Communion of the Sick Rubrics (1928 BCP)

Communion of the Sick Rubrics (1928 BCP) are the directions governing bedside Communion in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. They do not treat the sick person's Communion as a detached private devotion. They first urge frequent public Communion while the parishioner is able, then provide for celebration in the sick person's house, a shortened form when circumstances require it, substituted confession and absolution, instruction when bodily reception is impossible, and use of the office for aged or bedridden persons.

Opening Rubric

The opening rubric begins with mortality, pestilence, and sudden sickness, but its first pastoral answer is ordinary parish Communion. The sick-room rite is therefore not a replacement for common worship; it is an extension of the Church's sacramental care when public attendance is no longer possible.

Forasmuch as all mortal men are subject to many sudden perils, diseases and sicknesses, and ever uncertain what time they shall depart out of this life; therefore, to the intent they may be always in readiness to die, whensoever it shall please Almighty God to call them, the Ministers shall diligently from time to time, but especially in the time of pestilence, or other infectious sickness, exhort their parishioners to the often receiving of the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, when it shall be publicly administered in the Church; that so doing, they may, in case of sudden visitation, have the less cause to be disquieted for lack of the same. But if the sick person be not able to come to the Church, and yet is desirous to receive the Communion in his house; then he must give timely notice to the Minister, signifying also how many there are to communicate with him; and all things necessary being prepared, the Minister shall there celebrate the Holy Communion, beginning with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, here following.

Several clauses control interpretation. "Often receiving" connects the sick-communion office to normal eucharistic discipline. "Not able to come to the Church" limits the rite to real impediment. "Desirous to receive" makes the sick person's faith and request part of the pastoral situation. "How many there are to communicate with him" preserves the corporate character of Communion even at the bedside. Most importantly, the minister "shall there celebrate the Holy Communion"; the 1928 text directs a celebration in the house, not a bare delivery of consecrated elements.

Appointed Propers

The first appointed collect and lessons retain older language of chastening and patience. They ask for mercy, patient endurance, bodily recovery if God wills, and final presentation to God through Christ.

ALMIGHTY, everliving God, Maker of mankind, who dost correct those whom thou dost love, and chastise every one whom thou dost receive; We beseech thee to have mercy upon this thy servant visited with thine hand, and to grant that he may take his sickness patiently, and recover his bodily health, if it be thy gracious will; and that, whensoever his soul shall depart from the body, it may be without spot presented unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The alternative appointed propers are more explicitly hopeful. The collect asks restoration to soundness of health, the Epistle from 1 John teaches confidence in prayer according to God's will, and the Gospel from John 6 places the sick communicant before Christ the living bread.

O LORD, holy Father, by whose loving-kindness our souls and bodies are renewed; Mercifully look upon this thy servant, that, every cause of sickness being removed, he may be restored to soundness of health; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The appointed texts therefore hold two truths together. Sickness is not trivialized: patience, death, judgment, and final presentation to God are named. Yet the office also speaks of loving-kindness, renewal of body and soul, confidence in prayer, and everlasting life in Christ.

Shortened Form

The 1928 book gives an emergency abbreviation, but the abbreviation is not casual. It keeps confession and absolution, the Sursum Corda through Sanctus, the Prayer of Consecration, the Prayer of Humble Access, Communion, the Lord's Prayer, and the Blessing.

When circumstances render it expedient to shorten the Service, the following form shall suffice: The Confession and the Absolution; Lift up your hearts, etc., through the Sanctus; The Prayer of Consecration, ending with these words, partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood; The Prayer of Humble Access; The Communion; The Lord's Prayer; The Blessing. And NOTE, That for the Confession and Absolution the following may be used.

This rubric is important because it shows what the Prayer Book regards as essential in a constrained sick-room celebration. It shortens readings and surrounding matter, but it does not omit repentance, consecration, reception, thanksgiving, or blessing. The rite remains recognizably Holy Communion.

Confession and Absolution

The shortened rite may use a briefer confession and absolution. The confession is direct and comprehensive, naming sin "in thought, word, and deed" and asking cleansing according to God's mercy.

O ALMIGHTY Father, Lord of heaven and earth, we confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word, and deed. Have mercy upon us, O God, after thy great goodness; according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away our offences and cleanse us from our sins; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

THE Almighty and merciful Lord grant you Absolution and Remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.

The absolution's grammar is pastoral rather than merely juridical. It joins remission, repentance, amendment of life, and the Holy Spirit's consolation. A sick communicant is not only prepared to receive the sacrament; he is also commended to the Spirit's strengthening and comfort.

Impeded Reception

The final 1928 rubric addresses the case where the sacrament is not received by mouth. It does not say that bodily reception is unimportant, because the whole office exists to provide it when possible. But it does teach that, where extremity, lack of notice, or another just impediment prevents reception, the sick person is to be instructed in repentance, faith in Christ crucified, remembrance, and thanksgiving.

But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the Minister, or by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, the Minister shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and stedfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the Cross for him, and shed his Blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefor, he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth.

This instruction keeps the focus on Christ and faith rather than on anxiety over sacramental logistics. It is best described as spiritual communion in Prayer Book terms: the sick person profits by Christ's Body and Blood through repentance, steadfast belief, remembrance of his saving death, and hearty thanksgiving, even when oral reception cannot be accomplished.

The last rubric broadens the office beyond acute illness. It may be used for "aged and bed-ridden persons" who cannot attend public ministration, substituting the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of the day for the sick-communion propers.

This Office may be used with aged and bed-ridden persons, or such as are not able to attend the public Ministration in Church, substituting the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the Day, for those appointed above.

Historical Development

The 1549 English Prayer Book shows an earlier form of the same pastoral concern. It explicitly provided for same-day reservation from the public Communion and immediate administration to the sick person when the church Communion had already been celebrated.

And yf the same daye there be a celebracion of the holy communion in the churche, then shall the priest reserve (at the open communion) so muche of the sacrament of the body and bloud, as shall serve the siche person, and so many as shall communicate with hym (yf there be any.) And so soone as he convenientely may, after the open communion ended in the church, shall goe and minister the same, firste to those that are appoynted to communicate with the sicke (yf there be any), and last of all to the sicke person himselfe.

The 1549 book also instructed the sick person to desire other communicants when possible, treating their presence as comfort and charity.

At the tyme of the distribucion of the holy sacrament, the prieste shalt firste receyve the communion hymselfe, and after minister to them that be appoynted to communicate with the sicke (yf there be any), and then to the sicke person. And the sicke person shall all wayes desyre some, eyther of his owne house, or els of his neyghbours, to receyve the holy communion with hym; for that shall be to hym a singuler great coumforte, and of theyr parte a great token of charitie.

The 1662 English book retained the opening exhortation to frequent Communion and the sick-room celebration, but required "three, or two at the least" to communicate with the sick person. It also kept a special plague rubric allowing the minister alone to communicate with the sick when no parishioners or neighbors could be obtained for fear of infection.

But if the sick person be not able to come to the Church, and yet is desirous to receive the Communion in his house; then he must give timely notice to the Curate, signifying also how many there are to communicate with him, (which shall be three, or two at the least,) and having a convenient place in the sick man's house, with all things necessary so prepared, that the Curate may reverently minister, he shall there celebrate the holy Communion, beginning with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel here following.

In the time of the plague, sweat, or such other like contagious times of sickness or diseases, when none of the Parish or neighbours can be gotten to communicate with the sick in their houses, for fear of the infection, upon special request of the diseased, the Minister may only communicate with him.

These earlier rubrics explain two features of the 1928 American form. First, the sick communicant's Communion was historically treated as ecclesial and communal, not as a purely individual act. Second, the American 1928 book simplified several older constraints: it no longer states the "three, or two at the least" rule, and it supplies a general shortened form rather than only the older visitation-to-Communion transition.

1928 Revision Context

E. Clowes Chorley, writing in 1929, describes the 1928 American revision of the sickness offices as a deliberate tonal and pastoral change. He criticizes the older Visitation office as gloomy and psychologically unhelpful, and he specifically notes the new shorter confession and absolution in the Communion of the Sick.

The Office for the Visitation of the Sick has been so changed as to be hardly recognizable in its new form. As it appeared in the old Prayer Book it was so gloomy, so medieval in its theology and so utterly lacking in any understanding of the psychological approach to sick persons, that it had almost ceased to be used in the church.

The old Collect in the Communion of the Sick with the note: "who dost correct those whom thou dost love, and chastise every one whom thou dost receive," gives place to one with the note of "loving-kindness," and the Epistle speaking of "the chastening of the Lord" is displaced by one more hopeful in tone. There is also a new and shorter Confession and Absolution.

Chorley's description should be read carefully. The final 1928 text did not abolish the older collect, since it prints both the traditional collect and the newer alternative. But his observation is still historically useful: the revision clearly added a more hopeful alternative collect and a shortened penitential form, so clergy could minister without forcing every case into the older language of chastening.

Procter and Frere give the wider historical rationale for the sickness offices. They describe the Church's care for the sick as an apostolic duty and connect the Prayer Book office to the older Sarum service.

The Church has always been zealous in her care for the sick, the dying and the departed. The Apostolical example and the precept that the sick man should "call for the elders of the Church" was fully carried out in medieval times and the present Order for the Visitation follows closely the lines of the old service in the Sarum Manual.

That historical interpretation helps keep the 1928 rubrics from being read as administrative details only. They are pastoral directions within a long Christian pattern: elders of the Church, prayer, repentance, consolation, Communion, and preparation for death or recovery.

Rubrical Theology

The 1928 Communion of the Sick is ordered by four theological principles. First, frequent public Communion is the ordinary discipline of readiness. The sick-room rite presupposes the parish Eucharist rather than replacing it.

Second, the sick communicant remains within the Church's common life. The minister asks how many will communicate with him; the minister receives first; appointed communicants receive; and the sick person receives last. The order of reception makes the sick person the pastoral focus without making Communion a merely private possession.

Third, the office is realistic about limits. Sickness, contagious disease, lack of warning, and extremity can make the ordinary form impossible. The Prayer Book therefore provides an abbreviated rite and instruction for impeded reception, but it does so without dismissing the value of actual sacramental reception.

Fourth, the rite is governed by Christ's promise. John 6 is appointed because the sick person's hope is not ceremony as an end in itself, but Christ who gives his flesh for the life of the world. The rubric on impeded reception makes the same point pastorally: repentance, steadfast faith in Christ crucified, remembrance of his benefits, and thanksgiving are the grammar of profitable participation.

Use in Worship

In parish use, the rubrics guide preparation before the visit and conduct during it. The minister should encourage regular Communion among the whole parish, ask for timely notice, prepare what is necessary for reverent celebration, include other communicants when possible, and choose between the ordinary and shortened forms according to the sick person's strength and circumstances.

The office also helps catechists explain what the 1928 BCP does and does not say. It plainly provides Communion of the Sick; it plainly permits shortening; it plainly provides spiritual-communion instruction when reception cannot occur. It does not make sickness a reason to detach the sacrament from the Church's ordered ministry, and it does not leave the unable communicant without spiritual comfort when bodily reception is impossible.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Visitation of the Sick (1928 BCP)
• Communion of the Sick (1928 BCP)
• Absolution of the Sick (1928 BCP)
• Anointing of the Sick and Anglican Tradition
• Reserved Sacrament and the 1928 BCP

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Visitation and Communion of the Sick
• The 1549 Book of Common Prayer: Visitation of the Sick
• The Church of England: The Communion of the Sick
• E. Clowes Chorley: The New American Prayer Book, Chapter VII
• Procter and Frere: A New History of the Book of Common Prayer