Chalices

Chalice

HISTORY 

The chalice occupies the first place among sacred vessels, and by a figure of speech the material cup is often used as if it were synonymous with the Precious Blood itself. "The chalice of benediction, which we bless", writes St. Paul, "is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). No reliable tradition has been preserved to us regarding the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper. In the sixth and seventh centuries pilgrims to Jerusalem were led to believe that the actual chalice was still venerated in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, having within it the sponge which was presented to Our Saviour on Calvary. Curiously enough, while Antoninus of Piacenza refers to it as made of onyx, Adamnan, less than a century later, describes it as a "silver cup holding the measure of a Gallic sextarius and with two opposite handles" (see Geyer, Itinera, Hierosolimitana, pp. 154, 173, 234, 305). At a much later period two other vessels have been venerated as the chalice of the Last Supper. One, the sacro catino of Genoa, is rather a dish than a cup and is made of green glass, though long supposed to be an emerald, fourteen and a half inches in diameter and of priceless value. The other, at Valencia in Spain, is a cup of agate. The fact is that the whole tradition is untrustworthy and of late date. It will be referred to further under the article GRAIL, and meanwhile we may be content to quote the words of St. Chrysostom (Hom. l in Matt.): in Matt.): "The table was not of silver, the chalice was not of gold in which Christ gave His blood to His disciples to drink, and yet everything there was precious and truly fit to inspire awe." So far as it is possible to collect any scraps of information regarding the chalices in use among early Christians, the evidence seems to favour the prevalence of glass, though cups of the precious and of baser metals, of ivory, wood, and even clay were also in use. (See Hefele, Beiträge, II, 323-5.) A passage of St. Irenæus (Hær., I, c. xiii) describing a pretended miracle wrought by Mark the Gnostic who poured white wine into his chalice and then after prayer showed the contents to be red, almost necessarily supposes a vessel of glass, and the glass patens (patenas vitreas) mentioned in the "Liber Pontificalis" under Zephyrinus (202-19) as well as certain passages in Tertullian and St. Jerome, entirely favour the same conclusion. But the tendency to use by preference the precious metals developed early. St. Augustine speaks of two golden and six silver chalices dug up at Cirta in Africa, (Contra Crescon., III, c. xxix), and St. Chrysostom of a golden chalice set with gems (Hom. 1 in Matt.). As regards shape, our principal information at this early period is derived from certain representations, said to be meant for Eucharistic chalices, which are found in early mosaics, sarcophagi, and other monuments of Christian art. The general prevalence of an almost stemless, vase-shaped type with two handles, inclines us to believe that a glass vessel of this nature discovered in the Ostrian catacomb on the Via Nomentana, and now preserved in the Lateran Museum, may really have been a chalice. At an early date it became common to inscribe the donor's name upon costly vessels presented to churchcs. Thus it is known that Galla Placidia (d. 450) offered a chalice with such an inscription to the church of Zacharias at Ravenna, and the Emperor Valentinian III sent another to the church at Brive. Such goblets were sometimes known as calices literati. The earliest specimen of a chalice of whose original purpose we can feel reasonably confident is the chalice of Chelles, preserved until the French Revolution and believed to have been wrought by, or at least to date from the time of, the famous artificer St. Eligius of Noyon, who died in 659. The material was gold, richly decorated with enamels and precious stones. In shape it was without handles and like a celery glass, with a very deep cup and no stem, but the cup was joined to the base by a knop, which under the name of nodus or pomellum became a very characteristic feature in the chalices of the Middle Ages. In many of the specimens described or preserved from the Merovingian, Carlovingian, and Romanesque periods, it is possible to make a distinction between the ordinary sacrificial chalice used by bishops and priests in the Mass and the calices ministeriales intended for the Communion of the faithful at Easter and other seasons when many received. These latter chalices are of considerable size, and they are often, though not always, fitted with handles, which, it is easy to understand, would have afforded additional security against accidents when the sacred vessel was put to the lips of each communicant in turn. In a rude and barbarous age the practical difficulties of Communion under species of wine must have been considerable, and it is not wonderful that from the Carolingian period onwards the device was frequently adopted of using a pipe or reed (known by a variety of names, fistula, tuellus, canna, arundo, pipa, calamus, siphon, etc.) for the Communion of both clergy and people. To this day at the solemn papal high Mass, the chalice is brought from the altar to the pope at his throne, and the pontiff absorbs its contents through a golden pipe. This practice also lasted down to the reformation among the Cistercians.

THE CHALICES OF THE MIDDLE AGES
 

Of chalices earlier than the time of Charlemagne the existing specimens are so few and so doubtful that generalization of any kind is almost impossible. Besides the already mentioned chalice of Chelles, now destroyed, only two of those still preserved can be referred confidently to a date earlier than the year 800. The most remarkable of these is that of Tassilo, which bears the inscription TASSILO DUX FORTIS + LUITPIRG VIRGA (sic) REGALIS. This beautiful piece of metal work exhibits an egg-shaped cup joined to a small conical base by a knop. The character of the ornamentation shows clearly the predominance of Irish influences, even if it be not actually the work of an Irish craftsman. Plainer in design, but very similar in form, is the chalice said to have belonged to St. Ledger. Its Eucharistic character is proved beyond doubt by the inscription which it bears: HIC CALIX SANGVINIS DNI IHV XTI. If, as is possible, these words are intended to form a chronogram, they yield the date 788. Of the succeeding period, by far the most remarkable example preserved is the magnificent relic of Irish art known as the Chalice of Ardagh (see picture), from the place near which it was accidentally discovered in 1868. This is a "ministerial" chalice and it has two handles. It is seven inches in height but as much as nine and a half inches in diameter, and the bowl is capable of containing nearly three pints of liquid. The material is silver alloyed with copper, but gold and other metals have been used in its wonderful ornamentation, consisting largely of interlacing patterns and rich enamels. An inscription in very interesting ancient characters gives simply the names of the Twelve Apostles, a list of course highly suggestive of the Last Supper. The date conjecturally assigned to this masterpiece from the letters of the inscription is the ninth or tenth century. But in any case the broadening of the cup and the firm and wide base indicate a development which is noticeable in nearly all the chalices of the Romanesque period. The chalice known as that of St. Gozlin, Bishop of Toul (922-962), is still preserved in the cathedral of Nancy. In its broad, low, circular form it much resembles the last-named chalice. Another very beautiful ministerial chalice with handles, but of later date (twelfth century?), is that of the Abbey of Wilten in the Tyrol. It may be added that although these double-handled cups of precious metal