Communion on the Tongue is an Apostolic Tradition, and Should Be the Only Way to Receive the Eucharist

As more and more Catholics today who were born after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council begin to discover the beauty of traditional Catholicism, many people are asking why certain practices either developed or were abandoned. One such practice is the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue. 

Those who are in favor of the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand will immediately point to the Last Supper and state that Jesus did not give the apostles Holy Communion on the tongue. Well… of course the apostles did not receive Holy Communion on the tongue. They were ordained priests - bishops, actually. Remember when Jesus washed the feet of the apostles before the Last Supper in John 13:1-17? This was the institution of the ministerial priesthood.

Often times, they will also point to one quote by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in 348, which says, “Coming up to receive, therefore, do not approach with your wrists extended or your fingers splayed, but making your left hand a throne for the right (for it is about to receive a King) and cupping your palm, so receive the Body of Christ.” While it is true that for a time in the early Church, reception of Holy Communion in the hand was practiced in some places, it was abandoned by the end of the fourth century.

Many popes, saints, and Church Councils over the years have spoken to this topic. This is not an exhaustive list.

St. Sixtus I, around 115 stated, “The Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than those consecrated to the Lord.” That would mean that only ordained priests and bishops should handle the Sacred Vessels or their contents.

St. Basil the Great, 330-379 stated, “The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.” This statement may very well have been made in response to St. Cyril of Jerusalem in 348.

The Council of Saragossa, 380, excommunicated anyone who dared continue to receive Holy Communion in the hand. 

The Synod of Rouen, 650, condemned Communion in the hand to halt wide-spread abuses that occurred from this practice.

Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, 680-681, forbade the faithful to take the Sacred Host in their hand, threatening those who continued with excommunication.

St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274, In Summa Theologica, Part III, Q. 82, Art. 3, Rep. Obj. 8, he says “Out of reverence toward this sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest’s hands, for touching this sacrament.”

The Council of Trent, 1545-1565, “The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition.

Pope Paul VI, in Memoriale Domini, he says, “This method (on the tongue) must be retained.”

Pope John Paul II, in Dominicae Cenae, he says, “To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained.”

Yes, it is true that Pope Paul VI approved the indult which allowed for the reception of Holy Communion in the hand, however, he insisted that reception on the tongue must be retained. Infact, in the letter, En Reponse a la Demande, which was written to the presidents of the conferences of bishops who had petitioned for the indult to distribute Holy Communion in the hand in 1969, the first stipulation of the indult says, “The new manner of giving communion must not be imposed in a way that would exclude the traditional practice.” Yet, in parishes around the world, priests have attempted to deny the faithful Communion on the tongue. One time, I was visiting a parish in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and upon kneeling to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, the priest looked at me and said, “We don’t do that here.” I stayed on my knees with my mouth open. Again, the priest told me to stand up. I gently, but firmly reminded him of the first stipulation of the indult. He rolled his eyes, sighed, and gave me Holy Communion on the tongue while I was kneeling.

It is also true that Pope Paul VI opened up the ministry of Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC) to the lay faithful in 1973. Pope John Paul II, in his 1980 Apostolic Letter, Dominicae Cenae, expressed that it was the privilege of the ordained to touch the sacred species. I am not arguing against the use of EMHCs today. That is a topic for another day. 

While I have not been to a Novus Ordo Mass in several years, one thing I vividly remember is the way in which many people would receive Our Lord in the Eucharist. Often, people would walk up and receive one-handed, “popping” the host into their mouth like a potato chip, even wiping their hands on their pants afterward. I question if those people believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. He is present, even in the most microscopic particle - even the ones people wipe on their pants. At almost every Novus Ordo Mass I went to, I saw at least one person drop the host on the floor. In the thousands of Traditional Latin Masses I have been to, I have never once seen a host dropped on the floor.

Distribution of Holy Communion on the tongue leads to less instances of the host being dropped. Plus, as was shown above, many popes, saints, and Councils have spoken about how and why distribution of Holy Communion should be left to the priest, and should only be done on the tongue.  If we believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist - Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, we would do anything and everything we could to avoid profaning our Eucharistic Lord in any way - even if the risk were minimal.