The Blessed Sacrament
The 17th. century was a time of revived Catholic confidence: apart from the great building projects in Rome, the Jesuit Order planted their ornate churches, designed so that all could hear the word and see the high altar, from Poland to Panama, from Portugal to the Philippines. The new St. Peter’s was completed, including Bernini’s Sacrament Chapel, where the ornate tabernacle replicated the “Little Temple” on the Esquiline Hill, on the site of the Apostle’s martyrdom.
This was evidence in itself that the cult of the veneration of the Blessed Sacrament was here to stay. Earlier centuries had reserved the Sacrament largely for the needs of the sick, either in a side cupboard [an “aumbry”], or in a pyx hanging above the altar (as at Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight today). Now veneration became so pronounced that it actually upset the balance of the Mass – which became seen as a vehicle to ‘produce’ the sacred species for veneration, and where Communion was often received by the priest alone.
While the Council of Trent had stressed the primacy of divine grace over human effort, now such magnificence in building tended to suggest the reverse, especially when the actual celebration of the sacraments tended towards minimalism – cut back vestments, small hosts at Mass, baptism in drops of water, anointing with a smudge of oil.
The worldwide mission of the Church was in full flow, but it was very much a European mission. Attempts to include elements of native ancestral worship in China were specifically banned by the Pope (Clement XI) in 1713