Host Desecration - Background

Background

The Catholic Church, along with the Orthodox churches, believes that during the celebration of the Eucharist, the offerings of bread and wine are changed in substance into the body and blood of Jesus, while still maintaining all the physical (or in sacramental terms, accidental) properties of bread and wine. While the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was believed from the earliest days of the Church, during the Middle Ages Catholic theology offered the concept of transubstantiation to explain this change of substance which was believed to be actual and not merely symbolic. The concept, defined as a dogma at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, holds that the substances of the offerings are literally transformed, while the appearance of bread and wine remain.

Christians believe Jesus to be "true God and true man." In the Catholic Church, therefore, his "body", "blood", "soul" and "divinity" in the form of the consecrated host are adored. Theft, sale, or use of the host for a profane purpose is considered a grave sin and sacrilege, which incurs the penalty of excommunication, which is imposed automatically in the Latin Rite (See Code of Canon Law, Latin Rite Code canon 1367, or Eastern Rite Code canon 1442.) It is widely believed among Roman Catholics that, under certain circumstances such as disbelief or desecration, the host could display supernatural properties.

Some Protestant denominations, especially Lutherans, have similar beliefs regarding the Eucharist and the Real Presence, though they differ about the rite and reject the concept of transubstantiation which Catholics and Orthodox Eastern Christians hold to.

Host desecration has been associated with groups identified as inimical to Christianity. It is a common belief that desecration of the host is part of Satanic practice, especially the Black Mass. LaVeyan Satanists do not typically perform Black Mass as a regular ritual, though "Le Messe Noir" from Anton LaVey's work The Satanic Rituals does include some elements.

Since the publication of a document called Memoriale Domini in 1969, the Apolistic See of the Catholic Church has allowed certain countries to allow communicants to receive the Host in the hand, rather than directly onto the tongue, reviving an "ancient custom". Communion in the hand is now widespread in many parts of the world. The practice means that access to consecrated Hosts is easier than in the past, since the person receiving it in the hand may pretend to place it in their mouth for consumption. However, recent statements and practices of Pope Benedict XVI have caused a recent shift in Catholic practice (notably at Papal Masses and amongst more traditional-minded Catholics) of receiving on the tongue while kneeling, which is also an ancient practice. (This practice was still performed commonly and consistently, even as recently as the early 1970s in America, and is still received orally in many churches and countries presently. Receiving on the tongue is still the official norm of the Catholic Church, while receiving in the hand is, in English-speaking countries, the practical norm.)