Chalice

(Chalice of St. Gozlin, 10th Century. Treasury of the Cathedral at Nancy)

HISTORY

The chalice occupies the first place among sacred vessels, and by a figure of speech the material cup is often used as if it were synonymous with the Precious Blood itself. "The chalice of benediction, which we bless", writes St. Paul, "is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" (I. Cor., x, 16). No reliable tradition has been preserved to us regarding the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper. In the sixth and seventh centuries pilgrims to Jerusalem were led to believe that the actual chalice was still venerated in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, having within it the sponge which was presented to Our Saviour on Calvary. Curiously enough, while Antoninus of Piacenza refers to it as made of onyx, Adamnan, less than a century later, describes it as a "silver cup holding the measure of a Gallic sextarius and with two opposite handles" (see Geyer, Itinera, Hierosolimitana, pp. 154, 173, 234, 305).

(The Saint Cup - Valencia, Spain)

At a much later period two other vessels have been venerated as the

chalice of the Last Supper. One, the sacro catino of Genoa, is rather

a dish than a cup and is made of green glass, though long supposed to be

an emerald, fourteen and a half inches in diameter and of priceless value. The

other, at Valencia in Spain, is a cup of agate. The fact is that the whole tradition

is untrustworthy and of late date. It will be referred to further under the article

GRAIL, and meanwhile we may be content to quote the words of St. Chrysostom

(Hom. l in Matt.): in Matt.): "The table was not of silver, the chalice was not of

gold in which Christ gave His blood to His disciples to drink, and yet everything

there was precious and truly fit to inspire awe." So far as it is possible to collect

any scraps of information regarding the chalices in use among early Christians,

the evidence seems to favour the prevalence of glass, though cups of the

precious and of baser metals, of ivory, wood, and even clay were also in use.

(See Hefele, Beiträge, II, 323-5.) A passage of St. Irenæus (Hær., I, c. xiii)

describing a pretended miracle wrought by Mark the Gnostic who poured white

wine into his chalice and then after prayer showed the contents to be red, almost

necessarily supposes a vessel of glass, and the glass patens (patenas vitreas)

mentioned in the "Liber Pontificalis" under Zephyrinus (202-19) as well as certain

passages in Tertullian and St. Jerome, entirely favour the same conclusion. But

the tendency to use by preference the precious metals developed early. St.

Augustine speaks of two golden and six silver chalices dug up at Cirta in Africa,

(Contra Crescon., III, c. xxix), and St. Chrysostom of a golden chalice set with

gems (Hom. 1 in Matt.). As regards shape, our principal information at this early

period is derived from certain representations, said to be meant for Eucharistic

chalices, which are found in early mosaics, sarcophagi, and other monuments of

Christian art. The general prevalence of an almost stemless, vase-shaped type

with two handles, inclines us to believe that a glass vessel of this nature

discovered in the Ostrian catacomb on the Via Nomentana, and now preserved in

the Lateran Museum, may really have been a chalice. At an early date it became

common to inscribe the donor's name upon costly vessels presented to

churchcs. Thus it is known that Galla Placidia (d. 450) offered a chalice with

such an inscription to the church of Zacharias at Ravenna, and the Emperor

Valentinian III sent another to the church at Brive. Such goblets were sometimes

known as calices literati. The earliest specimen of a chalice of whose original

purpose we can feel reasonably confident is the chalice of Chelles, preserved

until the French Revolution and believed to have been wrought by, or at least to

date from the time of, the famous artificer St. Eligius of Noyon, who died in 659.

The material was gold, richly decorated with enamels and precious stones. In

shape it was without handles and like a celery glass, with a very deep cup and

no stem, but the cup was joined to the base by a knop, which under the name of

nodus or pomellum became a very characteristic feature in the chalices of the

Middle Ages. In many of the specimens described or preserved from the

Merovingian, Carlovingian, and Romanesque periods, it is possible to make a

distinction between the ordinary sacrificial chalice used by bishops and priests in

the Mass and the calices ministeriales intended for the Communion of the faithful

at Easter and other seasons when many received. These latter chalices are of

considerable size, and they are often, though not always, fitted with handles,

which, it is easy to understand, would have afforded additional security against

accidents when the sacred vessel was put to the lips of each communicant in

turn. In a rude and barbarous age the practical difficulties of Communion under

species of wine must have been considerable, and it is not wonderful that from

the Carolingian period onwards the device was frequently adopted of using a pipe

or reed (known by a variety of names, fistula, tuellus, canna, arundo, pipa,

calamus, siphon, etc.) for the Communion of both clergy and people. To this day

at the solemn papal high Mass, the chalice is brought from the altar to the pope

at his throne, and the pontiff absorbs its contents through a golden pipe. This

practice also lasted down to the reformation among the Cistercians.

Chalice, Known as Chalice of St. Remi

(12th Century. Treasury of the Cathedral at Rheims)

THE CHALICES OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Of chalices earlier than the time of Charlemagne the

existing specimens are so few and so doubtful that

generalization of any kind is almost impossible. Besides

the already mentioned chalice of Chelles, now destroyed,

only two of those still preserved can be referred

confidently to a date earlier than the year 800. The most

remarkable of these is that of Tassilo, which bears the

inscription TASSILO DUX FORTIS + LUITPIRG VIRGA (sic) REGALIS. This

beautiful piece of metal work exhibits an egg-shaped cup joined to a small

conical base by a knop. The character of the ornamentation shows clearly the

predominance of Irish influences, even if it be not actually the work of an Irish

craftsman. Plainer in design, but very similar in form, is the chalice said to have

belonged to St. Ledger. Its Eucharistic character is proved beyond doubt by the

inscription which it bears: HIC CALIX SANGVINIS DNI IHV XTI. If, as is possible,

these words are intended to form a chronogram, they yield the date 788. Of the

succeeding period, by far the most remarkable example preserved is the

magnificent relic of Irish art known as the Chalice of Ardagh (see picture), from

the place near which it was accidentally discovered in 1868. This is a

"ministerial" chalice and it has two handles. It is seven inches in height but as

much as nine and a half inches in diameter, and the bowl is capable of

containing nearly three pints of liquid. The material is silver alloyed with copper,

but gold and other metals have been used in its wonderful ornamentation,

consisting largely of interlacing patterns and rich enamels. An inscription in very

interesting ancient characters gives simply the names of the Twelve Apostles, a

list of course highly suggestive of the Last Supper. The date conjecturally

assigned to this masterpiece from the letters of the inscription is the ninth or

tenth century. But in any case the broadening of the cup and the firm and wide

base indicate a development which is noticeable in nearly all the chalices of the

Romanesque period. The chalice known as that of St. Gozlin, Bishop of Toul

(922-962), is still preserved in the cathedral of Nancy. In its broad, low, circular

form it much resembles the last-named chalice. Another very beautiful ministerial

chalice with handles, but of later date (twelfth century?), is that of the Abbey of

Wilten in the Tyrol. It may be added that although these double-handled cups of

precious metal were no doubt primarily intended for the Communion of the

people, they were also on great occasions used by the celebrant in the Holy

Sacrifice. The fresco in the under-church of San Clemente in Rome (eleventh

century?), representing the Mass of St. Clement, shows a two-handled chalice

upon the altar, and the same may be seen in the famous liturgical ivory panel of

the Spitza collection (Kraus, Christliche Kunst, II, 18)

(The Great Chalice of Antioch)

It is certain, however, that the chalices commonly used for the private Masses of

parish priests and monks were of a simpler character, and in the eighth, ninth

and following centuries much legislation was devoted to securing that chalices

should be made of becoming material. From are mark attributed to St. Boniface

(c. 740) that in the early ages of the Church the priests were of gold and the

chalices of wood, but that now the chalices were of gold and the priests of wood,

it might be inferred that he would have favoured simplicity in the furniture of the

altar, but the synodal decrees of this period only aimed at promoting suitable

reverence for the Mass. England seems to have taken the lead in this matter,

and in any case the English canons may be quoted as typical of those which

soon afterwards were enforced everywhere. Thus the Council of Celchyth

(Chelsea) forbade the use of chalices or patens of horn quod de sanguine sunt,

and the canons passed in the reign of Edgar, under St. Dunstan, enjoined that all

chalices in which the "housel is hallowed" should be of molten work (calic

gegoten) and that none should be hallowed in a wooden vessel. The laws of the

Northumbrian priests imposed a fine upon all who should "hallow housel" in a

wooden chalice and the so-called canons of Ælfric repeated the injunction that

chalices of molten material, gold, silver, glass (glaesen) or tin should be used,

not horn, and especially not wood. Horn was rejected because blood had entered

into its composition. Probably, however, the most famous decree was that

included in the "Corpus Juris" (cap. xlv, dist. i, de consecratione) "that the

chalice of the Lord, together with the paten, if not gold, must be entirely made of

silver. If, however, anyone is so poor, let him at least have a chalice of pewter.

The chalice must not be made of brass or copper, because it generates rust (i. e.

verdigris) which causes nausea. And let no one presume to say Mass with a

chalice of wood or glass. This decree is traditionally attributed to a certain

council of Reims, but Hefele is unable to identife it.

From the eleventh century onwards sufficient chalices and representations of

chalices survive to enable us to draw conclusions regarding their evolution of

form. A round knop, short stem, broad firm base, and wide, rather shallow cup

are characteristic of the earlier period. One of the richest surviving examples is

the chalice known as that of St. Remi. It is remarkable for the maledictory

inscription engraved on its base: QUICUNQUE HUNC CALICEM INVADIAVERIT

VEL AB HAC ECCLESIA REMENSI ALIQUO MODO ALIENAVERIT ANATHEMA

SIT. FIAT AMEN. In the thirteenth century, while the cup of the ordinary chalice

still remains broad and rather low, and base and knop are circular, we find a

certain development of the stem. On the other hand the cup, in a large number of

examples of the fourteenth century, tends to assume a conical or funnel shape,

while the stem and knop become angular, or prismatic in section, generally

hexagonal. The base is often divided into six lobes to match the stem, and the

knop itself is sometimes resolved into a group of studs or bosses, which in

certain fifteenth-century specimens give place to a mass of areading and

architectural ornament set with figures. The stem is at the same time elongated

and becomes much taller. Under Renaissance influences, on the other hand, the

ornamentation in the more sumptuous specimens of chalices is often excessive,

spending itself in the form of figured repoussé work upon the base and stem. The

cup almost invariably assumes a tulip shape, which continues during the

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while the chalice greatly increases in

height. With this, in the seventeenth century, often went a very thin stem, or

again a quite inadequate base, so that many chalices of this period leave the

well-founded impression of bring either fragile or top heavy. The question of the

restriction of Communion under both kinds and the consequent withdrawal of the

chalice from the laity is a matter of some obscurity and does not belong to the

present article. In many places where the Precious Blood was no longer given to

the people, it seems that to reconcile them more easily to the change, a cup

containing simple wine was presented to each communicant as he left the

sanctuary after receiving the Sacred Host. Parish priests were enjoined to

explain very carefully to the people that this was only ordinary wine intended to

enable them to swallow the Host more readily. This practice, called purificatio, is

still prescribed as part of the rite of the General Communion on Easter Day in the

"Cæremonial Episcoporum" (II, cap. xxix). Probably a special chalice of large

capacity was reserved for this purpose. As it was very probably a chalice of large

capacity, with handles, it seems impossible to distinguish such a goblet from the

calix ministerialis of earlier times. Another kind of chalice referred to by

archæologists is that said to have been used after baptism to give milk and

honey to the neophytes, but no definite surviving example of such a vessel

seems to be known.

PRESENT LEGISLATION

According to the existing law of the Church the chalice, or at least the cup of it,

must be made either of gold or of silver, and in the latter case the bowl must be

gilt on the inside. In circumstances of great poverty or in time of persecution a

calix stanneus (pewter) may be permitted, but the bowl of this also, like the

upper surface of the paten, must be gilt. Before the chalice and paten are used in

the Sacrifice of the Mass they require consecration. This rite is carried out

according to a form specially provided in the "Pontificale" and involving the use of

holy chrism. The consecration must be performed by a bishop (or in the case of

chalices intended for monastic use, by an abbot possessing the privilege), and a

bishop cannot in an ordinary way delegate any priest to perform this function in

his place. Further, if the chalice lose its consecration -- which happens for

example if it be broken or the cup perforated, or even if it has had to be sent to

have the bowl regilded-it is neccesary that it should be reconsecrated by the

bishop before it can again be used. Strictly speaking, only priests and deacons

are permitted to touch the chalice or paten, but leave is usually granted to

sacristans and those officially appointed to take charge of the vestments and

sacred vessels.

ADJUNCTS OF THE CHALICE

These are the corporal, the purificator, the pall, the burse, and the chalice veil.

The corporal (q.v.) will be considered separately.

The purificator (purificatorium or more anciently emunctorium) now consists of a

rectangular piece of linen usually folded twice lengthwise and laid across the top

of the chalice. It is used for wiping and drying the chalice, or the paten, or the

priest's lips, e.g. after the ablutions. Unlike the corporal and the pall, it requires

no special blessing. In the Middles Age it was not customary, as it is nowadays,

for each priest to have a purificator of his own, frequently renewed, but it seems

that a cloth of this kind was kept at the altar which was used in common by all.

The pall is a small square of stiffened linen ornamented with a cross, which is

laid upon the orifice of the chalice to protect its contents from flies or dust. The

word pallium, or palla, was originally used of all kinds of coverings, notably of

what we now call the altar-cloths, and also of the corporal. Even in St. Gregory of

Tours (Hist. Franc., VII, xxii) we read of the sacred gifts being veiled by a pallium,

which was probably some sort of corporal. But about the time of St. Anselm (c.

1100) the custom seems to have grown up in some places of using two corporals

at the altar. One was spread out, and upon it the chalice and host were laid. The

other, folded into smaller compass, served only to cover the chalice (sce Giorgi,

Liturgia Rom. Pont., II, 220, III, 79-81). This folded corporal is now represented by

the little disk of linen which we call the pall. At one time it was forbidden to cover

the pall with silk or rich embroidery; now the upper surface may be of silk and

embroidered, but the under-side, which is in contact with the chalice, must still

be linen. The original identity of the pall and the corporal is further illustrated by

the fact that both alike require to be specially blessed before use.

The chalice veil and the burse (q.v.) are of comparatively recent introduction.

Even Burchard, the compiler of the "Ordo Missae" (1502), now represented by

the rubricae generales of the Roman Missal, supposes that the chalice and

paten were brought by the priest to the altar in a sacculum or lintheum, which

seems to have been the ancestor of the present veil. The burse, which is simply

a cover used to keep the corporal from being soiled, and which for that reason

was known in Old English as a "corporas-case", is somewhat older. Several

medieval burses are still preserved in the collection at Danzig. Nowadays both

burse and veil are usually made of the same material as that of the set of

vestments to which they belong, and they are similarly ornamented.

THE CHALICE IN ART

From what has already been said it will be clear that

the chalice, as the most important of all the vessels in

church use, must have exercised an incalculable

influence upon the early developments of the

goldsmith's craft. Such monuments as the Ardagh

chalice and the Tassilo chalice, both of Irish origin,

stand almost alone in the information they afford of an

otherwise unsuspected mechanical skill and richness of

ornament, particularly in the matter of enamels, in a

remote and barbarous age. The earliest, documents

connected with the life of St. Patrick reveal the fact that

the artificers of chalices and bells had a certain status

which in that rude age won respect for the arts of

peace. The chalice in a particular way was identified

with the priesthood. This sacred vessel, which now stands upon the priest's coffin

during his obsequies, recalls the time when a small chalice of metal or of wax

was buried with him in his tomb; and the chalice which is the recognized emblem

of so many saints -- e.g., St. John the Evangelist -- suggests in many instances

the promise made by Christ to His followers, "if ye shall drink any deadly thing it

shall not hurt you". To attempt to illustrate the characteristics of the artistic silver

work in the different countries of Europe would take us too far. But it is much to

be desired that by the favour shown to good material, skilful workmanship, and a

pure type of art, the chalices constructed for the liturgical use of the Church may

still serve as an encouragement of all that is best in the craft of the worker in

precious metals.

HISTORY AND ARCHÆLOGY-HEFELE, Beiträge zur Kirchengeschichte (Tübingen, 1864), II,

322-30; ROHAULT DE FLEURY, La Messe (Paris, 1886), Vol. IV, a work which contains by far the

best collection of illustrations of medieval chalices; BÄUMER, in Kirchenlex. s.v. KELCH;

THALHOFER, Litugik (Freiburg, 1890), I; BOCK in the Jahrbuch of the Vienna Central Commission,

IV; WEISS, in the Mittheilungen of the Vienna Central Commission, IV; REUSENS, Eléments

d'archéologie chrét. (Aachen, 1885), I, 232, 460, II, 320; OTTE, Handbuch der Kunst-Archeologie

(1886), I; LINAS, Orfèvrerie Mérovingienne (Paris, 1864); CORBLET, Histoire de l'Eucharistie (Paris,

1886), II, 241-273; BERGNER, Handbuch der kirchlichen Kunstalterhümer (Leipsig, 1905), 320-27;

WILLIAMS, The Arts and Crafts of Spain (3 vols., London, 1907)

ECCLESIASTICAL LAW.-BARBIER DE MONTAULT, Le mobilier ecclésiastique (2 vols., Paris,

1887) ; VAN DER STAPPEN, Sacra Liturgia (Mechlin, 1903), III, 96-110; WERNZ, Jus Decretalium

(Rome, 1903), III.

Herbert Thurston

Transcribed by Wm Stuart French, Jr.

Dedicated to Sister Anna Maria, MICM and Sister Mary Theresa, MICM

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III

Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor

Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

The Catholic Encyclopedia: NewAdvent.org