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Host desecration
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==Background== [[File:Host desecration1.jpg|thumb|upright=2.2|From a 15th-century German woodcut of the host desecration by the Jews of [[Passau]], 1477. The hosts are stolen and sold to the Jewish community, who pierce them in a ritual. When guards come to question the Jews, they (the Jews) attempt to burn the Hosts, but are unsuccessful, as the Hosts transform into an infant carried by angels. The Jews, now proven guilty, are arrested, beheaded, and tortured with hot [[pincer (tool)|pincers]], the entire community is driven out with their feet bound and held to the fire, and the Christian who sold the hosts to the Jews is punished. At the end the Christians kneel and pray.]] In the [[Catholic Church]], the [[transubstantiation]] of the [[Eucharist]] means the "body, blood, soul, and divinity" of [[Jesus Christ]] are present in the form of the consecrated [[sacramental bread|host]] and [[adoration|adored]]. Theft, sale, or use of the host for a profane purpose is considered a grave sin and sacrilege,<ref name="ce">{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13321a.htm |title="Sacrilege", ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1912, retrieved 7 May 2007 |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1912-02-01 |access-date=2018-04-16 |archive-date=2018-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423084822/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13321a.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> which incurs the penalty of [[excommunication]], which is imposed [[Latae sententiae|automatically]] in the [[Latin Church]] (See [[1983 Code of Canon Law|Latin Church Code]] canon 1367, or [[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]] canon 1442.)<ref name=law1367 /><ref name=law1442 /> Some denominations, especially Lutherans, have similar beliefs regarding the Eucharist and the [[Real Presence]], though they reject the Roman Catholic concept of transubstantiation, preferring instead the doctrine of the [[sacramental union]], in which "the body and blood of Christ are so truly united to the bread and wine of the Holy Communion that the two may be identified. They are at the same time body and blood, bread and wine…in this sacrament the Lutheran Christian receives the very body and blood of Christ precisely for the strengthening of the union of faith."<ref name="MattoxRoeber2012">{{cite book|last1=Mattox|first1=Mickey L.|last2=Roeber|first2=A. G.|title=Changing Churches: An Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran Theological Conversation|date=27 February 2012|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en |isbn=9780802866943|page=54|quote=In this "sacramental union," Lutherans taught, the body and blood of Christ are so truly united to the bread and wine of the Holy Communion that the two may be identified. They are at the same time body and blood, bread and wine. This divine food is given, more-over, not just for the strengthening of faith, nor only as a sign of our unity in faith, nor merely as an assurance of the forgiveness of sin. Even more, in this sacrament the Lutheran Christian receives the very body and blood of Christ precisely for the strengthening of the union of faith. The "real presence" of Christ in the Holy Sacrament is the means by which the union of faith, effected by God's Word and the sacrament of baptism, is strengthened and maintained. Intimate union with Christ, in other words, leads directly to the most intimate communion in his holy body and blood.}}</ref> Both the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, such as the [[Coptic Church]], insist "on the {{em|reality}} of the change from bread and wine into the body and the blood of Christ at the consecration of the elements", although they have "never attempted to explain the {{em|manner}} of the change",<ref name="HarperMetzger2009">{{cite book|last1=Harper|first1=Brad|last2=Metzger|first2=Paul Louis|title=Exploring Ecclesiology|date=1 March 2009|publisher=Brazos Press|isbn=9781587431739|page=312}}</ref> thus rejecting philosophical terms to describe it.<ref name="Houlden2003">{{cite book|last=Houlden|first=James Leslie |title=Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/jesushistorythou00houl_286|url-access=limited|year=2003|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|isbn=9781576078563|page=[https://archive.org/details/jesushistorythou00houl_286/page/n223 185]|quote=The Copts are fearful of using philosophical terms concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, preferring uncritical appeals to biblical passages like 1 Cor. 10.16; 11.23-29 or the discourse in John 6.26-58.}}</ref> The [[Methodist Church]] similarly holds that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist "through the elements of bread and wine", but maintains that how he is present is a Holy Mystery.<ref name="Neal2014">{{cite book|last=Neal|first=Gregory S.|title=Sacramental Theology and the Christian Life|date=19 December 2014|publisher=WestBow Press|language=en |isbn=9781490860077|page=111|quote=For Anglicans and Methodists the reality of the presence of Jesus as received through the sacramental elements is not in question. Real presence is simply accepted as being true, its mysterious nature being affirmed and even lauded in official statements like ''This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion''.}}</ref><ref name="AbrahamWatson2013">{{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=William J.|last2=Watson|first2=David F.|title=Key United Methodist Beliefs|date=1 March 2013|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en |isbn=9781426771224|page=1|quote=Charles Wesley wrote a marvelous collection of hymns that offer an amazing vision of Christ's mysterious, yet real, presence in the bread and the wine.}}</ref> Until the 19th-century Oxford Movement reintroduced the classic doctrine of the Real Presence, Anglicanism had favored [[receptionism]] — the doctrine that while the bread and wine in the [[Eucharist]] continue to exist unchanged after consecration, the faithful communicant receives together with them the body and blood of Jesus.<ref name="ODCC">{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Cross|editor1-first=F. L.|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3|edition=3rd|title=Receptionism}}</ref> Whatever the doctrine selected, among Anglicans the consecrated bread and hosts are reserved and treated with great reverence. Since the publication of {{lang|la|[[Memoriale Domini]]}} in 1969,<ref name="ewtn">{{cite web |title=Memoriale Domini |date=1969-05-29 |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/instruction-on-the-manner-of-distributing-holy-communion-2195 |website=www.ewtn.com |access-date=2020-07-20 |archive-date=2020-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720222245/https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/instruction-on-the-manner-of-distributing-holy-communion-2195 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Catholic Church has allowed certain countries to allow communicants to receive the Host in the hand, rather than directly onto the tongue, reviving an "ancient custom".<ref name="ewtn"/> Communion in the hand is now widespread in many parts of the world. The practice means that access to consecrated Hosts is easier than in the past, since the person receiving it in the hand may pretend to place it in their mouth for consumption. About this, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] cited: "I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself… The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point"<ref name="light of the world">{{cite book |author1=[[Peter Seewald]] |author2=Pope Emeritus [[Benedict XVI]] |title=Light Of The World: The Pope, The Church and The Signs Of The Times |publisher=Ignatius Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781586176068}}</ref> Receiving on the tongue is still the official norm of the Catholic Church, while receiving in the hand [via the {{lang|la|Memoriale Domini}} indult] is, in English-speaking countries, the practical norm. Kneeling to receive communion is still the norm among Anglicans and Lutherans. {{as of|2015}}, host desecration is a crime in Spain,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Over 200 consecrated hosts stolen, desecrated in Spain art exhibit|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/33014/over-200-consecrated-hosts-stolen-desecrated-in-spain-art-exhibit|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en}}</ref> and in the [[1983 Code of Canon Law]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Crime Against All We Hold Most Dear {{!}} EWTN|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/crime-against-all-we-hold-most-dear-1241|access-date=2021-01-19|website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network|language=en}}</ref>
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