Q: Should a paten be used during the distribution of Holy Communion?
A: It is often assumed that the use of the paten for the distribution of Holy Communion during the post-Vatican II liturgy is an optional anachronism. Some argue that this seemingly pre-Vatican II custom should be avoided, as it may foster excessive scrupulosity among the faithful. However, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), 118, explicitly includes the paten among the items to be prepared for Mass, stating that it should be placed on the credence table (“in abico:…patina pro Communione fidelium”). While certain items are optional—e.g. the pall (“pro opportunitate, palla”) and the chalice veil (“Calix laudabiliter cooperiatur velo”)—the “paten for the Communion of the faithful” should be placed on the credence table before every Mass.
The prescription to set out a paten on the credence table should not be misinterpreted to merely refer to the paten which is placed on the chalice. In GIRM 118, the paten is mentioned twice; the second reference clearly indicates a distinct paten intended for the distribution of Communion to the faithful.
This prescription in the GIRM is not an isolated law but is reaffirmed and clarified in the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, “On certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist,” issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. This instruction not only affirms the GIRM’s directive to use the paten, but it also clarifies the reason why the paten is to be used: “The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained, so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling” (93). This suffices to make the Church’s judgement clear that the risk of profanation of the Blessed Sacrament, even of a particle of a host, outweighs other concerns.
When the paten is used, a practical concern arises if Holy Communion is distributed in the hand. In 2018, the Bishop’s Committee on Divine Worship noted that while the GIRM and Redemptionis Sacramentum presume the use of the paten, “Neither document stipulates that it is to be used specifically or only when Holy Communion is received on the tongue” (Newsletter, Vol. 54, 16). Thus, the paten should be used even when Communion is distributed on the hand.
Though frequently dismissed as a vestige of pre-Vatican II liturgy, the paten is not merely an option, nor simply laudable, but explicitly prescribed by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Its use is thus confirmed not merely as a liturgical option or preference, but as a practical safeguard against the loss or profanation of the Eucharist.
