My first question -- your body couldn't handle even one small host once a week?

I would think that changing your diet would fix your system, so it is no longer repulsed by gluten.

You might get the priest to give you a portion of a host.

But the matter for the Sacrament has been set by Christ Himself, so the Church can't change it for any reason.

Likewise, the Church can't make up rubrics (i.e., giving out the chalice to all those who need it for health reasons)

If a person truly can't deal with even the smallest amount of gluten, even after years of treatment/proper dieting, then I suppose such a person would need to accept his cross and make spiritual communions.

You never know -- such a person might end up more attached to Christ than countless others who take Communion for granted.

I hope this helps --

Matthew

At my chapel, there is a young girl who must have an allergy or intolerance to gluten.  She goes up to the Communion rail last, and Father allows her to receive the Precious Blood from a small gold chalice.  Father does not let her hold it; he holds it up to her lips and pours a small amount into her mouth while holding a purificator under it, and while an altar boy holds a paten under her chin.

Many allergens can most definitely endanger one's life, gluten included.  It was suspected that I had a problem with gluten because of chronic intestinal bleeding and I had to go gluten free until a surgeon confirmed that that was not the cause.  I was not allowed one single bit of gluten at all!

Allergens can be extremely dangerous.  Just a small amount of one peanut can cause some people's throats to swell and inhibit breathing.  I worked for such a person once and this happened to him.  If your body perceives gluten as a toxin, there is no diet that will fix that except for a gluten-free diet.

Re gluten and Holy Communion, there should be no gluten in a consecrated Host.  The bread BECOMES the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ at the Consecration.  It just still looks like bread to us.  Christ said:  "This is My Body" not "this contains My Body."  Either it is bread or it is Christ.  It can't be both.  

There was a good discussion of this matter on Angelqueen years ago.  One person who was a prolific and well-respected poster said that his wife was extremely allergic to gluten.  I remember that he said that if she just had a few crumbs from a knife that had cut a sandwich she'd have to go to the Emergency Room (so she always had to remember to wash her hands after fixing the children's lunches).  Yet, she was able to receive Holy Communion (the entire Host) with NO PROBLEM.  I think I may have even corresponded with him to be sure that I understood him correctly.

I am not a doctor nor a theologian.  I'm just saying I believe what Christ said and the account by the poster confirmed my beliefs.  However, if I had ANY doubt about the Host being truly consecrated, knowing what I know about gluten intolerance and if I knew from experience that I have SEVERE reactions to it, I would not endanger my health by receiving Communion THERE but would do my best to find a priest who I trust to truly consecrate the Host and put my faith in Christ's words.  And if I still had a reaction, I'd blame the priest and find another.

 :confused1:
The accidents of the Bread and Wine remain unless a miracle occurs.  I'm not saying Our Lord can't or didn't work a miracle, but to expect it seems presumptuous.  There is a child who has to receive the tiniest fragment of Host possible, and immediately take antihistamine and drink lots of water.  Needless to say, he does not often take Communion.  Even with precautions in place, he often wheezes and gets a rash afterwards.  If the priest has done something wrong, then Fr. Pfeiffer and Fr. Hewko must be added to the list of false or defective priests as I saw this twice when Resistance Mass was held in the child's home.  Ingestion of gluten for this child is potentially life threatening.

Now this is the matter:
I was told that low-gluten bread and giving the Chalice for a laic is permissible...
only if the priest is not sede.
Does SSPX allow these things? Since I'm not interested in NO buffoonry and SSPX is between sede and the indult.

@Frances Do they do these in the Resistance? Or SSPV or CMRI?

:dancing-banana:SSPX?  Low gluten?  No.  Special accommodation with Wine?  I do not know!  I've never seen it done.  

There is no accomodation with wine. It is the Blood of Christ.

Matthew, regarding fixing gluten intolerance with diet, it really depends on what is causing the intolerance and how much damage was done before it was caught. If it's "simply" a matter of a severely handicapped digestive system, it theoretically can be cured but it takes a lot of time and attention and you have to know what you're doing. Part of the problem is that there are several different "diets" and theories that all supposedly get the digestive system back on track but there's no way of testing them but by individual trial and error. In the end, some people are able to fix their digestive systems and others are not.

There are also differences in severity between an allergy, an intolerance, a sensitivity and celiac disease.

I would think that most people who are simply gluten intolerant or sensitive could still receive Holy Communion. They may have symptoms afterwards but if not severe or life threatening they could offer it as part of their cross.

I wouldn't mess with celiacs or true allergies though. I think, unless someone else can put forth a good argument against it, that it would be good for them to receive the Blood rather than the Body of Our Lord at Holy Communion. There must be room for this adjustment in the Church's discipline.

If a person has only seen or experienced seasonal allergies with a runny nose and a little sneezing they may not realize how an allergy can actually KILL a person. To that body, that substance is a poison. I know someone with a nut allergy so severe that it's not just a matter of not eating them; he gets a reaction even if a package is opened in the same air space and he breathes in molecules of it. It's less severe than if he actually ingests it, but the throat tightens nonetheless. The severity of allergies can sound crazy until you're the one actually having the reaction. (I learned this the hard way! Used to sweep "allergies" under the rug with a bit of an eye roll like it's child's play. No longer!)