Jesus Instituting Holy Communion (SAU 045)

In this splendid image, Jesus sits at a table that is set for Passover and covered in a blue and white plaid cloth. He is clad in an eye-catching, soft red garment. It is Maundy or Holy Thursday and His Last Supper with His apostles. It is the moment at which He institutes the sacrament of Holy Communion or the Eucharist. + The figure of Jesus is isolated against a dark red background patterned with stylized artichokes in diamond shapes. The mood here is solemn. Lifting his eyes to heaven, Jesus raises his right hand in blessing. In his left, He holds up a large host, the Eucharistic bread, over the chalice filled with wine. In Latin--in a banderole beneath the scene--are the words of Consecration: “This is My Body… This is My Blood” (“Hoc est corpus meum… Hic est sanguis meus”). In remembrance of Him, at every Mass, the priest reenacts this sacred action turning ordinary bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood. + Image Credit (SAU 045): Antique devotional print of Jesus Instituting the Holy Eucharist, originally published in chromolithography by the Socièté de St. Augustin, Bruges, Belgium, late 19th century, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.