[Sca-cooks] Communion Breads and Wines

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

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?