[Sca-cooks] Communion Breads and Wines
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Mon Feb 18 12:33:29 PST 2013
Probably the most famous passage is from St. Thomas of Aquinas, where he
"discusses" (by dialog) whether any flour but wheat should be used and
whether unleavened bread was preferable:
Summa Theologica: (Part III, Second Section & Supplement)
By St Thomas Aquinas
_http://books.google.com/books?id=gJvjoO2JGIIC&pg=PA2435&dq=inauthor:%22St+T
homas%22+host+wheat&hl=en&sa=X&ei=F4siUYbdJeOCiwLgs4GoDg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=o
nepage&q&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=gJvjoO2JGIIC&pg=PA2435&dq=inauthor:"St+Thomas"+host+wheat&hl=en&sa=X&ei=F4siUYbdJeOCiwLgs4GoDg&ved=0
CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)
In France, the communion wafer - essentially a small waffle made between
two hot irons and imprinted with religious imagery - not only was the
standard communion fare, but, in its secularized form, the oublie (wafer), became
one of the earliest French pastries. This seems to have appeared about
Charlemagne's time, but was already standard under the Capetians.
_http://books.google.com/books?id=WoBUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1418&dq=oublie+host+whea
t&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gowiUbXnEobtiQKbgIEI&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=oublie%20ho
st%20wheat&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=WoBUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1418&dq=oublie+host+wheat&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gowiUbXnEobtiQKbgIEI&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=o
nepage&q=oublie%20host%20wheat&f=false)
The consensus seems to have become that the host should be unleavened,
despite concerns that this was "Judaizing", and all manner of metaphor and
symbolism was thrown about concerning whether fermentation represented
corruption. Here from a later English source:
"its paste must not be of sour dough"
_http://books.google.com/books?id=li51NLvi-b4C&pg=PA76&dq=oublie+host+wheat&
hl=en&sa=X&ei=gowiUbXnEobtiQKbgIEI&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=oublie%20host
%20wheat&f=false_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=li51NLvi-b4C&pg=PA76&dq=oublie+host+wheat&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gowiUbXnEobtiQKbgIEI&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepa
ge&q=oublie%20host%20wheat&f=false)
By the eighteenth century, one distinction between Catholics and
Protestants was the use of unleavened or leavened bread for communion.
I've never seen specific recommendations about the wine, even in my light
forays into medieval wine history. By the twelfth century, regional
distinctions between wines had returned (they seem to have been irrelevant for much
of the early medieval period, not least because wine didn't travel well
after the amphora fell out of favor and barrels were still primitive). I
would guess that it had to be red (representing, as it did, blood) but I don't
know that there were any other strictures.
Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com
Newly translated from Pierre Jean-Baptiste Le Grand d'Aussy:
Eggs, Cheese and Butter in Old Regime France
In a message dated 2/18/2013 11:49:27 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
sibeal63 at yahoo.com writes:
I am curious to know if anyone has information and or recipes on the types
of breads and wines used in communion during the 12-14th centuries?
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