Many traditionalist Catholics know that it is wrong to have Communion under two species because it was one of the demands of Luther and other Protestant heresiarchs. Here we offer them a useful document by Pope Pius VI quoting Pope St. Pius V confirming this argument.

It remains for Us to show you that these innovations, from which one expected so many advantages, were neither useful nor durable. Remember that Pius IV, agreeing with the ardent requests of Emperor Ferdinand and the Duke Albert of Bavaria, granted to some German Bishops the privilege of allowing, under certain circumstances, Communion under the two species. But the Pontiff Saint Pius V, seeing that it produced more evil than good for the Church, revoked that concession at the beginning of his Pontificate by means of two Apostolic Briefs, one of June 8, 1556, addressed to John, Patriarch of Aquilea, the second dated one day later, addressed to Charles, Archduke of Austria.

Urban, Bishop of Passaw, asked the Pontiff for the same privilege. On May 26, 1568, Pius V exhorted him in a very compelling manner “to conserve the old and holy usage of the Church rather than adopt the custom of the heretics. You should persist in this attitude with unyielding constancy and courage. The fear of any loss or danger should not deflect you from this decision, even should it ask the sacrifice of your properties and your life. You should prefer the reward God reserves for this steadfastness to all the goods and riches of this earth. A Catholic, instead of fleeing martyrdom, should desire it, look upon it as a rare benefit, and envy the good fortune of one considered worthy to shed his blood for Jesus Christ and for the august Sacraments.”

Pius VI, Brief Quod aliquantum of March 10, 1791
in Recueil des Allocutions Pontificales, Paris: Adrien Leclere, 1865, pp. 65-67

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Posted April 12, 2008

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