I’ve been wondering what Pope Saint Pius X might say to his brother bishops in Phoenix and Madison about their sacramental theology. All of us who are caught up in the controversy over restricting access to the chalice might do well to revisit the entire text of Pius’s immensely liberating document, Sacra Tridentina, hereafter abbreviated ST.
In its first paragraph I note that the Sacred Congregation for the Council (of Trent), who prepared the text of ST, anchors the privilege of receiving Communion daily on the grounds of thereby deriving more abundant fruit for sanctification:
The Holy Council of Trent, having in view the ineffable riches of grace which are offered to the faithful who receive the Most Holy Eucharist, makes the following declaration: “The Holy Council wishes indeed that at each Mass the faithful who are present should communicate, not only in spiritual desire, but sacramentally, by the actual reception of the Eucharist.” [ND 1551/DS 1747] These words declare plainly enough the wish of the Church that all Christians should be daily nourished by this heavenly banquet and should derive therefrom more abundant fruit for their sanctification.
[The content of that sanctification is variously described through the rest of the decree.]
In its second paragraph ST quotes Luke 22:15, καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθ’ ὑμῶν πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν, a declaration of the Lord’s passionate desire (ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα) and the Church’s passionate desire for all to eat His Body and drink His Blood.
What I find remarkable is ST’s account of the rigorism of the day, which suggested that the primary purpose of restricting communion is “that the honor and reverence due to our Lord may be safe-guarded, or that it may serve as a reward or recompense of virtue bestowed on the recipients” (ST ¶4).
How current the sixth paragraph seems:
Piety, however, grew cold, and especially afterward because of the widespread plague of Jansenism, disputes began to arise concerning the dispositions with which one ought to receive frequent and daily Communion; and writers vied with one another in demanding more and more stringent conditions as necessary to be fulfilled. The result of such disputes was that very few were considered worthy to receive the Holy Eucharist daily, and to derive from this most health-giving Sacrament its more abundant fruits; the others were content to partake of it once a year, or once a month, or at most once a week. To such a degree, indeed, was rigorism carried that whole classes of persons were excluded from a frequent approach to the Holy Table, for instance, merchants or those who were married.
This paragraph announces the theme of dispositions, emphasis on which becomes the seismic shift in sacramental theology, a theme echoed by Pope Pius Xl, Quas Primas
(December 11, 1925), §20, Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei (
November 20, 1947), §129), Sacrosanctum Concilium (December 4, 1963), §10/¶2, and Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (February 22, 2007), §64. The dispositions of the faithful are mentioned 121 times in the GIRM!
Among the nine declarations of ST, the fourth is the most important for our discussion here:
4. Since, however, the Sacraments of the New Law, though they produce their effect ex opere operato, nevertheless, produce a great effect in proportion as the dispositions of the recipient are better, therefore, one should take care that Holy Communion be preceded by careful preparation, and followed by an appropriate thanksgiving, according to each one’s strength, circumstances and duties.
Pope Saint Pius X and his Sacred Congregation for the Council would be the last people to promote a weak theology of sacraments and a laxist approach to them. How very remarkable then that they should amend an older sacramental theology of matter, form, and intention, by adding a focus on dispositions!
How current the last declaration paragraph seems:
9. Finally, after the publication of this Decree, all ecclesiastical writers are to cease from contentious controversy concerning the dispositions requisite for frequent and daily Communion.
A more direct application of this insight will be the focus of my next post here at Pray Tell. I know that my work could be worded more clearly and my tone more temperate but I have cannot make the best the enemy of the good. I have been pondering these matters for years and have worked on this post for weeks.
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