APOSTOLIC TRADITION: COMMUNION ON THE TONGUE

The Doctrine of the Church Tells Us ....
Communion on the Tongue
Is an Apostolic Tradition

Statements from Popes, Saints and Church Councils:

St. Sixtus 1 (circa 115): "The Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than those consecrated to the Lord."

St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church (330-379): "The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution." St. Basil the Great considered Communion in the hand so irregular that he did not hesitate to consider it a grave fault.

The Council of Saragossa (380): Excommunicated anyone who dared continue receiving Holy Communion by hand. This was confirmed by the Synod of Toledo.

The Synod of Rouen (650): Condemned Communion in the hand to halt widespread abuses that occurred from this practice, and as a safeguard against sacrilege.

6th Ecumenical Council, at Constantinople (680-681): Forbade the faithful to take the Sacred Host in their hand,
threatening transgressors with excommunication.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): "Out of reverence towards this Sacrament [the Holy Eucharist], nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this Sacrament." (Summa Theologica, Part III, Q. 82, Art. 3, Rep. Obj. 8.)

The Council of Trent (1545-1565): "The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition."

Pope Paul VI (1963-1978): "This method [on the tongue] must be retained." (Memoriale Domini)

Pope John Paul II: "To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained." (Dominicae Cenae, 11)

Pope John II violated the Apostolic Tradition which must not be altered when he did not stop the practice of Communion in the Hand distributed by the non-ordained. Interestingly he and the other Popes of Vatican II never gave permission for self-administration by the non-ordained, but did not stop to think in their blind spot that Communion in the Hand is self-administration because until the Host enters the mouth which invariably involves the tongue by physical necessity, any action involving the hands is administration not receiving. The only part of the human body that is capable of receiving the Host for consummation is the tongue, since all food must pass over and on the tongue to be swallowed, otherwisethere is no other way to avoid choking.---Pauly Fongemie, Web Master

Pope St. Leo the Great is less well known for something very important to liturgical studies. He is one of the most ancient witnesses to the practice of Communion on the tongue. Notably, Saint Leo the Great read the sixth chapter of Saint John's Gospel as referring to the Eucharist (as all the Church Fathers did). In a preserved sermon on John 6 (Sermon 9), Saint Leo says:

"Hoc enim ore sumitur quod fide creditur" (Serm. 91.3).

This is translated strictly as: “This indeed is received by means of the mouth which we believe by means of faith. "Ore" is here in the ablative and in the context it denotes instrumentation. So then, the mouth is the means by which the Holy Eucharist is received.

The Council of Rouen (650):

“Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layman or laywoman but only in their mouths.”

DOWNLOAD THE BANNER IMAGE, PLAIN, LARGER
DOWNLOAD THE BANNER IMAGE, ORIGINAL, LARGER

HOME-------------E-MAIL--------------TRADITION