Host desecration is a form of

sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

in Christian denominations that follow the doctrine of the

real presence of Christ in the Eucharist The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denomina ...

. It involves the mistreatment or malicious use of a

consecrate Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

d host—the bread used in the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

ic service of the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

(also known by Protestants simply as Communion bread). It is forbidden by the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...

, and

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

es, as well as in certain

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

traditions (including

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, and

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

). In Catholicism, where the host is held to have been transubstantiated into the body of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

, host

desecration Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual. Detail Many consider acts of desecration to ...

is one of the gravest sins. Intentional host desecration incurs the penalty of

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

. 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 Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

were a common reason given for massacres and expulsions throughout the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

in Europe. Similar accusations were made in witchcraft trials; witch-hunter's guides such as the ''

Malleus Maleficarum The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise on witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name ''Henricus Institor'') and first ...

'' refer to hosts as being objects of desecration by witches. It is part of many descriptions of the Black Mass, both in ostensibly historical works and in fiction.

Background

In the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, the

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις '' metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of ...

of the

means the "body, blood, soul, and divinity" of

are present in the form of the consecrated host are adored. Theft, sale, or use of the host for a profane purpose is considered a grave sin and sacrilege, which incurs the penalty of

, which is imposed automatically in the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

(See Latin Church Code canon 1367, or

Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches The ''Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'' (CCEC; la, Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, abbreviated CCEO) is the title of the 1990 codification of the common portions of the canon law for the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic ...

canon 1442.) Some denominations, especially Lutherans, have similar beliefs regarding the Eucharist and the

Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denomin ...

, though they reject the Roman Catholic concept of transubstantiation, preferring instead the doctrine of the

sacramental union Sacramental union (Latin: ''unio sacramentalis''; Martin Luther's German: ''Sacramentliche Einigkeit'';''Weimar Ausgabe'' 26, 442.23; ''Luther's Works'' 37, 299-300. German: ''sakramentalische Vereinigung'') is the Lutheran theological doctrine o ...

, 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." Both the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, such as the

Coptic Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...

, insist "on the 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 of the change", thus rejecting philosophical terms to describe it. The

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

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. Until the 19th-century Oxford Movement reintroduced the classic doctrine of the Real Presence, Anglicanism had favored

receptionism Receptionism is a form of Anglican eucharistic theology which teaches that during the Eucharist the bread and wine remain unchanged after the consecration, but when communicants receive the bread and wine, they also receive the body and blood of ...

— the doctrine that while the bread and wine in the

continue to exist unchanged after consecration, the faithful communicant receives together with them the body and blood of Jesus. Whatever the doctrine selected, among Anglicans the consecrated bread and hosts are reserved and treated with great reverence. Since the publication of in 1969, 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". 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 Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

cites: "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" Receiving on the tongue is still the official norm of the Catholic Church, while receiving in the hand ia the indultis, in English-speaking countries, the practical norm. Kneeling to receive communion is still the norm among Anglicans and Lutherans. , host desecration is a crime in Spain, and in the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current com ...

Medieval accusations against Jews

Accusations of host desecration (german: Hostienschändung) leveled against

were a common pretext for massacres and expulsions throughout the

in Europe. The libel of "

Jewish deicide Jewish deicide is the notion that the Jews as a people were collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus. A Biblical justification for the charge of Jewish deicide is derived from Matthew 27:24–25. Some rabbinical authorities, such as Ma ...

"—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 The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consider ...

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. Although the doctrine of

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 Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

and

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

. For Jews, such a belief system would contradict their strict dietary laws, which forbid the consumption of blood, even when consuming

kosher animals Kosher animals are animals that comply with the regulations of ''kashrut'' and are considered kosher foods. These dietary laws ultimately derive from various passages in the Torah with various modifications, additions and clarifications added to th ...

. 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. 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 Beelitz is a historic town in Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for its cultivation of white asparagus (''Beelitzer Spargel''). Geography Beelitz is situated about 18 km (11 mi) south of Potsdam, ...

in 1243, in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1389, and in many German cities, according to Ocker's writings in the ''Harvard Theological Review''. According to William Nichol, over 100 instances of Jews pleading guilty to the desecration of sacred hosts have been recorded. The first recorded accusation was made in 1243 at

, south of Potsdam. 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. Another famous case that took place in 1290, in Paris, was commemorated in the Church of the Rue des Billettes and in a local confraternity. The case of 1337, at

Deggendorf Deggendorf () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards ...

, celebrated locally as part of the 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. 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 The Brussels massacre was an anti-Semitic episode in Brussels (then within the Duchy of Brabant) in 1370 in connection with an alleged host desecration at the Brussels synagogue. A number of Jews, variously given as six or about twenty, were ex ...

). In 1510, at

Knoblauch Knoblauch is a surname of German origin, a metonymic occupational name for a gardener or trader with garlic. It is also the German word for garlic. It may refer to: *Chuck Knoblauch (born 1968), American baseball player **Ray Knoblauch (1928–200 ...

Havelland Geographically, the Havelland is the region around which the River Havel flows in a U-shape between Oranienburg to the northeast and Rhinow to the northwest. The northern boundary of the Havelland is formed by the River Rhin and the Rhin Canal. ...

38 Jews were executed and more expelled from

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

. An alleged host desecration in 1410, at

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...

, 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. Similar accusations, resulting in extensive persecution of Jews, were brought forward in 1294, at Laa, Austria; 1298, at Röttingen, near

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

, and at Korneuburg, near

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

; 1299, at

Ratisbon Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...

; 1306, at St. Pölten; 1330, at Güstrow; 1338, at

Pulkau Pulkau is a city in the district of Hollabrunn in Lower Austria, Austria. Population People * Walter Ullmann Walter Ullmann (29 November 1910 – 18 January 1983) was an Austrian-Jewish scholar who left Austria in the 1930s and settled i ...

; 1388, at

; 1401, at Glogau; 1420, at Ems; 1453, at Breslau; 1478, at

Passau Passau (; bar, label= Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's po ...

; 1492, at Sternberg, in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

; 1514, at Mittelberg, in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

; 1556, at

Sochaczew Sochaczew () is a town in central Poland, with 38,300 inhabitants (2004). In the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), formerly in Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Sochaczew County. Sochaczew has a narrow-gauge railway ...

, in Poland. The last Jew burned for stealing a host died in 1631, according to

Jacques Basnage Jacques Basnage De Beauval (8 August 165322 December 1723) was a celebrated French Protestant divine, preacher, linguist, writer and man of affairs. He wrote a ''History of the Reformed Churches'' and on ''Jewish Antiquities''. Biography Jacques ...

, quoting from Manasseh b. Israel. In some cases host desecration legends emerged without actual accusations, as was the case of the host desecration legend of Poznan (Posen). Uccelo host burning

The accusation of host desecration gradually ceased after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

when first

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

in 1523 and then Sigismund August of Poland in 1558 were among those who repudiated the accusation. However, sporadic instances of host desecration libel occurred even in the 18th and 19th century. In 1761 in Nancy, several Jews from

were executed on a charge of sacred host desecration. The last recorded accusation was brought up in Berlad,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, in 1836.

2008 controversy in the US

In his July 8 blog entry,

University of Minnesota Morris The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offerin ...

biology professor Paul Zachary Myers criticized the reaction to a

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State Universi ...

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 grave matter. Myers expressed outrage that

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...

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." A number of Catholics immediately reacted strongly. William A. Donohue of the Catholic League accused Myers of

anti-catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

bigotry Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, rel ...

, described his proposal as a threat to

desecrate Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual. Detail Many consider acts of desecration to ...

what 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. Myers pierced a host with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...

and ''

The God Delusion ''The God Delusion'' is a 2006 book by British evolutionary biologist, ethologist Richard Dawkins, a professorial fellow at New College, Oxford and, at the time of publication, the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science ...

'', put them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel. 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. 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 Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. According to Donohue, as the

Pharyngula The pharyngula is a stage in the embryonic development of vertebrates. At this stage, the embryos of all vertebrates are similar, having developed features typical of vertebrates, such as the beginning of a spinal cord. Named by William Ballard, t ...

website was accessible via a link from the University of Minnesota website, it should be bound by the institution's code of conduct which requires faculty to be "respectful, fair and civil" when dealing with others. Subsequently, Myers explained to the ''

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

'' that while his post was "satire and protest", he had received death threats regarding the incident but was not taking them too seriously. 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."

''Al-Islam'' magazine

In 2009, two Muslim reporters from ''Al-Islam'', a small

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

n magazine, participated in a Catholic Mass, while undercover writing an article on cases of

apostasy from Islam Apostasy in Islam ( ar, ردة, or , ) is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. An apostate from Islam is referred to by using the Arabic and Islamic term ''murtād'' (). It includes no ...

() and received Holy Communion. The reporters afterwards spat out the Host and photographed it to prove they had not

apostatised Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is ...

themselves. The resulting photo was then published in their May 2009 edition.AG should appreciate severity of Al-Islam incident: Catholic lawyers
(March 5, 2010). Yi Liang, Tan. ''The Sun''. Retrieved March 15, 2010. The magazine, which is owned by Utusan Karya, part of the

Utusan Malaysia ''Utusan Malaysia'' ( Jawi: اوتوسن مليسيا; English: ''The Malaysian Tribune'' or simply ''Utusan'') is a Malaysian Malay-language daily newspaper. Formerly owned by the Utusan Group, the newspaper is currently owned by Media Mulia. ...

Group, sent its reporters, including Muhd Ridwan Abdul Jalil, to two churches in the

Klang Valley Klang Valley ( ms, Lembah Klang; zh, 巴生谷; ) is an urban conglomeration in Malaysia that is centered in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and includes its adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. It is co ...

, as part of a special investigative report. The act of desecration occurred at St Anthony's Church in Jalan Robertson,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

.Church unhappy A-G dropped 'Al-Islam' case.
(Mar 5, 2010). Lourdes, Marc. ''New Straits Times.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010. After its publication, two

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune * Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) ...

Catholics from

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...

, Sudhagaran Stanley and Joachim Francis Xavier, jointly lodged a police report against the reporters.Malaysian lay activist pursues 'Al-Islam' case
(Feb 5, 2010). ''CathNews Asia''. Retrieved March 15, 2010. The police took no action despite a potential charge under Section 298A (1) of the 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. The desecration caused widespread outrage and condemnation from non-Muslims as well as MuslimsKhairy condemns actions of two Al Islam journalists.
(July 16, 2010). Syed Jaymal Zahiid. ''The Malaysian Insider.'' Retrieved march 15, 2010. across the country. Parties including the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur,

Murphy Pakiam , enthroned =29 May 2003 , ended = 13 December 2013 , predecessor = Anthony Soter Fernandez , successor = Julian Leow Beng Kim , ordination = 10 May 1964 , consecration = 4 October 1995 , other_post = , birth_name = , birth_date = , b ...

; the Catholic Lawyers Society; as well as numerous editorials in the media, criticised the government and the Attorney-General for its failure to act.Malaysia defends inaction over Catholic 'desecration'.
(Mar 4, 2010). ''AFP''. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
(Mar 05, 2010). ''AsiaOne News.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.Church slams govt over inaction.
Mar 4, 2010. ''My Sin Chew.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010. Some nine months later, in early March 2010, ''Al-Islam'' published an apology to the

and other Christians for the article. It was posted on the website of its publisher.Al-Islam apologises to Christians over special report.
Mar 6, 2010. ''The Star.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010. 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.Archbishop accepts apology, not suing Al-Islam.
(Mar 8, 2010). Chong, Debra. ''Herald.'' Retrieved March 15, 2010.

During a Black Mass

A Black Mass is a Satanic ritual designed to satirize or invert a traditional

Catholic mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Chri ...

. 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, 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 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.

Veracity

The sacrilege of the Host is mistakenly regarded as a fictitious crime committed primarily by pagans and fringe groups. Recent research indicates that hosts were actually desecrated, especially in connection with war crimes, which was particularly the case when the aim was to expose as idolatrous the enemy's religious cult, whose altars and churches were demonstratively vandalized. Since the host had a very special ideological meaning within a culture of giving, the opponent was not only to be dishonored materially, but also spiritually.Konstantin Moritz Langmaier: ''Hass als historisches Phänomen: Gräueltaten und Kirchenschändungen im Alten Zürichkrieg am Beispiel einer Luzerner Quelle von 1444''. In: ''Deutsches Archiv''. Band 73/2, 2017, 639–68
online
/ref>

References

Notes Bibliography * Langmuir, Gavin I. (1990) ''History, Religion, and Anti-Semitism'', Berkeley, California: University of California Press. * Ocker, Christopher (April 1998) "Ritual Murder and the Subjectivity of Christ: A Choice in Medieval Christianity" '' Harvard Theological Review,'' v.91, n.2, pp. 153–192 Further reading * Agosín, Marjorie and Sepúlveda, Emma (2001) ''Amigas: Letters of Friendship and Exile''. Austin. * * Langmuir, Gavin I. (1990) ''Toward a Definition of Antisemitism''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. * Marcus, Jacob Rader (1938) ''The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book: 315–1791'', Atheneum. pp. 155–58. **Primary source in respect of the Christian atrocities against the Jewish community living in Passau, Bavaria, in 1478. * Roth, Cecil (1997) "Host, desecration of". ''

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langu ...

'' (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth.

Keter Publishing House Keter ( he-a, כֶּתֶר, Keter.ogg, link=yes, ''Keṯer'', lit. " crown") also known as Kether, is the topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah. Since its meaning is "crown", it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Se ...

. * Rubin, Miri (1999) ''Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews''. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. * Stow, Kenneth (2006). ''Jewish Dogs, An Imagine and Its Interpreters: Continiuity in the Catholic-Jewish Encounter''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * 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, * Wistrich, Robert S. (1992) ''Antisemitism; The Longest Hatred''. London: Mandarin.

External links

*
Professor John Klier's review of Miri Rubin, ''Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews''

Discussion of host desecration accusations in Poland by Magda Teter. See also the video on that site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Host Desecration Anti-Christian sentiment Antisemitic canards Crimes involving Satanism or the occult Medieval anti-Jewish pogroms Eucharist in the Catholic Church Sacramental law