Milford chronicle., 1903-01-30
THE USE OF THE UNLEAVENED VA
RiETY SPREADING.

Interesting Details About the Wafer
Used In the Service at the Altar
Something About the Process OF
Manufacture.
A fact which seems to be little known
even among well 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 genera
tion the use of this form of bread was al
ways taken to be an indication of ex-
treme high church tendencies. After the
reformation it became customary in the
English Established church, of which the
American Episcopal is an offshOct, to con.
secrate the ordinary leavened wheat
bread of everyday life. In this, there is
no doubt, there was at first distinct in
tention to signify denial of the doctrine
of the real presence. The Lutherans, fol
lowing their founder, made no change in
this, any more than in any of the other
eucharistic practices which had been fol
lowed when Luther was young Angus
tinian friar, and to this day the strict
primitive Lutherans, of whom only few
congregations exist in this country, ad-
here to the same rules.
The question of unleavened bread in
the eucharist was a point of dispute long
before Luther's day between the Latin. or
western, and the Greek churches, the lat
ter including the Russian. For the Latin
practice the argument was that Christ
must have used unleavened bread in the
institution of the sacrament, as that insti-
tuition was made at the time of the Jew
IL. Il. 4 y. ,I-s-
maintained that the eucharistic bread was
typified in the old dispcnsation by the Of
fering of two leayened loaves at the jew
ish thanksgiving feast Of Pentecost
Cfftieth day. following the Passover, the
leaven representing the power of the
Holy Ghost to ''leaven the whole lump"
The practice of the Russian and Greek
churches even now demands that loaves
of leavened bread, baked in small pans
something us mullins are baked. shall be
expressly prepared in the priests own
household for the service of the altar.
The priest in the eucharistic service uses
a small spear shaped knife to remove the
top crust from these loaves. and any loaf
in which an air bubble is found must be
rejected as unfit for its sacred purpose.
These interesting and not generally
known details were explained by the Rev.
Professor Richey of the General Theo-
logical seminary. in the course Of his re-
ply to an inquiry whether the use of un-
leavened bread had. as was reported.
spread outside of the ritualistic church
party. Two other clergymen of the Epis-
copal denomination at two different
churches had already been asked about
the fact and had not been aware that
such was the case. Professor Richey.
however. besides being a profound ecclesi-
astica historian. is probably more closely
in touch with the working clergy of all
parties in his church than any other cler-
gyman now in New York. His reply was
that the use of the wafer has spread
from the high church party to others
The reasons given are easy enough to un-
derStand-the assurance Of purity in the
bread itself and convenience in handling
it. The ductrinal reason connected with
the institution of the sacrament would. of
course, affect only those holding more or
less ritualistic views. The first of the
two reasons given reflects strongly upon
the character of contemporary bakers.
who, it is said. are in the habit Of intro
ducing into their manufacture alum and
other things not properly belonging to
bread.
The eucharistic WATERS are as thin as
their name implies. They are compound
cd simply of flour and water made into
paste and lightly baked, so as not to be-
come brown in any part, in four sided mOlds.
Each mold generally forms from four to
six circular impressions. some of them
larger and some smaller. Within each Of
these circles the mold leaves an impress
sion in relief Of the sacred monogram, 81.
II. S." the three nails Of the Passion,
cross or some combination Of these sym
bOls.
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 concerned, 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 ma
terial for the church services. or late
years, however St. Marks parish. in Jer-
sey City. has been thriving in a modest
way by this industry. The devout WON
en Of that parish began the work of pre-
pairing altar bread. it is said, with no
thought OF supplying any but their own
church, but their success was so encOur-
aging that a larger apparatus was pur
chased. and soon the parish was deriving
substantial revenue from orders re-
ceived from other churches, even from
foreign countries.
1t must be remembered that one of the
merits of this bread. in view Of its special
purpose, is its nonliability to decay and
its extreme portability. In packages Of
20 or more the long. rectangular waters
can be transported to great distances and
kept for many weeks, or even months.
When needed for service, the waters are
easily cut into circular portions with
tools. usually in two Sizes made in cir
cular shape expressly for this purpose
After cutting the portions ii is enjOined
upon the sacristan, in churches where the
high eucharistic doctrine is taught. al
ways carefully to smooth the edge Of each
individual portion. so as to prevent the