In the church of Rome, a name given to the elements used in the eucharist, or rather to the consecrated wafer, which they pretend to offer up every day, as a new host or sacrifice for the sins of mankind. They pay adoration to the host upon a false presumption that the elements are no longer bread and wine, but transubstantiated into the real body and blood of Christ.
See TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
Pope Gregory IX. first decreed a bell to be rung, as the signal for the people to betake themselves to the adoration of the host. The vessel wherein the hosts are kept is called the cibory, being a large kind of covered chalice.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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