The title of this post might strike you as odd but there is a history. There was a trend in the history of the Church, some point to periods as early as the 4th century, when the reception of the Eucharist began to diminish. There was not a corresponding diminishment of faith, orthodoxy or rejection of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, rather it was a growing sense of not being worthy. The history and scholarly opinions on the underlying reasons are subject of much ink and debate, but from that period of history up into the middle ages, various synods, local councils and Church councils directed that there was a minimum for the reception of the Eucharist. We see that legacy today in the “Easter Duty,” the reception of the Holy Eucharist at least once during the Easter Season. This trend seems to have been consistent up to the 9th century when another issue arose.

In the French Abbey of Corbie, the abbot Paschasius wrote a strong defense of what we would call the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. His writing was opposed by one the monks, Ratramnus, who held that Christ’s Body in the Eucharist cannot be the same as Christ’s historical body once on earth and now in heaven because the Eucharistic is invisible, impalpable, and spiritual. Ratramnus wanted to hold on to the Real Presence but stressed the Eucharist as symbolic rather than corporeal. His book on the subject was condemned by the Synod of Vercelli, and his ideas, it is held, have influenced all subsequent theories that contradicted the traditional teaching of the Church.

Within two centuries the issue had reached such a point of gravity that a formal declaration was evoked from the Holy See. In 1079, Archdeacon Berengar of Tours who favored Ratramnus’ position and wrote against what he considered the excessive realism of Paschasius, was required by Pope Gregory VII to accept the following declaration of faith in the Eucharistic presence:

“I believe in my heart and openly profess that the bread and wine placed upon the altar are, by the mystery of the sacred prayer and the words of the Redeemer, substantially changed into the true and life-giving flesh and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, and that after the consecration, there is present the true Body and Blood of Christ which was born of the Virgin and, offered up for the salvation of the world, hung on the cross and now sits at the right hand of the Father, and that there is present the true Blood of Christ which flowed from His side. They are present not only by means of a sign and of the efficacy of the sacrament, but also in the very reality and truth of their nature and substance.”

The history of theological explanation of the Real Presence has its own history with a minority of theologians taking positions that, in some way and degree, were variations of Ratramnus’ position. But there is good evidence to show that when the elevation of the Host at Mass was introduced in the early years of the thirteenth century, it was in support of the Real Presence as seen in Gregory VII’s declaration, and in protest of the Eucharistic views of groups such as the Albigensian and theologians including the influential Paris theologian Peter the Chanter. The elevations could be accompanied by a special candle, by the ringing of a handbell, or even by the tolling of the church bells. The ringing of the bells was to call people from their own private prayer to their chance to see the elevation of the host.

It is at this juncture in history that an idea, by degrees, took firm hold of the popular mind that special virtue and merit were attached to the act of looking at the Blessed Sacrament. Exceptional benefit was attached to it. It was presumed and sometimes preached that no evil could befall a person in body or mind, at home or abroad, if he had beheld the Host uplifted at Mass in the morning. To such extremes this thinking ventured, that the seeing of the Host at the moment of the elevation was judged to be the most vital part of attendance at Mass. On certain churches in Spain a screen of black velvet was held up behind the altar in order that the priest’s hands and the Host might be more easily seen from afar; in others strict injunctions were given to the thurifer that he should on no account allow the smoke of the thurible to obstruct the view of the Host. In medieval towns where churches/chapels were relatively close, people would move from Mass to Mass in order to see the elevation of the Host.

It is at this same time in history that the Feast of Corpus Christi came into being and the Eucharist was carried in procession. This was another opportunity to “see” and worship (latria) the Eucharist, but at the same time reception of the Eucharist by the faithful was still being mandated even as Eucharistic adoration increased in popularity and practice.

This same period saw the start of giving of benediction with the Blessed Sacrament raised tip above the people. The earliest record we have of such a blessing having been given dates from the year 1301, in Hildesheim, Germany. There the abbot prescribed the ceremonies that were to take place for the feast of Corpus Christi. The celebrant was to carry the Host in procession to the main altar. But the procession was to lead him to different stations, at one of which, in the midst of the cloister, he mounted the steps of the altar and blessed those assembled with the Eucharist. This was a new departure from the custom of  blessing objects and persons with the sign of the cross.

This marked a point in time where several different streams of devotion came together to form the present devotion of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The Blessed Sacrament was being exposed; hymns, prayers and processions were being held in honor of the Eucharist, and the blessing was given with the Host. It was not to be long before all three features of the devotion would be merged into one, and made a devotion separate from the Mass, separate even from the feast of Corpus Christi.

Image credit: G. Corrigan, CANVA, CC-BY-NC