Chalice and host
A cup with a round wafer above it: the chalice and host of the Mass, the Catholic sign of the Eucharist and of the priesthood.
Meaning
In the account of the Last Supper that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal gives, Christ “took the bread and the chalice and gave thanks” and said, “this is my Body; this is the cup of my Blood.” The chalice, the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908) says, is the first of the sacred vessels, and the word is often used for the Precious Blood itself. The host is the bread of the Mass: the Western Church uses unleavened bread, and Lutherans generally do too. Hosts are stamped by host-irons, which for centuries have marked them with the Lamb, Christ on the Cross, or the letters IHS in rays. At Mass the priest breaks the host and puts a piece of it into the chalice, a sign, the Missal says, of the unity of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Origin and history
No reliable tradition records the cup Christ used at the Last Supper, the Catholic Encyclopedia says. Pilgrims of the sixth and seventh centuries were shown one in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; later the sacro catino of Genoa, a green glass dish long thought to be emerald, and an agate cup at Valencia were venerated as the true one. The encyclopedia’s verdict is that “the whole tradition is untrustworthy and of late date”, and it quotes John Chrysostom: “the chalice was not of gold in which Christ gave His blood to His disciples to drink, and yet everything there was precious.”
Britannica says silver and gold became the usual materials only after the Roman Empire recognised Christianity in the 4th century. Of surviving chalices the most famous is the Ardagh Chalice, found by accident in Ireland in 1868, which is inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles. St Boniface (about 740) is remembered for saying that once the priests were of gold and the chalices of wood, and now the chalices were of gold and the priests of wood. Church law came to require that the cup be gold, or silver gilt inside. The Anglican liturgy of 1549 also prescribed unleavened bread.
The priest’s chalice
The chalice is the mark of the priesthood. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that a chalice stands on a priest’s coffin at his funeral, a memory of the time when a small chalice of metal or wax was buried with him in his tomb. The chalice is also the emblem of saints, among them St John the Evangelist.
Related signs
The host shown on its own for adoration is held in a Monstrance. The Lamb stamped on hosts is the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), and in a sixth-century mosaic in St Peter’s the Lamb’s blood flows into a chalice.
Read next
- Next in Catholic symbolsAgnus Dei (Lamb of God)A lamb, usually with a halo and carrying a cross-staff with a banner: Christ as the Lamb of God, from John the Baptist’s words “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
- Hosts are stamped with IHS in rays.IHSA monogram of the name of Jesus, from the first letters of his name in Greek. With a cross above the H and three nails below, it is the emblem of the Jesuits.
See also
Monstrance, Keys of St Peter, Papal tiara, Rosary, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Miraculous Medal.
Sources
- Chalice, Herbert Thurston, “Chalice”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent, Chalice
- Host, Henri Leclercq, “Host”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1912), via New Advent, Host
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal, §308, The Holy See (vatican.va), nos. 72, 83, 118
- Chalice (Britannica), Encyclopaedia Britannica, “chalice”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article text
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles or curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
Added . Last updated .