre rouge." He mentions a number of places where
columbae were once to be seen.
Martene, who cites the passage quoted above from Mabillon, adds :
" Similis videtur in Cariacensi congregationis nostrae (that is, of the
Maurists) coenobio dioecesi Suessionensi. In monasterio Grandimon-
tensi eucharistia servabatur olim in columba aurea quam Henricus Rex
Angliae dederat (c. 1184), teste Guadfrido Vosiensi, lib. 22, c. 16."
(De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. 5, art. 8, § 6.)
3 See Comper, Trans. St. TauPs Eccl. Socy. Ill, p. 199 : "Mr. St.
John Hope tells me that he knows of no other mention of a dove in
England [than the columba in tha inventory of Salisbury (1220), see
p. 196], and that even contemporary English custom would make it more
probable that the early Salisbury pyx was not itself of this form. It is so
described as equally to allow the interpretation that the dove was upon
the height of the corona, as was the pelican at Durham, or holding the pyx
in its mouth."

212 The Sacrament Reserved
Conditorium. — Mabillon, commenting on the Roman
Ordines, defines the term conditorium as " a thing containing
the Eucharist, which is called by several names, condi
torium, cophinus, and armarium, in these documents."1 In
the Ordo Romanus Primus the word is used of a place in the
structure of the church rather than a vessel. For we read
that " The Pontiff . . . salutes the Sancta and looks to see
whether there is more than is wanted ; and if so, bids that
it shall be placed in the conditorium." 2 " Generally," says
Ducange, " conditoria are underground places." 3
Cophinus. — This is defined by Macri as the taber-
naculum in which the Eucharist is reserved.4 The
earliest use of the word for this receptacle seems to
occur in the Ordo Romanus (XV) of Peter Amelius, in
the thirteenth century.5
Cupa, Cuppa, Coppa, Cyphus. — Terms in common use
after the twelfth century. Cuppa occurs, for example, in
the works of Matthew Paris. He records the gift of such
a vessel for reserving the Eucharist by Henry II to the
abbey church of St. Albans : " a most noble and costly
cuppa . . . and the case (theca) immediately containing
the Body of Christ."6 Of the Abbot Eadfrid (c. a.d. 941-
946) he tells us that " he obtained and offered to the blessed
Alban a beautiful cyphus ... for keeping the Body of the
Lord." 7 In the history of the Bishops of Auxerre it is
1 Comment, in ord. Rom., p. cxxxix (Mus. Ital. ii) : " res eucharistiam
continens variis nominibus in libellis nostris (i.e. in the ordines) conditorium,
cophinum, armarium."
2 O.R.T. 8 : " Tunc pontifex . . . salutat sancta et contemplatur ut,
si fuerit superabundans, praecipiat ut ponatur in conditorio."
3 Gloss, s.v. : " Generatim Conditoria sunt woyoua, loca depressa,
subterranea." 4 Hierolexicon, s.v. : " Tabemaculum in quo eucharistia conservatur."
5 O.Rj XV. 51 : "deinde idem cardinalis habet incensare altare et
cophinum in quo servatur corpus christi." (Mus. Ital. II, p. 473.) cf.
p. 522, where it appears that the cophinus stood on or near the altar : "Papa
accedit ad altare et thurificatur et cophinum ubi stat corpus christi."
6 Gesta Abbat. : " . . . unam cuppam nobilissimam ac pretiosissimam
in qua reponeretur et ipse theca immediate continens corpus christi."
(R^.S. xxviii. p. 190.)
1 ibid. : " cyphum quendam desiderabilem tam artificio quam materia
admirabilem, adquisivit et beato Albano obtulit, ad corpus dominicum
reponendum." (u.s. p. 20.)
Scudamore notes (N.E. p. 9 1 o) that " Cuppa was properly a vat or cask

The Sacrament Reserved 213
stated that Bishop William de Toucy (f 11 82) gave to the
church of St. Stephen at Auxerre a cuppa of four marks
weight, most handsomely gilded within and without, for
the same purpose. '
The Justiciary of Ireland was charged to provide
for each cathedral church of that country a cuppa for
reservation.2 Other passages illustrating the use of the
term are to be found in Ducange, 3 but none make clear
whether the cuppa was suspended or stood upon or near
the altar. One is inclined to suspect, from the absence of
any mention of chains in the inventories where the term
occurs, that it was a standing receptacle.
The Great Inventory of the ornaments in the vestry of
Canterbury Cathedral (13 15-13 16) contains notice of four
cuppae, which with other vessels for use at the mass and in
reservation are grouped under the heading of Cuppae for
the Lord's Body.4 These four vessels were for hanging up
over the high altar.
The Synodal Statutes of Meaux (1365) contain the direc
tion : " Let there be two cuppae or two repositories ; to
used in making or for storing wine ; while cyphus was often employed for
the sconce of similar form, in which lights were set, and which in England
was called a candle-vat." This distinction is clear enough for our purpose ;
a full list of the variant forms of cuppa and cyphus, and the lines of assimila
tion between the two series, are given in Ducange, Gloss, s.vv.
1 de Gest. Episc. Antid. I. : " cuppam argenteam quatuor marcarum,
deintus et deforis peroptime deauratum ad reponendum in ea corpus
dominicum." (T.L. cxxxviii. 306.)
2 " mandatum est Justiciario Hiberniae, quod in singulis ecclesiis
cathedralibus inveniat unam cuppam ad eucharistiam in ea reponendam."
(Prynne, Liberties of England, iii. p. 198.) (Cited by Ducange, s.v.)
3 Ghssar. s.v. : " calicem aureum cum patena ponderis 4 marcarum
auri, de quo facta fuit cuppa ad reponendam eucharistiam." ((N^ecrolog.
Eccl. Paris.) : " capsa capitis Apostoli (S. Martialis) manet renovata et copa
ubi corpus domini reservatur." (Chart. S. Mart.)
4 " Cuppa I. de auro amalata bogonis de clare " ; i.e. a vessel of gold
enamelled, the gift of Bogo de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. " Item, cuppa
I. aurea cum lapide onichino cum pixide aurea in fundo cum I. camau " ;
i.e. another of gold, with an onyx stone, and apparently containing a
smaller golden pyx, set with a cameo. " Item, cuppa aurea curta Ludowici
regis Francie " ; i.e. a third, shallow in form, or short stemmed, the gift of
St. Louis. " Item, cuppa argentea deaurata cum cistula aurea in fundo " ;
i.e. silver gilt, with a little gold pot inside it. There was also a silver-gilt
crown from which the cuppae were hung : " Item, corona argentea deaurata
circa cuppas." (Legg and Hope, op. cit. p. 73.)

214 The Sacrament Reserved
wit, one that may remain for keeping the Hosts, another to
be carried to the sick." It is apparent from this that cuppa
was a general term for any suitable vessel.
Another reference of about the same date may be added,
in which the name is given to the receptacle in which the
"Viaticum was borne to the sick. It occurs in an inventory
of la Sainte Chapelle at Paris of the year 1363 : "Item, a
coppa of silver-gilt for carrying the Body of the Lord." '
The form coppa is found again in an extract from an ancient
inventory of the goods and gear of a monastic church in
Paderborn, where mention is made of " a golden chalice
and a paten . . . and a silver coppa" which seems to be
the vessel used for reservation.2
Eucharistiale. — This name is found in some rites for
the hallowing of a church and its furniture.3 See the
concluding section of this chapter. Eucharistia is used,
by mistake for eucharistiale, of the pyx in the Life of
St. Herluin of Bee, where we are told that at his death
no viaticum was to be found in the eucharistiaA
Filitorium. — Alexander Neckham, writing about 1 130,
calls the pyx " the filitorium, in which the Eucharist should
be most worthily reserved." This is probably a mistake
for phylacterium.5 Perula. — Is used by Giraldus Cambrensis of the case
or satchel in which Celtic priests carried the sacrament
about with them.6
1 Ducange, Gloss, s.v. : " Item una coppa argentea deaurata ad portan-
dum corpus christi."
2 ibid. : " Aureus calix I cum patena . . . coppa I argentea." In the
Italian edition of Chardon, Hist, des Sacraments, the term coppa coperta is
used to describe the type of vessel that replaced the turris (III. xiii. p. 275).
For further examples, see Bridgett-Thurston, op. cit. pp. 180 f., and Hart
and Frere's edition of Rock, Church of our Fathers, IV. 234 ff.
3 Ducange, Gloss, s.v. : " vas in quo eucharistia asservatur, in Pontif.
Mogunt. MS. fol. no."
4 Vita. (P.L. cl. 711). The monstrance was called a Eucharist in
Scotland in the sixteenth century. (See Bridgett-Thurston, op. cit. pp. 1 84,
185.) 5 Bridgett-Thurston, op. cit. p. 169 (footnote) : "filitorium in quo
conservetur dignissime eucharistia." The name phylacterium was given
to little cases in which amulets and relics were borne upon the person, as
well as to the receptacles for relics in churches. It does not appear to be
used elsewhere for the vessel containing the sacrament.
6 Top. Hib. ii. 19: " Perula, quam, more patriae, presbyter itinerans sub
indumento a collo suspensum deferebat."

The Sacrament Reserved 215
Pyxis. — A box, generally of small dimensions. This is
the name most usually given to the receptacle of the
reserved sacrament during and after the ninth century.1
Several of the earlier instances of the use of the word in
the technical sense have already been given in previous
chapters. Of these we may recall its occurrence in the
Capitular of Hincmar of Reims2 and in the Synodical
Decrees of Ratherius of Verona.3 Regino also provides
some early examples,4 and .ZEthelwolf tells us that in the
abbey church of Lindisfarne there was among other features
to be observed the buxis, i.e. pyxis, containing the gifts of
precious life, above or behind the altar. 5 Synods of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries make frequent reference to
the provision of suitable pyxes. For example, Bishop Odo
of Paris (Eudes de Sully) charged his clergy to provide them
selves with an ivory pyx that could be securely closed when
they carried the sacrament abroad.6 In the same collection
of canons it is remarked of some priests that they had been
negligent in providing neither ivory pyx nor a tabernacle, in
spite of the fact that definite instructions had been issued
requiring them to do so.7 The pyx of ivory which is here
ordered is the box in which the Host was kept, and in which
1 Great variety of spelling exists. Pyx is sometimes used for the box
containing the obleys ; e.g. " pyxis hostias continens non consecratas."
Rupert. Abbat. Tuit. de incend* oppid. (P.L. clxx. 338) ; and pyxidula for a
reliquary (Leo Marsic. iii. 30).
2 Cap. Synod. II. 8 : " quo metallo sit calix et patena . . . aut si
habeat (presbyter) pyxidem ubi congrue possit recondi sacra oblatio reser-
vanda ad viaticum infirmis ?" (P.L. cxxv. 779.)
3 Synod, ad presbyt. I. 6 : " . . . buxida cum corpore domini." (P.L.
cxxxvi. 559.)
4 Notitiat I. 9 and 71. (See p. 193.)
5 Carmen de Abb. Lindisf. 14.
" Haec est ilia domus quam mater numinis alti
Incolitans servat vasti sub culmine caeli.
Cui compacta nitet perpulchris mensa tabellis,
Porticus in medio, sancti quam fronde coronant.
Dum buxis claudunt pretiosae munera vitae." (P.L. xcvi. 1337.)
6 Co».rrt7. Synod, cap. v. 5 : " . . . cum magna reverentia et maturitate
... in pyxide eburnea bene clausa propter casum." (Hard. vi. 2. 1939.)
t ibid, praescr. 35: " . . . quidam enim licet jam elapsi sint tres anni
ex quo praedictos libellos habuerunt, ita sunt negligentes quod nondum
habent pyxidem eburneam nee tabemaculum ubi reservetur cum honore
corpus domini. . . ." (ibid. 1944.)

216 The Sacrament Reserved
it was carried out of the church ; the tabernacle was some
sort of aumbry. Two pyxes were commonly used in con
nection with the reserved Eucharist.1 We may, perhaps,
surmise that at first one and the same pyx was used both for
storing the sacrament in church and for carrying it forth to
sick persons. But both in East and West special vessels of
suitable form came into use for the latter purpose.
It is interesting to note that while ivory was at one time
the material commonly used in making the pyx,2 a canon
of Verona, writing about 1400, thought that an ivory box
was unsuitable for the purpose of reserving the Eucharist,
and suggested that a silver vessel, chased without, should
be substituted for the receptacle that was then in use.
"You have often noticed it," he says, "and judged it to be
unworthy of so great a mystery." The use of a silver
vessel, according to this writer, " is the general custom of
the whole Church of God. "3
Turris. — This was a very early form of vessel, possibly
the most primitive of all. Constantine and the Popes,
already referred to as donors of columbae, included turres in
their gifts to the Roman churches.4
1 Regist. S. Osmund, I. pp. 273-314 : "una pixis eburnea dependens
super altare cum eucharistia, et alia argentea ponderis iii. solidorum, ad
deferendum corpus domini infirmis." (RJ>. Ixxviii. 2.)
Synod. Stat, of Liege (1287) xxxii. 5 : "Pyxis in qua corpus domini
reservatur vel ad infirmos defertur, eburnea vel argentea, vel ad minus
cuprea bene elimata ; et semper pannus lineus albus mundus vel sericus
infra pyxidem ponatur supra quern corpus domini in pyxide collocetur."
2 Macri, Hierolexicon, s.v. : " Pyxis ventrem virginalem Deiparae sym-
bolice designat ; nam in Cant. vii. 2 dicitur, ' venter tuus sicut acervus tritici
vallatus liliis ' : Graeca lectio habet ' cumulus tritici ' ; sed per acervum sive
cumulum tritici non nisi Christus sacramentatus intelligitur sub speciebus
panis. Item, ubi in vulgata eiusdem Canticae legitur, ' venter eius
eburneus,' cap. v. 14, graece habetur KoiXia avrov ois irv£iov eXeipdvrivov,
id est, venter eius Veluti pyxis eburnea." If this fanciful interpretation has
any antiquity, it may have determined the material of which the pyx was
commonly made.
3 Cited by Mabillon (Iter Ital. p. 198).
The " ancient ciboire d'yvoire " which Mabillon (Voyage Liturs;. p. 68)
saw in the monastery at Ferrieres and thought " la piece la plus curieuse,"
is mentioned again by Martene, who knows of the existence of others no
longer in use. Martene also records that the Eucharist used to be kept in
a glass vessel in a monastic church near Hildesheim, " ut discimus ex chronico
Mindensium c. 45." (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. v. 3, p. 252.)
4 See Columba.

The Sacrament Reserved 217
From the sixth century onward these receptacles were
in common use. According to St. Germanus of Paris they
were made in this shape because the tomb of our Lord was
in the form of a tower hewn out of the rock ; therefore the
Body of the Lord is borne in " towers " at the solemn entry
of the Sancta.1
We need only refer to a few instances in which the
turris is mentioned. St. Remi of Reims, who died in
a.d. 533, desired his successor in the see to carry out the
provisions in his will for the making of a tower.2 Another
sixth-century document of the same kind mentions four
turres and four chalices ; 3 and Flodoard, in his History,
tells of another Bishop of Reims (Lando, f c. a.d. 645)
who gave a golden turris to the cathedral church.4 We
have mentioned more than once already the tower that
disengaged itself from the hands of the deacon in the story
told by Gregory of Tours. 5
Venantius Fortunatus wrote a poem on the turris,
beginning with the lines :
" How fairly made those golden gifts should be
That bear the costly pearl — the hallowed Body of the Lamb ! " 6
These vessels were often richly ornamented, and, as we
1 Bxpositio antiq. Lit. Gall. : " Corpus vero domini ideo defertur in
turribus, quia monumentum domini in similitudinem turris fuit scissum in
petra." (P.L. lxxii. 93.)
2 Test. S. Remigii : " Jubeo turriculum et imaginatum calicem
fabricari." (P.L. lxv. 971.)
3 Test. S. Aridii : " turres quatuor, cooperturiolos holosericos tres,
calices argenteos quatuor." (P.L. lxxi. 1147.)
4 Hist. Eccl. Remen. ii. 6. (P.L. cxxxv. I. 107.)
5 de Gloria Martyr., 85 : " de diacono cui turris inter manus effugivit."
(See p. 78 for text.) Reading ministerium for mysterium, Thiers and others
supposed the turris to contain the vessels for mass and the obleys, " ce qui
devoit servir a la consecration du corps du Seigneur," but not the sacrament
itself. (Exposit. pp. 40, 41.) Duchesne (Chr. Worship, p. 205 n.) refers to
this incident, and says that Krusch, in dealing with the passage, confuses
the use of the tower with that of the capsa. The turris, according to
Duchesne, contained the unconsecrated obleys. But compare the direct
statement of St. Germanus quoted above.
6 Miscell. iii. carmen 25 :
" Quam bene juncta decent, sacrati ut corporis Agni
Margaritum ingens aurea dona ferant." (P.L. lxxxviii. 144.)
The use of " margaritum " is of interest in view of the use of the term
among the Greeks for the intincted particles prepared for Viaticum.
2 F

218 The Sacrament Reserved
have seen, made of costly materials. In the contemporary
Life of St. Didier of Cahors (f a.d. 659) is a passage con
taining allusions to the splendour of the sacred vessels of
the altar, including'the "tower." 1
The use of this sort of receptacle for the sacrament
lasted in some French churches until the end of the seven
teenth century, and possibly until later. It is interesting
to note that in certain cases the turris was suspended.
"Up to this date (i.e. 1699)," says Martene, "the
Eucharist is reserved in a silver turris suspended over
the altar in the monastery of Marmoutier, at Tours.
And up till a few years ago the vessel for exposition of
the Eucharist at the parish church of St. Lawrence in
Rouen was fashioned in the form of a tower." 2 Thiers
tells us that a golden turris was hung up under a cross
above the altar of a church at Laon ; 3 and another was
suspended over the high altar of St. Benet's, in Paris,
in 1643. Some of them were not very ancient; others,
including that in Bourges Cathedral, were of high
antiquity.4 Benediction of the Vessel of Reservation
From the eighth century comes a form in the Gelasian
Sacramentary for hallowing the Chrismal. A preface to the
benediction bids prayer to the end that God Almighty will
" vouchsafe to fill the receptacle of the Body of His Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, with blessing, with the safeguard of
1 Vita 17:" fulgent quidem gemmis auroque calices, praeminent turres,
micant coronae, resplendent candelabra. . . ." (Krusch, M.G.H. Vita, iv.
576-) 2 "In maiori monasterio Turonensi hactenus (i.e. 1699) in turre
argentea in altari suspensa eucharistia asservatur. In Rotomagensi etiam
S. Laurentii ecclesia parochiali ante paucos annos vas eucharistiae. osten-
sorium in turris similitudinem erat efformatum." (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I.
v. § 3.)
3 Exposit., p. 42.
4 " Enfin, il y en avoit ou l'Eucharistie estoit dans des tabernacles
appelez Tours, parsqu'ils estoient fabriquez en forme de Tours, dont
les uns estoient proche les autels, comme j'en ay vu de cuivre qui me
parut assez ancien, au coste gauche du choeur de l'eglise paroissiale de
S. Michael de Dijon, eloigne environ de huit ou dix pas du maistre
autel ; et les autres au dessus de la croix que l'on met ordinairement
au haut des principaux autels des eglises. Ces Tabernacles en forme
de Tours sout aisez renommez dans 1'antiquite." (ibid., pp. 39, 40.)

The Sacrament Reserved 219
sanctification, and with the power of defence." And then
follows the benediction itself, in which the chrismal is termed
" a new sepulchre of the Body of Christ." 1 This is repeated
in the Missale Francorum.2 Very similar is the form given
in Menard's text of the "Gregorian" Sacramentary and in
allied documents.3 The Gallican Sacramentary (Missale
Vesontionense) provides a form of joint benediction of
chalice, paten, and turrisA
In other forms the terms "Vasculum eucharistiale, eu
charistiale "Vas, etc., are used to designate the pyx.5
1 " Oremus, fratres carissimi, ut Deus omnipotens hoc ministerium
corporis filii sui domini nostri Jesu Christi gerulum, benedictione,
sanctificationis tutamine, defensionis dominatione implere dignetur,
orantibus nobis. Per dominum. Or. Omnipotens Deus Trinitas insepara-
bilis, manibus nostris opem tuae benedictionis infunde ; ut per nostram
benedictionem hoc vasculum sanctificetur et corporis Christi novum
sepulchrum Spiritus Sancti gratia perficiatur. Per dominum." (Wilson,
op. cit., pp. 135, 136.) For the idea contained in novum sepukhrum cor
poris Christi cf. the name sometimes given to the Russian kovtcheg, or
kivot (p. 252), and St. Germain's description of the turris (p. 217).
2 T.L. lxxii. 330.
3 In the orders for sacring churches and church furniture and orna
ments, printed by Martene (De Ant. Eccl. Rit. II. 13), are benedictions
of the pyx, which is described by various names : "Benedictio euchar-
istialis vasculi. Oremus dilectissimi et fratres carissimi, ut Deus omni
potens hoc mysteriale (scil. ministeriale) corporis Filii sui . . . gerulum,"
etc. (ord. iii) : " . . . ut hoc vasculum sanctificetur . . ." (ord. iv) : Vas,
in ord. vii. The first two are English documents. In the Leofric Missal
also a variant of the Gelasian prayer is given, under the title Consecratio
chrismalis. 4 " Benedictio calicis et patenae et turris. Deus omnipotens qui cum
Moyse famulo tuo in Chore montem servanda populo tuo praecepta
disponeres, templum sanctum tuum qualiter aedificaret, instituisti ;
precamur [te], Domine, tuam maiestatem ut hunc calicem patenam et
turrem, in quo celebraturi sumus sacrosancta mysteria, caelesti benedic
tione sanctifices atque benedicas, ut Sanctis vasculis tuis acceptabilem
deferat famulatum. Per." (Neale and Forbes, Ancient Liturgies oj
Gallican Church, p. 362.)
3 Martene, u.s.

CHAPTER XV
The Minister of the Reserved Eucharist
THE circumstances that made the presbyter the celebrant
at mass in the bishop's stead made him the cus
todian and normal minister of the reserved Eucharist.
These were, briefly, the subdivision of the city areas for
disciplinary and administrative purposes ; the spread of
Christianity from the towns to the country-side ; and,
later, the development, from churches attached to isolated
districts and estates, of the regular parochial system of the
middle ages. All these causes conspired to produce and
to conserve presbyteral autonomy in matters connected
with the sacraments. We may take note that, long before
this development had come to its full growth, the control
of viaticum had been placed by some bishops in the hands
of the presbyterate, even as early as the fourth century.
At Alexandria at that date it appears to have been usual to
apply to the priest for communion in sickness ; J and from
the same area come the ancient canons that bear the name of
Athanasius, in which administration of viaticum is assumed
to be a duty of the presbyterate.2
To trace here the history of the presbyter's control of
the reserved Eucharist would be tedious and unnecessary.
It is, as we have just remarked, the natural accompaniment
of his increased independence of the bishop. But what is
of interest and calls for some notice is the fact, that in
certain circumstances clerks of inferior order and even
lay folk might act as ministers of the reserved sacrament.
In this matter the same principle was followed as that
which regulated the administration of baptism and unction
and the hearing of confession. In case of urgent necessity,
1 Eusebius, H.E. vi. 44.
2 Can. 36 : "No priest shall carry forth the mysteries and go with
them about the streets except for a sick man, when the end and death's
hour of need draw nigh," etc. (Riedel and Crum, Canons of Athanasius,
p. 32-) 220

The Sacrament Reserved 221
if the priest were absent, an inferior clerk might officiate in
his place ; and if no clerk of any degree were at hand the
layman, and even the laywoman, might take the duty upon
himself or herself. I
In this chapter we consider the administration of the
Eucharist by other agents than the bishop and the pres
byter. A. The Deacon
Justin Martyr's account of the Liturgy furnishes good
evidence for the administration of the two eucharistic
species by the hands of the deacons to present and absent
alike ; 2 and so long as the custom of sending the sacra
ment abroad from the Liturgy continued in general use,
the deacons were doubtless the ministers by whom it was
conveyed and administered.
They still appear to communicate the laity in both
kinds in the East in the fourth century,3 and there is some
ground for supposing that elsewhere, at any rate, they had
so far exceeded their functions as to celebrate the Eucharist
under stress of circumstances.4 However this may be, the
1 For a mediaeval discussion of this principle, see Giraldus Cambrensis
(Gemma Ecclesiast. I. 2) : Utrum per laicum infirmis mitti eucharistia vel
extrema fieri unctio possit (R.S. xxi. 2, p. 1 3). He says, " intelligendum
autem nisi ingruente necessitate ; quia tunc si presbyter id forte per se
implere non poterit, per diaconum vel etiam laicum fidelem illud adim-
pleat, sicut et baptizandi officium et etiam extremae unctionis infirmorum,"
quoting in support of his statement certain " Isidorian " decrees, (ibid.,
p. 14.) 2 See p. 17.
3 There may be a reference to the administration of the two species by
the deacon in the second canon of Ancyra (a.d. 314). The relevant part
of the text is as follows : " Smkovovs bpoiws dvo-avras . . . ttjv pev
dXXyv npyv exeiv, irerravo-dai Se airovs irdo-ys rrjs lepds Xeirovpyias,
rrjs re rov dprov y rrorypiov dva<f>kpeiv y Kypvo-o-eiv . . ." (Hefele-
Leclercq, Hist. des. Conciles I, pt. i, p. 303.) "They shall no more offer
bread and cup " after they have lapsed. Does this mean to the celebrant
at the offertory, or to the communicants after consecration ?
4 Aries (a.d. 314), can. 15 : "de diaconibus quos cognovimus multis
locis offerre, placuit minime fieri debere." This may, perhaps, allude to
the possibility that during the Diocletian persecutions some deacons had
even assumed the right to celebrate where there were neither bishops nor
priests left. Offerre is used in can. 1 9 for celebrating : " de episcopis
peregrinis, qui in urbem solent venire, placuit eis locum dare ut offerant."
Binterim interprets the canon as forbidding the deacons to administer

222 The Sacrament Reserved
canon of Nicaea that forbids the deacon to communicate
the presbyters with the consecrated Bread, on the ground
that such a practice was contrary to the canons and to
established usage, says nothing about the restriction of
their ministry, in this particular, in communicating the
layfolk.1 Deacons continue to administer both elements
in the Rite contained in the Testament of our Lord, as well
in the congregation as to the sick. But a priest must carry
the sacrament to an invalid priest, and it is interesting to
note that a deaconess acted in the same capacity in the case
of a sick woman.2 Deacons were, moreover, the original
ministers by whom, in early days, the Fermentum was
carried from the bishop to the district churches in a city,
and their association with the ceremony of the Sancta lasted
for some time.3
But, in some parts of the Church, the office of the
deacon at the open communion was already limited to the
administration of the chalice before the middle of the
third century. Like all other such modifications of
ecclesiastical usage, this restriction was of local and
gradual growth. That it was the custom of the African
Church in his age seems to be a just deduction from
a description of communion in the works of Cyprian.4
But that wider powers were still exercised by this order
of the ministry is apparent from his allowing the deacons
to reconcile the penitent in case of necessity ; and this
office would normally carry with it, as we have seen,
Holy Communion in other churches than those to which they were
attached. Cyprian (de Lapsis 25) uses the phrase calicem offerre in this
sense. (See Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 291 ff, and Vacant-Mangenot,
Dct. de Thiol. Cathol., s.v. Diacres, col. 717.) Laodicea (.'363), can. 25 :
" on ov 8ei vwyperas dprov SiSovai oiSe irorypiov evXoyeiv." (Hefele-
Leclercq, op. cit., I, pt. 2, p. 1013.)
1 Can. 18:" y*X8ev els Tiji' ayiav Kal peydXyv o-vvoSov, bri ev ruri
toitois Kai iroXeo-i rois irpeo-fivrepois ryv evxapurriav 01 SiaKovoi 8i86ao-iv,
oirep ovre o Kavuiv ovre y o~vvy8eia irapeSbiKe, roiis e£owriav pi) ?xovTas
Trpoo~<j>kpeiv tois irpoo-<f>kpovo-i SiSovai rb criopa rov xpMjToC' KaKeivo Se
eyv(i>pur8y, on ^j<5ij rives riov SiaKovatv Kal irpb r&v emo-Koirav rrjs evx0^-
purrias dirrovrai. . . ." (Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., I, pt. i, p. 61 o.)
2 See p. 19. "Si quis fidelium morbi causa domi maneat, diaconus
ipsi deferat sacrificium."
3 See chap. vii.
4 de Lapsis 25 : "sollemnibus adinpletis calicem diaconus ofterre
praesentibus coepit." (Hartel, p. 225.)

The Sacrament Reserved 223
the administration of the sacrament out of time of cele
bration.1 It is clear from the language of various canons and
decrees that in some parts of the Church, at least, the
deacons were in the habit of magnifying their office to
an inordinate extent. This was especially the case, we
may suppose, where the primitive tradition of their close
association with the bishop was strong. The pride of the
deacons at Rome and elsewhere was not an unusual subject
of complaint.2 We note accordingly from the fourth
century onward a general tendency to define very carefully
and to restrict the deacon's rights. This check was made
all the more possible by the rise of minor orders to which
certain of his duties were assigned.3
Yet the association of the deacon with the celebration
of the Eucharist persisted,4 and from the language of early
ecclesiastical writers we gather that whatever restrictions
were laid upon the order in this matter were regarded as
disciplinary measures only. Thus we are able to account for
the language of Isidore of Seville, who remarks that just as
consecration of the Eucharist is the presbyter's privilege,
so the administration of the sacrament was that of the
deacon. 5 His words reappear in works of Rabanus
Maurus,6 and are the source from which is derived an
ancient English canon directing the deacon to housel the
1 Ep. xiv. 5 (Hartel, p. 512); Ep. xvi. 9 (p. 520) ; Ep. xvii. 11
(p. 522) ; Ep. xviii. 12 (p. 524). cf. Synod. Elvira, can. 32. (Hefele-
Leclercq, I. i, p. 238.)
1 cf. Aries, can. 18: " de diaconibus urbicis, ut non sibi tantum
praesumant, sed honorem presbyteris reservent, ut sine conscientia ipsorum
nihil tale faciant." (Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., p. 293.) cf. Van Espen,
Commentarius in canones et decreta (1755), p. 101. The Nicene canon (18)
dealing with this matter was introduced by the Roman representatives.
(Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., p. 613).
3 Epiphanius (Haeres. lxxix. 4) says that no deacon must be allowed to
have control of a sacrament (pvorypiov eiripeXeiv).
* cf. St. Ambrose's expression concerning St. Lawrence, archdeacon of
Rome (De Off. (Min. I. 41). This may relate to the ceremony of the
Sancta. The deacon administers the chalice to the bishop (pontiff) on
Maundy Thursday in the " Gregorian " sacramentary.
5 de Eccles. Officiis II. 8 : " nam sicut in sacerdote, consecratio, ita in
ministro dispensatio sacramenti est. . . . Ille oblata sanctificat, hie sancti-
ficata dispensat." (Hittorp, 208.)
6 de Cleric, instit. I. 7. (T.L. cvii. 303.)

224 The Sacrament Reserved
people, without any statement concerning his limitation
to the ministry of the chalice.1
After the restriction of his office at the Liturgy the
deacon was still allowed in special circumstances to act as
the priest's representative or substitute in conveying the
reserved sacrament to the sick. A ninth-century canon
authorizes his employment in this capacity in case of need.
" Just as none but bishops and priests may offer the sacrifice,
since to them alone are given the keys of the heavenly
kingdom, so also none but they must meddle with the
discipline of penitents. But if necessity arise, and no
presbyter be present, let the deacon admit the penitent to
Holy Communion." 2 It is the deacon who carries the
viaticum, in the presence of the priest, in an eleventh-
century Sacramentary of Narbonne,3 though it is the latter
who administers it to the invalid.
The numerous enactments that deal with the question
in the twelfth century and after are witness, not to the
sudden revival of an ancient custom, but to an effort to
restrain within due bounds what had been a constar
practice, and to confine the exercise of this liberty to cases
of special urgency. Two or three of these canons will serve
to illustrate the policy. At the Council of Westminster
(1138) it was declared that although under normal con
ditions the priest himself was to carry the Host to those
who asked for viaticum, the deacon or even a layman in
case of necessity might act for him.4 Of similar import is
the decree put forth at Paris sixty years later : " Priests are
not to let the deacons take the sacrament to the sick, except
1 Canones Mlfric, 16: "He may baptize children and housel the
people." (Thorpe, p. 444.)
2 Regino, I. 295 : " Sicut sacrificium offerre non debent nisi episcopi
et presbyteri, quibus claves regni caelestis traditae sunt, sic nee poenitentium
judicia alii usurpare debent. Si autem necessitas evenerit et presbyter non
fuerit praesens, diaconus suscipiat poenitentem ad sanctam communionem."
(P.L. exxxii. 247.)
3 " Dum autem unguendus est infirmus celebret pro eo missam sacerdos.
Deinde convenientibus omnibus veniat et ipse cum portione corporis et
sanguinis domini, quam portet levita." (Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii.
4, ord. 13.) See p. 236 n.
4 Can. 2 : " Sancimus etiam ut ultra octo dies corpus Christi non
reservetur ; neque ad infirmos, nisi per sacerdotem aut per diaconum, aut
necessitate instante per quemlibet cum summa reverentia deferatur." (Hard.
vi. 2. 1204.)

The Sacrament Reserved 225
in case of necessity, when the priest himself is away ; and
the bishops shall reprove those who do not observe this
order." l Bishop William of Angers directed the Synod
that sat in his diocese in 1273 on tne same principle ; and
it. was prescribed at a Synod of Nlmes (1284) that the
deacon might undertake this duty only by express injunction
of the parish priest. In his absence or disability, if there
were immediate and urgent need, it was not necessary to
obtain his permission.2 The articulus necessitatis must often
have arisen during the terrible pestilences, such as the
Black Death, that swept over Europe from time to time.
B. The Subdeacon and Clerks in Minor Orders
The subdeacon is apparently associated with the admin
istration of the Eucharist to the sick in some accounts of
monastic customs. Martene refers to cases, in which per
mission was conceded to the subdeacon to act as minister of
viaticum, that are recorded in documents belonging to a
Benedictine house at Chezal-Benolt.3 But it may be that
the " subdeacon " implies one of the sacred ministers at
the mass, who may have been in priest's orders.4
With the mention of the mansionarii or sextons who in
the ninth century carried the fermentum from the Pope's
1 Cap. v. 5 : " Non permittant presbyteri diacones (comminatur epis
copus eis qui hoc non servant) deferre infirmis sacrosanctum corpus domini,
nisi necessitate cum sacerdos absens fuerit. . . ." (Hard. vi. 2. 1939.)
So also Councils of York (1195), Westminster (1200), and of Rouen
(1230- 2 IV : " ne aliquis qui non sit in presbyterium ordinatus eucharistiam
communicantibus praebeat. . . . Diaconus hoc facere potest de licentia
sacerdotis ubi idem sacerdos hoc per se non potest facere, vel quia absens
est presbyter ut necessitatis articulus noscitur imminere et in ultimo casu
non est necessaria licentia sacerdotis." (Hard. vii. 914.)
3 De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. v. 2 : " In duobus MSS. codicibus monasterii
Casalis Benedicti, quorum unus ab annis 600 et alter ab annis 300, in
quibus describitur ordo ad visitandum infirmum, subdiaconus ad infirmum
eucharistiam deferre legitur, sed earn ministrare sacerdos jubetur, qui nunc
solus et defert et praebet." He also cites instances of the deacon adminis
tering viaticum in religious houses. " corpus autem domini potest infirmus
accipere a procuratore si sit diaconus." (Stat. Antiq. Cartusiens.)
4 As, for example, in a monastic ordo ad infirmum visitandum of Fleury :
" id est post expletionem missae exuet se presbyter casula. Quern praecedet
subdiaconus cum eucharistia et ministri cum candelabris et thuribulo," etc.
(Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. III. xv. ord. I.)
2 G

226 The Sacrament Reserved
mass to the district churches, and of the acolythi who at the
same period appear to have discharged this duty also as
well as to have brought in the Sancta at the Introit,1 we
may pass on to consider the ministration of the reserved
Eucharist by the laity.

The Religious
That monks were allowed to administer the reserved
Eucharist to each other and to the laity is clear from the
instances we have collected out of the lives of the Irish
saints and from other sources.2 There is no need to repeat
the evidence here.
As to women in religion, they too were allowed to make
use of the reserved sacrament, and in case of need to
administer the communion to the dying. The deaconesses
in the Testament of our Lord, though not technically religious,
and the companions of St. Odilia, may be cited as instances
from different parts of Christendom at different periods.
C. The Laity
At no time was the distribution of the sacraments at
the Liturgy performed by any person except such as were
in ecclesiastical orders. But, out of mass-time, the free
dom conceded in private reservation allowed lay folk to
act as the bearers and ministers of the reserved Eucharist.
It was necessary, therefore, after the habit of private com
munion had come under the ban of authority, to forbid the
continuation of any customs to which private reservation
had given origin, and to prohibit the laity from carrying
the Eucharist any longer to their sick friends. The early
legislation that deals with private reservation (reviewed in
chap, iv) more or less directly condemned lay administration
of communion to the sick ; and the ruling of the council,
commonly called " in Trullo," in forbidding this practice
whenever regular officials of the Church were present,3
1 Atchley, O.R.P., p. 128 : Duchesne, Chr. Worship, Append. I.
2 See chap. v. Many Celtic monks were in holy orders.
3 Can. 58: " pySels ru>v ev XaiKois reraypkviov eavr(£ r£>v 6etav
pvo-rypiiav peraSiSorta rrdpovros eirurKonov y Trpeo-pvrepov y Sia/cdvou. . . ."

The Sacrament Reserved 227
authorized the policy that since that date (a.d. 681) has
generally prevailed.1
Mediaeval canonists and others made reference from
time to time to an injunction that was commonly assigned
to a seventh-century Council of Rouen or Reims. In this
canon note is taken of certain irregularities in connection
with the consumption of what remains of the Eucharist
after mass ; and it is also particularly enjoined upon the
celebrant that the Eucharist should be placed, not in the
hand, but in the mouth of the lay-communicant. No reason
is explicitly given for this method of reception, but from
the context it seems to be intended to prevent the un
authorized use, or even the abuse, of the sacrament.2
During the ninth century we meet with a number of
injunctions against lay-administration ; from which circum
stance it appears that the custom of permitting the Eucharist
to be carried away from church was a common irregularity
at this period. Hincmar of Reims required the presbyters
of his diocese to visit the sick and to give them communion
with their own hands. They were not to let the lay folk
do this for them.3 Regino of Prtim preserves an enquiry
(Hard. III. 1684.) This cannot, of course, refer to distribution of the
Eucharist at the Liturgy, where the clergy would of necessity be present.
cf. Can. 1 o 1 , forbidding reception in metal boxes.
1 Florinus (de Sacr. Ord. xii. 3, § 12) cites Balsamon as asserting,
" morem istum fuisse apud Latinos suo tempore (i.e. twelfth century) vul-
gatum, laicosque non modo in sinu gestasse, sed etiam aliis distribuisse."
He adds, " sed hoc unde acceperit, nescio."
2 Can. 2 : " Dictum est nobis quod quidam presbyteri celebrata missa,
detrectantes ipsi sumere divina mysteria quae consecrarunt, calicem domini
mulierculis, quae ad missas offerunt, tradant, vel quibusdam laicis qui
dijudicare corpus domini nesciunt, — id est, discernere inter cibum spiritu-
alem atque carnalem. Quod quantum sit omni ecclesiasticae religioni
contranum pietas fidelium novit. Unde omnibus presbyteris interdicimus
ut nullus in posterum hoc facere praesumat, sed aut ipse cum reverentia
sumat, et diacono aut subdiacono, qui ministri altaris sunt, colligenda tradat.
Illud etiam attendat ut eos propria manu communicet : nulli autem laico
aut feminae eucharistiam in manibus ponat, sed tantum in os ejus cum his
verbis ponat : corpus et sanguis domini prosit tibi ad remissionem peccatorum et
ad vitam aeternam. Si quis haec transgressus fuerit, quia Deum omnipotentem
contemnit, et quanto in ipso est, inhonorat, ab altare removeatur." (Hard.
vi. 1. 205) ; under title Rodomi Synodus (jeneralis, and dated a.d. 878. For
discussion of date, etc., see Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit. III. I. p. 287. Note
the implication of intinction in the directions for communicating the laity.
3 Synod. II. 10: "Si ipse presbyter visitet infirmos et inungat oleo
sancto, et communicet per se et non per quemlibet ; et ille communicet

228 The Sacrament Reserved
to the same effect ; l and a canon of a ninth-century
council of Reims has a strongly-worded prohibition of the
usage. 2
In the next century we find the edict of Ratherius of
Verona : " No one shall presume to give the communion
to a layman or to a woman, to take it to invalids." 3 The
Council of Lanciano (Ansanum) repeats the prohibition
(89°)-4 Later councils and synods as a rule allowed the laity to
carry the Eucharist to the dying in cases of extreme neces
sity. It is permitted, for example, by the council of
Westminster in 1138,5 and by other synods of which we
have already taken note.6 Bishop Walter of Rouen, in his
charge concerning ecclesiastical discipline, probably meant
to allow a similar liberty.7 We may also recall the ambig
uous passage in the so-called Penitential of Bede,& in which
lay administration is possibly implied, and the Irish law of
Senchus Mor, which guarantees exemption from arrest and
populum nee tradat communionem cuiquam laico ad deferendum in domum
suam causa cujuslibet infirmi." (P.L. exxv. 779.)
1 (ffytitiae 1 : " Si visitet infirmos ... si eos propria manu communicet
et non per quemlibet laicum ; aut si tradat communionem laico aut
feminae ad deferendum infirmis, quod est nefas ? "
2 In Regino (De discipl. Eccles. I. 1 2 1) : " Pervenit ad notitiam nostram
quod quidam presbyteri in tantum parvi pendant divina mysteria ut laico
aut feminae sacrum corpus domini tradant ad deferendum infirmis ; et
quibus prohibetur ne sacrarium ingrediantur, nee ad altare appropinquant,
illis sancta sanctorum committantur, quod quam sit horribile quamque
detestabile omnium religiosorum animadvertit prudentia. Igitur, interdicit
per omnia Synodus ne talis temeraria praesumptio ulterius fiat ; sed omni
modo presbyter per semetipsum infirmum communicet : quod si fecerit
aliter gradus sui periculo subjacebit."
3 Synod, ad presbyteros I. 7 : " nullus praesumat tradere communionem
laico aut feminae ad deferendum infirmo." (P.L. exxxvi. 560.)
4 The text, as given by Martene and Durand (Thesaur. Anecdot. iv. 75),
is imperfect : " . . . ac vetaverunt a nullo homine corpus et sanguinem
[por]tare ad infirmum nisi sacerdotis solius."
5 Can. 2 : " Sancimus etiam ut . . . corpus Christi . . . neque ad
infirmos nisi per sacerdotem aut per diaconum, aut necessitate instante per
quemlibet cum summa reverentia deferatur." (Hard. vi. 2. 1204.)
6 See above under section, the Deacon.
1 Cap. 3 : " Placuit etiam ne corpus dominicum sine luminari, cruce
et aqua benedicta, sive de die, sive de nocte deferatur : nee sine sacerdotis
praesentia, nisi summa necessitas sacerdotem excusaverit." (Hard. vi. 2.
1905.) 8 Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. p. 329.

The Sacrament Reserved 229
distress to any person going to fetch the communion for a
sick man.1 Allusions to the irregular use of the sacrament
by lay folk occur in some of the stories of miraculous Hosts
in which certain mediaeval writers abound. Giraldus Cam-
brensis, for instance, has a tale about a woman of Arras, to
whom the priest, supposing she wished to take it to an
invalid, gave at Eastertide a Host which she afterwards
mislaid.2 With the later western regulations it is interesting
to compare the parallel usage of the Syrian Jacobites in
the times of James of Edessa (c. a.d. 700). The substance
of such parts of the Nomocanon as deal with this question
are given in La Perpetuite de la Foy. It is not possible
to determine from the translations there given whether
the Host alone or the dessicated conjoint sacrament was
used.3 " Portions of the Eucharist must not be given to
every one who asks for it to take away to his house, unless
it is for an invalid. In that case the clergy shall take it.
If there is no ecclesiastic available the sacred mysteries may
be sent by the hand of godly laymen, or even of a faithful
woman. They are to be placed in quite clean linen (or
cotton), or in paper which must be burnt afterwards ; or
a vine-leaf may be used, or white bread, which shall subse
quently be eaten. If the priest has to carry the mysteries
to any great distance, and goes on horseback, he must not
place them in a bag upon the animal, but must bear them
on his own shoulders. The sick person shall receive the
communion in his mouth ; but if he so desire, he may
receive it in his hand and himself convey it to his mouth.
If he be in such a condition that he cannot perform this
for himself, whoever brought the mysteries shall act as
ministrant." 4
The same principle is stated more briefly in another
1 Warren, Liturgy of Celtic Church, p. 138.
2 Gemma Ecclesiast I. 1 1 : "In Francorum itaque regno, urbe videlicet
Atrabatensi, quae comitatus Hundriae caput esse solet, die quodam Paschali,
matrona quaedam hostiam consecratam quasi infirmo deferendam, sibi per
sacerdotis incuriam incaute traditam, in capite pepli cujusdam serici nodatam
in cista reposuit," etc. (R.S. xxi. 2. p. 40.)
3 The authors of La Perpetuite de la Foy contend that the single species
of Bread is meant ; but their work is a polemic against a Protestant minister's
assertions concerning the customs and faith of the Eastern Churches.
4 op. cit. iii. 7. (Vol. IV, p. 257) ; viii. 2. (Vol. V, p. 564).

230 The Sacrament Reserved
constitution of the same authority : " If no priest be present,
and the Eucharist is to be had, the faithful laity, and even
women, may take it in their hands and place it in (a sick
person's) mouth ; especially if the receptacle in which it is
kept be very deep."1
Somewhat earlier in date than these is an injunction
assigned to John of Telala, which is to the same effect :
" The Eucharist shall be taken to a sick person in paper,
or in a linen cloth which must afterwards be burnt ; or else
in a little box (or basket) which must be brought again to
the altar. In case of urgent necessity, the Eucharist may
be sent by the hand of a faithful layman, or of a woman." 2
1 ibid. viii. 2 (u.s.). 2 ibid. iii. 7 (u.s.) ; viii. 2 (u.s.).

CHAPTER XVI
The Rite of Clinical Communion
IN the first ages of the Church there were good reasons
why the Eucharist should be borne with as little pub
licity as possible to those who were in need of it ; and
even after the persecutions had passed away, ceremonial
would develop slowly in connection with this rite. For
administration of the sacrament to the sick, except where
it was the extension of public communion by distribution
abroad, was always an extra-liturgical rite, an occasional
officium ; and so lay outside the stream of influences that
produced the elaborate and dramatic ceremonies of the
Liturgy. If we exclude the special masses that were
exceptionally permitted in sick rooms, we have nothing
but the barest outlines given for nearly eight hundred
years. The rite of clinical communion with the reserved
Eucharist falls naturally into two parts. First, the bearing
forth of the sacrament to the sick person ; and secondly,
the actual administration.
The latter is the essential part of the rite, and, of course,
the earliest to develop. A certain amount of external
reverence accompanied the act of communion from the
Eucharist privately reserved ; but for long it would seem
that this consisted of nothing more than private devotions
and such simple ceremonies as were the natural outcome
of piety. Occasionally, as we have seen, devout persons
would ask for instruction as to how they might com
municate at home in an edifying and reverent manner.1
When the reserved sacrament was borne to the sick
by the officials of the Church, the prayers would doubtless
become regularized and fixed, while the act of delivery
to the invalid would be accompanied by the words of
1 See chap, v, p. 53.
231

232 The Sacrament Reserved
administration usual at the public communion. Prayer
for worthy reception, some act of faith, possibly a lection,1
the words of delivery, a thanksgiving, and a blessing
would doubtless be the main elements of the office.
Moreover, we must bear in mind that from early times
the administration of clinical communion was closely
associated with confession of sin and the sacrament of
unction. As for the bearing forth of the reserved Eucharist,
we have again no definite information until, at the end of
the eighth century, regular offices for communion of the
sick suddenly appear, in the mixed sacramentaries that
were the result of blending with Pope Hadrian's " Gre
gorian " sacramentary greater or less quantities of material
from the service books of the Gallican Church.
The sudden appearance of these full rites for the
visitation, unction, and communion of the sick is re
markable, for it seems that Hadrian's exemplar itself
contained no such office. From what sources the
material was drawn remains for the present a matter of
speculation ; for the seventh or eighth century form of
the " Gelasianum " contains merely a few prayers for
the recovery of a sick person,2 and the Mozarabic books
provide no clue.3 Either these rites were largely a new
liturgical feature, or the Carolingian reformers had at
their command provincial or diocesan uses of which no
independent traces remain.
In the sacramentary of St. Remi of Reims we have,
as was pointed out in chapter ix, a very early example
1 The Mozarabic texts include a Lectio de uno infirmo (Ferotin, Liber
ordinum, 722). The early Celtic orders (e.g. The Stozve Missal) contain
short lections. There are more provided in the typical " Gregorian "
sacramentaries. 2 III. 69 : " oratio super infirmum in domo " ; four prayers subjoined :
[III. 70 : " Item orationes ad missam pro infirmum " (sic)] : III. 71:" oratio
pro reddita sanitate" one prayer subjoined : III. 72 : "orationes intrantibus
in domo (sic), siVe benedictio," four prayers subjoined: III. 73 : "Item
orationes ad missas," see p. 27 above : III. 74 : " orationes super Venientes in
domo" (sic) : III. 75 : "Benedictio aquae spargendae in domo" : III. 76 :
" Item alia," containing " orationes pro aspersione aquae." (Wilson, Gelasian
Sacramentary, pp. 281-288.) Not all of these relate to visitation of the
sick ; and none contain any reference to the Eucharist.
3 Two offices "De infirmis" are given in Ferotin, op. cit., 877, 878.
They consist of prayers, hymns, responses, and blessings.

The Sacrament Reserved 233
of these mixed texts,1 and the order for the visitation,
unction, and communion of the sick therein prescribed
may be taken as the type characteristic of service books
with a " Gregorian " ancestry.
The rite is drawn up for use in connection with a
cathedral or capitular church of the usual sort, and opens
with a rubric to the following effect : " When the priest
goes into a sick person's house, holy water having been
prepared, ' Peace be unto this house ' is first said thrice
by those who enter. Holy water is sprinkled, with the
odour of frankincense (thymiama) or of other incense,"
while a psalm, with its antiphon and a prayer or prayers
for a blessing on the house are repeated. On coming
into the sick man's presence, the priest says, "' Thou hast
called (me) ' ; and the invalid is to answer, ' I have mshed
to speak with thee, that thou mayest impart to me penance and
remission of sins.' The priest says, * May the Lord Jesus
Christ give thee pardon ; yet if God will regard thee, wilt thou
retain it' (i.e. the pardon given) ? ' / will retain it,' the sick
man shall reply."
Then the priest hears his confession, either written
or spoken, as best serves the purpose of examination ;
makes a cross of ashes on the sick person's breast, and
draws a sackcloth over his head. The seven penitential
psalms are recited, and after a short prayer follows a litany
of the usual type. We may pass over without further
remark, as alien to our subject, that part of the ordo
that deals with the shriving and unction, and come to
the communion. After a prayer of reconciliation, the
sackcloth is removed, and Psalms cxx-cxxiii, cxxv, with
their antiphons, having been repeated, the priest is
instructed to say, " May the Lord hdVe mercy upon all thine
iniquities" etc., and then to give the communion : " The
'Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thee to life eternal.
The Blood of our Lord Jesus Qhrist redeem thee to life eternal.
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the communion oj
saints be with thee and with us to eternal life. Amen."
Then, following a prayer, comes the rubric, to which we
have made reference before, which directs a repetition
throughout the week or even longer, if need be, of these
1 An abstract of Menard's text is given at the end of this chapter.
Document A.
. 2 H

234 The Sacrament Reserved
ministrations ; and the recitation, on the invalid's behalf,
of the canonical choir offices. Prayers for use by the
priest, or rather for the priests (a number are supposed
to be in attendance), and blessings to be given by the
bishop, if he be present, are provided. The whole office
is very long, and as we noted in chapter ix, in cases of
severe sickness, other much shorter orders are to be used.1
It will be noticed that, although a regular procession is
contemplated, and holy water and incense are expressly
ordered, no mention is made in the rubrics of the pro
cessional cross or of lights, both of which, for long before
this date, had been common features of an ecclesiastical
procession.2 A light is ordered to precede the sacrament borne to
the sick by a canon which earlier writers, after Burchard,
assigned to a council of Reims in a.d. 630, but later
authorities consider that it probably belongs to some synod
of the ninth century. The Eucharist is to be carried in
a fair vessel.3
A cross and holy water, and the presence of three
priests are required by the early ninth-century (c. a.d. 821)
capitulare of Theodulf of Orleans, in which it is expected
that the invalid shall, if possible, be brought to the church,
newly washed and clad in white.4
A long commentary upon unction is inserted, con
taining, among other things, practical directions for the
administration of this rite, and then follow these notes
upon the communion : "After the sick person has been
anointed with prayer, he shall be told to say the Lord's
prayer and the creed, and to commend his spirit into the
hands of God, to fortify himself with the sign of the cross,
and to say farewell to the living. Then the priest shall
1 Document B. at end of this chapter.
2 Atchley, History of the Use of Incense (Alcuin Club Collect, xiii),
pp. 155 £
3 Can. 10 : " Feratur (eucharistia) aegrotis vase honesto et lumine
antecedente et praeeunte." (Hard. iii. 575.)
4 " Primitus autem infirmo poenitentia detur. Deinde, si permiserit
infirmitas, abluto corpore, albis vestibus induatur, et in ecclesiam depor-
tetur, et jaceat in cilicio superjecto cinere. Portetur ibi crux et aqua
benedicta, ut cum venerint ad eum, videlicet tres presbyteri, dicant
capitulum : pax huic domui et omnibus habitantibus in ea," etc. (P.L.
cv. 220.)

The Sacrament Reserved 235
give him the peace and communicate him [evidently with
the reserved conjoint species] saying, The Body and Blood of
the Lord be to thee for remission of all thy sins, and preserve thee
to eternal life. Then after prayer let the priest in conclusion
say, Let us bless the Lord. To which all reply, Thanks be to
God, and so it is finished. On the morrow and for seven
days the priest shall visit him, and shall pour forth over
him prayers suitable to the case." '
From the next century comes the pontifical that bears
the name of Prudentius of Troyes, wherein the preliminary
use of holy water and incense is prescribed by a rubric 2
that with trifling variations is common to a number of
orders of the tenth-century and later date.3 A Moissac
sacramentary shows us the capitular body going in pro
cession towards the house of a sick person, chanting the
penitential psalms, but it does not tell us what ornaments
were carried, nor whether incense was to be used. Holy
water, blessed at the house, is ordered.4
The sign of the cross is made at the door by the priest
in an ordo from Noyon.5
An early eleventh-century pontifical of Narbonne bids
mass to be said to provide "Viaticum. At the conclusion of
the service a procession forms in the church, and with a
good deal of ceremony makes its way to the dwelling where
1 " Uncto vero infirmo cum orationibus, ut dictum est, jubeatur a
sacerdote orationem dominicam et symbolum dicere et spiritum suum in
manus Dei commendare et signaculo crucis se munire et viventibus
valedicere. Tunc sacerdos det ei pacem et communicet eum, dicens :
corpus et sanguis domini sit tibi remissio omnium peccatorum tuorum et custodiat
te in vitam aeternam. Tunc data oratione, in fine dicat sacerdos : benediea-
mus domino. Et respondeant omnes : Deo gratias, et expletum est. In
crastino et usque ad septem dies visitet eum sacerdos, et fundat super eum
orationes ad hoc congruentes." (P.L. cv. 222.)
2 " Cum ingreditur sacerdos ad visitandum infirmum, primum dicat
pax huic domui (ter). et resp. : et cum spiritu tuo. Deinde antiph. Benedic,
domine, domum istam. Et aspergatur aqua benedicta cum odore incensi.
Postea dicat orationes." (Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. I. vii. art. 4, ord. iii.)
3 Printed by Martene (u.s.). e.g. ord. iv, v, vi.
4 " Quibus dictis, ingrediantur omnes clerici ad infirmum conjunctique
in unum decantantes septem psalmos poenitentiae. His expletis, sequitur
oratio." " His expletis, benedicatur aqua ; ac inde aspergatur super infirmum
vel in domo a sacerdote." (Martene, u.s. ord. xi.)
s " Cum autem venerit sacerdos ante ostium faciat signum crucis et sic
ingrediatur." (Martene, u.s. ord. xii.)

236 The Sacrament Reserved
the invalid lies. " When a sick person is to be anointed,"
so runs the rubric, " let a priest celebrate a mass for him.
And then, when all are come together, let the priest come
in person with a portion of the Body and Blood of the
Lord, which the deacon shall carry, while before him there
go two subdeacons with candlesticks and lighted tapers
therein, the cross, holy water, and censer. When he comes
to the door of the house where the sick man lies, the priest
shall sprinkle holy water, and begin this antiphon, O Lord,
arise, and the psalm, O God, we have heard with our ears,
with the gloria. After these shall be recited the chapter,
Show us."1 In this ordo occurs the Mozarabic hymn, Christe
caelestis medicina Patris,2 which is here sung as a preliminary
to communion. In this last example we become conscious of a change.
Up to a certain date, say the end of the tenth century, the
ceremonial — the cross borne before the procession, the use
of holy water, and the censing — all seems to be directed
more or less consciously against the demons of disease
and the enemy of souls.3 The lights, as natural symbols,
appear to be part of the regular ceremonial of a procession
for any purpose. We pass over to the next century, and
find that the centre of gravity, so to say, has shifted. The
processional lights and the censing have another significance
— they are employed in honour of the Eucharist. This is,
perhaps, rather strongly stated. It is more true to say that
the ceremonies have acquired an added meaning ; and the
change was not, perhaps, so sudden as it might appear.
Yet it is at least symptomatic of the period that in this
pontifical of Narbonne we first meet with definite mention
of the sacrament in the ceremonial directions.
From this point onward the ceremonial adjuncts that we
1 "Dum autem unguendus est infirmus, celebret pro eo missam
sacerdos. Deinde convenientibus omnibus veniat et ipse cum portione
corporis et sanguinis domini, quam portet levita, praecedentibus ilium
duobus subdiaconibus cum candelabris et super accensis cereis et cruce et
benedicta aqua et thuribulo. Accedente autem sacerdote ad ostium domus
ubi infirmus jacet, spargendo benedictam aquam, incipiat hanc orationem :
exurge domine. Psal. Deus auribus, cum gloria," etc. (Martene, u.s. ord.
xiii.) 2 P.L. lxxxvi. 972, 973. Blume, Analecta Hymn, xxvii. no. 208. cf.
Ferotin, Liber Ordin. 377.
3 Atchley, op. cit. pp. 1 3 1 ff.

The Sacrament Reserved 237
have described grow more and more exclusively honorific.
" The Body of the Lord," says a canon of a provincial
Synod of Rouen (1 198), " is not to be carried forth by day
or night except it be accompanied by a light, the cross, and
holy water ; " 1 and this is the tone of all regulations on the
subject after the Berengarian disputes. We need not pursue
the matter further in this place, for in an appendix we shall
have opportunity to consider it at greater length.2
We must take note of the fact that, as the parochial
system settled itself, it became necessary to prescribe how
the "parochus" should carry the viaticum to sick members
of his flock. The sacramentaries originally contemplated
stately processions of capitular clerks and ordered rites and
ceremonies accordingly ; 3 but toward the end of the period
with which this work is concerned it is usual to find pro
vincial and diocesan synods declaring in what manner the
individual parish priest shall take the sacrament abroad.
In other words, the minimum observance of the directions
in the sacramentaries had to be stated.
The Council of York (1 195) orders the parish priest to
carry the Eucharist himself to the sick, and to be clad in
such clerical habit as is suitable to the dignity of the sacra
ment. A light is to be borne before it, unless by reason of
bad weather or difficulties of the way, this is impossible.4
Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, and papal legate, who
presided at this council, issued a similar injunction five
years later in a synod of the southern provinces The
injunctions promulged by Richard Marsh, Bishop of
Durham (c. 1220), bid the priest have two pyxes, one of
which is to remain always in the church, while the other is
1 Cap. 3 : " placuit etiam ne corpus dominicum sine luminare, cruce
et aqua benedicta, sive de die, sive de nocte deferatur." (Hard. vi. 2.
1905.) 2 See p. 256.
3 Some of the later sacramentaries show traces of adaptation to parochial
requirements. 4 " Can. 1 : " - . . quoties autem communio exhibenda est infirmis,
sacerdos in propria persona hostiam in habitu clericali tanto sacramento
convenienti deferat, lumine praecedente, nisi aeris intemperies vel viarum
difficultas vel alia ratio praepediat." (Hard. vi. 2. 1930.)
5 Can. 2 : "... his adjicimus, ut reponatur eucharistia in pyxide
munda et honesta, et in pyxide munda et honesta deferatur ad aegrum,
linteo mundo superposito, et lucerna praecedente ac cruce, nisi aeger valde
remotus fuerit." (Hard. vi. 2. 1958.)

238 The Sacrament Reserved
to be used for conveying the Eucharist to those in need.
The Eucharist itself is to be enclosed in a purse, and the
pyx covered with a fair linen cloth.1 Elsewhere the use of
a purse alone without a pyx was known ; 2 but this was
generally forbidden, because the Host so reserved and
borne about was apt to break up into fragments.3
We shall have occasion in another place to return to the
ceremonies accompanying the progress of the sacrament
from the church to the sick bed, and here will do no more
than note the complete mediaeval ceremonial prescribed in
the injunctions issued on this subject by St. Edmund of
Canterbury (c. 1236).
The Host is to be laid in a clean and fair linen cloth
inside the pyx, over which a linen covering is placed ; lamp,
bell, and cross are ordered. The priest is to wear a stole,
and, unless the sick case lies at a great distance, a surplice
as well. A vessel for the ablutions of the ministrant's
fingers is a necessary part of the equipment ; and the
ablutions are consumed, if possible, by the invalid as a
"purificatio oris." 4
1 Wilkins, Concilia I. p. 581. (Quoted by Bridgett, op. cit. p. 171.)
2 The Eucharist was reserved in a silk purse at Hill Deverel in the
early years of the thirteenth century. (See p. 197.) The Irish clergy
carried the sacrament in a "perula" (Gildas Cambr. Top. Hib. II. 19).
(See p. 214.)
3 Constitutions of Abp. Teckham, iii. 25 : "dignissimum eucharistiae
sacramentum praecipimus de caetero taliter custodiri ut videlicet in bursa
vel loculo propter comminutionis periculum nullatenus collocetur, sed in
pixide pulcherrima intrinsecus lino candidissimo adornata in qua ipsum
corpus domini repositum in aliquo cooperticulo de serico, purpura vel lino
purissimo operiri praecipimus, ita quod sine comminutionis periculo possit
inde faciliter extrahi et apponi." (Wilkins, Concilia ii. 48.)
4 " Cum eucharistia ad aegrum fuerit deferenda, habeat sacerdos
pixidem mundam et honestam, ita scilicet quod una semper in ecclesia
remaneat, et in alia in qua sit eucharistia in bursa posita mundissima, in
qua deferat corpus dominicum ad aegrotum, linteo mundo superposito et
lucerna praecedente, nisi aeger valde remotus fuerit, et cruce similiter, si fieri
potest, nisi crux fuerit ad alium aegrotum deportata. Praecedente quoque
tintinnabulo, ad cujus sonitum concitetur devotio fidelium. Habeatque
secum semper sacerdos horarium seu stolam quando cum eucharistia, sicut
diximus, vadit ad aegrotum. Et si aeger non remotus fuerit, in super-
pellicio decenter ad eum vadat, habeatque vas argenteum sive stanneum ad
hoc specialiter deputatum quod semper ad aegrotum deferat ; ut in eo aegro
dare valeat post sumptam eucharistiam suorum loturam digitorum."
(Wilkins, Concilia i. 638.)

The Sacrament Reserved 239
Nothing has yet been said in this chapter concerning
monastic customs. They do not present any features
strikingly different from those that were usual in contem
porary secular surroundings.
A version of the consuetudines of Cluny, written in the
first half of the eleventh century, provides a good example
of the developed monastic rite. Unction, as was customary
at this period, precedes the communion of the sick.1
Notice is given that the rites for the sick are to be
performed ; the brethren assemble in choir ; a priest vests
in alb and stole. Four lay brothers assist : one takes the
holy water, another the cross, a third the censer, and a
fourth bears the holy oil. The abbot begins the miserere,
and the procession moves toward the infirmary, holy water
and cross going before, followed by the lay brothers, who
bear respectively the censer and the oil. Then come the
ministrant, the boys, and the abbat, behind whom the rest
follow in pairs in order of seniority. The peace be unto this
house is said, censing and sprinkling go forward, and after a
prayer special psalms with their antiphons are recited by
the assembled convent. Unction is administered, and
then, leaving the rest of the brethren and the boys in the
infirmary, the ministrant and the four lay brothers attendant
go to fetch the Eucharist from its place of reservation in
the church. In the meantime the proctor cleanses the sick
man's mouth in readiness for the communion. The priest
and his assistants return, singing suitable psalms (Pss. Ii, liv,
lxvii, lxx). He bears the Host, two of the lay brothers
carry lights, one still bears the censer, and the fourth a
cruet of wine for the ablutions. All salute the sacrament
by bowing, and the sick man is to raise himself, as well as
he can, out of reverence to the Eucharist. After com
municating him the priest washes his fingers in wine, the
kyrie and the paternoster with other acts of devotion follow.
The sick man kisses the cross and all those about him ; and
once more raising the miserere, the abbot and the rest return.2
1 Originally communion seems commonly to have preceded unction ;
but the order was reversed before the eighth century. Toward the end of
the fourteenth century unction had begun in most places to reoccupy its
ancient position after communion. The reasons for these changes are
discussed by Scudamore (!N^E. pp. 1007 ff.).
2 Albers, Consuetudines (Monasticae, I. p. 191. (See p. 167 above.)

240 The Sacrament Reserved
Udalric's version gives more detailed information as to
the manner in which the sacrament is handled. It is
approached with acts of reverence and censed. Then the
ministrant breaks off a portion and, holding it in his fingers
above a chalice, bears it to the infirmary. The chalice and
his hands are covered with a fine linen veil, and all who
meet the procession on the way do reverence to the
Eucharist. The Host is administered steeped in wine.1
There was no need for a special pyx ad deferendam
hostiam in the monastery, because the ministrant ox" viaticum
had but a short distance to go. This custom of holding the
Host in the fingers over the mouth of a chalice is there
fore characteristically monastic.
Documents illustrating the Rite of Clinical
Communion
A. An abstract of M6nard's text of the ordo ad visitandum
infirmum, in the lost codex of St. Remi (a.d. 798—
800) at p. 344.
Ordo ad visitandum infirmum.
Cum ingreditur sacerdos domum inHrmi jacta aqua benedicta, primo
dicendum ab introeuntibus, pax huic domui ter ; et aspergatur aqua bene
dicta cum odore thymiamatis, vel alterius incensi, dicendo Antiph. Benedic,
domine, domum istam. Psalm : Deus misereatur nostri. Oratio : Benedic,
domine Deus omnipotens, locum istum ut sit habitantibus in eo sanitas et
sanctitas, virtus et castitas, victoria et sanctimonia, etc. Alia : Exaudi nos,
domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, sempiterne Deus, et mittere dignare
angelum tuum sanctum de caelis, qui custodiat, foveat, etc. Alia : Adesto
domine, supplicationibus nostris, et hanc domum serenis oculis tuae pietatis
illustra, etc. Alia : Adesto, domine, supplicationibus nostris, et famulos
tuos quos vocati charitatis visitamus officiis, etc. Alia : Praesta, domine,
nobis famulis tuis per hanc creaturam sacrae aspersionis, etc. Alia : Exaudi
nos, domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus, ut si qua sunt ad-
versa, etc. [Alia :] Exaudi nos, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus, et
humilitatis nostrae officiis gratiam tuae visitationis admisce, etc.
Orationes ad supervenientes infra domum dicendae : Deus humilium
visitator, etc. Deus, qui nobis famulis tuis praesentiae tuae signa mani-
festas, etc. Turn sacerdos ad infirmum dicat : Vocasti, etc. . . . Infirmus dicat :
Desideravi tecum loqui, ut mihi poenitentiam et remissionem peccatorum
tradas. Sacerdos dicat : Det tibi dominus Jesus Christus veniam ; tamen
si Deus in te respexerit, custodies illam f Infirmus respondet : Custodio.
Deinde sacerdos audeat confessionem ejus, sicut melius inquirere poterit, aut
seriptis, aut verbis. Tunc facit crucem ex einere super pectus infirmi, et imponit
cilicium super caput ejus. Post haec sequuntur poenitentiales psalmi septem, id est,
1 D'Achery, Spiciltg. I. p. 700. (See p. 168 above.)

The Sacrament Reserved 241
psalmi. Domine, ne in furore tuo. Beati quorum. Domine, ne in
furore tuo, duo. Miserere mei, Deus. Domine, exaudi. De profundis.
Domine, exaudi. Oratio : Parce, domine, parce famulo tuo ill. quem
redemisti, Christe, sanguine tuo, ne in aeternum irascaris ei, qui venturus
es judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem.
Incipit litania.
Kyrie eleison, ter.
Christe eleison, ter.
Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.
Sancta et perpetua virgo, succurre in angustiis constitute
Sancta Maria, Dei genitrix, ora pro famulo tuo.
Sancte Michael, ora pro illo.
Sancte Gabriel, ora pro illo.
Sancte Raphael, ora pro illo.
Omnes sancti archangeli, orate pro illo.
Omnes sancti patriarchae, orate.
Omnes sancti prophetae, orate.
Sancte Joannes, ora . . . [about eighty saints more are invoked].
Omnes sancti ab initio mundi usque ad praesens, orate pro nobis et
pro hoc infirmo.
Propitius esto, parce nobis et isti, domine.
Propitius esto, libera eum, domine.
Ab omni malo, libera eum; domine.
Ab hoste malo, libera eum, domine.
Ab insidiis diaboli, libera eum, domine.
A cruciatu et morte perpetua, libera eum, domine.
Ab ira tremenda, libera eum, domine . . . [etc.].
Per annuntiationem tuam, libera eum, domine.
Per adventum tuum, libera eum, domine . . . [etc.].
Peccatores, te rogamus, audi nos.
Ut pacem perpetuam ei dones, te rogamus, audi nos.
Ut compunctionem cordis ei dones, te rogamus, audi nos . . . [etc.].
Fili Dei, te rogamus, audi nos.
Agne Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, parce nobis et isti, domine.
Agne Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis et isti, domine.
Agne Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dimitte peccata ejus, domine.
Christe, audi nos, ter. Kyrie eleison, ter. Christe eleison, ter. Kyrie
eleison, ter. Pater noster.
Treces. Salvum fac servum tuum, Deus meus, sperantem in te.
Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in
terra . . . [etc.].
Exurge, domine, adjuva nos et eum, et libera nos et eum propter
nomen tuum.
Tunc psalmum Inclina, domine, totum.
Oratio. Omnipotens et misericors Deus, quaesumus immensam
pietatem tuam, ut ad introitum humilitatis nostrae hunc famulum tuum
ill. in hoc tabernaculo fessum jacentem salutifere visitare digneris, etc.
Sequitur confessio infirmi. Domine, minister Christi domini nostri,
comprehendi nuUius valet solertia, quibus a diebus adolescentiae meae
2 I

242 The Sacrament Reserved
vicibiis exsecrabilia contraxi opera ; excedunt enim pluralitate sui nume-
rorum fines, quia et comparatione meorum peccaminum nullus invenitur
iniquus. Nullum quippe genus peccati inveniri potest, cui me non
subdiderim, cujusque facibus et loris non sim circumdatus. Nunc quo
que dies meae resolutionis instant, quibus hominem exire * compellor ;
nunc ultimum vocationis meae diem ingemiscens expavesco, quia quae
male carni consentiens perpetravi, digna ultione puniri pertimesco, et
nisi Dei dementia tolerer 2 merito me jam pro meis sceleribus ultrix
vindicta ulcisceretur. Idcirco fessis artubus, dissolutisque corporis vasibus,
omnia 3 viscerum meorum valentia amissa, pietate tuae misericordiam
singultu interposito implorare non cesso, quatenus potestate coelitus tibi
collata vincula meorum piaculorum enodes, et precum tuarum studiis
commissa mea pies, ut cum reprobis non ducar ad tartara, quin potius
tuo interventu caelestia merear sublimari ad gaudia sempiterna.
Absolutio. Si principali sententia constat quia in multis offendimus
omnes, unde ingemiscimus, ita principali sententia consolamur, quia si
confiteamur peccata nostra, fidelis et Justus est 4 . . . quin Jesus Christus
conditor et redemptor, ac salvator noster, quern habemus advocatum
justum apud Patrem, et est propitiatio pro peccatis nostris, et interpellat
pro nobis fideliter confitentibus, et dimittit nobis peccata nostra, et
emundat ab omni iniquitate. Quapropter, frater noster, confitenti tibi
peccata tua, per ecclesiasticam apostolicae auctoritatis potestatem, quam
dominus noster Jesus Christus tradidit discipulis et apostolis suis, dicens :
Accipite Spiritum sanctum, quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis ; et
per eosdem apostolos suos ipsorum successoribus, quorum vices licet
indigni tenemus, etsi non merito, tamen nomine atque officii susceptione
eamdem potestatem donavit, et in se credenti fideliter dixit : Fiat tibi
secundum fidem tuam : gratia et potentia sua, virtute sancti Spiritus,
qui est remissio omnium peccatorum, dimittat tibi omnia peccata tua,
liberet te ab omni malo, conservet te in omni opere bono, et perducat
te ad vitam aeternam, et ad sanctorum consortium supemorum civium.
Amen. Exhortatio sacerdotis ad circumstantes. Oremus dominum nostrum Jesum
Christum, fratres carissimi, et cum omni supplicatione rogemus, ut hunc
famulum suum ilium per angelos sanctos suos visitare laetificare et com-
fortare dignetur, qui vivit et regnat.
Sequitur ant. Succurre, domine, infirmo huic et medica eum spirituali
medicamine, ut in pristina sanitate a te restitutus gratiarum tibi sanus
referat actionem. Psal : Ad dominum cum tribularer. Orationes :
Deus, qui famulo tuo Ezechiae, etc. Alia : Omnipotens mitissime
Deus [etc.] . . . Alia : Dimitte, domine, peccata nostra, et tribue nobis
misericordiam tuam, etc.
His ita factis, roget sacerdos confessor infirmi alios sacerdotes ut dicant ora
tiones quae sunt de reconciliatione poenitentis ad mortem.
[Here follow prayers and psalms with antiphons.]
Kyrie eleison, Tater noster et preces. Utquid, Domine, recessisti
longe ? . . . [etc.].
Tunc symbolum palam dicitur, hoc est credo in Deum Patrem, usque vitam
(?) exuere. 2 leg. tolerarer. 3 kg. omnique. 4 a lacuna.

The Sacrament Reserved 243
aeternam. Deinde a sacerdote dicatur ad infirmum : Credis, frater, quod
diximus symbolum i Cum respondent, aut nutu significaverit, credo, ungu-
atur a sacerdote, vel plurimis sacerdotibus de oleo sanctificato. . . . [etc.].
[The Unction.J
. . . Sequitur reconciliatio ante communionem ipsa die : Deus misericors,
Deus clemens, qui indulgentiam tuam nulla temporum lege concludis sed
pulsanti misericordiae tuae januam aperis, poenitentes etiam sub ipso vitae
hujus termino non repellis, respice propitius super famulum tuum ill.
remissionem sibi omnium peccatorum tota cordis confessione poscentem.
Renova in eo, piissime Pater, quod actione, quod verbo, quod ipsa denique
cogitatione, diabolica fraude vitiatum est, et unitati corporis ecclesiae mem-
brum redemptionis annecte. Miserere gemituum, miserere lacrymarum,
et non habentem fiduciam, nisi in tua misericordia, ad sacramentum tuae
reconciliationis admitte, quia nullius animae in hoc corpore constitutae
difficilis apud te aut tarda curatio est. Fidelis enim es in verbis tuis, qui
conversum peccatorem non [ad] longa temporum spatia differendum, sed
mox ut ingemuerit dixisti esse salvatum. Per . . . Alia : Majestatem
tuam, domine. Alia : Majestatem tuam quaesumus.
Tunc auferatur cilicium quod super caput infirmi positum fuerat ; et dicatur :
Ant : Heu me ! quia incolatus meus prolongatus est. Tsalm : Ad dominum
cum tribularer. Ant: Unde veniet auxilium mihi. Psalm: Levavi oculos
meos. Ant : In domum domini laetantes ibimus. Tsalm : Laetatus sum.
Ant : Qui habitas in caelo, miserere nobis. Psalm : Ad te levavi oculos.
Ant: Benefac, domine, bonis et rectis corde. Psalm: Qui confidunt.
Tunc sacerdos dicat : Propitietur dominus cunctis iniquitatibus tuis (et sanet
omnes languores tuos, redimatque de interitu vitam tuam, et satiet in
bonis desiderium tuum qui solus in Trinitate unus Deus vivit et regnat per
immortalia saecula saeculorum. Amen.)1 Communicet infirmum tunc dicens :
Corpus domini nostri Jesus Christi custodiat te in vitam aeternam. San
guis domini nostri Jesu Christi redimat te in vitam aeternam. Pax
domini nostri Jesu Christi et sanctorum communio sit tecum et nobiscum
in vitam aeternam. Amen. Oratio in consummationem. Omnipotens
sempiterne Deus, qui subvenis in periculis et necessitatibus succurrentibus
(majestatem tuam supplices exoramus ut mittere digneris sanctum angelum
tuum qui famulum tuum ill. in angustiis et necessitatibus laborantem
consolationibus tuis attollat, quibus et de praesenti consequatur auxilio,
et aeterna remedia comprehendat. Per dominum nostrum.) 2
Et septem dies vel multo plures si necessitas fuerit, tarn de communione quam de
alio officio erga infirmum fiat; ut sicut apostolus dicit, immo per eum Spiritus
sanctus ait : Si in peccatis fuerit, dimittentur ei. Debent etiam ex ministris
sanctae ecclesiae procurare in 3 canonici cursus circa eum decantentur, id est,
matutinae, prima, tertia, sexta, nona, vesperum, completorium. Quod si
episcopus adfuerit, benedic tionem dabit ; si non, singuli sacerdotes singulas has
orationes die ant : Dominus Jesus Christus apud te sit, ut te defendat ;
1 Text completed from "Cod. sancti Eligii," Menard's text of
" Gregorianum." 2 Text completed as before. 3 leg- ut.

244 The Sacrament Reserved
intra te sit, ut te conservet ; ante te sit, ut te deducat.: post te sit, ut
te justificet ; super te sit, ut te benedicat, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto
vivit regnat Deus.
Benedictio : Benedicat te Deus Pater, sanet te Dei Filius, illuminet te
Spiritus sanctus, etc.
Alia : Benedicat te Deus Pater, adjuvet te Christus Filius Dei ;
corpus tuum in suo servitio custodiri et conservari faciat, etc.
Alia : Benedicat te Deus Pater, qui in principio cuncta creavit ; bene
dicat te Deus Filius, qui de supernis sedibus pro nobis salvator descen-
dit ; benedicat Deus Spiritus sanctus, qui in similitudine columbae in
flumine Jordanis super Christum requievit, etc.
Omnipotens dominus in visitatione suae misericordiae tibi propitietur
et ab infirmitate qua detineris relevando tui misereatur. Amen. Volun-
tatem tuam in suo beneplacito amplificare, et orationibus ac benefactis tuis1
te sibimet reconciliando acceptare dignetur. Amen. Addat etiam ut
omnium virtutum caelestium et reliquorum sanctorum intercessionibus
inter omnes saeculares anxietates custodiaris, et eorum participio, absolutus
carnali carcere, interponi merearis. Amen. Quod ipse praestare dignetur,
qui propter liberationem hominum homo dignatus est fieri, Deus et
dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et
regnat per immortalia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Alia : Benedicat te Deus Pater, custodiat te Jesus Christus, illuminet
te Spiritus sanctus omnibus diebus vitae tuae. Amen. Confirmet te virtus
Christi, indulgeat tibi dominus universa delicta tua. Amen. Beatae et
gloriosae semperque virginis Dei genitricis Mariae, omniumque simul
sanctorum, quaesumus, intercessio gloriosa te protegat, et ad vitam aeternam
perducat. Amen.
B. The short alternative Rites from the same document.
(p. 256.)
(i) After mass pro infirmo. Item fiat reconciliatio. Deus misericors (ut
supra) alia ; Majestatem tuam, et reliqua. Tunc etiam symbolum, sicut ante
praedictum est, et communio corporis.
(ii) Item abbreviatio. Cum wo ingravari coeperit, ad succurrendum, facta
aqua benedicta, dicatur oratio haec : Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne
Deus, qui es via, Veritas, et vita, exaudi nos, et conserva famulum tuum ill.
hunc, quem vivificasti et redemisti pretio et magno munere sanguinis Filii
tui, qui tecum vivit et regnat. Tunc unguatur oleo : Unguo te de oleo
sanctificato, ut salveris aeternaliter in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus
sancti. Amen.
Collecta : Concede, domine, nobis famulis tuis, ut orantes cum fiducia
dicere mereamur : Pater noster, libera nos ab omni malo, custodi nos
semper in bono, qui regnas in saecula saeculorum.
Communicet dicens : Corpus et sanguis domini nostri Jesu Christi cus
todiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen.
Post haec dicendum est : Agamus Deo nostro omnipotenti gratias, quod
terrenae nos originis atque naturae sacramenti sui dono in caelestem
vivificaverit demorationem, qui cum Filio et Spiritu sancto vivit et
regnat. ' leg. orationes et benefacta tua.

The Sacrament Reserved 245
C. The Rite contained in the Stowe Missal (MS. D. II. 3,
in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin)
(from Henry Bradshaw Society, vol. xxxii, p. 33).
[fol. 60 R] Oremus fratres dominum nostrum pro fratre nostro [quem
duri] ad pressens malum langoris adulcerat [fol. 60 *] ut eum domini pietas
caelestibus dignetur curare medicinis qui dedit animam det et salutem : per.
^ Deum vivum omnipotentem cui omnia opera restaurare confirmare
facillimum est fratres carissimi pro fratre nostro infirmo N. supliciter oremus
quo creatura manum sentiat creatoris ut aut in reparando aut in recipiendo
in nomine suo pius pater opus suum recreare dignetur : per dominum
nostrum jhesum christum.
Domine sancte pater universitatis auctor omnipotens aeterne deus cui
cuncta vivunt qui vivificas mortuos [fol. 6 1 E] et vocas ea quae non sunt
tanquam ea quae sunt tuum solitum opus qui es magnus artifex pie
exercere in hoc tuo plasmate : per christum.
Deus in cujus manu tarn alitus viventes quam vita morientis, fratres
dilectissimi deprecemur ut corporis hujus infirmitatem sanet, et animae
salutem prestet ut quod per merita non meretur missericoridiae gratiae
consequatur orantibus nobis prestet : per dominum nostrum jhesum
christum. Domine sancte pater omnipotentens aeterne deus qui es via et Veritas et
vita exaudi et conserva famulum tuum hunc N. quem vivificasti et redemisti
[fol. 6 1 v] pretio magno sancti sanguinis filii tui qui regnas :
Deus qui non vis mortem sed ut convertatur peccatoris * et vivat, huic
ad te ex corde converso peccata dimite et perennis vitae tribue gratiam :
per dominum.
Deus qui facturam tuam pio semper donaris affectu inclina aurem tuam
supplicantibus nobis tibi ad famulum tuum N. adversitate valitudinem
corporis laborantem placidus respice vissita eum in salutari tuo et caelestis
gratiae concede medicamentum : per.
[Here follow two short lections, St. Matt. xxii. 23, 29-33, and xxiv. 29-
3 1 ; then the Unction, which, except for a few verbal differences, is identical
with that given in B (above).]
Oramus te domine pro fratre nostro N. cui infirmitate sua officium
commonionis ut si qua eum saecularis macula invassit aut vitium mondialem
licit dono tuae pietatis indulgeas et extergas : per.
[fol. 63 v] Domine sancte pater te fideliter deprecemur ut accipiendi
fratre nostro sacrosanctam hanc aeucharistian corporis et sanguinis domini
nostri jhesu christi tarn carnis quam animae sit salus : per dominum :
Exaudi nos domine jhesu christe deus noster pro fratre nostro infirmo
te rogantes ut tua sancta eucharistia sit ei tutella : per dominum.
Pax et caritas domini nostri jhesu christi et commonicatio sanctorum
tuorum sit semper nobiscum. r. amen.
Corpus et sanguis domini nostri jhesu christi filii dei vivi altisimi r/.2
1 peccatoris should follow mortem immediately.
2 We may supply, sanitas sit tibi in vitam perpetua et salutem (Bk. of Deer,
Warren, Lit. and Rit. of Celtic Church, p. 1 64) ; or, sanitas sit tibi in Vitam
etemam (Bk. of Moling, ibid. p. 173) ; or most probably, servat animam
tuam in vitam perpetuam (Bk. of Dimma, ibid.ip. 170).

246 The Sacrament Reserved
[fol. 64 R] Accepto salutari divini corporis cibo lalutari I nostro, jhesu
christo gratias agimus quod sui corporis et sanguinis sacramento nos a morte
liberavit et tarn corporis quam animae homano generi remedium donare
dignatus est qui regnat :
Agimus deo patri omnipotenti gratias quod terrenae nos originis atque
naturae sacramenti sui dono in caelestem vivificaverit demotationem : per
dominum :
Converte nos deus salutum nostrarum et infirmorum praesta salutem
nostrorum. [fol. 64 v] Quia satiavit animam inanem et animam essurientem satiavit.
bis, alleluia alleluia. Vissita nos deus in salutari tuo, alleluia. Fortitudo
mea usque salutem, alleluia. Calicem salutaris accipiam usque invocabo,
alleluia. Refecti christi corpore et sanguine tibi semper domine dicamus
alleluia. Laudate dominum omnes gentes usque infinem. Sacrificate sacri
ficium justitiae et sperate in domino.
Deus tibi gratias agimus per quem [fol. 65 K] misteria sancta celebravimus
et ad te sanctitatis dona deposcimus qui regnas in saecula saeculorum.
Benedicat tibi dominus et custodiat te ostendatque dominus faciam
suam tibi et misseriatur tui convertat dominus vultum suum ad te et det
tibi pacem : et respondit amen. Tunc signans eum dicito : Signaculo crucis
christi signaris. Pax tecum in vitam etemam : et respondit amen. Finit
ordo commonis. 1 leg. salutari.

CHAPTER XVII
Some Customs of the Eastern Churches in connec
tion with the Reserved Eucharist
THE Eucharist is regularly reserved in the Orthodox
Eastern Churches, and in some of the separated
bodies. The two species are reserved, as they are admin
istered, conjointly. Some Western writers contend that
the Easterns do not communicate the sick sub utraque
specie, for it is maintained that in drying the particles of
an intincted Host the species of Wine is destroyed.1
Whether or not the identity of the species is retained after
it has ceased to be liquid is a point for theologians to dis
pute ; but that the intention is to communicate the sick in
both kinds cannot seriously be questioned. Otherwise,
the preparation of intincted Hosts would have no purpose.
Moreover, in places where a daily celebration of the Liturgy
is the rule, the sacrament is not desiccated for reservation,
but is renewed in freshly-intincted form from day to day.
Desiccation is necessary only if the conjoint elements are
to be reserved for any length of time.
No good evidence, apparently, can be found for the
use of intinction among the Greeks during the first nine
or ten centuries. After this date they began freely to
employ that type of intinction which we have called
" sacramental " ; i.e. that in which both consecrated species
are used.
We may also remark that just as it was at one time
the custom in the West to moisten with unconsecrated
liquid a portion of the reserved intincted Host in order
to facilitate deglutition,2 so the Orientals saturate the
intincted fragments in a little wine or wine and water
at clinical communion.
There does not appear to be any evidence for the use
of " consecratory " intinction.
1 Vacant-Mangenot, op. cit. s.v. Communion sous les deux especes.
III. 562.
2 See chap. x.
H7

248 The Sacrament Reserved
A. The Greek Church
The usual practice of the Greeks is to prepare on
Maundy Thursday a store of the conjoint species to
serve for reservation throughout the year. The manner
in which the Eucharist is prepared for this purpose cesembles
that which is followed in providing for communion at the
Liturgy of the Presanctified. For the latter, the follow
ing directions are given in the Euchologion.
" In the great and holy Forty Days, when the priest is
to perform the Liturgy of the Presanctified, at the prothe-
sis on the preceding Sunday he proceeds as usual, and after
he has cut the first bread and pierced it, he cuts the other
breads, saying over each of them : In commemoration, As
a sheep, Sacrificed, and One of the soldiers. Then he pours
water and wine into the holy chalice, saying the accus
tomed words, and covers them with the holy veil, and
censes them, repeating the prayer of prothesis. And thus
he begins the divine Liturgy and celebrates in the cus
tomary manner. But when he is about to sign the breads,
he says : Make this bread, in the singular, for Christ is one ;
and not as some ignorantly say : Make these breads. And
when he is about to elevate, he elevates them all together,
and breaks the first Bread of the oblations and places the
fragment in the holy chalice and pours in the warm water
as usual. Then taking in his right hand the holy spoon
he dips it into the holy Blood and with his left hand he
takes each of the Breads and he brings forward the holy
spoon that has been dipped in the holy Blood and applies
it cross-wise to the holy Bread on that side whereon is
imprinted the cross under the soft portion, and places
it in the artophorium." I
1 "'Jippyveia t»js delas Aeirovpyias ruiv irpoyyiao-pevmv.
" ry dyia Kal peydXy Teo-o-apaKoo~ry, ore peXXei 6 'lepevs iroiyo-ai Hpoy-
yiao~pevyv Aeirovpyiav ev ry Upoo-KopiSy rrjs KvpiaKrjs rrotei cos o~vvy8es.
koi perd rb irepiKoij/ai rbv rrporrov "Aprov Kal Kevryo~ai, irepiKOirrei Kal
rovs erepovs Aprovs Xeywv eis eva ekoo-tov to eis dvdpvyo-iv <5>s irpo-
fiarov • 8verai • Kal rb eis w o-rpariwruiv. Ei(?' ovrias eyxeei ev T<j>
dy«f) vorypujt oivov Kal {JScop, Xeywv rd o-vvy8y, Kal o-vyKaXvjrrei avra
perd ru>v lepiov KaXvppdrwv, Kal dvpup, Xeytov ryv evxyv rrjs rrpo8e-
trews. Kai outws apxerai rrjs 8eias Aeirovpyias, Kal eKTrXypoi avryv, ais
<?0os. ore 8\ peXXei &<ppayiarai rovs Aprovs, Xeyei' Uoiyo~ov rbv pev
Aprov rovrov, eviKtos, <os eis Itrrii' 6 xpio-Tos' oix <5s rives dpa8Zs

The Sacrament Reserved 249
The conjoint sacrament reserved for the sick is subse
quently broken up into fragments (commonly called /xap-
yapiTcu or pearls) r and desiccated. The manner of per
forming these operations is given below in the account of
the customs of the Orthodox Russian Church, concerning
which more detailed information was accessible to the
present writer.
The artophorium commonly stands on the holy table,
and before it burns the " sleepless light." It stands in the
middle of the farther side, and is made in various shapes.
Sometimes it has the form of a little cupboard, sometimes
it represents a miniature sarcophagus under a domed
canopy, or the ark of the covenant with the cherubim
stretching their wings above the receptacle of the
Eucharist.2 Suicer describes the artophorium as " a vessel of wood,
or rather, where possible, of silver or gold, fashioned like
a pyx. This . . . the Greeks call aprocpopiov, or at other
times, ttv^Iov." 3
Suspension of the pyx or artophorium is not unknown.
It seems to have been a common practice in the neigh
bourhood of Constantinople in the seventeenth century.
M. de Nointel, French Ambassador to the Sultan, made
a tour of the churches round about with the purpose of
learning what was the Greek faith and practice concerning
the Eucharist. In some places he found the artophorium,
in the form of a small box, suspended in a bag from a nail
Xeyowri, roiis "Aprovs rovrovs' Kal ore peXXei ii^dxrai v\poi oXovs 6px>v
Kal pepi^ei rbv irpoo-Kopi^opevov irpGrrov "Aprov, Kal ri8yo-i ryv MepiSa
iv rw ayup Trornpicj) Kal eyxeei /cat rb £eov, d>s et9os. Eirct Xapiav ryv
dyiav XafiiSa perd ttjs Sepias XelP°*> /*<«£« aw/v ev r<j> dyitp Aipan-
rn Se dpurrepy X*'/°' ^appdvei eKao-rov "Aprov Kal eur<pkpei ryv dyiav
Aa/Ji'Sa perd rov dyiov A'iparos fiefiappevyv, Kal eyyifei avryv ev r(S
dyitp "Aprcu crraupoeiScus ev T<j> pkpei ev <S exo-pdx8y d o-ravpbs im-b ryv
^iva Kal diroridyo-i rovrov ev rv~ dpro<f>opiij>. Eira Xapfidvei Kal rovs
erepovs, Kal iroieT wrauTtos ets eva eKacrrov Kai o-wreAAei auTous rravras
ev r<j> apro<f)opi(j).
The Russian service book contains almost identical instructions (Hap-
good, "Service Book,," p. 127.)
1 In allusion to St. Matt. vii. 6, often used in a eucharistic context.
The term margarita was not unknown in the West.
2 Dr. Brightman, in a letter to the writer.
3 Thesaurus, s.v.
2 K

250 The Sacrament Reserved
inside the ikonostasis.1 It is said that the Western mode
of suspension has also prevailed locally.
For communion of the sick the Eucharist is carried
forth in a pyx, sometimes called Trv^pixyKov in allusion to
its spherical form.2 At the bedside the sacrament is placed
in a small chalice, and a little wine and warm water are
added before administration.
Although they are more usually communicated at the
Liturgy, infants newly-baptized sometimes receive the
reserved sacrament. Goar appends the following remarks
to the office of ablution, which takes place eight days after
Baptism, and is immediately succeeded by the rite of cutting
the hair.3 u The Greeks," he says, " make use of a spoon,
which they call the Aa/3/y, to remove from the chalice con
taining the conjoint species a drop which is then placed
upon the infant's tongue. And if the initiation takes place
when the Liturgy is not being celebrated, they produce for
1 Printed in " Perpetuite de la Foy," vol. iii, pp. 424-448.
" Me trouvant il y a quelque temps dans l'Eglise de Calcedoine,
oh l'on pretend que le Concile a 6te tenu, je demandai a un Religieux qui
me montroit ce qu'il y avoit de plus remarquable, oil etoit le S. Sacre
ment : il me montra un sac de toile pendu a un clou, dans lequel il y
avoit une boSte, ou etoit enferme ce precieux depdt de notre salut ; et
pour satisfaire ma curiosite il l'ouvrit et me fit voir les esp£ces et les
apparences exterieures du pain." (pp. 429, 430.)
cf. Leo Allatius : " In hoc eodem sacrario [i.e. the ' Altar '] pre-
tiosissimum Christi corpus pro infirmis non certo in loco, cum id ex
arbitrio sacerdotum pendeat ; in muro tamen appenditur et non sine
veneratione asservatur. Quandoque vero in ecclesiis pusillis misellisque
neque lampade neque alio lumine colitur." (Cited by Martene, De Ant.
Eccl. RJt. I. v. art. 3.)
2 ibid. : " Demum cum opus fuerit sacerdos cum diaconorum comi-
tatu et luminibus accensis, psalmos et alia pro re enuncians, involucrumque
illud secum deferens in aegroti et jam moribundi aedes pergit per viam
omnibus etiam Turcis, si obviam venerint, veneratione quadam obstu-
pentibus. . . . Ubi ad aegrotum ventum est, exemptam cum cochleari
e pyxomelo margaritam unam, vinoque ad hunc usum delato in aedem
cochleari perfusam ut emollescat, post exactam confessionem peccatorum
et supplicationes turn a sacerdote, turn ab infirmo recitatas, ille infirmo
porrigit : cui postea bona deprecatur et cum eadem pompa unde egressi
sunt convertuntur et margaritas reponunt." (u.s.)
3 There is no rubric definitely requiring communion of infants in the
offices of baptism, ablution, and cutting of the hair in the modern text
of the Euchologion, but the eighth-century Barberini Euchologion orders the
celebration of the Liturgy at the conclusion of the baptismal service.
(Conybeare and Maclean, Rituale Armenorum, p. 406.)

The Sacrament Reserved 251
the purpose the sacraments reserved for the sick ; but if
during the celebration of the Liturgy the elements there
consecrated are employed." ' The latter, he remarks, is
the method most approved.
B. The Russian Orthodox Church
In the Russian Church the sacrament that is to be
reserved for viaticum is prepared at the Liturgy of Maundy
Thursday, or whenever else a fresh supply is needed. A
second obley is taken at the prothesis and prepared in the
same manner as those used for the Presanctified, and is
laid, along with the obley that is to be used in the com
munion, on the antimins or corporal. It is not broken in
the consecration ; but after the hallowing of the gifts the
celebrant holds it over the chalice, and with the Izhitza, or
spoon, intincts it with the species of Wine, taking care to
avoid any superfluity. It is then placed in the kivot
(= Kiftwriov), or pyx, where it remains until the end of the
Liturgy. When the Liturgy is over, the intincted Host is
removed from the kivot and dried in the following manner
at the Zhertvennik, or table of prothesis. The antimins is
spread and the Host laid upon a paten (diskos) and censed
by the priest, who makes the customary acts of reverence.
The Host is then broken up into small fragments with the
kppyo, or spear. A clean stone or tile is placed over a
brazier of hot charcoals, and the diskos is either laid upon
or held above it ; and the drying of the sacred fragments
is carefully performed. When dry the sacrament is laid in
the ark or kovtcheg, which is another name for the kivot.
This stands permanently upon the holy table. Where the
kovtcheg is not of gold, or at least silver-gilt within, a piece
of paper is inserted below the sacrament. This is the
manner of preparing the reserved Eucharist in churches
where there is no daily celebration, and at times of the year,
» Eucholog. p. 375 : " Quod et factitant Graeci, nam cochleari, quod
Xa/iiSa dicunt, facto sanguine intincto, guttulam e calice eductam pueri
lingua exsugendam apponunt : et si quidem extra Liturgiam aliquem
initiant, aegrotis sacramenta reservata depromunt ; sin Liturgia celebratur,
ex ipsis speciebus consecratis ; prout Pachymetes et Maximimus in cap. 2.
Dionysii de Eccl. Hierarch. scribunt : vvv Se aKptfieo-repov yiverai ev ry riov
8eitov pvarypiiav reXeia Xeirovpyia, ev y Kal tois veocfxarurrois Sei pera-
Xap/3dveiv."

252 The Sacrament Reserved
i.e. Lent, when only certain days of the week are liturgically
observed. Where and when the Liturgy is celebrated daily,
the drying of the Host (which is intended to preserve it
from the risk of corruption) is omitted, and the sacrament
is renewed every day.
The reserved Eucharist is kept inside the standing
kovtcheg upon the holy table, and when reserved for long
periods it is reverently inspected from time to time, lest
any accident should occur. The priest is forbidden to
keep it in his own house.1 It has several forms. Some
times it is spoken of as the "grave,"2 because, like the
tomb or grotto in Joseph's garden, it contains the Body of
the Lord. Anciently it was commonly made in the form
of a temple or church, and called by the name of " Zion "
or "Jerusalem." Many of these "Zions," some elaborately
fashioned, are preserved at Moscow and at Novgorod. At
solemn celebrations, when a bishop officiated, they v/ere
carried forth at the Lesser Entrance ; at other times they
were borne at the Greater Entrance along with the rest of
the vessels used in the Liturgy. They still remain in use
in some monastic churches. The kovtcheg or k/vot of modern
make is usually of simpler form, but whatever its shape, it
must be provided with a cover and must bear a cross.
Gold, silver, and, more rarely, other metals, are the
material of which the kivot is made.3
The equivalent of the pyx ad deferendam eucharistiam is
called the daronositza, i.e. the bearer of the gifts. It is
generally made with two compartments, one for the sacra
ment, the other for the spoon (Izhitza), and a small chalice.
In some forms a third division is provided for the ablutions-
sponge or gubkaA It is wrapped in a covering and enclosed
in a purse of silk, and borne to the sick by the priest in a
napkin folded pouchwise and tied about his neck. On
coming into the invalid's presence the priest confesses him,
if this has not been previously done, and then communicates
him thus. A particle of the sacrament is placed in a chalice
1 K. Nikolsky, UstaV Bogosluzhenia (Petrograd, 1907), pp. 693 f.
2 cf. the sarcophagus shape of the artophorium mentioned above, and
the phrase " corporis Christi novum sepulchrum " in the benediction of a
chrismal in (Missale Francorum (p. 2 1 9), and also St. German's remarks on
the turris (p. 217).
3 Nikolsky, op. cit. p. 10. ? ibid. p. 693.

The Sacrament Reserved 253
and a little wine is added, " as much as may be sufficient for
the sick person to receive it," and the sacrament is con
veyed to his mouth by means of the spoon. Suitable
prayers are provided for the occasion.1

C. The Armenian Church
Whenever there is need to prepare the sacrament for
reservation a portion of the conjoint Eucharist is set aside
at the Liturgy and desiccated afterwards. The vessel of
reservation, which is generally made of silver or gold, is
termed the serpadoop, or receptacle of the holy gifts. It is
kept in a movable cupboard that stands on the right-hand
side of the holy table. The supply of the reserved
Eucharist is commonly renewed at least every Sunday,
in accordance with the ancient rule of St. Sahak.2 It is
used not only for clinical communion, but also for the
communion of infants after baptism and of others who
require it. -The Eucharist is borne to the sick in the
serpadoop. 3
An ancient Armenian Euchologion 4 which dates from the
tenth century at the latest provides an office for the com
munion of the sick. " The priest takes the saving mystery,
and the cross and the censer precede him, and they go to
the sick man," the priest repeating the whole of psalm cxix.
and other devotions as he goes. At the bedside an unusual
type of confession is made, or rather the fact that the
invalid has made confession is certified by a layman ;
prayers and psalms are recited, and three lections are read.
After the creed and the Our Father, the priest says " the
Christ is offered as a sacrifice, and the O taste. And he shall
give the saving mystery and say the prayer, We thank
Thee, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast made
Thy servant worthy of these heavenly gifts, to partake of
the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. 5 The
Eucharist was at this date intincted for reservation.
A modern text follows the ancient order, and expands
it somewhat where the directions are summarized in the
1 Shann, Book of Speeds (a translation of the Trebni{), pp. 123 f.
2 See p. 182.
3 From information communicated by the Rev. Nerses G. Sevadjian.
4 Conybeare and Maclean, Rituale Armenorum. 5 ibid. pp. 114, 11 6.

254 The Sacrament Reserved
earlier version. The priest is instructed to deliver "the
saving holy mystery to the sick man with caution," repeat
ing two verses from the psalter. "And as the sick man
tastes it in his mouth, they give glory and say, We have
been filled with Thy blessings, O Lord, tasting Thy Body
and Blood," etc. J
D. The East Syrian or Nestorian Church
In this isolated part of Christendom there are in vogue
peculiar customs in connection with the obley-loaf, by
which means is secured a continuity in the substance of the
obleys used, as they pretend, from apostolic times.2 But
whether the sacrament itself was ever officially reserved is
not certainly known. 3 No trace of the custom now sur
vives^ and the only possible reference to the reserved
Eucharist appears to be contained in the following passage :
" Order of the signing of the chalice or of the geza ; that
is, when the geza remains during the night in which the
holy thing is baked. — Ordered by Mar Israel, the quick
witted Bishop of Kashkar. First, it is not fitting that the
geza should be left during the night except from necessity.
But when it happens that it has been left during the night,
1 ibid. p. n 8.
2 They reserve a piece of the dough every time that the obley is
prepared in order to mix it with the next baking. They have moreover
the " holy leaven," which is augmented and renewed from year to year on
Maundy Thursday. This looks like a faint memory of yearly renewal of
the reserved sacrament. No Eucharist may be celebrated without the
" holy leaven," and so its use is in a manner parallel to the Fermentum and
Sancta of the Western Church. (See Woolley, The Bread of the Eucharist,
pp. 58 ff.)
3 It may have died out in consequence of the constant raids of the
Moslems from the days of Tamerlane onward.
¦t Badger, (Nestorians and their Rituals, makes no reference to reserva
tion ; Fortescue, who relies on such authors as Assemani, in The Lesser
Eastern Churches (p. 156), says, " Nestorians do not now reserve the Holy
Eucharist at all " ; Maclean and Brown, The Catholicos of the East (p. 261),
assert that reservation is no longer practised, and conclude that its dis
appearance is in consequence of Moslem persecution.
The Rev. F. N. Heazell, commenting, in a letter to the writer, on the
passage quoted in the text, says that he has found reservation practised
nowhere among the Eastern Syrians. He has travelled and lived among
the most conservative and obscure tribes, and become acquainted with their
pecial dialects without meeting with any memory of the custom at all.

The Sacrament Reserved 255
let there be in it nothing prepared at all except biikhri or
true prlsdthd. But let not the chalice be left at all during
the night, although the light before it be not taken away.
And in the morning the priest and deacon enter and prepare
the altar in the usual manner, and bring out the pyx con
taining the qudsha, and arrange the bttkhrd on the paten,
and place it on the altar and cover it with a veil, saying,"
etc.1 Of the terms used in this passage, qudsha is the holy
thing, and is often used of the sacrament ; btikhrd, pi.
biikhri, is the obley or eucharistic loaf, and prhdthd has the
same meaning. The Rev. F. N. Heazell, who provided
this translation and the substance of the notes appended,
believes that the text may be corrupt.2
1 Cambridge University Library, MS. no. 1988 (date 1528). Mr.
Heazell's translation is approved by Dr. Maclean, Lord Bishop of Moray.
Neither of these authorities believe that reservation is intended.
2 " The sense of the passage turns upon the meaning of the word geza :
it is commonly used of the Host, though it can hardly bear that sense
here. ' Let there be in it nothing prepared at all except bUkhri,' i.e.
eucharistic loaves, cannot refer to the ingredients of the Host. Probably
geza here means not the Host, but the vessel in which it is placed. Such
a meaning would be quite unusual, and no such use of the word is to be
found in Payne Smith. Blikhra and geza are probably used to describe the
same thing, viz. the eucharistic loaf.
" By giving the ordinary meaning to geza, i.e. the Host, the passage is
rendered entirely obscure. It is clear that the chalice is not to be left over
night, but the light which burns before it, supposing it to be left over night,
points to the fact that the consecrated elements were in the mind of the
writer, though it by no means follows that if geza means the Host [i.e. the
obley], the sense is that the consecrated Host is intended. The passage
may mean that Mar Israel is giving directions for baking the bread just
before the service, which is the present custom, and permits in certain
circumstances the use of bread prepared at an earlier stage ; but the wine,
i.e. mixed wine, was not to be prepared beforehand. It is highly probable
that the text is corrupt, and if so no meaning can be deduced from the
passage. I know of no other copy of this document."

APPENDIX
Some Notes on the Origins of the Extra-liturgical
Cultus of the Eucharist
IN chapter viii allusion was made to a passage in
St. Gregory Nazianzen, and it was there remarked that
this place, along with certain statements in Optatus, had
often been used in controversy as evidence for the early
origin of a cultus of the reserved sacrament. The passages
in Optatus were discussed, and were found to furnish no
support for the contention that the African Church of his
day was accustomed to keep the Eucharist at or upon the
altar. The expressions used by him plainly relate to the
presence of Christ associated with the actual performance
of the Liturgy.1
The passage in St. Gregory occurs in the funeral sermon
preached by him on the occasion of his sister Gorgonia's
death (c. a.d. 380), and it may be rendered as follows :
" She despaired of all others, and betook herself to the
Physician of all. And at an untimely hour of the night,
when there was a slight intermission of her sickness, she
fell before the altar in faith, and calling aloud on Him Who
is honoured at it (or, thereon), and making all kind of
entreaty, bringing to His remembrance all the acts of power
that He had ever wrought (for she was acquainted both with
those of old time and those of later days), she was bold at
last to do a thing pious and yet magnificently daring.
She followed the example of her who stanched her flow of
blood by the skirts of Christ. And what was it that she
did ? Laying her head upon the altar, with such another
loud cry and that with tears as rich as hers who drenched
Christ's feet of old, and threatening that she would not let
go before she received health, she anointed her whole per
son with this medicine which proceeded from herself; and
whatsoever of the species (antitypes) of the precious Body
or Blood her hand treasured (or had treasured), mingled
1 De schism. Donatist. vi. 1. (T.L. xi. 1066.) (See p.- 107).
256

The Sacrament Reserved 257
this with her tears. And, O wonder ! she went away
feeling that she was healed. . . ." 1
What is to be made of this ? Some would understand
it to mean that Gorgonia went up to an altar in a church
and took from some receptacle thereon the consecrated
elements. If this were the true sense of the passage,
we should have here a very clear instance, not only for
official reservation in a public building, but also for a sort
of exposition of the Eucharist at a very early date. But
such an interpretation rests upon the supposition that the
phrase " she fell before the altar in faith, calling aloud upon
Him Who is honoured at it (or, thereon)," implies that she
was following a recognized custom in coming to worship
the Presence constantly secured at the altar by the reser
vation of the sacrament. For the existence of such a
custom we have no other evidence whatever. As Father
Thurston remarks in his edition of Bridgett, " In all the
Christian literature of the first thousand years no one has
apparently found a single clear and definite statement that
any person visited a church in order to pray before the
Body of Christ, which was kept on the altar."2 He makes
an attempt in another place 3 to get at the meaning of this
difficult passage, and rejecting the interpretation given
above, together with that which represents Gorgonia as
bringing in her hand the Eucharist privately reserved,
1 " rravrav arroyvovo-a rwv dXXuv, eirl rbv irdvrtavziarpbv Karacpevyei,
Kai vvktos autpiav rypyo~ao-a, piKpbv ev8ovo-ys airy rrjs vocrov, t<j 6vo~iao~-
rypitp TTpooTrnrrei pera rrjs rrio-rews, Kal rbv err' avrip ripuopevov ava/ca-
Xovpevy peydXy ry fioy, Kal rrdo-ais rais KXyo-eo-i, Kal rcaoStv avrbv twv
ivwncore 8vvdpeo)v vTropvyo~ao-a, crocfiy yap eKeivy Kal ra 7raAaid /cai rd via,
reAos ev&epy rivd Kal KaXyv dvaio~xwriav dvaio~xvvrei. pipeirai ryv tois
Kpao"ire8ois XPlo~TOv ^ypdvoxrav 7T^y^i/ ai'p.aTos. Kai ri rroiei ; tcj) dvo-iao--
rypiu. ryv Ke<f>aXyv eavrys rrpocrdeio-a perd rrjs io-ys /Soys, Kal oaxpuo-i
rovro rrXovo-iois iacnrkp ns rrdXat rovs 7ro8as xpioro{i Kara/3 p'exovo-a, Kal prj
wporepov avyo-eiv y rrjs iyieias r-u^eiv a7reiAo{J(ra, e?ra ra rrap' eavrys
(pappaK(f rovrb) rb o-wpa Trav eTraXei<povo-at Kal ei ttov ri rS>v dvrirmrutv rov
ripiov o-oiparos y tou aiyiiaTos y X€V edyo-avpicrev, rovro Karapiyvvo-a tois
SaKpvo-iv <3 roil Savparos- dwyX8ev evdvs aurOopevy rrjs o-arypias, Kovcj>y
Kal cr<Spa Kal \pvxyv Kai Siavotav, pur8bv eAirtSos Xafiovo-a rb eXm£6pevov,
Kal ry rrjs ^X1?8 evpoio-ria Kopurapevy ryv rov crioparos." (Gregorii
Theologi Opera, ed. Bened. p. 229.)
2 History of the Holy Eucharist in G.reat Britain, p. 170, footnote.
3 J.T.S. xi. 42. (January, 1910.) (pp. 275-279). This study was
occasioned by a criticism, made in the Church Quarterly Review of October,
1909, of the statement quoted in the text. 2 L

258 The Sacrament Reserved
suggests one which avoids certain difficulties but not with
out importing others. His careful attention to grammatical
points in the text l that have been overlooked by other
commentators, leads him to propose this as the most prob
able solution. Namely, that Gorgonia went unobserved to
the church and flung herself down before the altar in
prayer, and on a sudden inspiration " put forth out her
hand in the hope of finding some few crumbs or traces of
the sacred species. . . . ' " Moved by the spirit of the
woman with the issue of blood, she clings to the altar, and
tells [the Lord] that she will not let go until she be made
well. She bedews her body not only with this already-
mentioned remedy that she had," but with the " remedy
which came from herself . . . i.e. her tears — tears of faith
like those of the woman who was a sinner — mingling
with these tears whatever crumbs or traces of the species of
the sacred Body or Blood her (moist) hand had enriched
itself with."2
As for the possibility of fragments and stains of the
elements lying about the altar, while it is true that the
fashions of reverence change from age to age, yet writers
such as Tertullian, Origen, and Cyril of Jerusalem are
careful to inculcate into the minds of their disciples great
carefulness for the sacred gifts. 3
Whatever the real sense of the passage may be, this
much at least is clear — that the incident provides no
argument either for open reservation on altars in the
fourth century, or for any adoration of the Eucharist thus
reserved. It is, as we should naturally expect, in the latter part
of the eleventh century that the rudiments of a cultus
defiintely paid to the reserved Eucharist first appear.
1 e.g. the use of the aorist edyo-avpio-ev ; which appears " to imply a
momentary act of appropriation " ; the conjunction y instead of Kai —
" Body or Blood."
Father Thurston suggests that Gorgonia may have been a catechumen
at this time, and in that case surmises that she would be prohibited from
touching or even seeing the Eucharist in the ordinary course of things.
Catechumens (e.g. Satyrus) did occasionally, in abnormal circumstances,
come into possession of the sacrament.
2 loc. cit. p. 278.
3 Tertullian, de Corona 3 ; Origen, in Exod. Homil. xi. 7, xiii. 3 ; Cyril,
Catech. My stag. v. 20-22.

The Sacrament Reserved 259
And their appearance is rather sudden ; it takes place,
apparently, in Normandy, as a demonstration against
Berengarian views of the sacrament.
No version of the Customs of Bee that is extant goes
behind a manuscript written between the years 1290-
1310;1 yet, although the indebtedness of Lanfranc's
Statuta drawn up for use at Canterbury to early customs
of Bee has been over-estimated, it is reasonable to suppose
that he was following an innovation, lately introduced,
at that stronghold of orthodoxy, when he provided for the
solemn bearing of the Host in the Palm Sunday pro
cession. His directions are much fuller than those which
are given in the only customs of -Bee that are known ; and
this seems to argue the priority of the latter.
The chief point of interest lies here : the Eucharist
has replaced the gospel-book which had previously been
the central object in the procession, and its progress elicits
acts of adoration.2
" When they are come to the place, a station is made
by the whole congregation. The cantor begins the anti-
phon, occurrunt turbae, and two priests vested in albs come
forth, who are to carry the shrine (feretrum), which should
have been brought thither by the same priests a little before
dawn. In this the Body of Christ ought to have been
enclosed. Toward this shrine those who bear the banners
1 A. A. Poree, Hist, de FAbbaye du Bee, I, p. 476.
2 The older Roman Ordines (e.g. that given by Hittorp, op. cit. 46 ft.)
describe a simple procession with palms and branches and flowers.
Then comes the stage of development that is shown by Ps.-Alcuin (De
Eccl. Officiis). The gospel-book is borne in pomp, enclosed in a kind of
shrine. " Hodie preparatur quoddam portatorium honestissime in quo intro-
mittitur sanctum evangelium quod intelligitur Christus et statuitur in
ecclesia ante aram unde clerus processurus est." Then follows the bene
dictio palmarum. "His finitis, dantur a custodibus palmae, accipienteque
populo ramos arborum olivarum sive florum, inchoatur antiphona, pueri
Hebraeorum. Deinde suscipiunt diaconi supra scriptum portatorium cum
evangelio, baiulantes cum ingenti exultatione iugum Christi suave et onus
eius leve, praecedente aqua benedicta cum candelabris atque thymiama-
teriis cum aliis ornamentis. Insuper etiam laicorum schola cum vexillis
atque fanonibus a longe praeeunte." (Hittorp, op. cit. 246.)
The third stage is reached, as is remarked in the text above, when the
Eucharist replaces the evangelium. The remark that the gospel-book
represents Christ shows how the transition from book to Host came
about.

260 The Sacrament Reserved
and crosses and all the things that have been named above
are to move forward immediately. And, while those who
carry the shrine stand still, these others shall stand right
and left of the shrine in the order in which they have
come. . . . When the antiphon, occurrunt turbae, is
finished, the boys and those who are with them begin
the antiphon, hosanna filio David, bowing the knee both
at the beginning and at the end of the antiphon, because
hosanna is said in both places. The choir shall repeat
this antiphon, and bow the knee in like manner. . . .
When this has been done, the abbot or the cantor begins
the antiphon, ave, rex noster, and the bearers of the shrine
pass through the middle of the station, the banner-bearers
and the rest carrying the afore-mentioned things going in
front, keeping the order as they return that was observed in
coming. As the bearers of the shrine pass along, all shall
bow the knee ; not all at once, but one by one, on either
side, as the shrine goes by." 1
1 " Decreta pro ordine S. Bentd." iv. " Cum autem perventum fuerit
ad ipsum locum, fiat statio a toto conventu. Cantore autem incipiente
antiphonam occurrunt turbae exeant duo sacerdotes albis induti, qui por
tent feretrum, quod parum ante diem ab eisdem sacerdotibus illuc debet
esse delatum, in quo et corpus Christi esse debet reconditum. Ad quod
feretrum praecedant statim qui vexilla portant et cruces et caetera quae
superius dicta sunt. Et stantibus iis qui feretrum portant, stabunt et
ipsi a dextera et a sinistra ipsius feretri, ordinati sicut venerunt. Pueri
vero accedentes stabunt versis vultibus ad ipsos reliquos cum magistris
suis et quibusdam cantoribus qui auxilio eis esse possunt. Maiores
vero versi erunt ad invicem eo modo quo in choro stare solent. Sic autem
ordinetur haec statio ut modicum intervallum sit inter pueros et majorem
conventum. Finita antiphona occurrunt turbae, incipiant pueri et qui cum
eis sunt antiphonam hosanna filio David flectentes genua et in principio et
in fine antiphonae, quia in utroque hosanna dicitur. Quam antiphonam
chorus repetat et similiter genua flectat. Deinde a pueris cantetur anti
phona cum angelis, in fine tantum antiphonae genua flectentibus. Quae
antiphona a conventu repetatur et similiter venia accipiatur. Taliter
his peractis, abbate vel cantore incipiente antiphonam, ave, rex noster,
transeant portitores feretri per medium stationis, praecedentibus his qui
vexilla portant, et caeteris superius dictis portitoribus, servato ab omnibus
ordine in redeundo quem habuerunt in eundo. Quibus transeuntibus
flectent genua, non simul omnes, sed singuli huic et inde, sicut feretrum
transibit ante eos. Percantata hac antiphona, cantent et alia si spatium
loci plura poposcerit. Cum venerint ad portas civitatis stationem faciant,
separatis ab invicem, prout locus patietur, utrisque lateribus, feretrum
vero ante introitum portarum sic ponatur super mensam pallio coopertam
ut praedicti portitores, ex utroque latere stantes, habeant ad feretrum

The Sacrament Reserved 261
On Maundy Thursday, too, special veneration is paid
to the sacrament. "After mass, vespers are to be said
. . ., and in the meantime the priest, preceded by the
procession, comes to the altar, and goes to a place
appointed and suitably prepared, and there lays the
Body of the Lord, censing the place both before and
after the deposition. And a light shall burn constantly
before this place." ' Also on Good Friday, after the
adoration of the cross, "the priest resumes his chasuble
and stole [that had been laid aside for the preceding cere
mony], and accompanied by the deacon, also in his stole,
with lay-brothers bearing lights and censer, they come to
the place where, on Maundy Thursday, the Body of the
Lord had been laid. He places incense in the thurible
and censes the sacrament, and gives it to the deacon to
carry back again. . . . When they approach the altar,
all the rest of the brethren adore the Body of the Lord,
in medio eorum positum versas facies suas. Locus vero super introitum
portarum honeste debet esse paratus et cortinis et dorsalibus.
" Taiiter ordinata statione, canant pueri de loco apto et qui praecepto
cantoris qui cum eis erunt, Gloria laus, etc. . . .
" His dictis inchoet cantor responsorium ingrediente domino ; et ingre-
diente civitatem processione, duo majora signa pulsentur, donee caetera
signa, processione intrante in chorum, pulsentur ad missam. Sic ordinata
processio veniens usque ante portas monasterii, faciat stationem, servantibus
pueris ordinem suum inter utrumque chorum. Deponatur iterum fere
trum super mensam pallio coopertam," etc. (T.L. cl. 456, 457.)
The rites described in the Customs of Bee (from MSS. of date 1 290-
13 10, but representing earlier traditions) are as follows: "Ipso die
secretarius summo mane debet feretrum mittere per fratres cum lumine
ad locum ubi processio debet ire, in quo debet honeste reponi corpus
domini cum reliquiis.
" Cum autem ad locum stationis pervenerint, stent fratres per ordinem
sicut solent in choro ; pueri vero versi ad feretrum genua flectentes dicant,
antiphonam, hosanna filio David, qua dicta flectant pueri tantum genua,
quam repetant omnes similiter flectentes genua. Item pueri flectant
genua et dicant antiphonam dignus es domine totam ; qua finita, ut primum
flectant genua. Cum autem inchoaverit cantor antiphonam, ave rex
noster, transibunt latores feretri per medium chori, et ipsis transeuntibus
flectant omnet genua, sequentesque feretrum cantent antiphonas." (Mart.
De Ant. Monach. Rit. III. xii. 15.)
1 " Decreta " : " expleta missa fiat oratio vespertina supra formas.
Interea sacerdos, praecedente processione cum ad altare venit, vadat ad
locum constitutum decentissime praeparatum, ibique reponat corpus
domini, incensato ipso loco et ante repositionem et post repositionem
Ante quem locum lumen continue ardeat." (T.L. cl. 460.)

262 The Sacrament Reserved
bowing the knee." x After further censing of the sacra
ment, follows the mass of the Presanctified, at which all
the brethren communicate.
Rather more than a hundred years later the canons
issued by a synod of Paris under Bishop Odo contain
directions for the better securing of reverence toward the
Eucharist ; and enjoin that the people shall be reminded
that whenever they see the sacrament borne abroad they
must bow as to their Lord and Maker, with hands joined
in adoration until it be gone by. Borne to the sick, the
Body of the Lord shall be carried in an ivory pyx, securely
fastened ; and a lantern is to go before, while the seven
penitential psalms are sung with such others as the
distance of the way requires.2 Other injunctions issued
by diocesan and other authority from time to time, con
cerning the ceremonial to be observed in bearing abroad
the viaticum, lay stress upon the veneration that is to
be paid to the Eucharist as it passes. Giraldus Cam-
1 ibid. : " his ita gestis sacerdos resumpta casula cum stola et diaconus
stola, praecedentibus conversis cum candelabris et thuribulo, vadant ad
locum ubi quinta feria corpus domini fuit repositum ; et posito incenso
in thuribulo incenset illud, et sic tradat diacono ad reportandum. In
eundo et redeundo conversos sequatur diaconus, sacerdos extremus veniat.
Cum appropinquant altari, adorent omnes fratres corpus domini flexis
genibus ; collocato super altare Christi corpore, facta in calice vini et
aquae commistione . . . incenset sacerdos corpus Christi et calicem,"
etc. (T.L. cl. 465.)
2 A number of canons in this series deal with the veneration of the
sacrament. Odonis Ep. Taris. Synod. Constit. :
Cap. 5. 1. "Summa reverentia et honor maximus sacris altaribus
exhibeatur et maxime ubi sacrosanctum corpus domini reservatur et
missa celebratur."
5. 5. "Non permittant presbyteri diacones (comminatur episcopus
eis qui hoc non servant) deferre infirmis sacrosanctum corpus domini,
nisi necessitate, cum sacerdos absens fuerit : sed semper sacerdos cum
magna reverentia et maturitate deferat in pyxide eburnea, bene clausa
propter casum, et cum lucerna praecedente cantantes septem psalmos poeni-
tentiales cum litania pro infirmo eundo et redeundo. Si longa via fuerit,
addant quindecim psalmos et alias orationes," etc.
c. 5. 6. " Frequenter moneantur laici ut ubicumque viderint deferri
corpus domini statim genua flectant tamquam domino et creatori suo et
junctis manibus quoadusque transierit orent."
5. 7. "In pulchriori parte altaris cum summa diligentia et hones-
tate sub clave sacrosanctum corpus domini custodiatur." (Hard. vi. 2. 1939 ff.)

The Sacrament Reserved 263
brensis (c. 1205), for example, says that unless the weather
prevent it, the priest must wear a decent surplice when
he goes on this errand. The Eucharist is to be borne
in a handsome pyx, over which the ends of the stole
are to be folded cross-wise. The deacon is to go ahead
with the light, even in the daytime, and the people
are to venerate the sacrament, covering their eyes with
their hands.1
Robert Grossetete, Bishop of Lincoln, issued the follow
ing injunctions, characteristic of the time (1238), concerning
the custody and use of the reserved sacrament. " The
Eucharist, which is the sacrament of the Lord's Body,
should always be kept with honour in a place set apart,
clean and sealed (i.e. locked), and there be devoutly and
faithfully reserved. And every priest shall often instruct
his people that when in the celebration of mass the saving
victim is raised on high, they must reverently bow, and
that they are to do the same when the priest carries the
Eucharist to a sick person. When he does this he must
wear suitable habit, and cover the pyx with a fair veil ; and
as he goes and as he comes again he shall carry it openly
and with honour before his breast with reverence and
dread. A light shall always precede him, for [that which
he bears] is 'the brightness of the everlasting light,'2 by
which means faith and devotion may be increased among
all, as it is written in the General Council. A bell also
shall always be borne with the light before the venerable
Host of Christ's Body, that by the sound thereof the
devotion of the faithful may be kindled to render the
adoration due to so great a sacrament. Let priests take
great care also lest the sacred Eucharist by some fault,
or through over long keeping, become damp or mouldy,
and so become disagreeable to behold or unpleasant
to taste. And priests shall always be most ready and
1 (Gemma Ecclesiast. I. 6) : " Eucharistia vero cum infirmis defertur
cum honore debito et reverentia deferri debet et tractari, presbytero,
scilicet si tempus et aura permiserint, in superpellicio honeste, ut decet,
eunte ; et eucharistiam in pixide pulchra, stola desuper in crucem
complexa, populo adorandam et digne venerandam, prae oculis palmam
portante, diacono quoque cum lucerna bajula etiam clara die praeambu-
lante." (%S. xxi. 2, p. 20.)
2 An allusion to Wisd. vii. 26 (Vulg.).

264 The Sacrament Reserved
prepared to visit the sick, not only by day but by night as
well, whenever they are required ; lest through any neglect
of theirs a sick person should die without confession and
communion of the Lord's Body and extreme unction,
which God forbid." 1
Numerous similar injunctions are to be found at this
period, and behind them all lies the decree of the Lateran
in 1215.2 Yet it is to be noted that while an increase in
external expressions of reverence is in full growth, and that
through the elevation of the Host the way lies open for
future developments, it is still the sacrament in action (so
to say) that elicits the manifestation of devotion. 3 There
is yet no trace to be found of any custom in which the
presence of Christ is secured in the church out of mass-
time for purposes of devotion.
General Conclusions
It is now possible to set down in order some of the
more important conclusions to which the review of our
subject seems to have led. To a large extent these have
already been stated in the process of examining the evidence
collected under the several heads, and only need to be
repeated here in more concise form.
1 Ep. 52:"... Eucharistia autem, quae sacramentum est dominiei cor
poris, in loco singulari mundo et signato semper honorifice collocata, devote
ac fideliter conservetur. Sacerdos vero quilibet frequenter doceat plebem
suam, ut cum in celebratione missarum elevatur hostia salutaris se reverenter
inclinet : idem faciens cum earn portet presbyter ad infirmum, quam in
decenti habitu, supposto mundo velamine ferat et referat manifeste ac
honorifice ante pectus cum reverentia et timore, semper lumine praecedente,
cum sit candor lucis aeternae ; ut ex hoc apud omnes fides et devotio
augeatur ; quemadmodum in generali concilio scribitur : tintinnabulum
quoque simul cum lumine venerandam corporis Christi hostiam semper
praecedat, ut ejus sonitu excitetur fidelium devotio ad tanti sacramenti
debitam adorationem. Observent etiam sacerdotes cum omni diligentia ne
sacra eucharistia per vitium aut diutinam conservationem contraheret
humiditatem seu mucorem, unde reddatur vel turpis aspectu vel gustui
abominabilis. Sacerdotes autem promptissimi sint et paratissimi, non solum
diebus sed et noctibus ut aegrotantes, cum requiruntur, visitent : ne eorum
negligentia, quod absit, moriatur infirmus sine confessione aut dominiei
corporis communione aut unctione extrema." (R.S. xxv. p. 155.)
2 cf. for example, the instructions issued (1220) to the Diocese of
Durham by Bishop Richard Marsh. (Wilkins, op. cit. I. 581.)
3 Practically the attitude is that of the orthodox Easterns to-day.

The Sacrament Reserved 265
1 . First, we must recall the fact that from the earliest
times viaticum was regarded as indispensible wherever it
could be obtained.
2. We have seen good cause to believe that from at
least the second century Christians were accustomed to
receive the Eucharist at home when, by reason of infirmity
or other sufficient cause, they were unable to communicate
at the Liturgy.
3. So far as direct evidence goes, the earliest method
of providing for the needs of such cases was by distribution
of the Eucharist from the regular Liturgy.
4. This practice was generally superseded by the habit
of private reservation by the laity ; the change being
brought about by the character of the later persecutions.
Private reservation survived among the religious and the
clergy after it had been forbidden to the laity.
5. Celebrations in the sick chamber were probably
always exceptional. As soon as the Church began to own
and to use public buildings for its services the custom of
celebrating in private houses and chapels was restricted and
carefully controlled.
6. All other methods of providing for the necessities of
the sick were ultimately superseded by constant official
reservation, and this arose as a natural modification (due
to change of circumstances) of the private kind.
7. It is certain that the Eucharist was commonly
reserved in private only under the single species of Bread ;
and if we are right in supposing that official reservation
represents the restriction of the private habit, there is every
reason to suppose that originally the Eucharist was reserved
officially in the same form. This contention is borne out
by the scanty evidence that we have been able to collect on
the subject.
8. During the early Middle Ages there was in some
areas a pronounced tendency to insist upon the use of both
species conjointly for sick communion.
9. Eucharistic doctrine subsequent to the tenth century
led to an undesigned return, on theoretical grounds, to the
primitive practice of reservation under the sole kind of
Bread. 10. Apart from the merely temporary expedient asso
ciated in early times with the Presanctified and with the
2 M

266 The Sacrament Reserved
communion of the newly-baptized at solemn seasons, there
is no evidence for the existence of any regular practice of
reserving the species of Wine.
n. In case of necessity layfolk may act as ministers of
the reserved Eucharist.
12. The original purpose of official reservation was
purely practical. The development of any cultus of the
reserved Eucharist was the direct outcome of the accept
ance of the doctrine of transubstantiation as the orthodox
belief. Finis

LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES

AA.SS. See Acta.
Achelis, H. — Die Canones Hippolyti. (Texte und Untersuchungen, vi. Leipzig,
1891.)
Acta Sanctorum (Bollandist) (ed. J. Carnandet). Paris and Rome, 1863.
Albaspinaeus, G. A. — De Veteribus Ecclesiae Ritibus. Helmstadt, 1672.
Albers, Bruno — Consuetudines Monasticae, vols. i-v. Stuttgart, etc., 1900-12.
Amphilochii opera. Paris, 1644.
Anon, v. La Perpetuiti de la Foy.
Atchley, E. G. C. F.' — Ordo Romanus Primus (in Library of Liturgiology and
Ecclesiology for English Readers, vol. vi). London, 1905.
Besse, J. M. — Les Moines a" Orient. Paris, 1900.
Boll. v. Acta.
Bona, J. (Cardinal) — Rerum Liturgicarum libri duo (ed. R. Sala), 4 vols. Turin,
1747-53-
Bridgett, T. E. — A History of the Holy Eucharist in Great Britain (ed. H. Thurs
ton, S.J.). London, 1908.
Bright, W. — Canons of the first four General Councils. Oxford, 1892.
Brightman, F. E. — Liturgies Eastern- and Western. Vol. i, Eastern Liturgies.
Oxford, 1896.
Bruns, Canones.
Cabrol- Leclercq — Dictionnaire d1 ArchMogie chritienne et de Liturgie. Paris (in
progress).
Cabrol-Leclercq — Monumenta Ecclesiae Liturgica. Paris (in progress).
Capitularia Ragwn Francorum. Edit. A. Boret, in M. G. H.
Cavalieri, J. M. — Opera Omnia Liturgica. 1778.
Chardon, C. — Storia de' Sacramenti (Ital. transl.). Verona, 1754.
Conybeare, F. C. , and Maclean, A. J. — Rituale Armenorum. Oxford, 1905.
Cossart, v. Harduin.
D. C. A. —See Smith and Cheetham.
D'Achery — Spicilegium, 3 vols, (edited by Mabillon, with additional vol., Vetera
Analecta). Paris, 1723.
Dale, A. W. W. — The Synod of Elvira. London, 1882.
Delisle — Mimoires sur d'anciens Sacratnentaires. Paris, 1896.
de Moleon — Voyages liturgiques de France. Paris, 1718.
de Vert, Claude — Explication . . . des Cirimonies de PEglise. Paris, 1709.
Diet. cPArchiol. — See Cabrol-Leclercq.
Diet, de Thiol. Cath. — See Vacant-Mangenot.
Ducange — Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis (ed. Leopold Favre), 10 vols.
1883.
Duchesne, L. — Christian Worship; its Origin and Evolution. English tr. by
M. L. McClure (3rd edition) from 4th French edition. London, 1910.
Duchesne, L. — Liber Pontificalis. Paris, 1886-92.
Duranti, J. S. — De Ritibus Ecclesiae Catholicae. Rome, 1691.
Eixo\6yi.ov, rb iiiya. Venice, 1839.
Feltoe, C. L. — Sacramentarium Leonianum. Cambridge, 1896.
Ferotin, M. — Liber Ordinem. Paris, 1912.
Fortescue, A. — The Mass, a Study of the Roman Liturgy (in Westminster Library).
London, 1912.
Franz, A. — Die Messe im deutschen Mittelalter. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1902.
Gerbert, M. — Vetus Liturgia Alemannica. St. Blaise, 1776.
Gerbert] M. — Monumenta Veteris Liturgiae A/emannicae. St. Blaise, 1777.
Goar, T.  'Eitixokiyiov, sive Rituale Graecorum. Paris, 1047.
267

268 List of Principal Authorities
Gore, C. — Dissertations on Subjects connected with the Incarnation. London, 1895.
Grancolas, J. — L' Antiquite" des Cirimonies qui se practiquent dans V administration
des Sacremens. Paris, 1692.
Grancolas, J. — Les anciennes Liturgies. Paris, 1697-1704.
Guignard, Ph. — Les Monuments primitifs de laRigle Cistercienne. Dijon, 1878.
Haddan, A. W., and Stubbs, W. — Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, 4 vols.
Oxford, 1869-73.
Hapgood, Isabel — Service Book of the Holy Orthodox Church. Boston, 1906.
Hardouin, J., S.J. — Conciliorum Collectio. Paris, 1715.
Hart, G. W., and Frere, W. H. v. Rock.
Hauler, E. — Didascaliae apostolorum fragmenta veronensia latina. Leipzig, 1900.
Hartel, W. — Cypriani Opera Omnia (vol. iii, pt. i, in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiast.
Latinorum.) Vienna, 1868.
Hefele-Leclercq — Histoire des Conciles (nouvelle Traduction francaise faite sur la
deuxiime idition allemande . . . par un religieux Binidictin). (In progress. )
H. B. S. See following entry.
Henry Bradshaw Society — The Stowe Missal. 2 vols. (ed. G. F. Warner).
London, 1906, 1915.
Hinschius, P. — Decretales pseudo-Isidorianae. Leipzig, 1863.
Hittorp, M. — De divinis Catholicae Ecclesiae officiis et mysteriis (t. x. in Bibliotheca
Veterum Patrum, 4th edition, M. de la Bigne). Paris, 1624.
Iter Germanicum.
Krusch, B. — Passiones Vitaeque Sanctorum aevi Merovingici (vols, iii and iv in
Monumenta Germaniae Historica). Hanover and Leipzic, 1896-1902.
Krusch, B. and Levison, W. — id. (vol. v in Monumenta Germaniae Historica),
1910 ; (vol. vi of Monumenta Germaniae Historica), 1913.
le Brun, P. — Explication littirale, historique et dogmatique des Priires et des
Ceremonies de la Messe, 4 vols. Paris, 1726.
La Perpetuite" de la Foy de PEglise calholique touchant PEucharistie, 5 vols. Paris,
1704.
Mabillon, J. — Collectio Veterum Scriptorum, v. D'Achery.
Mabillon, J.—De Liturgia Gallicana. Paris, 1685.
Mabillon, J. — Praefationes in Acta Sanctorum ordinis Benedict!. Venice, 1740.
Mabillon, J. and Germain, M. — Musaeum Italicum, 2 vols. Paris, 1687.
Macri, D. and C. — Hierolexicon, S. Sacrum Dictionarium. Rome, 1677.
Magistretti, M. — Manuale Ambrosianum (in Monumenta Veteris Liturg. Ambro-
sianae). Milan, 1905.
Mai, A. — Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio, 10 vols. Rome, 1825-38.
Martene, E. — de Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus ; de antiquis Monachorum Ritibus,
4 vols. Venice, 1783.
Martene and Durand. — Voyage littiraire de deux Religieux Binidictins. Paris,
, I7i7.
Martene and Durand. — Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum, 5 vols. Paris, 1717.
Martigny, J. A. — Dictionnaire des Antiquitis Chritiennes. Paris, 1865.
Maskell, W. — Monumenta Ritualia.
Menard, H. — Divi Gregorii Papae . . . liber Sacramentorum. Paris, 1642.
Migne, J. P.—Patrologiae Graecae Cursus Computus , 165 vols. Paris, 1857-86.
Migne, J. A. — Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Computus, 221 vols. Paris, 1844-64.
N. E. — See Scudamore.
Neale, J. M. — A History of the Holy Eastern Church. Pt. i, General Introduction.
2 vols. London, 1850.
Neale, J. M. and Forbes, G. H.— The Ancient Liturgies of the Gallican Church.
Burntisland, 1855.
K. Hiuto-ibCKiU nocoOie Kt> Myiemio ycraBa Eoro&iymeuiii npasoaaBHoa IJepKBH. 7th ed.
Petrograd, 1907.
0. R. P.— See Atchley.
Plummer, C. — Venerabilis Baedae Opera Historica, 2 vols. Oxford, 1896.
Plummer, C. — Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae, 2 vols. Oxford, 1910.
Potthast, A.— Wegweiser durch die Geschichtswcrke des Europaischen Mittelalter.
Berlin, 1896.
Probst, F. — Sakramente u. Sakramentalien in den drei ersten christlichtn fair-
hunderten. Tubigen, 1872.
P. G., P. L  See Migne.

List of Principal Authorities 269
R. S.— Rolls Series.
Renaudot, E. — Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio, 2 vols. Frankfort-a-M., 1847.
Rock, D. — The Church of our Fathers (ed. G. W. Hart and W. H. Frere), 4 vols.
London, 1903.
Ruinart, Th. — Acta primorum Martyrum Sincera. Ratisbon, 1859.
Sala, R. v. Bona.
St. PauPs Ecclesiological Society, Transactions of, vols, iii and iv. London, 1895
and 1900.
Scudamore, W. E. — Notitia Eucharistica. London, 1876.
Smend, J.—R~elchspendung u. Kelchversagung in der abendldndishen Kirche.
Gottingen, 1898.
Smith and Cheetham — Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, 2 vols. London,
1875-80.
Stone, Darwell — History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, 2 vols. London,
1909.
Suicer, J. C. — Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus, 1728.
Surius, L. — Historiae seu Vitae Sanctorum, 13 vols. Turin, 1875.
Thiers, J. B. — Traiti de P Exposition du St. Sacrement de PAutel. Paris, 1677.
Thiers, J. B. — Traiti des Superstitions qui regardent les Sacrements, 4 vols.
Avignon, 1777.
Thorpe, B. — Ancient Laws and Institutes of England. London, 1840.
Thurston, H. v. Bridgett.
Vacant- Mangenot, Dictionnaire de Thiologie Catholique. Paris (in progress).
Warren, F. E.—The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church. Oxford, 1881.
Warren, F. E.—The Leofric Missal. Oxford, 1883.
Wasserschleben, F. G. A. — Reginonis Abbatis Prumiensis libri duo de Synodahbus
causis et disciplinis ecclesiasticis. Leipzic, 1840.
Wilkins, D. — Concilia Magnae Brittaniae et Hiberniae. London, 1737.
Wilson, H. A. — The Gelasian Sacramentary. Oxford, 1894.

INDEX

Abbo of Fleury, Collectio canon, ad
Hugon., 154.
Abraham de Winton, 196.
acolyte, 19, 79, 205, 226.
Adalbert of Prague, St., 64.
Adelard, biographer of St. Dunstan,
27.
Ado, Martyrology of St., 19.
^Elfgifu or iEthelgifu, Queen, 22.
^Elfric, Canons of, 31, 177, 185,
224.
^Ethelwolf, Carmen de abb. Lindisfi,
189, 215.
Agapetus, Pope, 118.
Albers, Consuetudines monasticae,
239-
Albertus Magnus, 153, 157.
Albigenses, 163.
Aldhelm, St., 207.
Alexander III, Pope, 65.
Alexander III, Pope, Epist. ad Up-
sellen. archiep., 181.
Alexander of Hales, 157.
Alexander of Neckham, 214.
Allatius, 54, 81.
,, De missa praesatict., 90, 148.
altar, as place of reservation, 193
to 195.
Amalarius of Metz, De eccl. offic, 79,
92, 100, 151.
Amalarius of Metz, De divinis offic,
89. .
Ambrose, St., Deexcessufratrts, 39.
,, De off. min., 223.
„ Epist., 107, 108, 202.
,, oratory of, 100.
„ Vita, 25, 26, 63.
Amiens, Manual of, 179.
Anastasius Bibliothecarius, H.E.,
114.
Angers, ordo of, 92.
Ansbert of Rouen, St., 128.

Ansegisus of Fontanelle, 134.
Anselm, St., 152, 156, 161.
Anskarii, Vita S., 177, 178.
Apollo or Apollonius of Hermopo-
lis, St., 52.
Apophthegmata Patrum, 20, 26, 53,
146.
Apostolic Constitutions, 25, 73,
94.
Apostolic Constitutions, Liturgy of
the, 142, 188.
Aquarians, 46.
Arbeo or Aribeo, 141.
arca, arcula, ark, 38, 46, 192, 201,
202, 249, 251.
Arcudius, 54.
Aridii, Test. S., 217.
Aries, diocese of, 125.
armarium, 212.
Armenian Church, 148, 179, 253,
254-
artophorium, dpro<f>6piov, 194, 202,
248, 249, 252.
Athanasius, St., 62.
„ Canonsof,ii3,i2o.
Augustine, St., 202.
,, Confess., 72.
Augustine, St., Contra Crescon.
Donat., 201.
Augustine, St., Contra duas epist.
Pelag., 6, 176.
Augustine, St., Contra Julian., 6, 39,
176.
Augustine, St., De civitate dei., 25.
,, De peccat. mer., 6.
Augustine, St.,De remiss, feccat., 72,
73-
Augustine, St., Epist., 81, 177.
„ Serm., 6, 176.
aumbry, 190-2, 194, 195, 197,
216.
avriSu>pa, 71, 73.

271

2f1

Index

Balsamon, 81, 99, 227.
baptismal mass, 17.
baptistery, 198, 199, 209, 210.
Barlaam and Joasaph, St., 25.
Basil, St., 46, 83, 210.
,, De Spirit. Sanct., 6.
„ Epist., 5, 40, 41, 53.
,, Regul. brev. tract., 29.
Basil, St., Vita, by pseudo-Amphi-
lochius, 1 01, 210.
Bee, 22, 214.
„ Customs of, 259, 261.
Bede, 100.
,, Hist, abbat., 128.
„ Hist, eccl., 21, 127-9.
„ penitential of, 58, 228.
Benedict Biscop, 128.
Benedict, St., 99, 114.
„ Rule of , 175.
Benigni Divionen., Caerimoniale S.,
150.
Berengar, Berengarian Controversy,
I52, J64> 237. 259.
Bernard of Clairvaux, St., 159.
Bernard of Clairvaux, St., Epist.,
Bernard of Clairvaux, St., Adv.
Catharos serm., 163.
Bernard the Penitent, St., 166.
Bernold of Constance (Micrologus).
De eccles. observat., 142, 162.
Besangon, 12th cent, ordo of, 92.
Betharii ep. Carnoten., Vita, 128.
Binterim, His theory about eulogiae,
7i-
Birini, Vita S., 64.
Bobbio, 211.
„ MS., 172.
„ Sacramentary of, 126.
Bonifacii, Statuta S., 30, 64, 102.
Bourgescathedral, Anancient turris,
belonging to, 218.
Brendani, Vita prima S., 57.
Burchard, 136, 234.
Csedmon, 127.
Caesarius of Aries, St., Serm., 113,
114, 119, 128.
Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialog.
monachorum, 46, 99.

calamus, 137.
Callixtus, cemetery of, 204.
canistrum, 203, 204.
Canons of uncertain date (7 th cent.
or later), 95.
Canterbury Cathedral, 213.
Capitula ecclesiastica of Aix-le-Chap-
elle, 134.
Capitulare Evangeliorum, 76.
Capitularia Reg. Franc, 134.
capsa, capsis, capsula, 77, 193, 194,
204, 205, 217.
Carthusians, 185.
Carthusians, Cartusiens. stat. antic.,
225.
Carolus Veranus, 47.
Cassian, Insiit., 52.
Celestine, Pope, 9.
Celtic ordines, 138, 139.
Celtic use of reserved sacrament,
56-8, 64.
Chad, St., 128.
chalice, calix, 18, 45, 81, 89, 95,
119, 122, 123,130,134,137, 138,
145. i47-.Si. 153-7. IS9-62,
164, 169-72, 175, 179, 181, 202-
5, 209, 213, 215, 217-9, 222-4,
227, 240, 248, 250-2, 254, 255,
262.
chalice, baptismal, 199.
Charlemagne, 120, 131, 141.
,, Capitulare, 30.
Charles V, Emperor, 65.
Chezal-Benoit, 225.
children, Unconsumed remains of
blessed sacrament given to, 96,
97. 189.
Chronieon Paschale, 84.
chrismal, chrismale, etc., 56-58, 126,
201, 206, 207, 218, 219, 252.
Chrysostom, St. John, 48, 199.
Chrysostom, St. John, Ep. ad Inno
cent, pap., 83, 108, 180.
Chrysostom, St. John, Homil. ad
populum Antioch, 209.
Chrysostom, St. John, Horn, in
Ephes., 81.
ciborium, Kifiwpiov, 207, 208, 211.
ciboire, 216.
cista, 204.

Index

273

Cistercian Consuetudines, 171, 172,
187.
Clement of Alexandria, Paedagog.,
4-
Clement of Alexandria, Stromat.,
5. 35. 46.
Clement of Rome, Pope, St., Epistle
to the Corinthians, 4.
Clement VII, Pope, 65, 208.
Cluny, 167-70, 201.
Cluny, Antiquiores Consuetudines
of, 131, 147, 156, 167-9, x94>
201, 239.
Cluny, statuta of, 145, 170.
Cluniac missal, 151.
columba, rrepwrepd (see also
"dove"), ir5, 196,199,209-11,
216.
Columban, St., 211.
Columban, St., Rule of, 183, 184,
206.
Comgalli, Vita S., 56, 57, 206.
commixture, 79, 84, 137, 138,
157- .
concomitance, v; 145, 152, 153,
155. l6l» l64. 165. 176, i78-
conditorium, 189, 212.
Congregation of rites, 92.
consecratio e contactu hosttae, 138,
149, 151, 165, 172.
Constantine, 209, 216.
cophinus, 194, 212.
Coptic constitutions, 96.
Corbie, 137.
Corbinianus, Life of St., 140.
Cornelius, Pope, Ep. ad Fabium,
142.
corporate reservation, 55.
Cosenza (in Calabria), 192.
Councils and Synods : —
Aix-la-Chapelle (c. 812), 134.
Ancyra (314). 9. 221.
Angers (1273), 225.
Aries (314). 221. 223.
Armenian (4th cent.), 48.
Auxerre (578), 102, 137.
Braga (572), 71.
„ (675). I24, i37. t46.
„ (7i3). 154-
Bayeux (c. 1300), 97.

Councils and Synods : —
Carthage (390), 29.
(397). i°2.
(398), 125.
.. (525). io2-
Clermont (1095), 162.
» (1268), 97.
Constance (1415). J53-
Constantinople (536), 209.
Durham (1220), 164, 175, 237,
264.
Elvira (300), 6, 9, 13, 223.
Exeter (1287), 191.
Gangra (4th cent.), 29.
Hippo (393), 101.
Lanciano (890), 228.
„ (990), 185.
Laodicea (4th cent.), 29, 71, 81,
222.
Lateran (1215), 105, 157, 187,
190, 191, 264.
Le Mans (c. 1300), 97.
Leptinense (743 ?), 9, 125, 145,
177.
Liege (1287), 216.
Macon (585), 96, 97, 115, 121,
189.
Metz (888), 31, 143.
Nicaea(325), 7, 9, 117, 222, 223.
Orange (441). 7. 124, I51. 204.
Orleans (541), 154-
Paris (1198), 186, 190, 224, 225.
Pavia (9th cent.), 141.
Reims (9th cent.), 228, 234.
Rouen or Reims (7th cent.), 227.
Rouen (1072), 185.
„ (1198X237.
„ (1231), 225.
St. Nimes (1284), 225.
Saragossa (c. 380), 47.
Seville (1512), 189, 190.
Toledo (400), 9, 48, 81, 122.
„ (675). I22-4. i77-
., (693). 95. i«-
Tours (567), 194.
„ (9th cent.), 185.
., »36-
Trent (16th cent.); v; 153.
"in Trullo" (692), 81, 99, 226,
227. 2 N

274

Index

Councils and Synods : —
Valentia (374), 9.
Verona (958), 194.
Westminster (1138), 186, 224,
228.
Westminster (1175), 161.
„ (1200), 186, 225.
York (1195), 186, 225, 237.
Coxano (in Catalania), 140.
Cranmer Archbishop, 198,211.
cultus (of reserved sacrament), 107,
256-64.
cuppa, cupa, coppa, 191, 196, 198,
212-4.
Cuthbert, St., 100.
„ Metrical Life of, 27.
,, Vita S. Cudbercti, 128.
cyphus, 212, 213.
Cyprian, St., 44.
,, De lapsis, 6, 38, 176,
201, 222.
Cyprian, St., Epist., 8, 12, 13, 24,
46, 81, 176, 222.
Cyril of Alexandria, St., Advers.
anthropomorph, 29, 112.
Cyril of Alexandria, St., In Luc, 72.
„ „ In Joan, 72.
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., Catech.
my stag., 258.
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., Horn, catech.,
5. x42-
Cyril of Jerusalem, St.,Hom. inbapt.,
6.
Daily communion, 40, 52, 80-82,90.
Damasus I, Pope, 19.
daronositza, 252.
De baptismo (once attributed to
St. Basil), 29.
Degesf. episc. Antid., 213.
De l'Aubespine, 8.
De mensura poenitenliae, 183, 206.
De Rossi, Inscript. Christ, 204.
De sacramentis (attributed to St.
Ambrose), 142.
De spectaculis (once attributed to
St. Cyprian), 38.
deacon, Reserved sacrament carried
by, 17, 21,23,34,78,86,88,94,
148, 187, 217, 220-5, 261.

deaconess, 20, 222, 226.
" Decreta " of pseudo-Isidore, 94.
Decretapro ordine S. Bened., 260-2.
Deer, Book of, 139, 174, 245.
Didier of Cahors, Vita, 218.
Dimma, Book of, 139, 245.
Dionysius, De eccl. hierarch., 251.
Dionysius of Alexandria, 13, 14, 44,
144.
Dionysius of Corinth, 4.
Dionysius Exiguus, 71.
dominicale, 137.
Donatists, 107, in, 112.
Dorotheus, Bishop of Thessalonica,
44-46, 203.
dove (see also columba), 101, 187,
194-6, 209-11.
Dunstan, St. , Biography by Adelard,
27.
Dunstan, St., Concordia, 21.
,, Vita, 22, 27.
Durandus, Rationale divin. offic,
150, 192, 201.
Eadfrid, abbot, 212.
Easter-Eve, Easter Vigil, 76, 82, 83,
88, 108, 109, 177, 180, 199.
Ecclesia statuta antiqua, 125.
Edgar, Canons under King, 31.
Edmund of Canterbury, St., 238.
Edmundi Cant. Archiep., Constit.
provinc. S., 200.
Egberti Eborac, Capitulare, 135.
„ „ excerptiones, 30.
Egfrid, King, 128.
Egyptian Liturgy of St. Basil, 85.
Eloy of Noyon, St., 128.
encolpia, 100.
Epiphanius, St., 83, 223.
Eremberti Tolosan. ep., Vita S., 128.
Ernulph of Rochester, Epist. II
ad Lambertum, 157-60.
Ethiopic Liturgy, 202.
eucharistiale, 214, 219.
Euchologion, 89, 148, 248, 250,
251.
Euchologion, Armenian, 253.
,, Barberini (8th cent.),
250.
Eudociae, Vita S., 201.

Index

275

Eudoxia, Empress, 108.
eulogiae, 70-73, 77, 115, 118.
,, Drews' theory as to origin
of, 71, 72.
Eusebius, HE., 6, 14, 24, 63, 70,
142, 144, 220.
Euthymius, St., Vita, 52, 53.
Eutychiani papae exhortatio, 194.
Eutychius of Constantinople, 152.
Evagrius, HE., 96.
Exsuperius, Bishop of Toulouse,
62, 109, no. 203.
i<f>68iov, chap. i.
Farfa, Consuetudines " Farfenses,"
167, 168.
Ferdinand of Spain, 47.
feretrum, 259-61.
fermentum, 70, 71, 73-77, 80, 115,
118, 222, 225, 254.
filitorium (phylacterium), 214.
Finchale, 55.
Finnian, penitential of, 58.
fistula, 137, 148, 171.
Fleury, ordo ad infirmum visitandum
of, 225.
Flodard, Hist. eccl. Remen., 217.
Florinus, De sacr. ord., 227.
Fox, Bishop, 60.
fraction, 79.
Fulbert of Chartres, Epist., 67, 69.
Gabriel the Sionite, 47, 179.
Gelasian sacramentary, 27, 85, 86,
88, 125, 126, 132, 177, 218, 232.
Gelasianum, 232.
Gelasius I, Pope, 49, 119, 162.
II, Pope, 65.
Gellone, Sacramentary of, 86, 88.
Gennadius Massiliensis, 40.
Geraldi Auriliac, Vita S., 22.
„ Vita S., 166.
Geraldus, Vita S. Stephani, 21.
Gerbert, Pope, 203.
Germanus of Paris, St., Expositio
brevis ant. liturg. Gall., 77, 78,
189, 217, 219, 252.
Germanus of Constantinople, St., 83.
Germain des Pres, St., 92.
geza, 254, 255.

Gieseric, 112.
Gilbert of Sempringham, St., 166.
Gildas, De poenit., 58.
Giraldus Cambrensis, Gemm. eccles.,
145. !75. l8l> 221, 229, 262,
263.
Giraldus Cambrensis, Top. Hib.,
64, 214, 238.
Godrici, Vita S., 27, 55.
Good Friday, 82, 85-93, 109, 151,
205, 261.
Gorgonia, 106, 193, 256-8.
Gratian III, De consecrai., 119.
"Gregorian" sacramentaries, etc.,
59, 66> I31> I32, 134, i36-8,
i56. I73. J77. 207, 219, 223,
232, 233.
Gregorianum, 132.
Gregory Nazianzen, St., 193.
Gregory Nazianzen, St., Orat., 6,
26, 106, 107.
Gregory Nazianzen, St., Gregorii
Theologi opera, (ed. Bened.), 26,
257-
Gregory of Nyssa, St., Epist. Canon.
ad Letoium, 7, 8.
Gregory Thaumaturgus, St., Pane
gyric on Origen, 4.
Gregory of Tours, Mirac. de gloria
martyr., 78, 96, 189, 209, 210,
217.
Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc, 119.
Gregory the Great, Pope St., 83,
120.
Gregory the Great, Pope St., Dia
log., 55, 62, 63, 100, 114, 115,
118, 119.
Gregory the Great, Pope St., Expo
sition of Ezekiel, 54.
Gregory the Great, Pope St., Vita
(by Paul the deacon), 142.
Gregory III, Pope, Judicia, ascribed
to, 184.
Gregory VII, Pope, 65.
Guarinus, abbot, 166.
Hadrian, Pope, 131, 232.
Henry II, of England, 212.
Herardi Turonen. Capit., 30.
Herbert Poore, Bishop, 196.

276

Index

Hereford missal, 151.
Herluin of Bee, St., Vita, 22, 214.
hermits, 26, 27, chap. v.
Hesychius, In Levit., 97.
Hilary of Poitiers, St., Fragmenta,
61, 62.
Hilary of Poitiers, St., Opus hist.
frag., 112.
Hilary, Pope, 210.
Hild, St., 127.
Hildebert of Tours, 152, 156.
Hildegund, St., 166.
Hill Deverel, 197, 238.
Hincmar of Reims, 135.
Hincmar of Reims, Capitular of,
215.
Hincmar of Reims, Synod., 227.
Hippolytan Church Order, 36.
Hippolytus, Canons of, 36.
Holy Week, 76, 82, 84, 85-93,
108, 109.
Honoratus of Vercellae, 63.
honorific use of Eucharist, 43, chap.
vii.
Honorius of Autun, Gemma animae,
163.
Honorius III, Pope, 198.
Hormisdas, Pope, 203.
Horningsham, 197.
Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury,
237-
Hugh de Flavigny, Chron. Virudi-
nens, 195.
Hugh de Flavigny, Life of Abbot
Richard, 166.
Humbert, Cardinal, Adv. Column.
Graecor., 83, 90, 97, 98, 155.
Huriulf of Centule, Chronicles of,
207.
Hurst, Chapel at, 197.
husel portic, 189.
Ignatius of Antioch, St., Ad Phila-
delph., 73.
Ignatius of Antioch, St., Ad Ro-
manos, 10.
Ignatius of Antioch, St., Ad Smyr-
naeos., 73.
Infant communion, chaps, xi and
xvii.

Innocent I, Pope, 9, 199, 210.
Innocent I, Pope, Ep. ad Decent.,
75. 76,82.
Innocent III, Pope, 198.
Innocent III, Pope, De sacro alt.
my st., 164.
Intinction, etc., vi; 18, 45, 59, 69,
89, 90, 119, 124, 125, 131, 134-
43, chap, x passim, 177, 179,
180, 193, 217, 240, 247, 251.
Invent. S. Capell., 208.
Irenaeus, St., Fragmenta Ep. ad
Victorem, 70, 72.
Isaac, Bishop of Langres, Capitular
of, 141.
Isaaci Lingonensis, Canones, 125.
Isidore of Seville, 71, 152.
Isidore of Seville, De eccl. offic, 223.
"Isidorian" decrees, 221.
Iso of St. Gall, De mirac S. Oth-
mari, 100.
Ivo of Chartres, Decret., 136, 163.
Serm., 163.
Jacobites, 179, 229, 230.
James of Edessa, 96, 229.
Jerome, St., Epist., 40, 45, 62,
203.
Jerome, St., Commentary on Eze-
kiel, 109, no, 188.
John of Avranches, Bishop, De
offic. eccles., 156.
John Damascene, St., Barlaam and
Joasaph, 25.
John the deacon, 142.
John Moschus, Pratum Spirituale,
42, 43. 53, 73-
John of Telala, 230.
Jonas of Bobbio, Vita Columbani,
etc., 128-30.
Julian, Emperor, in.
Julius I, Pope, 154, 158, 159,
162, 181.
Justin M., St., Apol., 6, 17, 18, 33,
34. 221.
Justinian, Novellae, 21, 30.
kivot, Kifiwriov, 202, 208, 219, 251,
252.
kovtcheg, 202, 219, 251, 252.

In

dex

277

Lando, Bishop of Reims, 217.
Lan franc, 152.
Lanfranc, De corpore et sanguine
domini, 163.
Lanfranc, Statuta, 170, 171, 259.
lapsi, 12, 117.
Lausiac history of Palladius, 5 1 .
Lawrence, archdeacon of Rome,
223.
Lawrence O'Toole, St., Vita, 64.
Leges presbyter. Northumbr., 183.
Leo Allatius, 250.
Leo Marsic, 215.
Leo I, Pope St., Serm., 49, 118.
Leo III, Pope, 208.
Leo IV, Pope, 193.
Leo IX, Pope, 166.
Leofric missal, 137, 138, 145, 151,
219.
Leonian Sacramentary, 13, 125.
Liber Pontificalis, 25, 74, 199, 208,
210.
Lightfoot, Bishop, Apost. Fathers,
4-
Limoges, 185.
Lindisfarne, 189, 194, 215.
Liturgy of St. Basil, 15.
Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, 94.
Liturgy of St. Mark, 15.
Liturgy of the Nestorian Church,
93-
Louis VI, "the Fat," King of
France, Vita, 23, 165.
Louis, St., 46, 47, 213.
Lucae Junior is, Vita S., 54.
Luciani presb. Antioch., Acta S., 24.
Lucius of Hadrianople, 112.
Macarius of Egypt, St., 51, 52.
Maldonatus, 148.
Manichaean heresy, 49, 162.
manna, 108, 116.
mansionarius, 225.
Manuale Ambrosianum, 172.
Manuale Ecclesiae Suessoniensis,
136.
Mar Israel, Nestorian Bishop of
Kashkar, 254.
Marcellac, papae, Acta, 25.
Marcellus of Ancyra, 61.

Marmoutier, 165, 218.
Maronites, 47, 179.
Martene, 27, 47.
Mary of Egypt, St., 20, 109, 119,
146.
Matilda of Germany, Empress, Acta,
23-
Matthew Paris, 26, 212.
Maundy Thursday, 42, 43, 76, 85-
7, 92, 109, 180, 182, 223, 248,
251. 254. 261.
Maximian of Syracuse, 62, 63.
Meaux, Synodal statutes of, 213.
Melaniae, Vita S., 100, 101.
Michael the Patriarch (1167), 90,
148.
Miltiades, Pope, 74.
Missal of Robert of Jumieges, 173.
Missale Francorum, 126, 189, 207,
219, 252.
Missale Vesontionense (The Gallican
Sacramentary), 28, 126, 219.
Misuse of the Eucharist, 39, chap.
vii (F.), 56, 64.
Mochoemog, Vita S., 56, 206.
Moissac Sacramentary, 28, 235.
Moling, Book of, 139, 245.
Molua, Vita S., 57.
monstrance, 214.
Mozarabic texts, etc., 232.
,, ,, lectio de uno
infirmo in, 232.
Mozarabic hymn, 236.
Munnu, Vita S., 57.
Nangiaco, Guilelmus de, 47.
Nestorian or East Syrian Church,
98, 179. 254, 255.
Nicephorus Callistus, HE., 48,
96.
Northumbrian priests, A Law of,
3i-
Notker Balbulus, St., 166.
Novatian, 63.
Noyon, Sacramentary, ordo of, 86,
139. 235-
Odilia, St., 226.
„ Vita, 138, 149, 202.
Odilo, St., 166.

278

Index

Odo of Cluny, Vita S. Geraldi
Auriliac, 22.
Odo of Paris (Eudes de Sully), 97,
186, 190, 203.
Odo of Paris, Constit. synod., 215,
262.
Optatus, De schism. Donat., 107,
m, 189, 256.
oratories, celebration of mass in,
20, 25.
Ordo ad communicandum infirmum
(12th cent.), 139, 168.
Ordo of St. Amand, 76, 80, 91.
„ Fleury, 174.
,, Moissac, 174.
,, Pontlevy, 174.
,, Reims, 136.
Ordo Romanus, fragment of a, 91.
„ Primus, 75, 78, 79,
87, 88, 90, 150, 189, 205.
Ordo Romanus, vi, 137.
,, viii, 66, 212.
x, 205.
,, x, appendices to,
152.
Ordo Romanus, xi, 205.
„ xv, 212.
,, ad usum monast.,
Antiquus, 85, 88, 90.
Ordines Romani, 162, 194.
Ordo, A mixed, 91.
Origen, Commentary on St. John, 14.
Origen, Homilies, 35, 36, 116, 258.
Orthodox Churches of the East, vi ;
84, 146, 148, 149, 180, 201, 202,
chap, xvii, 264.
Orthodox Churches of the East, The
Greek Church, 95, 147, 182, 194,
202, 247, 248-51.
Orthodox Churches of the East, The
Russian Church, 85, 145, 202,
208, 249, 251-3.
Osbern, biographer of St. Dunstan,
27.
Pain binit, 71, 72.
Palladius, De Vita S. Johann.
Chrysostom dialog., 55, 108, 112.
Paschal II, Pope, 65, 162, 169.
Paschal II, Ep. adPontium, 1 70, 1 79.

Paschasius Radbert, 153.
paslopkorium, Trao-ro<p6piov, 94, no,
188.
Paul the deacon, 142.
Paulinus of Nola, St., 25, 26, 209.
,, Epist., no, in,
188, 193.
Paulus Jovius, 65.
Peckham, Archbishop, Constitu-
tiones, 175, 190, 197, 201, 238.
penitentials, and the reserved sacra
ment, 57, 58, 135, 164, 183, 184,
206, 207.
Penitential of Cumean, 206.
„ Halitgar, 206, 207.
Egbert, 184.
„ Theodore, 58, 184,
207.
peristerium, 208, 210.
Perpetuae et Felicitatis, Passio SS.,
11.
Perpetuus of Tours, Will of St., 210.
Persian rite, 93.
perula, 214, 238.
Peter Amelius, 212.
,, „ Ordo Romanus (i$\h
cent.) of, 194.
Peter Damian, St., Expositio canon.
missae, 156.
Peter Damian, St., opuscula varia,
149, 202, 203.
Peter Lombard, 153, 157.
Peter the Venerable, abbot of
Cluny, 170.
Petrus de Honestis, Regula clerico
rum, 174.
Philippi episc Heracleae, Passio S.,
11.
Photius (of Constantinople), 98.
Pole, Cardinal, 198.
Poly carp, Martyrdom of, 10.
Pontifical of Apamea, 66, 68.
,, Cambrai, 174.
,, Egbert of York, 98.
„ the Latin Church at
Constantinople, 66.
Pontifical of Mayence, 66.
„ Narbonne, 148.
„ Salzburg, 66, 68, 139,
173-

Index

279

Pontifical of Soissons, 67.
Pontificate Conchense, 66.
Pontific. Mogunt, 214.
Presanctified, communion, liturgy,
mass of, 80-93, n7, "9, J47,
15°> 15l, ^o. r8o, 205, 248,
251, 262, 265.
Presanctified, origin of the rite,
87.
private celebrations, chap. iii.
Prudentius of Troyes, pontifical of,
235-
Pseudo-Alcuin, De divinis officiis,
66, 92.
Pseudo-Alcuin, De eccl. offic, 259.
Pseudo-Amphilochius, Vita S. Ba-
silii, 101, 194, 195.
Pseudo-Bede, 207.
Pseudo-Clement, Ep. II, ad Jaco-
bumfratrem domini, 93, 94, 116.
Pseudo-Dionysius, De eccles. hier
archy., 102.
Pseudo-Egbert, 207.
Pseudo-Herembert, 129.
Pseudo-Isidore, 94.
Pseudo-Prosper, 144.
pugillaris, 137.
purificatio oris, 145, 149, 175, 203,
238.
pyx, pyxis, buxis, 22, 91, 100, 135,
138, 149, 151,170, 187, 189-91,
I93-8, 200-2, 205, 208, 2IO,
211, 213-6, 219, 237, 238, 240,
249-52, 255, 262, 263.
pyx, Suspension of, in English
churches, 195-8.
irv£i<s, irv^iov, Trv£opfj\ov, 202, 216,
249, 250.
Quivil, Bishop of Exeter (1287),
191.
Rabanus Maurus, De instit. cleric,
92, 223.
Rainaldus, Bishop of Como, 149.
Ratherius, Bishop of Verona, 194.
Ratherius, Bishop of Verona, Synod.
ad presbyteros, 215, 228.
Ratram, Contra Graecorum opposita,
155-

Regino of Priam, De discipl. eccles.,
228.
Regino of Priim, Notitiae, 31, 96,
134-6, 138, 141, 148, 184, 185,
IQ3. 2i5, 224, 227, 228.
Regist. S. Osmundi, 196, 216.
Regula magistri, 85, 90, 175.
Reims, 217.
„ Ritual of, 86.
,, Statuta synodalia of, 182.
Reinerus of Liege (1 182), 195.
Remains of blessed sacrament, given
to children, 96, 97.
Remains of blessed sacrament,
burnt, 97, 98.
Remains of blessed sacrament,
buried, 98.
Remberti, Vita S., 140.
Remi, St., Test. S. Remigii, 217,
232.
renewal of reserved sacrament, 115,
chap. xii.
Reomee, Life of St. John, abbot of,
130.
reservation in both kinds, 18, 20,
62, 63, 84, 88, 108, 109, 118,
119, 127-9, J33. 138-43. r46,
148, 149, 153, 165, 169, 177,
202, 221, 222, 229, 250, 251,
253,265. See also " intinction."
Responsio ad rusticum Narbonen-
sem, 102.
restriction of celebration (to certain
days of the week), 80-82, 87.
Rheinau, 172.
Richard Marsh, Bishop of Durham,
164, 237, 264.
Riom, 78.
Robert of Arbrisselle, St., Vita, 166.
Robert Grossetete, Bishop of Lin
coln, Epist., 263, 264.
Robert Paululus, De caerimoniis,
178, 179, 181.
Robert Pullen, Sentent., 161, 179.
Rodomi sy nodus generalis, 96.
Rodradi, codex, 133.
Rog. Hoveden. Chron., 196.
Romula, 114.
Rudolph of Bourges, 134.
Rudolph of St. Trond, 164.

28o

Index

Rufinus, Hist, monachorum, 26, 52.
Rupert, abbat. Tuit, De incend.
oppid., 215.
Rubert of Deutz, De offic divin.,
163.
Saarbriick, John of, pontifical of,
59-
Sacrament house, 192, 197.
Sacramentarium, 191.
Sacramentarium Gallicanum. See
Missale Vesontionense.
Sacramentary of Fulda, 133.
Sacramentary of Narbonne, 23, 172,
224. 235> 236-
Sacramentary of Ratoldus (codex
Ratoldi), 66, 133, 137, 156.
Sacramentary of St. Remi, ordo ad
visitandum infirmum, 132, 137,
140, 232, 240, 244.
sacrarium, in, 189, 190.
sacristy, 78, 86, 94, no, in, 115,
188, 189.
Sahak, St. (of Armenia), 48, 182,
253-
Sahidic ecclesiastical canons, 94,
116.
St. Albans, 212.
Sainte Chapelle, La, 198, 214.
Salisbury, inventory of (1220), 211.
sancta, 70, 76, 77-80, 115, 189,
204, 205, 217, 222, 223, 226,
254-
Sarum, diocese of, 196, 198.
seyphus, 150.
Sedulius, Carmen paschale, 209.
Selsey, 129.
Senchus Mor, 228.
Serapion, story of, 13, 14, 112,118.
serpadoop, 253.
Severus of Antioch, 43, 44, 199,
209.
siboigne, 209.
Sicardus of Cremona, 90.
Simeon Metaphrastes, Life of St.
Inda, 201.
Siricius, Pope, 74.
Sophronius, 83.
Sozomen, HE., 48.
spiritual communion, 26, 51.

spoon, communion-spoon, \af3fe,
Izhitza, 147-9, J55> 250_2.
station-days, 36, 37, 81, 96.
Stephen of Autun, De sacra mento
altaris, 156.
Stephen, King of England, 196.
Stephen III, Pope, 65.
Stephen IV, Pope, 65.
Stephani Murelensis, Vita S., 21.
Stowe missal, 136, 138, 139, 232.
Stowe missal, rite for sick-com
munion (text), 245.
Strasburg missal (14th cent.), 92.
subdeacon, 79, 89, 137, 150, 156,
171, 226, 227.
Sunning, 197.
Surius, 64, 201.
SwallowclifFe, church of, 196.
Synods. See Councils.
tabernacle, tabemaculum, 190-2,
197, 198, 212, 215, 216, 218.
tabout, 202.
Telesphorus, Pope, 159.
Tertullian, 44, 45, 46.
,, Ad uxorem, 37.
,, Adv. Valentin, 209.
,, De corona, 258.
Tertullian, De exhortat. castitatis,
37. 38.
Tertullian, Defuga, n.
,, De oratione, 36, 37.
Testament of our Lord, 19, 42, 222,
226.
Tharsitius or Tarcisius, 19.
Theodore of Andida, 83.
Theodore, Pope, 98.
Theodore the Studite, Epist., 53, 54.
Theodulfi Aurelianen., Capitulare,
30, 133. 234-
Theophilus of Alexandria, 55, 112.
Theotonii, Vita S., 166.
Thomas Aquinas, St., 152.
Thomas a Becket, St., 64.
Tours, diocese of, 133.
transubstantiation, 156, 157, 187,
266.
Trebnik, 145, 253.
turris, 78, 115, 118, 126, 189,196,
199, 204, 209, 214, 216-9, 252.

Index

281

Udalric of Cluny, His version of
Antiqu. Consuet. of Cluny, 131,
168, 169, 187, 195, 240.
Ulpian, Digest., 30.
Uranius, Epist., 25.
Urseolus, St. Peter, 140.
Vaast of Arras, St., Vita Vedasti
episc Atrebatensis., 128.
Valerian, Bishop of Abbenza, 112.
Venantius Fortunatus, Miscell., 217.
Verba seniorum, 26, 53.
Verona, a Canon of, 216.
viaticum, chap, i and passim.
Victor Vitensis, Depersecut. Vandal.,
in.
Vincentian, St., Vita, 129.
Voyage littiraire de deux religieux
Binidictines, 192.

Walfrid, Life of St., 141.
Walter of Orleans, 134.
Walter of Rouen, Bishop, 228.
William of Angers, 225.
William Brewer, 196.
William of Bourges, St., 166.
William of Champeaux, 153.
William of Champeaux, De Sacra
mento altaris, 159, 160, 179.
William of Hirschau, 168.
William of Hirschau, Constit. Hir-
saugiens, 169.
William de Toucy, Bishop, 213.
Wine, Communion in the sole
species of, 123, 145, 160, chap.
xi.
Witmund of Aversa,i52.
Zephyrinus, Pope, St., 74.

2 O

THE ALCUIN CLUB

Founded with the object of promoting the study of the History and use of
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