The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-04-27
BREAD OF THE SACRAMENT
The Use of the Unleavened Wafer Va-
 riety Spreading.

even among we'll informed members of
 the Episcopal church Is the extent tc
 which the use of unleavened wafer
 bread in the communion has spread of late years. Until within the present generation the use of this form of bread
 was always taken to be an indication of extreme High Church tendencies. Af-
 te the Reformation it became customa- ry in the English Established church, of which the American Episcopal is an
 offshoot to consecrate the ordinary leavened wheat bread of every day
 life. In this, there Is no doubt, there
 was at first distinct intention to sig
 nifty denial of the doctrine of the Real Presence. The Lutherans following ] their founder, made no change in this, any more than in any of the other eu- chariStic practices which had been fol- lowed when Luther was young Angus
 tinian friar, and to this day the strict
 primitive Lutherans, of whom only a few congregations exist in this country,
 adhere to the same rules.
 The auction of unleavened bread in
 the eucharist was point of dispute
 long before Luther's day between tAe
 Latin, of western, and the Greek
 churches, the latter including the Rus sian. For the Latin practice the argu-
 ment was that Christ must have used
 unleavened bread in the institution of
 the Sacrament, as that institution was made at the time of the Jewish Pass over. On the contrary, the Greeks maintained that the eucharistic bread was typfied in the old dlspensation by | the offering of two leavened loaves at | the Jewish thanksgiving feast of Pente- cost (Fiftieth day) following the Pass- i, over, the leaven representing the pow CT of the Holy Ghost to Heaven the whole lump" The practice of the Rus- sian and Greek churches even now de- mands that loaves of leavened bread, baked in small pans something as muf- fins are baked hall be expressly pre- pared in the priests own household for the service of the altar The priest in the eucharistic service uses small spear shaped knife to remove the top crut from these loaves, and any loaf in which an air bubble is found must be rejected as unfit for it's sacred purpose.
 These interesting and not generally known ~details were explained by the Rev. Professor Richey, of the General Theological seminary, tn the course of his reply to an inquiry Whethec the use of uneavened bread had, as was re- ported, spread outside of the ritualistic church party. Two other clergymen of the Episcopal denomination at two diff ferent churches had already been asked about the fact, and had not been aware
 
 Richey, however, besides being pro- found ecclesiastical historian, is proba- ply more clossly~in touch with the working clergy of all parties In his church than any other clergyman now in New York His reply wasthat the use of the wafer has spread from the High Church party to others. The req sons given are easy enough to under stand-the assurance of purity in the bread itself and convenience in hand- ling 1t. The doetfinal reason connected with the institution of the Sacrament would, of courset affect only those hold ing more or less ritualistic views. The first of the two reasons given reflects somewhat strongly upon the character of contemporary bakers, who, 1t Is said, HTc III the ndDlt Ol InlFOuuGlIS fUlp their manufacture alum and other things not properly belonging to bread.
 The eucharistie wafers are as thin as their name Implies. They are com pounded simply of flour and water made into paste and lightly baked, so as not to become brown in any part, in four sided moulds. Each mould gene rally forms from four to six circular impressions, some of them larger and some smaller. Within each of these circles the mould leaves an impression in relief of the sacred monogram. "I. H. s." the three nails of the Passion, a cross. or some combination of these eymbols The work of manufacturing altar bread, as it is called, is chiefly carried on in the sisterhoods, so far as the Episcopalians and Lutherans are and the same applies to the Roman Catholics, though in the last named denomination the bread is sold | in large quantities by the same firms which supply specially pure wine, wax | candles and other material for the | church services, Of late years, howev CT, st. Marks parish, in Jersey City, | has been thriving in modest way by | this industry. The devout women of | that parish began the work of prepar- | ing altar bread, it is said, with no i thought of supplying any but their own church, but their success was so en- that larger apparatus was purchased, and soon the parish was de- l irving a substantial revenue from or lers received from other churches even from foreign countries.
 It must be remembered that one of he merits of this bread, in view of its ,pecial purpose is It's non-liability to II lecay and it's extreme portability. In packages of twenty or more, the long wafers can be transported Q great distances and kept for many weeks, or even months. When, needed Or service the wafers are easily cut nto circular portions with tools, usual y in two sizes, made of circular hape expressly for this purpose. Ar CT cutting the portions, it is enjoined lpon the sacristan, in churches where he high eucharistic doctrine Is taught. ,lways carefully to smooth the edge of ,ach individual portion, so as to prevent he crumbling of the ''sacred species" IS 1t is called after conservation, for the all of the minutest crumb upon the loor would be regarded as horrible Iesecration. The cost of the waters va ies according to their size, though the uality of the paste itself Is supposed o be uniform, from its very simplicity