Communion Wafers: Paper-thin Bread with Great Significance

DW (English)

In Catholic and many Protestant church services, communion wafers stand for the "body of Christ". How are they made? We drop by a communion host bakery.

Transcript

00:00 Have you ever eaten one of these and wondered where it comes from?

00:04 These little wafers are known as communion hosts or Eucharist hosts and they're passed

00:09 out widely during Christian services.

00:11 Well, many of Europe's hosts come from this bakery.

00:16 The family-run Klump Bakery in southern Germany has been making communion hosts for three

00:21 generations.

00:25 So where does this tradition come from?

00:27 That's what I want to find out.

00:30 The bakery, located in the southern German town of Ochsenhausen, is one of only a handful

00:35 of bakeries in Germany which makes communion hosts.

00:39 It's their only product, produced by a team of five employees.

00:43 Today they produce 200,000 wafers per day by machine.

00:46 In the past, it was laborious manual labor.

00:50 Ralf Klump is the owner and operating manager of the family business, which started over

00:54 40 years ago.

00:56 My grandfather produced pasta before the war, before the Second World War.

01:02 After the Second World War, things didn't go so well.

01:05 Then a monastery in the area suggested that he could produce wafers.

01:09 That's how my family came to produce wafers.

01:14 The family is bound by the oath of communion wafer producers, according to the laws of

01:19 the Roman Catholic Church.

01:21 That means wafers must only consist of flour and water.

01:24 And the bread must also be unleavened, meaning without the use of leavening agents such as

01:29 yeast.

01:30 But there are also gluten-free versions for those who are allergic to wheat.

01:35 The bakery delivers to 1,500 churches across Germany and other European countries.

01:42 These are still simple or secular wafers.

01:46 So can I taste this?

01:47 Is it allowed outside the Catholic Church?

01:49 They haven't been consecrated yet, so it's possible.

01:52 Okay, so I can try it.

01:55 Let's see.

01:58 Okay, I don't have much taste.

02:04 It just tastes like a stale cookie.

02:09 And they dissolve in your mouth.

02:14 To find out more about how communion wafers are used in Christian religious services,

02:18 I went to St. Joseph's Church in Berlin where Fr.

02:21 Stefan Dubowski was holding Mass.

02:28 So why are the wafers served here and what do they symbolize?

02:36 At every church service, we think about what Jesus did 2,000 years ago.

02:40 He had a meal with his friends, with his followers.

02:43 And on this occasion, he also used bread.

02:47 Where does this tradition come from?

02:50 This comes from the Jewish religion.

02:53 The Jews celebrated Passover and there was also unleavened bread.

02:57 And Jesus was a Jew, so he knew about Jewish traditions.

03:00 And he celebrated Passover with his friends and bread was used.

03:08 Is this unconsecrated or consecrated bread?

03:11 No, this is unconsecrated now.

03:14 The bread is consecrated during Holy Mass.

03:17 Consecrated means transformed.

03:18 This means that the bread becomes the body of Christ.

03:24 Receiving the host is at the heart of Christian worship.

03:28 It's a reminder of the words that Jesus said at his Last Supper.

03:32 Take this and eat it.

03:34 This is my body.

03:37 Back in Ochsenhausen, I wonder if dwindling church members in Germany has affected production

03:42 output.

03:45 Since a lot of people have left the church, do you notice that production has gone down

03:51 in recent years?

03:52 Yes, we've actually seen a drop in sales since the coronavirus.

03:57 So before COVID we had, let's say, 100%.

04:00 During COVID we were down 50% and now we're back to around 80% of our production before

04:05 COVID.

04:06 What are the busiest times for you in the year?

04:12 The busiest times are during the big Catholic holidays like All Saints Day, Christmas, Easter

04:19 and then it continues until Corpus Christi.

04:22 These are the busiest times.

04:25 But communion wafers are still an essential part of Holy Mass at St. Joseph's Church

04:29 even if it's not the holidays.

04:35 Who can receive this bread?

04:39 We prepare children for the fact that this is a special bread.

04:43 It's not just an ordinary bread that you buy in the bakery.

04:47 That's also valuable, but here again the priest speaks the words that Jesus spoke at the Last

04:52 Supper.

04:55 That is why it is then transformed into the body and blood of Christ.

05:01 This is not visible on the outside.

05:03 Outwardly it looks like a piece of bread.

05:05 But there are also many things in life that can transform you.

05:09 The most beautiful is love.

05:16 I certainly feel enlightened.

05:17 I had no idea how much actually goes into making one little wafer.

05:22 What kind of food is considered holy where you're from?

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