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Church Documents
The Year of the Eucharist: Children: First Holy Communion
Vatican City State, January
8, 2005
Dear brother priests,
By means of this e-mail, I wish to address those of you who are
connected with our website, www.clerus.org,
which offers information for permanent/ongoing formation, thanks
primarily to the international theological video-conferences
organized by the Congregation for the Clergy, which have taken
place for more than three years on specific themes of interest.
During this time immediately following Christmas, I wish to express
my gratitude to you parish priests, who in this special year
of the Most Holy Eucharist are dedicated more and more to living
and testifying to the Eucharistic mystery in your parishes.
"Do this in memory of me," Jesus asks us.
By the exercise of our ministry, we make His Body and His Blood
sacramentally present each day on the altar. Therefore,
we can proclaim: "the Word has been made flesh,
and has dwelt among us" (Jn. 1, 14). The Christmas
season is a time dedicated in a particular way to children.
In fact, the incarnate God, Emmanuel, appears to us with the
face of a baby. And, Jesus, as an adult, tells us that
the way to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is through the heart
of a child: "if you do not become like little children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18, 3).
The Holy Father stressed the importance of children to the Church
in his Angelus Address of January 6th, the Solemnity of the Epiphany:
"Children are the present and future of the Church. They
play an active role in the evangelization of the world and, with
their prayers, help to save and improve it."
In this year of the Eucharist, how can we not think in a special
way about the first recipients of the catechetical message in
our parishes: the children. We receive them first
at the baptismal font accompanied by their family, and then we
see them present in our parish, more frequently than before,
as they participate in the course of catechism in preparation
for First Holy Communion!
Pope Saint Pius X, a great Pope canonized by the Church, dedicated
no small attention and pastoral effort to children. On
August 8, 1910 he issued the Decree "Quam Singulari,"
in which he established that children could receive First Holy
Communion at the age of seven.
Important to the pastoral care of children is allowing them to
approach the Eucharistic Communion, after they have received
the necessary preparation in their parishes to learn the primary
and fundamental elements of the Christian faith, without their
having to wait unduly long. The age of discretion comes
individually, around seven years, when common bread can be distinguished
from the eucharistic bread, the true Body of Christ.
Few are unconvinced, together with Pope Saint Pius X, that the
praxis of allowing children First Holy Communion at the age of
seven has brought great graces to the Church. The rest
must not fail to remember that in the early Church, the Sacrament
of the Eucharist was administered to babies immediately after
baptism, under the species of a few drops of wine.
To allow children to receive the Eucharistic Jesus as soon as
possible has been for many centuries one of the strong points
of the pastoral outreach to the smallest members of the Church.
The custom reestablished by Pope Saint Pius X in his time has
been praised by his Successors, including our own Holy Father
John Paul II. Canon 914 completely sets forth the Papal
thought: "It is primarily the duty of parents and
of those who take their place, as it is the duty of the parish
priest, to ensure that children who have reached the use of reason
are properly prepared and, having made their sacramental confession,
are nourished by this divine food as soon as possible."
The Holy Father has recently recalled the decision of Pope Saint
Pius X in his recent book "Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way":
"My predecessor Saint Pius X gave a touching testimony
to his pastoral love for children by the changes he introduced
regarding the reception of First Holy Communion. Not only
did he lower the age for approaching the Eucharistic Table (I
was able to take advantage of this in May, 1929), but he also
introduced the possibility of receiving Communion before the
age of seven, if the child demonstrates sufficient understanding.
This pastoral decision to bring forward the reception of Holy
Communion is most commendable. It has yielded rich fruits
if holiness in children and in the apostolate among the young,
in addition to a flowering of priestly vocations." (John
Paul II, "Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way," Rome 2004, p.
103).
We priests, called by God to the custody of the Most Holy Sacrament
of the Altar in union with our Bishops, can and must see children
above all as the first recipients of the immense gift of the
Eucharist, which God has placed in our fragile jars of clay,
our consecrated hands.
I believe that one of the greatest joys of a parish priest is
to hear the First Confession of children and, afterwards, to
give them First Holy Communion. It come spontaneously to
my mind that the younger such children are, then greater is the
likelihood of their more heartfelt and worthy welcoming of Christ
in the Sacrament. In fact, the mind of the child, reaching
the age in which it begins to reason -- and today this age is
reached early -- is open and available to the acceptance of the
divine light, that penetrates as far as possible the mystery
of the love of God for man. Faith can raise us over reason,
and this faith -- as we have often experienced it in our parishes
- is very much alive in the children that are able to express
with prayer their closeness to the Lord sometimes better than
ourselves
Therefore, we hope that the holy custom, of which we are reminded
by all of the recent popes, by which the Most Holy Eucharist
is given to small children after they have made their First Confession,
is more appreciated and assiduously implemented, particularly
in this Year of the Eucharist. Let us unite ourselves in
prayer so that "pastoral charity" will be the motivating
force behind parish priests who are devoted to parish work, in
union with their bishops, and with families and educators of
children, so that love for the Blessed Eucharist will be passed
on to children of even the most tender years and that the desire
to receive the Body of Christ will become the surest way to assure
a future of peace and holiness, not only for individual members
of the faithful but for the whole Christian community.
United in prayer and in pastoral zeal, I remain most devotedly
in Christ,
Darío Card. Castrillón Hoyos
Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy
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