Charles
St-George
What
happens when a father and son experiment with the
wastage of Communion hosts? What if they tell the
Pope the results?
|
Charles
St-George
408 North Street
Wheaton, Kansas 66551
United States of America
April 17, 2002
SUBJECT:
REQUEST FOR FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND LIFTING OF EXCOMMUNICATION
VERY SPECIALLY RESERVED TO HIS HOLINESS
His Holiness, Pope John Paul II
Citta Del Vaticano, Roma, Italia
Pope John Paul II,
I, Charles
Andre St-George, accuse myself of committing and
participating in grievous and numerous outrages
against the Most Blessed Sacrament from about 1980
to 1991. Please hear my plea and grant my requests.
First, I have
only recently learned according to The Roman
Catechism, p.233 "that in this Sacrament
are contained not only the true body of Christ and
all the constituents of a true body, such as bones
and sinews, but also Christ, whole and entire"
and further that, page 239 "the body of our
Lord is contained whole and entire under the least
particle of the bread."
Second, I have
only recently learned that according to The Catholic
Concise Encyclopedia, p.153 "Excommunication
is imposed according to the reservation as follows:
(a) Acts reserved to the Holy See in a very special
manner are: throwing away, taking or retaining for
evil purposes the consecrated species;...."
I confess that
I have thrown away or caused to be thrown away approximately
60,000 consecrated hosts from 1980 to 1991 and that
I caused many of these hosts to be repeatedly trampled
underfoot or otherwise desecrated. These grave sins
were not motivated by formal hatred of God, but from
a motive more banal-I did not care. This is what
I did: I was an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist
and I sometimes received our Lord in the hand instead
of on the tongue, as well. As most communicants wanted
to receive in the hand, I would gently place the Host
in their palm. As proven in my attached scientific
analysis conducted with the aid of my teenage son,
Joseph, when one receives communion in the hand there
are, on average, about four visible particles detaching
from that same host. For this trial, I bought from
Catholic Supply of St. Louis, Missouri, hosts advertised
as: "We are pleased to offer by far the best
altar bread. All of our breads have a carefully molded
sealed edge which prevents crumbs." We used
the "best" and the test result was an average
of 3.68 crumbs per communion.
I believe I
may have distributed perhaps 15,000 hosts to communicants.
It is reasonable to assume that this generated about
60,000 visible, though tiny particles. When I would
receive communion in the hand, I would check my palm
and sometimes find one or two or even more fragments
of the sacred species. While I tried to immediately
consume these by attracting them with the tip of my
right index finger, I am confident that not all particles
were always safely consumed. As Eucharistic Minister,
in many thousands of Hosts placed in palms, I never
once observed anyone else examining their palm or
fingertips to see if there were any particles remaining.
So, what happened
to these 60,000 particles containing our Lord and
God of which I bear responsibility? Quite simply,
they would eventually detach from the palms and fingertips
of these communicants as they changed position to
folded hands and the particles would drop to the floor,
or be brushed against their clothing and detach, or
find their way to destinations unknown. Most should
be assumed to have dropped to the floor while still
in the church. The above doctrine states that these
particles were the fulness of Jesus our God just as
surely as the large host which the priest consecrates
for his own consumption! Like myself, any Catholics
who have gone to Mass at a church where there has
been communion in the hand encounter a veritable minefield
where they have mindlessly, repeatedly set their heels
against the Holy Face of Jesus Christ Himself! The
thought of this horrifies me now. Some, myself included,
simply did not care to know what they were doing.
Still, does not Our Lord withdraw Himself in anguish
from such as do these things and care not? What must
the Holy Virgin think of this treatment of her crucified
Son?
Not for me,
but for the love you bear the Virgin Mother of God,
I beg from Your Holiness two things: First, please
lift this very specially reserved excommunication,
forgiving these most grievous sins, committed without
even caring, against Our Lord's very Person. Second,
please mail to me directly your personally signed
written blessing stating specifically that Your Holiness
blesses me for now seeking all sacraments and worship
of God for myself and my family (I have seven children)
at the only churches and chapels in my country where
communion in the hand has never been offered at any
Mass, the only churches and chapels where there is
a moral certainty that there are not thousands of
Sacred particles on the floors, the only chapels and
churches where my family is truly free not to trample
upon our God-to these only, the churches and chapels
of the Society of St. Pius X where communion in the
hand is still condemned as stated in the old Roman
Catechism and amongst which it has never been tolerated;
Deo Gratias. Difficulties notwithstanding,
as this is a matter touching upon God Himself, it
is prayed that Your Holiness will hear us.
With Thanks to Our One, True God-Jesus the
Christ and the One who conceived Him and was Herself
Immaculately conceived by this same True God, now
True Man,
Charles St-George, men's barber by trade
Attachment: Particle Study
|
Particle
Study
April 17, 2002 Feast of St. Anicetus
This day a brief scientific trial was undertaken
to verifiably ascertain how many, if any, consecrated particles
of the Sacred Species are typically broken away from the
hosts, and subsequently thrown-away, desecrated and abused
specifically as a consequence of the practice of communion-in-the-hand
in the Catholic Church in the United States today.
My teen-aged son, Joseph, was my aide in
this study, acting the part of the communicant while I acted
the part of the Eucharistic Minister. For the purposes of
this trial, I purchased from Catholic Supply of St. Louis,
MO, a box of 1000 1/8" diameter white altar breads,
item No. 57212, advertised on their web-site http://www.catholicsupply.com/churchs/wine.html
as follows: "We are pleased to offer by far the best
altar bread. All of our breads have a carefully molded sealed
edge which prevents crumbs. "-The questioned truthfulness
of that critical conclusion, naively believed by many, is
one reason why we decided upon this trial.
For this trial, Joseph and I prepared by
carefully washing our hands and fingers and drying same
with lintless towels. We then examined our fingertips and
Joseph's left palm which would each contact the host to
be assured they contained no foreign matter which could
be mistaken for a bread particle. I determined we would
look for particles after each and every individual "communion"
in three areas-my fingertips, Joseph's palm and Joseph's
fingertips. I further determined that we would count the
results from 25 "communions" and record how many
particles were found and where. We would only count "naked-eye
visible" particles we could both see.
The contents of one packet of altar breads
was carefully emptied into a small plastic cup. Recalling
my training as a Eucharistic Minister (may God forgive me),
I would gently take up a host between my right index finger
and thumb and place this host in Joseph's left palm with
only sufficient firmness to assure it would be transferred.
Joseph commented that eucharistic ministers at Masses he
attended were less gentle in transferring the Host to his
palm. He would then take the host between his right index
finger and thumb and place it on his tongue without touching
his fingers to his tongue. Joseph would then keep his right
index finger against his thumb and hold his left palm upward
while we both inspected: first, my right index finger, then
my right thumb, then his left palm, then his right index
finger, and finally his right thumb for any particles of
bread fractured from the host and adhering to us as a result
of this multiple manipulation and touching. We would carefully
scrape away any particles found before the next "communion"
with the blade of a sharp knife to be assured of not counting
any particles twice.
What were our trial findings? Were there
any particles of bread fractured from these 25 hosts taken
one a time from a cup and placed in Joseph's palm and taken
from his palm and transferred to his mouth? We were both
disturbed at how many particles: From the 25 "communions,"
we found a grand total of 92 individual, naked-eye visible
particles which averages to 3.68 particles per "communion."
The largest of these particles measured 60 thousandths of
an inch long, or 1.5 mm. The 6X enlarged photo (previous
page) shows 10 of the actual particles we found, counted
and saved. As detailed in the below statistical information,
we counted 27 particles from my fingertips, 47 particles
from Joseph's palm and another 18 particles from Joseph's
fingertips. Only one "communion", No.22 in the
series, was free of any visible particles. On the other
hand, the highest particle count of seven resulted
from "communions" Nos. 6, 15 and 16. It is hoped
that this trial will work to the honor of Our Lord and aid
those who still care for Him.
Below, the segregated findings for each "communion"
in numerical order.
NUMBER OF PARTICLES FOUND ON: |
Test
No. |
Eucharistic Minister's Fingers |
Communicant's Palm |
Communicant's Fingers |
1 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
15 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
16 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
17 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
18 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
19 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
20 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
21 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
22 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
24 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
25 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
27 |
47 |
18 |
FINAL
TOTAL:
92 naked-eye visible particles from 25 "communions."
We, the undersigned, verify the above report
to be truthful, |
|
|
Charles Andre St-George
Wheaton, Kansas
|
Joseph Andre St-George
Wheaton, Kansas
|
Rome's
Response
Secretariat of State
Section One-General Affaires Vatican, June
21, 2002
No. 513185
Dear Sir,
On behalf of
His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, I would like to thank you
for your letter dated April 17th, for the enclosed offering
and materials concerning the Holy Eucharist.
Answers to
questions you have raised are contained in documents approved
by the Pope: Rituale Romanum, De Sacra Comunione et de
cultu Misterii Eucharistici extra Missam, Praenotanda
21 and Congregatio de Cultu Divino et Disiplina Sacramentorum,
Instructio varietates legittimae, Nos. 31, 54, 62.
They allow reception of Holy Communion while standing and
in the hand. It is not an error provided that one's attitude
is one of respect while meeting God Who is coming. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church says about the subject: "To
prepare for worthy reception of this sacrament, the faithful
should observe the fast required in their Church. Bodily
demeanor (gestures, clothing) ought to convey the respect,
solemnity, and joy of this moment when Christ becomes our
guest" (Catechism of Catholic Church, art. 1387).
The practical application of those instructions is up to
the giver who is obliged to make sure that the faithful
are both conscious of what they receive in the Eucharist
and that they express their respect for Christ present in
the form of bread.
The palm is
not any less respectable a part of the human body than the
tongue. Christ accepted bread "fruit of the earth and
human labor" as material for the Eucharist. During
the Last Supper he did not give consecrated pieces to the
mouth of his disciples but he "broke it and gave it"
knowing that it is not possible to avoid destruction of
some particles of consecrated bread in which He is present.
Accordingly, church regulations say that both the priest
offering communion and the recipient are responsible only
for the particles which are visible without the use of optical
instruments. To make it easier in practice, the western
Church developed through the ages a tradition of passing
communion directly on the tongue of the believer. There
is, though, no reason to stick stubbornly to that traditional
form of receiving communion. It would be more appropriate
to be concerned about respecting the Eucharist by every
day adoration, frequent participation in Holy Communion,
by helping others to receive it in a dignified manner etc.
Desecration is committed only by consciously and willingly
"-throwing away, taking or retaining for evil purposes
the consecrated species."
Accordingly,
there is no need to take part in the Eucharist celebrated
by members of the Society of St. Pius X, which is not in
unity with the Catholic Church. Furthermore, it would be
highly inappropriate to do so.
I would like
to encourage you to remain in the love of the Eucharistic
Christ, to adore and respect the Eucharist, but without
being too scrupulous. I would like also to assure you that
the Holy Father prays for you and asks for God's grace for
you.
Respectfully,
Monsigniore Pedro Lopez Quintana
ASSESSOR
Courtesy of the Angelus
Press, Kansas City, MO 64109
translated from the Italian
Fr. Du Chalard
Via Madonna degli Angeli, 14
Italia 00049 Velletri (Roma)
September
2002 Volume
XXV, Number 9
|