Host

Host (Lat. hostia, 'a victim'), the name given in the Roman Catholic Church to the consecrated bread of the eucharist. It is so called in conformity with the doctrine of that church that the eucharist is a 'sacrifice,' in the strict sense of the word, though, in the common language of Catholics, 'host' is used for the unconsecrated altar-bread, and even so occurs in the offertory of the Roman missal. The host in the Latin Church is a thin circular wafer (in Old English, 'syngeing cake') of unleavened bread, made of the finest flour, and bearing stamped upon it the figure of the Crucifixion or some emblematic device, as the Lamb, or the letters IHS. These are the 'points' and 'figures' forbidden in the first book of Edward VI. In all ancient liturgical rites the consecrated host was broken before being consumed by the priest. In the Roman Church the celebrant, who uses at mass a larger host than that reserved for other communicants, first breaks it into two halves, and then from one half detaches a fragment which he drops into the chalice. In the Greek and other oriental churches, as well as in various Protestant communities, the eucharist is celebrated in leavened bread; and one of the grounds of separation from the West alleged by Michael Cerularius was the western practice of using unleavened bread. The use of unleavened bread is founded on the belief that Christ can only have used such bread when instituting the eucharist at the Paschal feast. Luther followed the Roman Church in this point, but did not break the host. It was decided by the Privy-council, in the Purchas case (1871), that the use of the wafer is forbidden in the Church of England. The elevation of the host is the act by which the priest immediately after pronouncing the words of consecration raises the host with both hands above his head, whilst the server tinkles his bell to call attention to the ceremony, that the congregation may adore Christ present.