[221] Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, 1378, made a Constitution that all should confess and communicate thrice a year, viz. Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, on pain of excommunication and refusal of burial (Johnson’s “Laws and Canons,” ii. 444).
[222] Death.
[223] In the latter part of the eleventh century, for reasons of expediency, the custom was introduced of dipping the bread into the wine, and so administering to the communicants. This was condemned by the Council of Claremont 1095, but kept its ground in England till forbidden by the Council of London in 1175. The withdrawal of the wine from the laity altogether began in the twelfth century. Anselm had prepared the way by affirming that “the whole Christ was taken under either species.” Robert Pulleyn, 1170, taught that the flesh of Christ alone should be distributed to the laity. The practice came into gradual use in the thirteenth century; the second canon of Archbishop Peckham, 1281, bids the parish priests to teach the more ignorant of the laity that the body and blood of Christ are received under the single species of the bread. It is believed not to have become general in England till it was ordered by the Council of Constance in 1415, which excommunicated all priests who should communicate the laity in both kinds. It is to be observed that in the Sarum Missal there is no recognition whatever of administration in one kind.
In some churches there was an endowment for the provision of the holy bread, as at St. Mary Magdalen, Colchester.
[224] Gravely.
[225] Both.
[226] Hence.
[227] Maiden.
[228] This was first ordered by Pope Honorius III. in 1217.
[229] The churchyard was frequently called the “sanctuary.”