COMMUNION IN ONE KIND.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.'] .SIR,—In your notice of my volume on the Eucharist, you say that "the practice of administering in one kind would seem to be ipso facto condemned by the admission that it dates from the twelfth century."
May I be allowed to point out that if the "admission" refers to any statement of mine, your expression is calculated to mis- lead your readers. My position is that "the general custom of the Church for many centuries was, that when the faithful communi- cated in a public church and at the celebration of Mass, they received in both kinds," and I quote Cardinal Bona for the fact that "this ,custom lasted until the beginning of the twelfth century." (p. 131.) But I give abundant proof that in early times there were exceptions to this custom of administering in both kinds at the public communion in church, and that it was rather the exception than the rule to administer both kinds to the sick, to children, to persons who received the Eucharist at home in times of perse- cution, and to monks living a life of solitude. It is sometimes agreed that the Greeks always administered the chalice to the sick, because in consecrating the bread for them the priest moistened it with the precious blood from the chalice. The value of this reasoning may be easily tested by the fact that this consecration and reservation took place only once in the year, on Holy Thursday. What amount of the contents of the chalice -would remain in the Host after twelve months, or one month, or one week ? To call that Communion in both kinds is a mere verbal quibble.
I think, therefore, that, considering the facts that I adduce to prove that Communion was frequently given in one kind from a very ancient period, it is hardly just to me to say that I admit that the ministration in one kind "dates from the twelfth cen- tury." My argument is to controvert such a sweeping assertion, by making the distinctions and modifications required by the
historical facts of the case.—I am, Sir, &c., C. B. GARSIDE.
[The exceptions seem to be of the kind which "prove the rule," suggested by necessity or powerful considerations of con- venience. The admission that for eleven centuries the Communion was administered in both kinds to the general body of the faithful appears absolutely fatal to the Roman position.—En. Spectator.]
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