Sunday, July 31, 2011

WaPo: "communion wafers to be 'blessed' by the pope"

Interesting terminology in this positive story about religious women in Germany preparing communion hosts for the papal Mass to be held in Erfurt, Germany in September: the pope will "bless" the hosts.

"Consecration" is the word used for what happens to the hosts or bread within holy Mass through the action of the ordained priest in order to distinguish the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist from other forms of blessing. A blessing sets an ordinary object or person apart for God. "Consecration" results in the true, real and substantial presence of God Himself under the signs of bread and wine.

"By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651)." (CCC 1413)

By the way, the editorial "masterpiece" of a title for the article is reprinted above exactly as distributed in the electronic edition today: "German nuns bake ready for papal visit baking thousands of communion wafers". What?

((((..))))

German nuns bake ready for papal visit baking thousands of communion wafers



- In this photo taken July 28, 2011 Sister Placida scales hosts at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)

By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, July 31, 6:07 AM

AM MELLENSEE, Germany — Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour.

In a small room at the back of the cloister, nestled on the edge of a forest south of Berlin, Sister Theresa pulls a lever that squirts liquid dough — a simple mixture of flour and water — onto one of a dozen hot irons. These press out sheets of thin, light wafer that are cut into dozens of rounds to be weighed, packaged and delivered to Roman Catholic churches in the capital and east of Germany.

“We are very happy that our communion wafers from our bakery will be offered at the Eucharist celebration,” Sister Theresa, 62, told The Associated Press.

The pope visits Germany on Sept. 22-25, arriving in Berlin and traveling through the former-communist east before wrapping up in the southwester diocese of Freiburg.

  • ( / Associated Press ) - In this photo taken July 28, 2011 Sister Placida scales hosts at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)
  • ( / Associated Press ) - In this photo taken July 28, 2011, Sister Theresia, a nun at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, opens the door as she leaves the abbey’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)
  • ( / Associated Press ) - In this photo taken July 28, 2011, hosts are packed in baskets at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)
  • ( / Associated Press ) - In this photo taken July 28, 2011, Sister Placida scales hosts at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour.(Photo/Markus Schreiber)
  • ( / Associated Press ) - In this photo taken July 28, 2011, Sister Theresia of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud produces hosts from plates at the abbey’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)
  • ( / Associated Press ) - In this photo taken July 28, 2011, Sister Theresia of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud works on plates for communion wafers produced at the abbey’s host bakery in Alexanderdorf, Germany, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Berlin. Pope Benedict XVI will not visit the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud, but preparations for his trip are nevertheless in full swing, with the nuns baking thousands of communion wafers to be blessed by the pope at Masses during his September tour. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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