Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with communion

What to do with my veil?

Morrigan — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:53:50 -0800

Can you suggest a use for a Holy Communion veil? I recently found my own communion veil (cheapish "tiara" type headband, lace fall) and I have no hope nor expectation that this would be useful to anyone in my family, in a Catholic way. Can you suggest any uses that would be meaningful to those I'd pass this on to?

Too much starch is never a bad thing, right?

PuGZ — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:02:32 -0800

So I was bored and ate a whole lot of paper. What now? I was sitting in a university lecture, bored out of my mind and decided to entertain myself by eating the blank paper in front of me. This is not the first time I have done so - at many ages (5, 12, 18) I have entered into bets with friends that I could eat a whole page faster than they could (and usually lost). What will this do to my body?

Better than Andre, anyway

showbiz_liz — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:09:59 -0800

I want to find some wines similar to the communion wine of my childhood... I've very recently become interested in trying wine, but more often than not, the stuff I buy doesn't match my idea of what wine is (it might be too bitter, too sharp, etc). I wasn't sure where I got that idea of wine in the first place, but then I realized- I've been expecting wine to taste like the communion I took every week when I went to Lutheran church as a child. I asked my godfather, and he said that the wine the church usually used was Manischewitz Cream Red Concord.

All I can find about this wine, pretty much, is the following blurb: "A sweet but balanced wine with a velvety mouth feel. The distinct aroma and flavor of fresh Concord grapes with confectionery notes." I've also found a few things indicating that this wine is kind of cheap and shitty, so it may well be that my memory has been clouded by time.

Anyway... I'm looking to figure out what characteristics this wine has that I might be able to find in other wines. All I really remember is that is was sweet and fruity- it's been well over a decade since I actually had any.

Has any non-Catholic ever mysteriously died from taking communion?

EmuBite — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 07:16:59 -0800

Has any non-Catholic ever mysteriously died from taking communion? This question was inspired by memories brought back by this thread.

Years ago, I attended a Catholic high school. As a non-Catholic, I never particpated in the Eucharist, which was offered every so often during chapel. Catholic theology was mandatory at this school. The instructor, and aging Augustinian priest, told us that there were cases of unexplained deaths where non-Catholics partook in communion, and he warned the non-Catholic students not to participate in the Eucharist. However, when pressed about these mysterious deaths, he refused to elaborate.

I always suspected this was a tale told to keep non-Catholics away from the sacrament. Has anyone else ever heard of this? Are there any confirmed stories of actually deaths occurring where non-Catholics have taken communion? If you have encountered this, what specific stories were you told?

I realize this is a strange question, but it is something that has stuck with me for years.