[Series on the People’s Chalice, Part 1/3]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
With the return of the chalice for the people at Mass on the horizon, this seems like an appropriate time to do an historical/theological series on the use of the chalice for the people at Mass.
Obviously, the Lord himself used both bread and wine at the Last Supper and gave both to his apostles. We are certain the practice of the laity (and not just the clergy) receiving from the chalice continued for centuries, as it is referenced in the 65th chapter of the First Apology of St. Justin Martyr (summary | text) from c. A.D. 156 and in Lecture XXIII.22 of the Mystagogic Catecheses of St. Cyril of Jerusalem (summary | text) from c. A.D. 380. So when did the chalice stop being used for the people?
Fr. Jungmann has this to say in his Mass of the Roman Rite (an incredibly detailed book about the historical development of the Mass): “Giving the chalice to the Christian people lasted longer than giving the eucharistic bread into the hand[1]. Naturally, with regard to the chalice, there was even greater insistence in the warning not to spill anything, but even with the best will in the world it was often of no avail. However, for centuries the Communion of the chalice continued unchanged for the laity […] All drank from the same chalice, which was either the consecration chalice or a special distribution chalice […] When necessary, several such chalices were used. […]” (Volume II, pp. 382ff.)
Fr. Jungmann goes on to describe three solutions that were used in later centuries to protect the chalice from spilling while still distributing to the people: (1) mixing a little of the precious blood into a chalice consisting mostly of unconsecrated wine[2], (2) using a tube (straw) to consume from the chalice[3], or (3) dipping the host into the chalice (“intinction”). However, he continues:
“Since the twelfth century the chalice Communion was discontinued more and more in the West. Developments in dogma which led to a clearer understanding that per concomitantiam the entire Christ is present under both species seemed to have been decisive in bringing this about. The command of Christ, “Eat and drink,” could be regarded as fulfilled by the priest who stands at the altar as head of the congregation. In fact Communion under one species was not unknown even in earlier times. Communion was given to infants and young children after Baptism under the form of wine. Occasionally, too, this was done in the case of those mortally sick. In Communion at home, of course, only the form of bread was generally under consideration.
“At the time the Summa theologica of St. Thomas (d. 1274) was being completed, the chalice Communion had not as yet disappeared everywhere, for the author mentions the practice of not giving the Precious Blood to the people and of having the priest alone consume it, and he qualifies the practice merely as the well-founded custom of some churches. On special occasions the lay chalice was still retained in the fourteenth century and even later, as at the coronation of emperors and kings, and at the Easter Sunday Mass at the Capella papalis[4], where quicumque voluerit vere confessus et paenitens[5] was permitted to communicate in this way. Also in some monasteries of the old orders the chalice Communion was still retained for a long time, in part even beyond the Middle Ages. A certain reminder of this is seen in the ablution chalice[6] which remained customary in part until the last centuries.” Next week, we’ll pick up with the Council of Trent, Vatican II, and the present form of the Mass.
[1] Which Fr. Jungmann says substantially ended in the 9th century.
[2] A practice that sounds horrifying to us today; but remember that Eucharistic devotion has only increased over the centuries, and previous centuries focused more on the reception and less on the devotion.
[3] Amazingly, this is still an option for concelebrants in the current instructions for Mass (cf. GIRM #245).
[4] “Papal chapel”
[5] “Whosoever wishes, having truly confessed and being penitent”
[6] As best as I can tell, this is a chalice of unconsecrated wine which was used to wash the mouth of the faithful after communion, to make sure no communion particles remained.
Fr. Moore 
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