ELEVATION OF THE HOST (HOST, ante). Members of the church of Rome wor ship the host under the assumption that the bread and wine in the Lord's supper are transubstantiated into the real body, blood, and divinity of Christ, who is, on each cele bration of the sacrament, offered up anew as a victim (hostia)by the priests. The coun cil of Trent, having determined that upon consecration the bread and wine of the sacrament are changed into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, gave this decision: " There is, therefore, no room to doubt that all the faithful in Christ are bound to venerate this most holy sacrament, and to render thereto the worship of latria„ which is due to the true God according to the constant usage of the Catholic church." In conformity with this decision, the rubric of the missal says: " Having uttered the words of consecration, the priest immediately, falling on his knees, adores the consecrated host; he rises, shows it to the people, places it on the corporale, and again adores it." Rising up after he has adored it, lie elevates it before the people, who,
as soon as they see it (having notice also by the ringing of the bell), fall down in humble adoration to it as if it were God himself. They pray to it, and use the same acts of invocation as they use to Christ. The host is also elevated for worship when it is car ried through the streets in solemn procession, on its way to the dwellings of the sick, or on the feast of Corpus Christi, or before the pope. The custom of thus elevating the host was introduced into the church of Rome in 1216, the year after transubstantia tion was made an article of faith, Pope Honorius then ordered that the priests, at a certain point of the mass service, should lift up the host and cause the people to pros trate themselves in worshiping it.