Previously, we discussed the right of all faithful Catholics to kneel and receive Communion on the tongue.

Recently, l’Osservatore Romano printed an examination of this exact issue, concluding that Communion on the tongue while in genuflection is historically accurate:

The American magazine Catholic Response has published an English translation of a provocative article, originally published in the official Vatican newspaper, calling for an end to the practice of receiving Communion in the hand.

The article by Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, originally printed in L’Osservatore Romano, examines the historical record of Catholic practice, concluding that the early Church quickly developed the practice in which lay people Communion on the tongue while kneeling. Only ordained ministers were allowed to touch the consecrated Host with their hands.

By the 6th century, Bishop Schneider writes, the Church had formed a consensus that Communion should be received on the tongue, of reverence for the Eucharistic Lord. Pope Gregory the Great chastised priests who resisted that consensus, and it was become an “almost universal practice” in the early Church, the author says.

Kneeling to receive Communion was also a pattern established early in Church history, Bishop Schneider reports. That posture, too, was seen as a means of expressing reverence for Jesus in the Eucharist, and “the most typical gesture of adoration is the biblical one of kneeling.”

By administering Communion on the tongue, priests were able to foster greater devotion to the Eucharist; Bishop Schneider remarks that that form is “an impressive sign of the profession of faith the in the Real Presence.”

He adds the argument that this form of distributing Communion can prevent accidents. The author cites St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who exhorted priests to use extra caution “so that no even a crumb of the Lord’s Body could fall to the ground.”

The article published in L’Osservatore Romano, and now translated in Catholic Response, summarizes the more complete argument that Bishop Schneider put forward in his book, Dominus Est. That book, released in Italy earlier this year, drew special notice for two reasons. It was published by the official Vatican press, and a preface was contributed by Archbishop Macolm Ranjith, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, who said it was “high time to review” the policy of allowing laymen to receive Communion in the hand. (Catholic World News)

The article in l’Osservatore Romano was based upon a book recently published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana entitled Dominus Est, by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, with forward by Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. A translation of the forward can be read here. According to Archbishop Ranjith,

Now I think it is high time to review and re-evaluate such good practices [as Communion on the tongue] and, if necessary, to abandon the current practice [of Communion in the hand] that was not called for by Sacrosanctum Concilium, nor by Fathers, but was only accepted after its illegitimate introduction in some countries. Now, more than ever, we must help the faithful to renew a deep faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic species in order to strengthen the life of the Church and defend it in the midst of dangerous distortions of the faith that this situation continues to cause.

Listen to Bishop Schneider’s thoughts in the following videos (top=Italian, bottom=English):

See also:

1. The right (and duty) to kneel — Part I
2. Forward to Dominus Est
3. “The Theology of Kneeling,” an excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI, then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy, published by Ignatius Press in 2000.