St. Anthony Mission Catholic Church

We Are Back At St. Anthony Mission Church!
 

Resumption of Masses

Returning to Mass Guidelines

Masses Live Streamed from St. Gregory the Great

Daily Mass - 8:30 am (English)
Sunday Mass - 11 am (English)Mensaje de Pascua del Obispo Robert E. Guglielmone (Español)
Domingo Misa - 1 pm (Español)

Saint Gregory the Great Live Streamed Masses

San Gregorio el Grande Las Misas de la Transmisión en Vivo

Ways to Continue Giving

Is Here!

Marie Blohm, Alice Cella, and Marcella Palmer met on Zoom for the first time to discuss how devotion outreach can be achieved using Zoom.   

You will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.

The Host at Mass 

Alice Cella - Liturgy Committee Member

“Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation. Through your goodness we have received this bread to offer, which human hands have made. It will become for us the Bread of Life.”

When the priest is saying these words, they are so familiar most of us could say them from memory. As he speaks, Father has the paten slightly elevated and on it rests a simple circle of unleavened bread. These hosts, as we call them have an interesting history.

Bread is one of the two elements necessary for the sacrifice of the Eucharist. Sacred text does not specify whether Christ used unleavened bread at the Last Supper, but it is understood because Jews did not eat leavened bread at Passover. Unleavened bread is called “azyme” (ah-zim). In the early Church they were likely round in form. Archeological research demonstrates this from pictures found in catacombs. At one time, the laity provided the flour from which the breads were formed. They were made by priests and clerics in the Western Church and by consecrated virgins in the Eastern Church. The earliest documentary evidence that the altar breads were made in thin wafers is at the middle of the eleventh century. These wafers were sometimes very large, as from them small pieces were broken for the communion of the laity.

At present the bread must be unleavened. For valid consecration, the hosts must be: Made of wheat flour; mixed with pure natural water, baked in an oven or between two heated iron molds, and they must not be corrupted, i.e., stale or containing additives. They must be round in form and not broken.

When our Sacristans prepare the elements for Mass, they will carefully remove damaged hosts. Hosts are available in white or whole wheat. Those used for the priest at Mass are about 3” in diameter. A larger size about 5 1/2” is used for exceptionally large congregations. The smaller hosts we receive are about 1 1/4”.

By the way, the word “host” is of biblical origin, as it represented the matter, or victim of the sacrifice. In Latin, the victim is called expionis hostiam.

All the sacraments require valid matter and form. The form of the sacrament of the Eucharist is the formula of consecration pronounced by a duly ordained priest or bishop. The matter for this sacrament is bread.

Where do the hosts come from? Hosts frequently are purchased from monasteries. A monastery is the dwelling place of men or women who live in seclusion. They are contemplatives and some earn their living making liturgical items, vestments, altar breads, etc. In the early years of our country these communities grew the wheat themselves. They harvested the wheat, ground it and baked the altar breads. Their lives were a blend of hard work and prayer. The wheat was mixed with pure water in a large bowl as it still is today. The mixture is poured onto a surface of a heated mold. When the top is brought down the hosts are baked into perfect round shapes. They are packaged in air-tight bags to retain freshness.

The mystery is a true wonder that Jesus, who is God, comes into our hearts with his immeasurable love in the form of a simple circle of bread.