# When does the eucharist become holy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132 "2008-07-11T14:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/21 "2008-07-11T17:57:39Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Zeus’s sister, not his daughter. The Greek Titan Kronos ate his children so that they couldn’t overthrow him. [/QUOTE] :smack: I knew that. I totally knew that. _sigh_ There’s too much blood in my caffeine stream… ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/22 "2008-07-11T19:54:21Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Before any warnings come out, I recognize some of my comments about said student were probably out of place for GQ. [/QUOTE] You’ve probably seen it by now, but in case you haven’t, there’s a three-page thread on this in the BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/23 "2008-07-11T21:38:12Z")
If you want to sample the unconsecrated wafer, around Christmas you can obtain [opłatek](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_wafer) in areas where people of Eastern European descent live. ---
**Author:** ![SharkB8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/24 "2008-07-11T21:45:52Z")
Haha! I love the reviews people left on them! “Eh…I’ve had better Body of Christ.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/25 "2008-07-12T01:02:43Z")
As Santo Rugger wrote, the exact moment of consecration in a Catholic Church is marked by the ringing of a bell. Because you’d hate to have a miracle and not have anyone even notice. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/26 "2008-07-12T01:52:30Z")
Someone was pretty quick witted to register the domain name: [kingdom.com](http://kingdom.com) I was appalled at that story. What a total lack of respect. So it’s ok to show complete irreverence because the church is partially supported by the school? That guy is a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/27 "2008-07-12T07:03:20Z")
[QUOTE=Snarky\_Kong] When does it become not holy again? [/QUOTE] Never! It retains its’ holiness all through the process of digestion and beyond. Haven’t you ever hears people say _“Holy shit!”_? To be serious, I believe the answer is that once it is eaten by the communicant, the ‘body of Christ’ has become part of the body of the communicant. The sacramental grace has descended on the communicant, but the host itself is now just part of that communicants stomach contents, and is no longer holy. So that if a person were sick and vomited, even just after receiving communion, the host is simply vomitus just like the rest of the stomach contents, and can be disposed just like them. A friend who is a nurse once told me that this was not uncommon when a priest brought communion to gravely ill people in the hospital. Sometimes they are unable to keep anything down, and vomit right after communion, and the host is visible & recognizable in the emesis pan. The priest told her that once it touched a patients’ mouth, they had ‘received communion’, and the holy sacrament was over. So after that, it did not matter what happened, so she could just toss the contents of that emesis pan, including the former host. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/28 "2008-07-12T07:58:54Z")
[QUOTE=Gala Matrix Fire] Great timing. [Here’s a recent story](http://www.wftv.com/news/16798008/detail.html) of a Catholic who smuggled a blessed communion wafer out of church because he wanted to show it to his roommate, and ended up receiving death threats from Catholics around the world who feel that he kidnapped Jesus Christ. [/QUOTE] I guess if he planned ahead, he could’ve used a [pyx.](http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-catalog/886/Pyx/?aid=117) ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/29 "2008-07-12T11:46:36Z")
Roman Catholics believe that the consecrated host is really the body of Christ, and the wine is truly His blood. That is why in all churches (years ago at least) one of the Hosts were put in a special container for people to worship(Called Holy Hour of Adoration). In some convents there were nuns who took turns around the clock). Also RC’s genuflect coming into a Catholis church if there are hosts in the tabernacle. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/30 "2008-07-12T14:53:10Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] Never! It retains its’ holiness all through the process of digestion and beyond. Haven’t you ever hears people say _“Holy shit!”_?..A friend who is a nurse once told me that this was not uncommon when a priest brought communion to gravely ill people in the hospital. Sometimes they are unable to keep anything down, and vomit right after communion, and the host is visible & recognizable in the emesis pan. The priest told her that once it touched a patients’ mouth, they had ‘received communion’, and the holy sacrament was over. So after that, it did not matter what happened, so she could just toss the contents of that emesis pan, including the former host. [/QUOTE] If only that is how they had perceived it in the case of Mr Cook in Florida. Once he put it in his mouth, it should have been nobody’s business what happened to it, and there’d be no talk of his having _kidnapped_ Christ. **Lazlo** , now I want a pyx. What else do you suppose would fit in there? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/31 "2008-07-12T21:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=Eureka] In the tradition of the United Methodist Church, any bread or cracker can be used for Communion–and I’ve known quite a few variations, most of which are commercially available as ordinary bread/cracker. [/QUOTE] You know, they’d get a much better turnout if they blessed, say, Oreos or Chips Ahoy or something. FTR, I remember being told somehere along the line that you’re not supposed to chew them either. I did the let it melt thing for many many many years, until I learned that they were actually pretty tasty, and even better if you chew them while they still have some crunch. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/32 "2008-07-13T08:47:08Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] In the Episcopal church, any leftover host is discarded onto the ground along with any undrunk wine (there usually isn’t any that remains undrunk - we’re pretty good about getting it all out of the chalice). [/QUOTE] My sister’s Lutheran pastor finishes it off over a grilled cheese sandwich at dinner. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132/33 "2008-07-13T21:05:05Z")
This 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia article seems to emphasize the words. > **[CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05573a.htm#3)** > > Article considers: the fact of the Real Presence; the several allied dogmas grouped about it; and the speculations of reason, so far as speculative investigation regarding the august mystery under its various aspects is permissible, and so far as it... From that, I gather the consecration takes place as soon as the priest finishes pronouncing the last word of the formula. IIRC the bell-ringing is just to call people’s attention to an important point in the service. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-the-eucharist-become-holy/456132.md?page=1)