Do communion wafers "melt" in your mouth"?

[Leo Bloom]

I've seen people taking Communion many times, but I've never had the temerity to ask.

I presume that the taste and texture are not what's running through the (communicants?) mind at that transfigurative moment, but anyway, I've thought of it.

[tellyworth]

Imagine a bland ice cream cone. It's like that.

[jabiru]

Melt-ish. They used to stick to the roof of my mouth.

[Eureka]

No. Or at least, none that I've ever had did.

On the other hand, if you are really asking about "official Catholic communion wafers" so to speak, I may never have had any.

(I've taken Communion at a moderately wide selection of United Methodist churches, plus a few others who practice Open Communion--never at a Catholic service).

I've had a wide variety of bread, crackers, matzoh (sometimes stale).

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by jabiru

Melt-ish. They used to stick to the roof of my mouth.

Yeah. At any rate, it isn't necessary to chew them in order to swallow them, and I think that is the point the OP is trying to get at. Bread is highly processed, and the wafer is quite thin, so your saliva does a pretty good job of pre-digetsting it.

[yabob]

Originally Posted by jabiru

Melt-ish. They used to stick to the roof of my mouth.

Yep. They were about like a little slip of rice paper once they got wet in your mouth. It somehow marred the symbolism to have to pry the "body of christ" off the roof of your mouth with your tongue. The traditional wafer is made out of nothing but wheat flour and water.

[VOW]

Nuns teaching Catechism used to tell their students to NEVER chew the Host. Something about defiling The Body of Christ if your teeth touched it. If it stuck to the roof of your mouth, you were supposed to pry it loose with your tongue (NEVER FINGERS!).

You can chew now. Students preparing to make their First Communion are just told to NOT walk away from the altar chewing like a cow on her cud.

It's made of a very highly refined white flour, so there isn't much substance to it. It reminds me of a thin wafer of styrofoam.

"Melt" is technically something that reaches a high enough temperature whereupon the solid substance transforms to a liquid state. The Communion wafer dissolves in your saliva.

If you have a dry mouth, that would cause it to stick to the roof of your mouth, or even your tongue. Saints supposedly could hold an undissolved Host in their mouths for hours. Actually, I think they probably wiped their mouths dry before receiving the Host, and then did some crafty mouth-breathing.


~VOW

[thelabdude]

Another complaint about them sticking to the root of your mouth. They are my least favorite host. I dislike shared cup too.

Now I am a member of the Friends church, and we have a different understanding of communion. No wafers, no shared cup.

[OttoDaFe]

Originally Posted by VOW

Nuns teaching Catechism used to tell their students to NEVER chew the Host. Something about defiling The Body of Christ if your teeth touched it. If it stuck to the roof of your mouth, you were supposed to pry it loose with your tongue (NEVER FINGERS!).

< . . . >

By the time Sister Mary Whatshername got through with my first grade class (this would have been about 1953), we were all convinced that if you let the wafer touch your teeth, it didn't matter what you did later in life — grow up to be Pope, even — YOU WERE GOING TO HELL.

About the only thing worse would be to let the wafer fall off your tongue onto the floor. I never saw it happen, but the impression was that everything had to stop while the priest brought out the Holy HazMat Kit and resanctified the area. Or something like that. What happened to the perpetrator was never explained, probably because it was too gruesome for our tender minds.

[kunilou]

Originally Posted by Leo Bloom

I presume that the taste and texture are not what's running through the (communicants?) mind at that transfigurative moment, but anyway, I've thought of it.

If you were a kid gagging on a half-dissolved wafer, trying desperately to move it around with your tongue, Jesus would forgive you for thinking about the corporal features of the Eucharist.

Originally Posted by OttoDaFe

About the only thing worse would be to let the wafer fall off your tongue onto the floor. I never saw it happen, but the impression was that everything had to stop while the priest brought out the Holy HazMat Kit and resanctified the area. Or something like that. What happened to the perpetrator was never explained, probably because it was too gruesome for our tender minds.

I never saw it fall out of someone's mouth, but I have seen the service come to a dead stop when the priest dropped a consecrated host. The priest and the server had their backs to us, so I didn't really get a good look at what they did, but it did take longer than a simple "oops!" and picking up the dirty wafer.

[VOW]

It's my understanding (granted, I've never been a Minister of the Eucharist, so forgive any errors) that a Consecrated Host which is dropped onto the floor must be eaten.

I've also heard that a Consecrated Host can be dissolved in water and then the water must be disposed of on "undisturbed ground" (whatever that is).

The plumbing of the sink where the Chalice and the Paten are washed, must not flow into the sewer or septic system. It must also drain to "undisturbed ground."


~VOW

[NotherYinzer]

I was at Mass once when an altar boy dropped the Host. Father Joe whacked him upside the head with the back of his hand. The altar boy picked the wafer up and I didn't see what was done with it from that point. I would have loved to see a Holy HazMat Kit!

[rowrrbazzle]

If you want to experience it for yourself, there are non-religous possibilities.

If you happen to know anyone of Polish, Slovak or Lithuanian ancestry, around Christmas you can ask politely inquire about getting a small sample of opłatek or kalėdaitis. It's the same recipe as the communion wafer, but unconsecrated, of course. My family shared the opłatek on New Year's Eve.

Or you can order this candy UFO, which is made of the same stuff. http://www.oryans.com/satelitewafers.html

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by OttoDaFe

About the only thing worse would be to let the wafer fall off your tongue onto the floor. I never saw it happen, but the impression was that everything had to stop while the priest brought out the Holy HazMat Kit and resanctified the area. Or something like that. What happened to the perpetrator was never explained, probably because it was too gruesome for our tender minds.

I sneezed once after taking my seat after receiving Communion, before I had finished swallowing the host. A few tiny flecks hit the back of the seat in front of me. Fortunately no one saw and I was able to gather them up with my finger and swallow them. What might have happened if one of the nuns had seen this was too terrible to contemplate. I was, however, haunted by the possibility that I had missed a fragment . . . who knows what would have been the consequences?

Then there was the time one of the other kids upchucked just after taking Communion. As I recall this resulted in a cleanup effort on the scale of Chernobyl.

[digs]

I'm an Assisting Minister, so I'm handing out the wafers Sunday. I'm not proud of how bland and stale they are.

One family has started baking big round loaves of bread for the early service... Mmm. Much more like what Jesus would munch on.

[digs]

This thread is making me realize I should do random favors for my friends who grew up Catholic. They really were scared into submission, weren't they? Maybe the wafers were MADE to stick to the roof of their mouths, just so there'd be yet another way to screw up their souls ("And bring shame on their poor parents!").

On the positive side, our church has boring wafers... but the Port that comes with it is some of the best I've ever had. Seriously.

[antechinus]

Originally Posted by Leo Bloom

Do communion wafers "melt" in your mouth"?.

Yes, but not in your hand.


The trick is not to let the wafer adhere to the roof of your mouth.

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by tellyworth

Imagine a bland ice cream cone. It's like that.

More like paper, I'd say. (That's why it kills me when people dismiss them as "crackers". It's not a CRACKER. Crackers have flavor)

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by VOW

It's my understanding (granted, I've never been a Minister of the Eucharist, so forgive any errors) that a Consecrated Host which is dropped onto the floor must be eaten.

I don't think so.

Dropping a host happened fairly often, actually, back when people kneeled at the altar rail, stuck out their tongue, and the priest put the host onto their tongue. That's why they had an altar boy carrying a platen (a sort of small plate at the end of a handle) that the altar boy held under the person's chin, to catch the host if the priest dropped it or if it fell off the tongue of the person.

I was an altar boy once when a host fell, missed the platen, and dropped onto the floor. Everybody went silent and acted real shocked, but the priest just got a corporal cloth (napkin) from the altar, dropped it over the host on the floor (so nobody would step on it, I think), and then continued serving communion.

Later, after Mass was over, he simply picked up the host and took it back into the sacristy and disposed of it, leaving us altar boys to wash & dry the floor where it had fallen. No special ceremony, sprinkling of holy water, nothing. The priest didn't seem to think it anything serious at all. Perhaps there would have been more ceremony if the church hadn't been full of a few hundred kids who had to be inside classrooms in the parochial school in a couple of minutes. (And Mother Superior/Principal was very stringent about punctuality!)

[VOW]

See the movie Angela's Ashes.

There are a LOT of religious references in the movie, and most are hilarious, since they are from a young boy's POV.

EVERYONE makes such a big fuss over Frank's First Holy Communion. That was back in the days that a person had to fast from midnight to the actual Mass. The kid was so excited, so nervous. After Church, the family goes to his grandmother's house for a fancy meal. He manages to throw up in Grandma's back yard. Grandma INSISTS he return to the Church AT ONCE, and ask the priest how they are supposed to clean up his vomit, since (as his grandmother hysterically points out) she now has the problem of the regurgitation containing the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in her back yard.

Frank ducks into a confessional, and poses the question to the priest. The priest replies, "Just clean it up with a bit of water."

He runs back to Grandma's and passes along the word. Grandma then wants to know, "Regular water or holy water?"

Frank runs right back, hits the same confessional, and asks the priest, "Regular water or holy water?" The priest emits a strangled snort, and then says, "Regular water."


~VOW

[Nava]

Originally Posted by VOW

I've also heard that a Consecrated Host can be dissolved in water and then the water must be disposed of on "undisturbed ground" (whatever that is).

The plumbing of the sink where the Chalice and the Paten are washed, must not flow into the sewer or septic system. It must also drain to "undisturbed ground."

"Undisturbed ground" = soil.

[MsRobyn]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

More like paper, I'd say. (That's why it kills me when people dismiss them as "crackers". It's not a CRACKER. Crackers have flavor)

Yanno, I was thinking about making a joke about the Communion wafer being a "cookie" a la Jack Chick's worldview. Then I thought better of it.

This nice Jewish girl has had an unconsecrated wafer. It was at a Protestant service and the minister allowed me to try one before she did whatever she did to consecrate them. It's actually pretty bland and doesn't have a very substantial texture, kinda like a wafer ice cream cone. I made a joke to the minister that I'd consider converting if the wafers came in BBQ and tangy ranch flavors, like potato chips. She laughed and said she'd put it in the suggestion box, but not to hold my breath.

[BigT]

If they are consecrated after purchase, then I can tell you that you can buy them at a Christian book store.

I'm not sure, since my church uses the little pellet crackers instead. They have a very large air bubble in the middle, as they are essentially hollow, yet, apparently, they don't use leavening. The only reason they taste weird is the lack of salt. And, no, those things don't melt.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by BigT

If they are consecrated after purchase, then I can tell you that you can buy them at a Christian book store.

I'm not sure, since my church uses the little pellet crackers instead. They have a very large air bubble in the middle, as they are essentially hollow, yet, apparently, they don't use leavening. The only reason they taste weird is the lack of salt. And, no, those things don't melt.

Those look like bread chiclets.

[tomndebb]

Originally Posted by VOW

Nuns teaching Catechism used to tell their students to NEVER chew the Host. Something about defiling The Body of Christ if your teeth touched it. If it stuck to the roof of your mouth, you were supposed to pry it loose with your tongue (NEVER FINGERS!).

There was an extended period in history, (ca. 1640 - mid-1970s trailing off even to today), where Jansenism warped a lot of church teachings. (Cornelius Jansen actually died in 1638 and his wilder ideas did not take off until a posthumous publication of some of his ideas.) Among the beliefs put forth by the Jansenists was an extreme position regarding Paul's injunction to not receive the Body and Blood "unworthily." In the Jansenist views, everyone was unworthy all the time. (This is where the notion that one could not receive Communion unless one had gone to Confession, (preferably in the last few minutes!), arose.) Although it was never accepted as Catholic Doctrine and it got so far out of hand that it was finally condemned, and despite explicit efforts by the church through the 19th and 20th centuries to put a stop to those beliefs, the notion of unworthiness and the need for excessive scrupulosity permeated much of the church until the Second Vatican Council's documents actually made it into the curricula of most Catholic education in the early 1970s. Folks who grew up under a Jansenist regime of priests and sisters are still suspicious of the less scrupulous attitudes toward the Eucharist, today.

Originally Posted by VOW

You can chew now. Students preparing to make their First Communion are just told to NOT walk away from the altar chewing like a cow on her cud.

It's made of a very highly refined white flour, so there isn't much substance to it. It reminds me of a thin wafer of styrofoam.

It depends on the parish. The rules are just that the host should be made of wheat flour and water, but it can be either refined or whole wheat. The very thin, very dry wafers I recall from the 1950s and 1960s would immediately adhere to the roof of the mouth. The slightly thicker and moister, (and, typically, whole wheat), hosts I usually encounter, today, will not stick and can either be chewed or broken into crumbs by the tongue and swallowed. The bakery from which group of sisters one's parish or diocese orders their hosts probably determines the consistency, today.

Originally Posted by VOW

It's my understanding (granted, I've never been a Minister of the Eucharist, so forgive any errors) that a Consecrated Host which is dropped onto the floor must be eaten.

I've also heard that a Consecrated Host can be dissolved in water and then the water must be disposed of on "undisturbed ground" (whatever that is).

The plumbing of the sink where the Chalice and the Paten are washed, must not flow into the sewer or septic system. It must also drain to "undisturbed ground."

There is a special sink in the sacristy, called a sacrarium, in which the drain pipes go straight into the ground, not connected to sewer or septic systems. The vessels used to hold the Body and Blood are washed, there. A host that fell on the floor could also be placed there.
(There is a rule that any undistributed parts of Communion must not be flushed down the sacrarium, but that is in reference to the portions not distributed at Mass, not to small spills.)

[BrotherCadfael]

I sing in the choir, and we get served before the rest of the congregation. We have to start singing immediately upon returning to our seats, so we have to very quickly work the wafer out of our mouths, which can be difficult if your mouth is dry. The choir tends to take Communion in both species for this reason - a little wine helps the dry wafer go down!

[Chronos]

Quoth digs:
One family has started baking big round loaves of bread for the early service... Mmm. Much more like what Jesus would munch on.

Not really... The traditions behind the Eucharist stem from the Last Supper, which was a Passover seder. So the bread that Jesus broke would have been unleavened bread. Now, maybe the ordinary bread that Jesus ate every day would be big round loaves, but the hosts aren't based on everyday bread. And yes, before you ask, matzoh would be perfectly acceptable for use in the Eucharist.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by jayjay

Those look like bread chiclets.

That was the word I was trying to think of.

And here's a closeup. It's the same picture--I didn't realize it was so tiny on the actual page.

[Cunctator]

This morning's one melted in my mouth pretty quickly.

[figure9]

After communion my friend knelt down next to me and asked if I had a toothpick. I tried to stifle a laugh and ended up with wafer in my nose.

[carnut]

Originally Posted by yabob

Yep. They were about like a little slip of rice paper once they got wet in your mouth. It somehow marred the symbolism to have to pry the "body of christ" off the roof of your mouth with your tongue. The traditional wafer is made out of nothing but wheat flour and water.

My ever-progressive childhood Catholic church used whole-wheat wafers. They had a bit more flavor than the others but they stuck well and good to the roof of my mouth. Sometimes, I used my finger to pry them off.

Now I'm gluten-intolerant so I have an excuse not to eat the "library paste" as my mother called it.

[rowrrbazzle]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Not really... The traditions behind the Eucharist stem from the Last Supper, which was a Passover seder.

Actually, that seems to depend on which account you subscribe to, e.g., http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/j...ast-supper.asp. But a full discussion would be for another thread.

[Toxgoddess]

Dropping the host on the floor...I can beat that! Don't know if there's any official rules on how to handle my situation:

I was a bridesmaid in the wedding from hell. My dress was not well fitted and the neckline gaped. As the priest reached out to put the host on my tongue, he dropped it and it landed in my bra.

We both sort of stared at it. He mumbled, "Um...can you get that?" Which I did. Fished it out of my bra and ate it.

And of course the videographer had it all on tape and the groomsmen were red-faced trying not to laugh. The day went downhill from there...but that's another thread.

[Chronos]

Oh, and

Quoth BigT:
If they are consecrated after purchase, then I can tell you that you can buy them at a Christian book store.

They're consecrated during Mass, generally at the same service that they're distributed at. I can't imagine any circumstance where they'd be sold pre-consecrated, and the Church would probably frown heavily on it if they were. So if you find them for sale anywhere, they're just bland crackers, with no particular sacramental significance.

[Clothahump]

Do communion wafers "melt" in your mouth"?


No more so than any other kind of cookie.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Oh, and
They're consecrated during Mass, generally at the same service that they're distributed at. I can't imagine any circumstance where they'd be sold pre-consecrated, and the Church would probably frown heavily on it if they were. So if you find them for sale anywhere, they're just bland crackers, with no particular sacramental significance.

That's what I thought, but I wasn't entirely sure. I also thought maybe, since they are marked with symbols, that the Church might not like people eating them unconsecrated, even if they can't do anything about it.

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by BigT

That's what I thought, but I wasn't entirely sure. I also thought maybe, since they are marked with symbols, that the Church might not like people eating them unconsecrated, even if they can't do anything about it.

Parenthetical story about this...

I was raised Catholic. I dragged my heels on taking my First Communion, because I was wigged out about how the communion host would taste (that whole "body of Christ" thing was stuck deep in my psyche).

My family attended a large church in suburban Chicago, large enough to have a four or five priests on staff (this was the early 1970s), as well as its own convent, with a number of nuns in residence (most of them taught at the parish school). The nuns made the wafers which were used for Communion; my father spoke with one of the nuns, and convinced her to let him take home an unconsecrated wafer for me to try. She was apparently not terribly keen on the idea, but decided that, if it would get me to go to Communion, it was worth it (though she would only give him one, and we weren't supposed to tell anyone about it).

[Swords to Plowshares]

I usually do one very discreet chew because I don't want to have to wait the minute or so it would take to dissolve normally.

[Leo Bloom]

Since there are so many communion takers and Catholic school attendees, I'd like to propose a slight hijack.

This topic is discussed at great length in the Patristic Fathers and by the Scholastics: when and how does the Body of Christ become transformed into, simply put, your body?

I am sure were I to be taught about Communion as a kid, I would have wondered when the sanctified Communion turns into poop, essentially, and giggled.

I assume that you know that I intend no disrespect.

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Clothahump

No more so than any other kind of cookie.

In my experience, they "melt" a hell of a lot better than an Oreo or a ginger snap.

[Inner Stickler]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Oh, and
They're consecrated during Mass, generally at the same service that they're distributed at. I can't imagine any circumstance where they'd be sold pre-consecrated, and the Church would probably frown heavily on it if they were. So if you find them for sale anywhere, they're just bland crackers, with no particular sacramental significance.

Apropos of nothing but the consecrated wafer is referred to as a host while unconsecrated wafers are usually called altar breads or some such in case anyone was looking to buy some for snacking purposes. (I dunno why, rice cakes are tastier and that's saying a lot.) As for symbolic significance, they have a plus sign marked on them so unless it's also sacrilegious to eat your math homework...

[yabob]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Oh, and
They're consecrated during Mass, generally at the same service that they're distributed at. I can't imagine any circumstance where they'd be sold pre-consecrated, and the Church would probably frown heavily on it if they were. So if you find them for sale anywhere, they're just bland crackers, with no particular sacramental significance.

And of course you can very easily shop for "communion wafers" on Google shopping, and get a variety of vendors, who seem to sell them for about $10 - $20 per 1000:

http://www.christianbook.com/communi...y-_-30511#CURR

Of course, I wouldn't doubt that the Catholic church would use some "official" supplier you can't order from.

[kittenblue]

Don't you people get to wash the wafer down with a swig of "wine" (I'm United Methodist, we use grape juice) afterwards? Why is it still stuck to your mouth then?

We use home baked bread, and have gluten-free bread available, too. And we have gotten away from the cute tiny cups and use intinction (dipping the bread into the juice).

[tomndebb]

Yes, since the early 70s, Latin Rite Catholics have received Communion under both forms. (Orthodox and the majority of the non-Latin Rite Catholics, (Maronites, Chaldeans, Greek Catholics, etc.), have always received under both forms.

We use the cup, not intincture.

There are a couple of religious orders who have been experimenting with gluten free or extremely low gluten products, but the Catholic requirement for the hosts is wheat flour and water and I am not aware that anyone has reliably produced any wheat flour that is gluten free. If it is an issue, the communicant may receive only from the cup and skip partaking of the host.

[SeaCanary]

Originally Posted by kittenblue

Don't you people get to wash the wafer down with a swig of "wine" (I'm United Methodist, we use grape juice) afterwards?

(I converted from the United Methodist Church to Roman Catholic and have since lapsed, but that's another story.) My rather conservative church insisted that one did not wash the body of Christ down with the blood of Christ. You swallow the host (chewing was allowed) and THEN you drank. And yes indeedy we drank wine. Pretty good wine as I recall.

[smiling bandit]

Originally Posted by BigT

That's what I thought, but I wasn't entirely sure. I also thought maybe, since they are marked with symbols, that the Church might not like people eating them unconsecrated, even if they can't do anything about it.

Leftover host gets stored in the Tabernacle and used later. IIRC, most Catholic churches buy from a Christian service that makes them. The suppliers differ, though one can easily handle the needs of a huge area. The needs one one church for an entire week only equal one or two loaves of bread by weight, from my back-of-the-hand guess. I don't have a wafer handy to measure, of course.

Originally Posted by Leo Bloom

I am sure were I to be taught about Communion as a kid, I would have wondered when the sanctified Communion turns into poop, essentially, and giggled.

Actually, we pretty much all thought of that one.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Oh, and They're consecrated during Mass, generally at the same service that they're distributed at. I can't imagine any circumstance where they'd be sold pre-consecrated, and the Church would probably frown heavily on it if they were. So if you find them for sale anywhere, they're just bland crackers, with no particular sacramental significance.

And leftovers (already consecrated) are taken back and stored for the next day. As I remember, they were just dumped back in with the supply of un-consecrated wafers. So when used in the next Mass, some of them would be consecrated a second time. Nobody ever mentioned any liturgical concern about this.

And way back, when we still had a convent and a dozen or so nuns there, they actually made our communion wafers. Mixed the dough, rolled it out, baked it (as one big sheet), and cut out the wafers. Both the little ones that communicants got, and the big ones that the priest raised up and broke during the Mass. And they didn't think the part leftover after all the little wafers had been cut out was anything special -- they used to feed those scraps to the convent dog! They had tried using it in stuffing, bread pudding, etc. but it wasn't good -- no taste and too thick a texture. But it would have been wasteful to just throw it away. And the dog seemed to like it well enough. All those 'Communions' must have done him some good -- he lived to a very old age.

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by kittenblue

Don't you people get to wash the wafer down with a swig of "wine" (I'm United Methodist, we use grape juice) afterwards? Why is it still stuck to your mouth then?

At least in the Catholic churches where I went as a kid (in suburban Chicago, then in Green Bay, in the 1970s and 1980s), wine was rarely, if ever, distributed to the congregation. During the Eucharistic prayer, the priest would talk about the blood of Christ, and he, himself, would partake of it, but the Communion which was given to the congregation was only the bread / hosts.

[Krokodil]

Around 1970, our parish in Nashville switched from the bland paper Necco wafers to whole wheat. I guess every little bit helps?

[Bearflag70]

They don't melt so much as they absorb spit, get really flimsy, and kind of break apart.

As a kid, my brother and I would compete to see who could keep the host in his mouth the longest. IIRC, we went about 2 hours or so. My mother was not very pleased when we had been home for an hour after Mass, we opened our mouths at her, and revealed we still had our mushy hosts.