Symbolism of Monstrance and

Chalice in Eucharistic Theology

LIT-D512 Eucharist Final Presentation

Lance Quentin Xavier Magnotta
November 16, 2017
 Points of Consideration

❧ Symbolism and significance of chalice.

❧ Symbolism and significance of monstrance.

❧ Eucharistic theologies identified.

❧ Development of Eucharistic practice.

❧ Tensions between immanence and transcendence

Foley on Reformation Era

❧ Chalice: standardized, priest only (Foley, 277).

❧ Communion: bread only for laity, seldom (Ibid.,

281).

❧ Monstrance: central Eucharistic presence for laity

(Ibid., 278).

❧ Transubstantiation as real presence (Ibid., 285).

❧ Embraces Roman missal for liturgies (Ibid., 274).

 Council of Trent Era
❧ Solidarity and unity stressed (“Decree on the Sacrament of
the Eucharist,” §1635).

❧ Latria towards God in the Eucharist (Ibid., §1643).

❧ Exposition and procession of Eucharist (Ibid., §1644 ).

❧ Either species is “sufficient for salvation” (“Doctrine and

Canons on Communion,” §1726).

❧ Communion under one kind.* Vatican decides (Ibid., §1728).

❧ Pope arbiter of Eucharistic chalice reception (“Decree on

the Request for the Granting of the Chalice,” §1760).
 Council of Trent Era
❧ Controversy of the Chalice: whether both species were needed for
sacramental grace (Long, 149).

❧ Chalice for priest only during Reformation era (Huels, 386).

❧ Symbolism of monstrance: presence “divinizes” believers (Tricoire,

39).

❧ Theologies of the Eucharist: Concomitance (Huels, 390-91).

Transubstantiation ( Ibid., 391).
Church as teacher (Ibid., 393).

Immanence over transcendence (Foley, 348).

Chalice and Monstrance
th
16 Century
 Foley on Liturgy Post
1903
❧ Vessel design simplified: gold, silver, metal alloys used (Foley,
339).

❧ Mass production of vessels on assembly line (Ibid., 341).

❧ Vessels of various arrays and periods widely available (Ibid.,

341).

❧ Symbolism of vessels important to Church, theologians (Ibid.,

341).

❧ Symbolism of vessels important to understanding liturgy (Ibid.,

342).
Opening of Vatican II
 Vatican II Era
❧ Renewal, reform of Eucharistic understanding (Sacrosanctum
Concilium, §45).

❧ Communion of both kinds (Ibid., §55).

❧ Adoration, devotion to blessed sacrament (Redemptionis Sacramentum,

§140).

❧ Guilds, sodalities, perpetual adoration encouraged (Ibid., §141).

❧ Vessels designed by customs of region (GIRM, § 332).

❧ Blessing of vessels enhances symbolism (Ibid., §333).

 Vatican II Era
Chalice symbolism: Solidarity, unity with Christ and others (O’Loughlin, 493).

Monstrance symbolism: “perfection” of “Eucharist activity” (O’Loughlin, 503).

Laity’s identity in becoming like Christ (Lucie-Smith, 656).

Eucharistic devotion: mission of laity: union of faith and daily living (Tkacik, 90)

Theologies of the Eucharist: Mystery of faith (O’Connor, 263).

Presence of Christ in liturgy (Ibid., 264).

“‘Transignification’” and “‘transfinalization’” (Ibid., 265).

Liturgy should reflect experience of believers* (Nichols, 603-04).

Immanence <-->Transcendence (Foley, 348).

Vatican II Vessels
 Brief History of St. Kateri’s

❧ Formed by 4 Parishes who were consolidated (Beatty interview).

❧ Tornado destroyed St. Josephs, prior church in Ridgway (Ibid.).

❧ Lots of grief over parishes lost, especially St. Joseph’s (Ibid.).

❧ St. Kateri’s erected on canonization day of “The Lily of the

Mohawks” (Ibid.).

❧ St. Kateri’s began in a state of disunity but gradually unified (Ibid.)

St. Joseph’s > St. Kateri’s
 St. Kateri’s

❧ Communion under both kinds: symbol of solidarity (Beatty interview).

❧ Eucharistic adoration: reminder of mission in the world (Ibid.).

❧ Common, dignified, noble vessels (chalice, monstrance) (Ibid.).

❧ Chalice: simple, non-absorbent, non-breakable, bronze, gold plated

(Ibid.).

❧ Monstrance: simple, non-absorbent, non-breakable, brass, allow

plating (Ibid.).
St. Kateri’s
St. Kateri’s
 St. Kateri’s

❧ Bread and wine offered to all communicants (Beatty interview).

❧ Chalice symbolizes unity of all believers, solidarity (Ibid.).

❧ Monstrance: symbol of mission, devotion to Eucharist, processions

(Ibid.).

❧ Theologies of the Eucharist: Transubstantiation: real presence (Ibid.).

Common union through Eucharist
(Ibid.).
Commitment to mission in Christ (Ibid.).
Immanence tension with transcendence.
St. Kateri’s
What are the connection
to St. Kateri’s?
❧ Adoration and reception of Eucharist.

❧ Laity receive communion wine from chalice.

❧ Chalice and monstrance symbolize lay unity with

Christ.

❧ Solidarity and unity of the church despite prior

disunity.

❧ Eucharistic theologies stress immanence and

transcendence.

❧ Stress needed on balance between immanence and

transcendence for this community.
Images of St. Kateri Tekakwitha
 Bibliography
Beatty, Steven. Interview concerning Eucharist at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish by author. October 26, 2017.
 
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. General Instruction on the Roman Missal. Translated
by The International Commission on English in the Liturgy. 3rd typical ed. Washington, DC: United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, 2011. Accessed November 15, 2017. http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/
general-instruction-of-the-roman-missal/.
 
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum: On Certain
Matters to be Observed or to be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana,
2004. Accessed November 15, 2017.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423
_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html.
 
Denzinger, Heinrich. Edited by Peter Hünermann, Robert Fastiggi, and Anne Englund Nash. “Council of Trent: Decree on the
Request for the Granting of the Chalice.” In Enchiridion Symbolorum: Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et
Morum: Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations of the Catholic Church, 421. 43rd Edition. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 2012.
 
Denzinger, Heinrich. Edited by Peter Hünermann, Robert Fastiggi, and Anne Englund Nash. “Council of Trent: Decree on the
Sacrament of the Eucharist.” In Enchiridion Symbolorum: Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum:
Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations of the Catholic Church, 392-399. 43rd Edition. San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 2012.
 
Denzinger, Heinrich. Edited by Peter Hünermann, Robert Fastiggi, and Anne Englund Nash. “Council of Trent: Doctrine and
Canons on Communion under Both Species and the Communion of Young Children.” In Enchiridion Symbolorum:
Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum: Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations of the
Catholic Church, 413-416. 43rd Edition. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012.
 Bibliography
Foley, Edward. “Reform and Counter-Reform: 1517-1903.” In From Age to Age: How Christians Have Celebrated the
Eucharist, 297-252. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008.
 
Foley, Edward. “Renewal, Reaction, and an Unfolding Vision: 1903 to Tomorrow.” In From Age to Age: How Christians Have
Celebrated the Eucharist, 297-252. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008.
 
Huels, John M. “Trent and the Chalice: Forerunner of Vatican II?” Worship 56, no. 5 (September 1982): 386-400. EBSCOhost.
Accessed November 10, 2017. http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=vah&AN=ATLA0000795070&site=ehost-live.

Long, Kevin G. “The Chalice Controversy and the Council of Trent.” Faith and Reason, 10 (1984): 149-163. Ebscohost.
Accessed November 15, 2017. http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=vah&AN=CPLI0000121878&site=ehost-live.
 
Lucie-Smith, Alexander. “Liturgy and Moral Theology: Making the Connections.” The Heythrop Journal 53, no. 4
(September 6, 2011): 649–661. Ebscohost. Accessed November 15, 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00548.x.
http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=afh&AN=76372983&site=ehost-live.
 
Nichols, Aidan. “Presenting the Chalice of God A Theological Manifesto for the Contemporary Church, Where I Ask, What is
Theology, What Form Should It Take, What Content Should It Have?” Nova Et Vetera (English Edition) 11, no.
3 (Summer 2013): 601-608. EBSCOhost. Accessed November 10, 2017.
http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=a9h&AN=91871484&site=ehost-live.
 
 Bibliography
O’Connor, James T. “Peter and the Eucharist: From Trent to Vatican Council II” in The Hidden Manna: A Theology of
the Eucharist, 236-274. Second Edition. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2005.
 
O’Loughlin, Thomas. “The Liturgical Vessels of the Latin Eucharistic Liturgy: the Case of an Embedded Theology.”
Worship 82 (2008), 482-504. Ebscohost. Accessed November 1, 2017.
http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.
ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=vah&AN=ATLA0001686640&site=e
host-live.
 
Paul VI. Sacrosanctum Concilium: Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1963.
Accessed November 1, 2017. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/
vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html.
 
Tkacik, Michael J. “Eucharist and Liturgy as a Means to Social Justice in Vatican II.” Social Justice Review (2001):
88-91. Ebscohost. Accessed November 15, 2017.
http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=
true&db=vah&AN=CPLI0000288136&site=ehost-live.
 
Tricoire, Damien. “What Was the Catholic Reformation?: Marian Piety and the Universalization of Divine Love.” The
Catholic Historical Review 103, no. 1 (2017): 20–49. Ebscohost. Accessed November 15, 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1353/cat.2017.0001.
http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&AN=
121641029&site=ehost-live.
 
 Image Citations
Images:
 
Slide 1: Thomas Aquinas Eucharist Image: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FXqAFd-3eRU/VOy8r0BO48I/AAAAAAAAAJA/
LHFTZWZ2VwQ/s1600/Thomaswriting.jpg.
Kateri Parish symbol: Facebook image.

Slide 6: Chalice: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/md/web-large/sf50-181s1.jpg.

Monstrance: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/es/web-large/41902.jpg.

Slide 8: Vatican 2: https://www.osv.com/Portals/4/Images/OSV/2015/0315/0315_p11.jpg.

 
Side 11: Chalice: http://www.saintpaulsmilton.org.uk/images/vessels/chalice.gif.
Monstrance: http://www.saintpaulsmilton.org.uk/images/vessels/monstrance.gif.

Slide 13: St. Joseph’s:

http://thesouthern.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/photos-ridgway-s-st-kateri-catholic-church-
replaces-church-destroyed/collection_8fb690dd-e097-5a61-bf9c-5906a1dec056.html.
St. Kateri’s: http://thesouthern.com/churches/new-st-kateri-catholic-church-in-ridgway-illinois/image_258a9b99-
c50c-5f51-ae2d-0c67cacd66a6.html.
 
Slide 15: Pictures of Kateri’s congregation from Facebook.
 
Slide 16: Kateri’s Eucharistic images from Facebook.

Slide 18: Chalice: https://static.trinityroad.com/prod/500/chalice-and-scale-paten-2029031.jpg Bronze, gold plated

Monstrance: https://static.trinityroad.com/prod/500/cross-monstrance-luna-2009020.jpg Brass

Slide 21: Images of St. Kateri. http://www.stkateri.net/images/stKateri.png.

http://www.stkateri.net/images/stKateri2.jpg.