Sincere question: What happens to leftover Communion hosts & wine?

Question

I'm primarily wondering about Catholic practice, but other demoninations please chime in too. Once it's blessed, are there restrictions on how it's discarded?

Answer 1

The Blessed Sacrament
Be certain that the Blessed Sacrament (the Eucharist and Precious Blood) is not a "sacramental," but for the sake of information, here is how the Blessed Sacrament is disposed of in case of corruption:

In the sacristy (also called "vestry") of a church -- the room where vestments, vessels and oils are stored -- there is a special sink called a "sacrarium" (also "piscina") which is used for cleaning sacred vessels. This basin's drainage pipe doesn't lead to the sewer as do those of most sinks; instead, it goes directly to the earth so that liquid sacramentals, such as Holy Water and oils, or even the tiniest morsels of the Blessed Sacrament or drops of the Precious Blood which might be found on Patens or in Chalices, will be disposed of correctly and with reverence. If the accidents of a consecrated Host or chalice of the Precious Blood were to become contaminated in some way such that it could not be consumed, they are disposed of in the sacrarium.


While it would be possible to eat all of the bread that is consecrated during the Mass, some is usually kept in the tabernacle. The Body of Christ under the appearance of bread that is kept or "reserved" after the Mass is commonly referred to as the "Blessed Sacrament." There are several pastoral reasons for reserving the Blessed Sacrament. First of all, it is used for distribution to the dying (Viaticum), the sick, and those who legitimately cannot be present for the celebration of the Eucharist. Secondly, the Body of Christ in the form of bread is to be adored when it is exposed, as in the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, when it is carried in eucharistic processions, or when it is simply placed in the tabernacle, before which people pray privately. These devotions are based on the fact that Christ himself is present under the appearance of bread. Many holy people well known to American Catholics, such as St. John Neumann, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Katharine Drexel, and Blessed Damien of Molokai, practiced great personal devotion to Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, devotion to the reserved Blessed Sacrament is practiced most directly at the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, offered on weekdays of Lent.


Catholic Christian

Answer 2

They are kept on the altar, in the Tabernacle (fancy box with key). I was raised Catholic. My mom used to 'sacristan', which is basically someone who helps prepare the church before a mass and clean up afterwards. She and I would put leftover hosts in the Tabernacle. The priest drinks the leftover wine directly after communion....or I think the people that help serve communion do too, if I remember right. The sacristan at the following mass prepares less hosts if there are plenty in the Tabernacle so that those get used up. At the end of the day I think they still stay there...prob used at a Monday service....

Answer 3

If the Mass used extraordinary minister of the Blessed Sacrament to help distribute The Precious Blood then when the congregation has all been fed they drink whatever Precious Blood is left. If the ministers were not used then the Priest drinks it. The consecrated Hosts that were not used are reserved in the Tabernacle to take to the home-bound sick and dieing people. Some Parishes do have Adoration which is where they put the Host into a Monstrance so people can look at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and talk to him if they would like. If you go to www.savior.org, you will see what this looks like.

Answer 4

I'm Southern Baptist, and we've used grape juice for about as long as I can remember. As some have said, we pour what's left back in the bottle. One church had a real timesaver, when it came time to fill those little plastic cups. They had a kind of squirt-bottle, with an angled tube. One squirt, one cup, very seldom was a mess!

As for the bread, or the Host as our Catholic (and other?) friends describe it, I remember seeing round wafers (isn't that similar to what Catholics use as the Host?), square cracker-like material, actual pieces of saltine crackers, and one church we attended in southern California had motzah (sp?) bread. I remember while helping the pastor get the materials ready for the Communion service, that I had to break this matzoh bread. Yes, I got very emotional thinking about Christ's body being broken, and given for us and to us. Oh, how we need to remember what He did on Calvary! But no matter what, we stored the rest for the next service. The only thing we threw away were the empty plastic cups and anything else that was empty.

Thanks to God for sending Jesus Christ into this world to bring salvation to all who believe! Merry Christmas, friends!

Answer 5

I am a member of an Anglican church, as far as I am aware the celebrant has 4 choices with respect to leftover hosts and blood.
Leftover communion host and wine must be treated with utmost respect, and may be either; reserved in an aumbury (with the permission of the relevant bishop), consumed by the celebrating priest (possibly with help from altar servers), buried in holy ground (or in the case of holy water, oils and the blood of Christ poured onto holy ground) or burned.

Answer 6

The priest drinks the wine right away. If it has been a mass where the wine was given to the people too, there usually isn't any left anyway (that I've ever seen).

Leftover hosts are saved for the next mass. That's what the tabernacle is for.

Answer 7

Catholics and Anglicans would have a eucherstic tbernacle used for left over Hosts and wine- the Orthodox and Lutherans make it a point to consume all the concecrated Euchersts-Orthodox use levend bread and it's broken up and placed in the chalice of wine and dished out with a spoon.
As for most protestants as they don't beleive in the real presence of Christ in the Eucherest left overs are just tossed in the trash.

Answer 8

In our church, it (the Welches Grape Juice) is poured down the drain. When I was in Navy Boot camp (9 - 12/65) , I prepared the wine for the services. What was left over, my co-worker and I drank, but the preacher/priest was already gone when we were cleaning up. The 'hosts' were put back in the plastic bags for the next time.

Answer 9

The priest usually drinks the wine left in the chalice. I'm not sure what they do with the remaining hosts. It's not like it used to be back in the day. IF the congregation gets wine (which doesn't always occur) the priest usually dips the host in the wine before giving it to the parishioner. The person doesn't drink directly from the chalice.

Answer 10

The Hosts are kept in the tabernacle for the adoration of Christians, the precious blood is consumed by the priest.

Sometimes one of the Hosts are put in a Monstrance for the public adoration of Jesus in blessed sacrament.