CHALICE. - This is, among the sacred vessels, the one in which the Eucharistic wine is consecrated during Mass.
1. Archaeology
Just as the first places of worship were a common room in private houses, the first altars a simple table, and the first liturgical vestments those of everyday use, so too the chalice was originally nothing more than an ordinary household vessel, from which its general form derives, being the same in both East and West. The Greeks have μορτύσον, which denotes a chalice without handles, while χράσιγξ is used for the handled chalice; more ancient but rare is χύξχος, used, for example, in the Apostolic Constitutions (PG 1, 1092) and later by Agathias (d. 580; Histor., bk. II: PG 88, 1329). In Latin, calix is the most common term from antiquity onwards, both for its form and because in Italy the Greek νέκταρ was translated as calix.In the Paleochristian period, scyphus (from σκόφος) was also used, and Braun believes that this term referred to the chalice for consecration, while calix designated that used for the communion of the faithful.
Subsequently, distinctions arose such as c. sanctus to denote the consecration chalice used in Rome in the 8th and 9th centuries; c. ministerialis, a term used in the Liber Pontificalis until the 8th century for the chalice used for the communion of the faithful; c. stationarius, reserved in Rome for consecration during the stational liturgy; c. maior or minor according to its size or the liturgical solemnity; c. ad Baptismum for administering communion to neophytes in Rome, as recorded in the Liber Pontificalis in the biography of Innocent I (401–17); c. ad offerendam faciendam or offerendarius, the vessel in which the wine offerings for consecration were collected or with which wine was brought for the divine sacrifice; c. quotidianus, used daily, as distinct from the one reserved for solemnities (Liber Pontificalis, I, p. 418, in the biography of Gregory III [731–41]); c. viaticus, used while traveling, often very small, in use especially in the 11th–13th centuries; c. appensorius or pendentilis, non-liturgical but used as a decorative element hung from the pergulae in basilicas, mentioned in the biographies of popes of the 7th and 9th centuries: Gregory III (731–41), Leo III (795–816), Paschal I (817–24), Leo IV (844–55), and also recorded in the Ravenna Liber Pontificalis.
Material and form of the chalice. - As for material, originally there was no distinction; any drinking vessel was permitted, whether of glass or metal, etc.; for the pre-Carolingian period, wood cannot be excluded.
Glass was widely used by the Romans, and certain examples survive from the post-Constantinian period, while gold and silver chalices are mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis in Constantinian donations.
In the pre-Carolingian period, bronze and copper chalices are also found, but without documentation, unlike those of crystal or onyx.
The earliest Christian monument depicting a chalice without a foot is the so-called *Fractio panis* fresco in the Priscilla catacomb, which clearly conveys the Eucharistic concept; whereas the chalice from the Coemeterium maius, now in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican Library, published by De Rossi in his *Bollettino di Archeologia Cristiana* (1879), is not Eucharistic. It is entirely unlikely that the form of the Eucharistic chalice derived from that used at the Last Supper. From the beginning, two different forms were used indiscriminately: the handled form, with handles or *auriculae* shaped like ears or in an S-shape, or the handleless form. The foot is generally conical or simple, sometimes with a central knot, usually round and low; in the East, a third form exists in which, instead of a foot, there is a small base supporting the cup, giving it the appearance of a modern cup.
The cup itself may be oval, goblet-shaped, or vase-like, or hemispherical. The form is generally the same in both East and West. In some examples preserved in the Treasury of St. Mark’s, originating from Constantinople between the 9th and 12th centuries, a support or cup-holder is inserted between the knot and the cup.
Examples of handled chalices include the Atdagh chalice, now in the Dublin Museum, of uncertain date but attributed by many to the 9th century; the St-Denis chalice, now in private hands in America; the travel chalice from the cathedral of Cividale, only 9.5 cm high with a 5.5 cm wide cup, adorned with depictions of Abraham and Melchizedek; and the series of precious chalices in the Treasury of St. Mark’s in Venice (10th–12th centuries), which are not of metal but of glass, onyx, crystal, chalcedony, and serpentine.
This form remained constant in both East and West from the beginning until 1300, and these chalices were used both for consecration and for the communion of the faithful.
The earliest example of a handleless chalice is the Antioch Chalice (v.). The same form is found in the porphyry chalice from the same region, now in the Vatican Museums, and in the chalice of St. Maurice d’Agaune (v.).
made by the Empress Theodora in the mosaic of S. Vitale in Ravenna (6th century). A contemporary example is found in the fresco at Bāwīt in Egypt. Others date from the 6th or 7th century and appear on patens, for example the one found at Riha on the Orontes, or in miniatures, such as in the Ashburnam Pentateuch. The form then remained constant: see, for example, the silver chalice offered by the deacon Orso (5th–6th centuries), now at Lamon; the gold and enamel chalice with a conical cup from Chelles (7th century), now lost, said to have been given by St Eligius to St Bathilde; the 7th-century chalice from Petöhaza (Hungary); the chalice of Crodegango of Séez (d. 775), now in Leningrad; the copper chalice of Duke Tassilo III (c. 780) at Kremsmünster (Austria); and that of Lutger (d. 800) at Werden (Germany).
In the East there is a group of seven Syrian chalices, all found between Aleppo and Antioch, the authenticity of which Braun considers uncertain; while all fourteen in the treasury of S. Marco in Venice are authentic, one with a metal cup, the others in alabaster, agate, onyx or crystal.
II. Art
In the Romanesque period the hemispherical cup is set directly on the stem, as in the rich example from S. Godehard at Hildesheim or in the much humbler one said to have belonged to St Francis in the treasury of the basilica of Assisi. By the end of the 13th century the cup assumes a more slender and graceful line, the foot ends in lobed terminations, the stem is differentiated, and the knop is hollowed out to accommodate, together with other parts, rich decoration in which enamel is combined with chasing, niello and every other refined goldsmith’s technique; the chalice of Nicholas IV in S. Francesco at Assisi, by the Sienese Guccio di Mannaia, is a typical example of the new trend. While the Campanian goldsmiths of the 14th century or the Abruzzese of the following century remain closer to traditional forms, the Venetian goldsmiths distinguish themselves by delicate execution and the characteristic form that the knop assumes with Gothic frames in which busts of saints are set. In the 15th century the chalice loses all Gothic decorative residue;
Chalice – Silver chased and enamelled chalice (15th century).
Amalfi, treasury of the Cathedral.
Chalice – Chinese chalice donated to Leo XIII.
Rome, treasury of the basilica of S. Peter.
polychrome enamels give way to plastic decoration in which leafy garlands are combined with figures. The Baroque chalice has a more expansive cup and a greater emphasis on plastic motifs in the foot and knop, which tend to be reined in to a more measured scheme in the course of the 18th century. Since then the form and decoration of the chalice have undergone no profound changes; garlands, Eucharistic symbols of the wheat-ear and the grape, cherubim’s heads continue to be arranged according to established formulas.