View source for Host desecration

{{Short description|Form of sacrilege in some Christian denominations}}
[[File:OHM - Hostienfrevel Bild 1.jpg|thumb|250px|Painting (16th century) showing the alleged desecration of hosts by [[Jews]] in [[Passau]] in 1477 (detail), {{Interlanguage link|Oberhausmuseum|de}} (Passau)]]
'''Host desecration''' is a form of [[sacrilege]] in Christian denominations that follow the doctrine of the [[real presence of Christ in the Eucharist]]. It involves the mistreatment or malicious use of a [[consecrate]]d [[Sacramental bread|host]]—the bread used in the [[Eucharist]]ic service of the [[Divine Liturgy]] or [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] (also known by Protestants simply as Communion bread). It is forbidden by the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Oriental Orthodox]], and [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]es, as well as in certain [[Protestant]] traditions (including [[Anglicanism]], [[Lutheranism]], and [[Methodism]]). In Catholicism, where the host is held to have been [[transubstantiation|transubstantiated]] into the body of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]], host [[desecration]] is one of the gravest sins. Intentional host desecration incurs the penalty of [[excommunication]] {{lang|la|[[latae sententiae]]}}.<ref name="law1367">{{Cite web |url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P50.HTM |title=Code of Canon Law #1367 |access-date=2019-09-03 |archive-date=2019-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911104051/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P50.HTM |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="law1442">{{Cite web |url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P142.HTM |title=Code of canons of Oriental Churches #1442 |access-date=2019-09-03 |archive-date=2019-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804011911/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG1199/_P142.HTM |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout history, a number of groups have been accused of desecrating the Eucharist, often with grave consequences due to the spiritual importance of the consecrated host.

Accusations against [[Jews]] were a common reason given for massacres and expulsions throughout the [[Middle Ages]] in Europe.<ref name="je">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7906-host-desecration-of|title=Desecration of the Host|access-date=7 May 2007|website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com|archive-date=4 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604190402/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=938&letter=H&search=host%20desecartion|url-status=live}}</ref> Similar accusations were made against Muslims,<ref name="Freidenreich">{{Cite book|author=David M. Freidenreich|chapter=Muslims Killed Christ!? Theological Arguments and Political Agendas|title=Jewish Muslims: How Christians Imagined Islam as the Enemy|location=Oakland, California|publisher=University of California Press|year=2022|pages=162–3|isbn=9780520975644|lccn=2022017143|language=en}}</ref> Protestants<ref name="Goda">{{cite journal|author=Károly Goda|journal=Theatrum Historiae|title=Metamorphoses of Corpus Christi: Eucharistic Processions & Clashes in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Vienna|url=https://theatrum.upce.cz/index.php/theatrum/article/download/2066/1833|volume=15|year=2014|pages=28–31}}</ref> and in [[Witch trials|witchcraft trials]]; witch-hunter's guides such as the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' refer to hosts as being objects of desecration by witches.<ref>Summers, Montague, ed. ''The Malleus Maleficarum of Kramer and Sprenger'', 1948. Originally in Latin, Germany, 1487.  e.g. ''Part II, Question I, Chapter IV:"...they are bound to observe certain other abominable ceremonies at the command of the devils, such as to spit on the ground at the Elevation of the Host."''</ref> It is part of many descriptions of the [[Black Mass]], both in ostensibly historical works and in fiction.<ref>See the studies by: Rhodes, H.T.F. ''The Satanic Mass'', 1954 and Zacharias, Gerhard ''The Satanic Cult'', 1980.</ref>

==Background==
[[File:Host desecration1.jpg|thumb|upright=2.2|From a 15th-century German woodcut of the host desecration by the Jews of [[Passau]], 1477. The hosts are stolen and sold to the Jewish community, who pierce them in a ritual. When guards come to question the Jews, they (the Jews) attempt to burn the Hosts, but are unsuccessful, as the Hosts transform into an infant carried by angels. The Jews, now proven guilty, are arrested, beheaded, and tortured with hot [[pincer (tool)|pincers]], the entire community is driven out with their feet bound and held to the fire, and the Christian who sold the hosts to the Jews is punished. At the end the Christians kneel and pray.]]

In the [[Catholic Church]], the transubstantiation of the Eucharist means the "body, blood, soul, and divinity" of Jesus Christ are present in the form of the consecrated host and [[adoration|adored]]. Theft, sale, or use of the host for a profane purpose is considered a grave sin and sacrilege,<ref name="ce">{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13321a.htm |title="Sacrilege", ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1912, retrieved 7 May 2007 |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1912-02-01 |access-date=2018-04-16 |archive-date=2018-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423084822/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13321a.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> which incurs the penalty of excommunication, which is imposed [[Latae sententiae|automatically]] in the [[Latin Church]] (See [[1983 Code of Canon Law|Latin Church Code]] canon 1367, or [[Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches]] canon 1442.)<ref name=law1367 /><ref name=law1442 />

Some denominations, especially Lutherans, have similar beliefs regarding the Eucharist and the Real Presence, though they reject the Roman Catholic concept of transubstantiation, preferring instead the doctrine of the [[sacramental union]], in which "the body and blood of Christ are so truly united to the bread and wine of the Holy Communion that the two may be identified. They are at the same time body and blood, bread and wine…in this sacrament the Lutheran Christian receives the very body and blood of Christ precisely for the strengthening of the union of faith."<ref name="MattoxRoeber2012">{{cite book|last1=Mattox|first1=Mickey L.|last2=Roeber|first2=A. G.|title=Changing Churches: An Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran Theological Conversation|date=27 February 2012|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en |isbn=9780802866943|page=54|quote=In this "sacramental union," Lutherans taught, the body and blood of Christ are so truly united to the bread and wine of the Holy Communion that the two may be identified. They are at the same time body and blood, bread and wine. This divine food is given, more-over, not just for the strengthening of faith, nor only as a sign of our unity in faith, nor merely as an assurance of the forgiveness of sin. Even more, in this sacrament the Lutheran Christian receives the very body and blood of Christ precisely for the strengthening of the union of faith. The "real presence" of Christ in the Holy Sacrament is the means by which the union of faith, effected by God's Word and the sacrament of baptism, is strengthened and maintained. Intimate union with Christ, in other words, leads directly to the most intimate communion in his holy body and blood.}}</ref> Both the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, such as the [[Coptic Church]], insist "on the {{em|reality}} of the change from bread and wine into the body and the blood of Christ at the consecration of the elements", although they have "never attempted to explain the {{em|manner}} of the change",<ref name="HarperMetzger2009">{{cite book|last1=Harper|first1=Brad|last2=Metzger|first2=Paul Louis|title=Exploring Ecclesiology|date=1 March 2009|publisher=Brazos Press|isbn=9781587431739|page=312}}</ref> thus rejecting philosophical terms to describe it.<ref name="Houlden2003">{{cite book|last=Houlden|first=James Leslie |title=Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/jesushistorythou00houl_286|url-access=limited|year=2003|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|isbn=9781576078563|page=[https://archive.org/details/jesushistorythou00houl_286/page/n223 185]|quote=The Copts are fearful of using philosophical terms concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, preferring uncritical appeals to biblical passages like 1 Cor. 10.16; 11.23-29 or the discourse in John 6.26-58.}}</ref>

The Methodist Church similarly holds that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist "through the elements of bread and wine", but maintains that how he is present is a Holy Mystery.<ref name="Neal2014">{{cite book|last=Neal|first=Gregory S.|title=Sacramental Theology and the Christian Life|date=19 December 2014|publisher=WestBow Press|language=en |isbn=9781490860077|page=111|quote=For Anglicans and Methodists the reality of the presence of Jesus as received through the sacramental elements is not in question. Real presence is simply accepted as being true, its mysterious nature being affirmed and even lauded in official statements like ''This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion''.}}</ref><ref name="AbrahamWatson2013">{{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=William J.|last2=Watson|first2=David F.|title=Key United Methodist Beliefs|date=1 March 2013|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en |isbn=9781426771224|page=1|quote=Charles Wesley wrote a marvelous collection of hymns that offer an amazing vision of Christ's mysterious, yet real, presence in the bread and the wine.}}</ref> Until the 19th-century Oxford Movement reintroduced the classic doctrine of the Real Presence, Anglicanism had favored [[receptionism]] — the doctrine that while the bread and wine in the Eucharist continue to exist unchanged after consecration, the faithful communicant receives together with them the body and blood of Jesus.<ref name="ODCC">{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Cross|editor1-first=F. L.|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3|edition=3rd|title=Receptionism}}</ref> Whatever the doctrine selected, among Anglicans the consecrated bread and hosts are reserved and treated with great reverence.

Since the publication of {{lang|la|[[Memoriale Domini]]}} in 1969,<ref name="ewtn">{{cite web |title=Memoriale Domini |date=1969-05-29 |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/instruction-on-the-manner-of-distributing-holy-communion-2195 |website=www.ewtn.com |access-date=2020-07-20 |archive-date=2020-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720222245/https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/instruction-on-the-manner-of-distributing-holy-communion-2195 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Catholic Church has allowed certain countries to allow communicants to receive the Host in the hand, rather than directly onto the tongue, reviving an "ancient custom".<ref name="ewtn"/> Communion in the hand is now widespread in many parts of the world. The practice means that access to consecrated Hosts is easier than in the past, since the person receiving it in the hand may pretend to place it in their mouth for consumption. About this, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] cited: "I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself… The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point"<ref name="light of the world">{{cite book |author1=[[Peter Seewald]] |author2=Pope Emeritus [[Benedict XVI]] |title=Light Of The World: The Pope, The Church and The Signs Of The Times |publisher=Ignatius Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781586176068}}</ref> Receiving on the tongue is still the official norm of the Catholic Church, while receiving in the hand [via the {{lang|la|Memoriale Domini}} indult] is, in English-speaking countries, the practical norm. Kneeling to receive communion is still the norm among Anglicans and Lutherans.

{{as of|2015}}, host desecration is a crime in Spain,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Over 200 consecrated hosts stolen, desecrated in Spain art exhibit|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/33014/over-200-consecrated-hosts-stolen-desecrated-in-spain-art-exhibit|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en}}</ref> and in the [[1983 Code of Canon Law]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Crime Against All We Hold Most Dear {{!}} EWTN|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/crime-against-all-we-hold-most-dear-1241|access-date=2021-01-19|website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network|language=en}}</ref>

==Medieval accusations against Jews==
[[File:Host desecration.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|Jews depicted torturing the host, on a [[Belgium|Belgian]] tapestry]]
Accusations of host desecration ({{langx|de|Hostienschändung}}) leveled against Jews were a common pretext for massacres and expulsions throughout the Middle Ages in Europe.<ref name="je"/> The libel of "[[Jewish deicide]]"—that the Jewish people were responsible for the killing of Jesus, whom Christians regard as God become man—was a generally accepted Christian belief. It was spuriously claimed that Jews stole hosts (objects to which they attached no significance, religious or otherwise), and further spuriously claimed that they abused these hosts to re-enact the [[crucifixion of Jesus]] by stabbing or burning them.

It has been asserted by modern scholars, such as the Catholic priest Gavin Langmuir, that these accusations against Jews represented profound doubt about the truth of Christianity.<ref>Langmuir (1990), p.289</ref> Although the doctrine of transubstantiation did not imply that, by consuming the host, Christians were eating flesh and drinking blood in the normal sense, the language used to describe the dogma would have been interpreted as completely alien to [[Judaism]] and [[Jewish law]]. For Jews, such a belief system would contradict their strict dietary laws, which forbid the consumption of blood, even when consuming [[kosher animals]].

Jews in the Middle Ages were frequently victims of similar accusations, considered more serious than desecration of other revered items, such as relics or images of Jesus and the saints. The accusations were often supported only by the testimony of the accuser, who may potentially bear a prejudice against the accused Jew or the Jewish people. Despite this, some alleged perpetrators were tried and found guilty, on little evidence or through torture.<ref name="je"/>

The penalties for Jews accused of defiling sacred hosts were severe. Many Jews, after accusations and torture, "confessed" to abusing hosts, and the accused Jews were condemned and burned, sometimes with all the other Jews in the community, as happened in [[Beelitz]] in 1243,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofje00unse|title=Encyclopedia of Jewish knowledge|access-date=22 March 2016|publisher=Behrman's Jewish book house|date= 1934|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> in [[Prague]] in 1389,<ref>"{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051125102156/http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_blib2.htm Blood libel accusations against Jews]}}", Religious Tolerance Organisation, retrieved 7 May 2007.</ref> and in many German cities, according to Ocker's writings in the ''Harvard Theological Review''.<ref>Ocker (April 1998)</ref> According to William Nichol, over 100 instances of Jews pleading guilty to the desecration of sacred hosts have been recorded.{{citation_needed|date=March 2025}}
[[File:Host desecration, painting, Barcelona.jpg|thumb|250px|Medieval painting of host desecration by [[Jews]], from the [[Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya]]]]
[[File:Burning of the Jews Nuremburg Chronicle 1493, version 2.png|thumb|A colored woodcut in ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle|Liber Chronicarum]]'' (1493) depicts [[Host desecration#Medieval accusations against Jews|Jews being burned alive in Deggendorf]].]]
The first recorded accusation was made in 1243 at Beelitz, south of Potsdam.<ref>{{cite web |title=Desecration of Host |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/host-desecration-of |website=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=2020-01-10 |archive-date=2020-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215010701/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/host-desecration-of |url-status=live }}</ref> Tradition records that as a consequence the Jews of Beelitz were burned on a hill before the Mill Gate, which was subsequently, and until 1945, called the Judenberg, although there is no contemporary evidence for the burnings in documents of the 13th century.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} Another famous case that took place in 1290, in Paris, was commemorated in the [[:fr:Cloître et église des Billettes|Church of the Rue des Billettes]] and in a local confraternity. The case of 1337, at [[Deggendorf]], celebrated locally as part of the {{lang|de|"Deggendorfer Gnad"}} until 1992, led to a series of massacres across the region. In 1370 in Brussels the charge of host desecration, linked to an actual recovered relic of desecrated hosts currently found in the [[Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula]] and long celebrated in a special feast, and to artistic depictions also found in the cathedral, led to the burning of six Jews (other times given twenty) and, reportedly, the expulsion of the town's Jewish population (see [[Brussels massacre]]). In 1510, at [[:de:Knoblauch (Ketzin)|Knoblauch]] in [[Havelland]] 38 Jews were executed and more expelled from [[Brandenburg]].

An alleged host desecration in 1410, at [[Segovia]], was said to have brought about an earthquake; as a result, leading Jews in the city were executed and the local synagogue was seized and re-dedicated as the convent and Church of Corpus Christi.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Markman |first=Sidney David |year=2003 |title=Jewish Remnants in Spain: Wanderings in a Lost World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=62SGDeU0CzcC&pg=PA50 |location=Mesa, AZ |publisher=Scribe Publishers |pages=50–51 |isbn=0972723706 |access-date=2017-04-14 |archive-date=2017-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414090120/https://books.google.com/books?id=62SGDeU0CzcC&pg=PA50 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Similar accusations, resulting in extensive persecution of Jews, were brought forward in 1294, at [[Laa an der Thaya|Laa]], Austria; 1298, at [[Röttingen]], near [[Würzburg]], and at Korneuburg, near [[Vienna]]; 1299, at [[Ratisbon]]; 1306, at [[St. Pölten]]; 1330, at [[Güstrow]]; 1338, at [[Pulkau]]; 1388, at Prague; 1401, at [[Glogau]]; 1420, at [[Enns (town)|Enns]]; 1453, at [[Breslau]]; 1478, at [[Passau]]; 1492, at [[Sternberg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern|Sternberg]], in [[Mecklenburg]]; 1514, at Mittelberg, in [[Alsace]]; 1556, at [[Sochaczew]], in Poland. The last Jew burned for stealing a host died in 1631, according to [[Jacques Basnage]], quoting from [[Menasseh Ben Israel]]. In some cases host desecration legends emerged without actual accusations, as was the case of the host desecration legend of Poznan (Posen).<ref>{{cite book|author=Magda Teter |title=Sinners on Trial: Jews and Sacrilege after the Reformation|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-674-05297-0}}</ref>

[[File:Uccelo host burning.jpg|thumb|287px|The second panel of [[Paolo Uccello]]'s ''Miracle of the Profaned Host'' ({{circa|1467–1469}}) from the Urbino Confraternity of Corpus Domini predella. Based on the Paris 1290 legend, a Jewish moneylender is cooking the host, which emanates blood. The wife and children look on in terror as the blood pours into the street in rivers while soldiers break through the door.]]

The accusation of host desecration gradually ceased after the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] as more Christian denominations no longer believe in hosts being the body and blood of Christ. However, sporadic instances of host desecration libel occurred even in the 18th and 19th century. In 1761 in [[Nancy, France|Nancy]], several Jews from [[Alsace]] were executed on a charge of sacred host desecration. The last recorded accusation was brought up in [[Berlad]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Loeb |first=Isidore |title=La situation des israélites en Turquie, en Serbie et en Roumanie |publisher=J. Baer |page=[https://archive.org/details/lasituationdesi01loebgoog/page/n164 143] |url=https://archive.org/details/lasituationdesi01loebgoog |year=1877}}</ref> [[Romania]], in 1836.<ref name="je"/>

While not levelling the charge against contemporary Jews, the Fascist publications ''[[Der Stürmer]]''<ref>{{cite journal|author=David I. Kertzer, Gunnar Mokosch|journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies|title=The Medieval in the Modern: Nazi and Italian Fascist Use of the Ritual Murder Charge|volume=33|issue=2|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019|page=179|doi=10.1093/hgs/dcz023}}</ref> and ''[[La Difesa della Razza]]''<ref>{{cite journal|author=David I. Kertzer, Gunnar Mokosch|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|title=In the Name of the Cross: Christianity and Anti-Semitic Propaganda in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|volume=62|issue=3|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2020|page=471|doi=10.1017/S0010417520000146}}</ref> both referenced the host desecration libel for purposes of antisemitic propaganda.

==Medieval accusations against Muslims==
Juan Manuel included in his 1335 anthology ''El Conde Lucanor'' a tale about a treacherous priest who gave the Host to some Muslims, who then proceeded to drag it through the mud while mocking it.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ryan Szpiech|chapter=Seeing the Substance: Rhetorical Muslims and Christian Holy Objects in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries |editor=S. Davis-Secord|title=Interfaith Relationships and Perceptions of the Other in the Medieval Mediterranean|series=Mediterranean Perspectives |publisher=Springer Nature|year=2021|page=149|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-83997-0_5|isbn=978-3-030-83996-3 }}</ref> In 1465, Christians who opposed King Enrique IV of Castile defamed him by claiming that under his reign, "some Jews and Moors sought on several occasions to obtain a consecrated host" as well as other sacred objects "in order to perform various evil rites to harm our Lord, his holy church, and our faith." Sixteenth-century inquisitors and polemicists likewise accused former Muslims, whom they saw as false converts, of host desecration. For example, the Inquisition of Cuenca charged one former Muslim with purchasing stolen hosts and stringing them up in a latrine (as some former Judaists supposedly did). In a similar accusation, former Muslims allegedly stole a church's hosts and contemptuously threw them onto the ground.<ref name="Freidenreich"/>

==Accusations against Protestants==
Since 1549, Counter-Reformers occasionally accused Protestants of desecrating the Host.<ref name="Goda"/> For example, a Catholic account claims that in 1561 a group of French Protestants were so irritated by a church's bell-ringing that they responded by assaulting the church, harming and killing several parishioners, and intentionally desecrating the Host.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Penny Roberts|editor=Michael T. Davis 
|title=Riot and Religion in Sixteenth-Century France|journal=Crowd Actions in Britain and France from the Middle Ages to the Modern World|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2015|page=36|isbn=9781137316516|doi= 10.1057/9781137316516|hdl=10072/415812|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==2008 controversy in the US==
In his July 8 blog entry, [[University of Minnesota Morris]] biology professor [[PZ Myers|Paul Zachary Myers]] criticized the reaction to a [[University of Central Florida]] student's perceived act of host desecration (the student had attempted to bring the host to a friend who was curious about communion). Myers described the level of harassment against the student and expressed his intent to desecrate the host, which the Catholic Church considers a [[grave matter]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/college-student-gets-death-threats-for-smuggling-body-of-christ |title=College Student Gets Death Threats for Smuggling "Body of Christ" |access-date=2016-08-22 |date=2008-07-10 |publisher=[[Fox News]] |archive-date=2020-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129060110/https://www.foxnews.com/story/college-student-gets-death-threats-for-smuggling-body-of-christ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Myers expressed outrage that [[Fox News]] appeared to be inciting viewers to cause further problems for the student and ridiculed reports that armed guards would attend the next Mass. Myers suggested that if any of his readers could acquire some consecrated Eucharistic hosts for him, he would treat the wafers "with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web."<ref name="frackincracker">{{cite web|url=http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/its_a_goddamned_cracker.php |title=It's a Frackin' Cracker! |access-date=2008-07-11 |date=2008-07-08 |publisher=Pharyngula |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201110808/http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/its_a_goddamned_cracker.php |archive-date=2009-02-01 }}</ref>

A number of Catholics immediately reacted strongly. [[William A. Donohue]] of [[Catholic League (U.S.)|the Catholic League]] accused Myers of [[anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] [[bigotry]],<ref name="holyheck">{{cite web|url=http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html |title=Communion wafer held 'hostage' raises holy heck |access-date=2008-07-11 |date=2008-07-11 |publisher=Star Tribune |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204001624/http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html |archive-date=2009-02-04 }}</ref> described his proposal as a threat to desecrate what [[Transubstantiation|Catholics hold to be the Body of Christ]] and sent a letter asking the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers.<ref name="holyheck"/><ref name="pledge2">{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459 |title=Minnesota Prof Pledges to Desecrate Eucharist |access-date=2008-07-11 |date=2008-07-10 |publisher=The Catholic League |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080713023423/http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459 |archive-date=2008-07-13 }}</ref>

Myers pierced a host with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the [[Quran]] and ''[[The God Delusion]]'', put them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel.<ref name="Myers (July 24, 2008)">{{cite web |last=Myers |first=PZ |author-link=PZ Myers |title=The Great Desecration |date=July 24, 2008 |website=[[Pharyngula (blog)|Pharyngula]] |url=http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/24/the-great-desecration/ |access-date=May 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503171830/http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/24/the-great-desecration/ |archive-date=May 3, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> He provided a photograph on his blog of these items in the garbage and wrote that nothing must be held sacred, encouraging people to question everything.{{r|Myers (July 24, 2008)}} In addition, he described the history of allegations of host desecration, emphasizing the frequent use of such allegations in medieval Europe to justify [[anti-Semitism]].{{r|Myers (July 24, 2008)}}

Subsequently, Myers explained to the ''[[Star Tribune]]'' that while his post was "satire and protest", he had received death threats regarding the incident but was not taking them too seriously.<ref name="holyheck"/> The University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) Chancellor defended Myers, and stated: "I believe that behaviors that discriminate against or harass individuals or groups on the basis of their religious beliefs are reprehensible" and that the school "affirms the freedom of a faculty member to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint."<ref>WALSH, PAUL [http://www.startribune.com/local/25896599.html?location_refer=Homepage:latestNews:4 Morris chancellor defends instructor who defiled Eucharist, tore Qur'an] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827022715/http://www.startribune.com/local/25896599.html?location_refer=Homepage:latestNews:4 |date=2009-08-27 }} Star Tribune, July 25, 2008</ref>

==''Al-Islam'' magazine==
In 2009, two Muslim reporters from ''Al-Islam'', a small [[Malaysia]]n magazine, participated in a Catholic Mass, while undercover writing an article on cases of [[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy from Islam]] ({{Transliteration|ar|riddah}}) and received Holy Communion. The reporters afterwards spat out the host and photographed it to prove they had not [[apostasy|apostatised]] themselves.<ref>Article "Al-Islam masuk gereja cari gadis bertudung murtad". May 2009 "Al-Islam enters a church seeking [muslim] girls hiding apostasy"</ref> The resulting photo was then published in their May 2009 edition.<ref name="SunIslam">[http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=44069 AG should appreciate severity of Al-Islam incident: Catholic lawyers]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. (March 5, 2010). Yi Liang, Tan. ''The Sun''. Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref> The magazine, which is owned by Utusan Karya, part of the [[Utusan Malaysia]] Group, sent its reporters, including Muhd Ridwan Abdul Jalil, to two churches in the [[Klang Valley]], as part of a special investigative report.<ref name=SunIslam /> The act of desecration occurred at St Anthony's Church in Jalan Robertson, [[Kuala Lumpur]].<ref name="NST">[http://www.nst.com.my/articles/9ml/Article/index_html Church unhappy A-G dropped 'Al-Islam' case.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308035529/http://www.nst.com.my/articles/9ml/Article/index_html |date=2010-03-08 }} (Mar 5, 2010). Lourdes, Marc. ''New Straits Times.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref>

After its publication, two [[Laity|lay]] Catholics from [[Penang]], Sudhagaran Stanley and Joachim Francis Xavier, jointly lodged a police report against the reporters.<ref name="cathnews-islam">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100317183322/http://www.cathnewsasia.com/2010/02/05/malaysian-lay-activist-pursues-al-islam-case Malaysian lay activist pursues 'Al-Islam' case]}} (Feb 5, 2010). ''CathNews Asia''. Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref> The police took no action despite a potential charge under Section 298A(1) of the [[Penal Code (Malaysia)|Penal Code]] for causing disharmony, disunity or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will, or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity, on grounds of religion.<ref name=SunIslam />

The desecration caused widespread outrage and condemnation from non-Muslims as well as Muslims<ref name="TMI1">[http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/32477-khairy-condemns-actions-of-two-al-islam-journalists Khairy condemns actions of two Al Islam journalists.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907102203/http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/32477-khairy-condemns-actions-of-two-al-islam-journalists |date=2009-09-07 }} (July 16, 2010). Syed Jaymal Zahiid. ''The Malaysian Insider.'' Retrieved march 15, 2010.</ref> across the country. Parties including the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, [[Murphy Pakiam]]; the Catholic Lawyers Society; as well as numerous editorials in the media,<ref name=SunIslam /> criticised the government and the Attorney-General for its failure to act.<ref name="AFP-islam">[https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ikacpJWIxbFM-V1hClSnWvYXKaCA Malaysia defends inaction over Catholic 'desecration'.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308124913/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ikacpJWIxbFM-V1hClSnWvYXKaCA |date=2010-03-08 }} (Mar 4, 2010). ''AFP''. Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref><ref name="AsiaOne">[http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20100305-202636.html Church: No action and no apology.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312234624/http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20100305-202636.html |date=2010-03-12 }} (Mar 05, 2010). ''AsiaOne News.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref><ref name="SC1">[http://www.mysinchew.com/node/35889 Church slams govt over inaction.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306010450/http://www.mysinchew.com/node/35889 |date=2010-03-06 }} Mar 4, 2010. ''My Sin Chew.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref>

Some nine months later, in early March 2010, ''Al-Islam'' published an apology to the [[Catholic Church in Malaysia|Catholic Church]] and other Christians for the article. It was posted on the website of its publisher.<ref name="starapology">[https://web.archive.org/web/20100309142525/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2010%2F3%2F6%2Fnation%2F20100306144414&sec=nation Al-Islam apologises to Christians over special report.] Mar 6, 2010. ''The Star.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref> Archbishop Pakiam, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, accepted the apology and said that no further legal action would be taken.<ref name="herald">[http://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/storydetails.php/Archbishop-accepts-apology,-not-suing-Al-Islam/4310-0-1 Archbishop accepts apology, not suing Al-Islam.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317185324/http://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/storydetails.php/Archbishop-accepts-apology,-not-suing-Al-Islam/4310-0-1 |date=2010-03-17 }} (Mar 8, 2010). Chong, Debra. ''Herald.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.</ref>

==During a Black Mass==
A [[Black Mass]] is a ritual designed to satirize or invert a Catholic mass, and performed by many [[Satanist]] groups. Consecrated hosts are a common ingredient in black masses, becoming the subject of desecration. The hosts must first be stolen from the tabernacle of a Catholic church,<ref>{{cite news |title=Prayers urged as black mass organizer claims consecrated Host |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/30237/prayers-urged-as-black-mass-organizer-claims-consecrated-host |access-date=3 September 2024 |work=[[Catholic News Agency]] |date=August 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731224004/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/30237/prayers-urged-as-black-mass-organizer-claims-consecrated-host |archive-date=July 31, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> and/or secreted away by people who are posing as parishioners receiving communion.

In 2014, the Dakhma of Angra Mainyu held a public Black Mass at the Oklahoma Civic Center<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/black-mass-protest-oklahoma_n_5864216|title=Catholics Gather To Protest 'Black Mass' Event In Oklahoma City|first=Antonia|last=Blumberg|date=22 September 2014|publisher=Huff Post|access-date=16 April 2018|archive-date=16 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416073914/https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/black-mass-protest-oklahoma_n_5864216|url-status=live}}</ref> and planned to include the desecration of a consecrated host, which was to be "stomped on". Instead, the host was returned through an attorney after the archdiocese filed a lawsuit for its recovery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsok.com/article/5333988|title=Lawsuit pits Catholic archbishop against satanist group over sacred item purported to be used for 'black Mass'|author=Carla Hinton|date=21 August 2014|website=newsok.com|access-date=9 July 2017|archive-date=11 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711102259/http://newsok.com/article/5333988|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/satanists-return-stolen-host-to-archbishop-coakley|title=Satanists Return Stolen Host to Archbishop Coakley|date=21 August 2014|website=ncregister.com|access-date=9 July 2017|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002120422/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/satanists-return-stolen-host-to-archbishop-coakley|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/breaking-archbishop-files-lawsuit-against-black-mass-organizers|title=Archbishop Coakley Files Lawsuit Against Black Mass Organizers|author=Brian Fraga|date=20 August 2014|website=ncregister.com|access-date=9 July 2017|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002120404/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/breaking-archbishop-files-lawsuit-against-black-mass-organizers|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news9.com/story/26341267/consecrated-host-returned-okc-archbishop-drops-lawsuit|title=Consecrated Host Returned, OKC Archbishop Drops Lawsuit|last=News9.com|date=21 August 2014|website=news9.com|access-date=9 July 2017|archive-date=2 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602094537/http://www.news9.com/story/26341267/consecrated-host-returned-okc-archbishop-drops-lawsuit|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cake of Light]]
* [[Blood libel|Blood libel against Jews]]
* [[Eucharist]]
* [[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist]]
* [[Transubstantiation]]
* [[Black mass]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* [[Gavin I. Langmuir|Langmuir, Gavin I.]] (1990) ''History, Religion, and Anti-Semitism'', Berkeley, California: University of California Press. {{isbn|9781850432906}}
* [[Christopher Ocker|Ocker, Christopher]] (April 1998) "Ritual Murder and the Subjectivity of Christ: A Choice in Medieval Christianity" ''[[Harvard Theological Review]],'' v.91, n.2, pp.&nbsp;153–192

'''Further reading'''
* Agosín, Marjorie and Sepúlveda, Emma (2001) ''Amigas: Letters of Friendship and Exile''. Austin.
* {{Jewish Encyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7906-host-desecration-of|title=Host, desecration of|no-prescript=1|author=Jacobs, Joseph|author2=Schloessinger, Max}}
* [[Gavin I. Langmuir|Langmuir, Gavin I.]] (1990) ''Toward a Definition of Antisemitism''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. {{ISBN|9780520061446}}
* [[Jacob Rader Marcus|Marcus, Jacob Rader]] (1938) ''The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book: 315–1791'', Atheneum. pp.&nbsp;155–58. **Primary source in respect of the Christian atrocities against the Jewish community living in Passau, Bavaria, in 1478.
* [[Cecil Roth|Roth, Cecil]] (1997) "Host, desecration of". ''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]'' (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. [[Keter Publishing House]]. {{ISBN|965-07-0665-8}}
* [[Miri Rubin|Rubin, Miri]] (1999) ''Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews''. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. {{ISBN|9780300076127}}
* Stow, Kenneth (2006). ''Jewish Dogs, An Imagine and Its Interpreters: Continiuity in the Catholic-Jewish Encounter''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-5281-8}}
* [[Joshua Trachtenberg|Trachtenberg, Joshua]] (1943) ''The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism''. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
* Weiss, John (1995) ''Ideology of Death'' Ivan R. Dee, {{ISBN|1-56663-088-6}}
* [[Robert S. Wistrich|Wistrich, Robert S.]] (1992) ''Antisemitism; The Longest Hatred''. London: Mandarin. {{isbn|9780749310783}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite Catholic Encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13321a.htm|title=Sacrilege}}
* [http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/klier.html Professor John Klier's review of Miri Rubin, ''Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930043312/http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/klier.html |date=2007-09-30 }}
* [http://www.earlymodern.org/workshops/summer2004/presenters/teter/01/intro.php Discussion of host desecration accusations in Poland by Magda Teter. See also the video on that site]

{{Antisemitism topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Host Desecration}}
[[Category:Anti-Christian sentiment]]
[[Category:Antisemitic tropes]]
[[Category:Crimes involving Satanism or the occult]]
[[Category:Desecration]]
[[Category:Eucharist in the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Medieval anti-Jewish pogroms]]
[[Category:Sacramental law]]