the offering, too. Our Trinitarian theology allows both these mystical things to be True, with a capital “T”.
The Mystical Supper 15 By Sally Brower
In the alchemy of blood and silver,
in the mixture of wine and gold,
we become partakers of divine fire,
full sharers in God’s supper of desire.
This is the great banquet of God,
in which we are united,
the lover with the Beloved,
the perfect union imparting life.
This is the feasting on gifts most holy;
this is the meal of love poured out.
This is the mystical moment,
while empty, we become full,
while dying, we rise to new life.
This is the mystical supper
where we become the love we drink.
1. Mike Aquilina, The Mass of the Early Christians (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001), 41.
2. Beth Wickenberg Ely, A Manual for Eucharistic Visitors (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 2005), 2.
3. Cyril of Jerusalem, “Mystagogical Catechesis” V:21-22, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series II, vol. VII, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Edwin Hamilton Gifford (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1893) 400-401. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.pdf.
4. Basil the Great, “Letter 93,” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series II, vol. III, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Blomfield Jackson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1894) 526. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf208.pdf.
5. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Vol. III, 82,13, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1947).
6. “Communion in the Hand Is a Sacrilege,” These Last Days Ministries, accessed February 24, 2012, http://www.tldm.org/news2/cih.htm.
7. Henri LeClercq and Fernand Cabrol, “Communion,” in Dictionnaire d’Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie, vol. 3, part 2 (Paris: Librarie Letouzey et Ané, 1948), 2570.
8. House of Bishops of the Church of England 2001.
9. The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Hymnal Corp., 1979), 874. Hereafter referred to as BCP.
10. Aquinas, Summa Theologica, III, 76, 3a.
11. Cyril, “Mystagogical Catechesis,” V:21, 400.
12. Jeremy Taylor, “Of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament,” in The Whole Works of the Right Reverend Jeremy Taylor, vol. VI, sec. I, ed. Reginald Heber, rev. Charles Page Eden (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852), 14.
13. John Donne, “On the Sacrament,” in Remembering the Faith: What Christians Believe, by Douglas J. Brouwer (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999), 131.
14. The Episcopal Church, Hymnal 1982 (New York: Church Hymnal Corp., 1982), #174.
15. Unpublished poem by Sally Brower. All rights reserved.
Archaeology tells us that the chalices of early Christians primarily were of glass, though some were of ivory, wood, clay, and occasionally base and precious metals.
Early on, for their daily communion, bishops and priests used a different kind of chalice made from simple materials and shaped like those we have today. In the eucharist, they offered the laity (when they received, usually only at Easter and other high holy days) another type—the calices ministeriales. These very large chalices were designed to be seen from the back of churches and often had handles, such as this late fifth- or early sixth-century chalice (see photo overleaf).
Writing in the early 1900s, Roman Catholic historian Herbert Thurston, SJ, observed that the handles “would have afforded additional security against accidents when the sacred vessel was put to the lips of each communicant in turn. In a rude and barbarous age the practical difficulties of Communion under species of wine must have been considerable.”1
A very large chalice with handles found near Gourdon, France. (Wikipedia Commons)
Another ministerial vessel, the Chalice of Ardagh, discovered in 1868 in County Limerick, Ireland, is one of the most beautiful ever found. Seven inches high and nearly 9.5 inches in diameter, the bowl holds three pints! This cup, made from more than 250 main components, is silver alloyed with copper, and it is decorated with gold filigree, multicolored enamels, a large rock-crystal, amber, and malachite.2
Inscription of names of twelve disciples helps date Ardagh Chalice to eighth century. (National Museum of Ireland; Wikipedia Commons)
From the year 700 onward, much church legislation dealt with defining the proper materials for chalices and patens. It rejected simple wood chalices because their porous nature could trap the consecrated blood of Christ and never be totally cleansed. Cups made of horn, likewise, were not suitable because they were contaminated in their construction by the blood of the animal to which they originally belonged.
Later decrees went further, insisting that the paten and chalice be gold, or at least entirely of silver, or pewter for use with the poor. Brass and copper were forbidden
