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Host desecration is a sacrilegious act committed against a consecrated host.

Background

In the Middle Ages, both Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches have adopted the concept of transsubstantiation, which was first officially recognized at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. The concept holds that during the celebration of the Eucharist the offerings of bread and wine are changed: their substance is transformed respectively into the body and blood of Jesus, while the appearance of bread and wine remain. Since Christians believe Jesus to be "true God and true man", his body and blood in the form of the consecrated host are adored in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Theft, sale, or use of the host for any purpose other than that specified by the laws and traditions of the Churches is considered a grave sin and sacrilege. In the Catholic Church the act incurs the penalty of automatic excommunication; except in the case of danger of death, this excommunication can only be lifted by the Apostolic See. (See Code of Canon Law, Canon 1367.) It was widely believed that under certain circumstances, such as disbelief or desecration, the host can display supernatural properties.

Other Christian churches, especially those of Protestant denominations, have similar beliefs regarding rituals related to the Eucharist and the Last Supper (or Lord's Supper); however, they differ with Catholics and Orthodox Christians in their beliefs about the meaning of the Last Supper, and the Real Presence of Jesus.

Host desecration has been associated with groups identified as inimicable to Christianity. Notably, it plays an important part in rituals of Satanism, particularly the Black Mass.

Accusations against Jews

Accusations of host desecration leveled against the Jews were a common pretext for massacres and expulsions throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. At the time, some considered the Jewish people to be responsible for the death of Christ. It was claimed that Jews stole consecrated hosts and desecrated them to reenact Christ's crucifixion.

These accusations may have been based on the belief that Jews also considered the host the literal body of Jesus; by crucifying it they imagined they were crucifying Jesus anew. They were believed to use blood that flowed from the host to get rid of the "fœtor Judaicus," or to color their cheeks to give them a fresh and rosy appearance.

In some variants of this claim, the stabbed Host would bleed, inducing religious conversion in the Jew. Later variants appear to further vilify Jews, depicting them as burying the Host in an attempt to hide it, rather than converting. Where the wafer was buried, a new spring burst forth from the ground.

In one instance, Jews were said to be burying pieces of a pierced host in a meadow, which then transformed into butterflies that healed cripples and blind persons. In another example, angels and doves flew out of a stove in which Jews were burning the desecrated host. Again, the pieces fluttered out of a swamp, and a herd of grazing oxen, on seeing them, bowed down before them. The blood from the host was said to have splashed the foreheads of the Jews, leaving an indelible mark that betrayed them.

Variations in the claims aside, Jews in the Middle Ages were frequently victims of similar accusations, considered more serious desecration of other revered items, such as relics or images of Jesus and the saints. It has been suggested that accusations were often supported only by the testimony of the accuser, who may potentially bear a prejudice against the accused Jew, or the Jewish people. Despite this, some alleged perpetrators were tried and found guilty, on little evidence or under coercive confession.

Violence against Jews

The penalities for Jews accused of defiling Hosts were severe. False confessions were coerced by torture, and accused Jews were condemned and burned, sometimes with all the other Jews in the community, as happened in Berlitz in 1243, in Prague in 1389, and in many German cities, according to Ocker's writings in the Harvard Theological Review. According to William Nichol in Christian Antisemitism, "over 100 instances of the charge have been recorded, in many cases leading to massacres." Many Jews were killed for host desecration until it started to wane with the advent of Protestantism.

Occurrences of the accusations against the Jews

Accusations of host desecration first arose in the middle of the thirteenth century, after the Fourth Lateran Council's definition of the doctrine of transubstantiation (1215) led to an increased adoration of the consecrated host. The origin of antisemitism is complex and other events of the thirteen century such as the loss of the Crusader states and the expansion of Islam and the Mongol Empire into Christendom played roles in the trend of scapegoating Jews. Accusations of host desecration served as a validation for existing antisemitism rather than a primary cause.

The first recorded accusation was made in 1243 at Berlitz, near Berlin, and in consequence of it all the Jews of Belitz were burned on the spot, subsequently called Judenberg. Similar accusations, resulting in extensive persecution of Jews, were brought forward in 1290, at Paris; 1294, at Laa, in Austria; 1298, at Röttingen, near Würzburg, and at Korneuburg, near Vienna; 1299, at Ratisbon; 1306, at Saint-Pälten; 1325, at Cracow; 1330, at Güstrow; 1337, at Deggendorf; 1338, at Pulka; 1370, at Enghien (see Brussels); 1388, at Prague; 1399, at Posen; 1401, at Glogau; 1410, at Segovia; 1420, at Ems; 1453, at Breslau; 1478, at Passau; 1492, at Sternberg, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin; 1510, at Berlin; 1514, at Mittelberg, in Alsace; 1558, at Sochaczew, in Poland. The last Jew burned for stealing a host died in 1631, according to Jacques Basnage, quoting from Manasseh b. Israel. Casimir IV. of Poland (1447), Martin Luther (1523), and Sigismund August of Poland (1558) were among those who repudiated the accusation, the repetition of which gradually ceased after the Reformation. (source: Jewish Encyclopedia)

Accusations against hunters

In late medieval and early modern ages, hunters who used the newly invented firearms were occasionally accused of striking a pact with the devil. The hunter would hire a jew to steal a consecrated eucharistic host, which was then suspended from trees using strings. The hunter would load his rifle, turn his back to the wafer and fire over his shoulder right through the host. Blood which dripped from the wafer was then allegedly collected and poured into the molten lead used to cast bullets. The hunter was supposed to cast ten bullets this way, nine of which would never miss a game, regardless of the distance or difficult conditions. One of the ten bullets, however, belonged to Satan and no person could tell in advance what (or whom) would be hit by it.

See also

• Eucharist
• Transsubstantiation

References

• Jewish Encyclopedia
• Robert S. Wistrich Antisemitism; The Longest Hatred, Methuen London
• John Weiss Ideology of Death, Ivan R. Dee, ISBN 1-56663-088-6
• Christopher Ocker, Ritual Murder and the Subjectivity of Christ: A Choice in Medieval Christianity, The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 91, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 153-192

External links

• Article Sacrilege in the Catholic Encyclopedia

• Anti-Semitic canards
• Moral panics