Fr. Z's Blog

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I saw your post about being at the Byzantine church on Sunday. You have pictures of their bread for eucharist. I know that in the Latin Church we are supposed to have unleavened hosts. If you were stuck somewhere and could not get unleavened hosts or bread, could you use leavened bread like the Easterners use?

The short answer is “Yes”.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law says that the “bread must be only wheat and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling” (can. 924 §2) The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) clarifies that, according to the ancient tradition of the Latin Church, the bread must be unleavened.

In a 1929 instruction, Rome stated that bread made of any substance other than wheat is invalid matter. So is bread with great quantity of another substance that it can no longer be considered wheat bread in the common estimation. In 1980 an instruction said that no other ingredients are to be added to the wheat flour and water.

Current law is that only pure wheat flour with no additives or other grains present is valid matter.

The Instruction from the old Congregation for Divine Worship (happier days), Redemptionis Sacramentum says:

The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. It follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament. It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools.

In 1439 the Council of Florence approved the use of either leavened or unleavened bread for validity. This was infallibly defined.

That said, there is a difference between validity and liceity. To use leavened bread in the Roman Rite would be valid but illicit. For the Easterners, not to use leavened bread would be illicit but valid.

This is, of course, a serious issue. We hear about parishes with funny bread all the time… or we did. I trust that the use of invalid matter is becoming more and more rate an abuse.

Hence, when I am sent to the gulag, I will without hesitation confect the Eucharist with whatever wheat bread I can get, with whatever wine from grapes I can garner. Hopefully, my memory will hold up so that a couple of Mass formulae I have memorized will still be available to me. Priests should have a Mass in their minds, perhaps Mary on Saturday. Just in case.