Consecrated bread, is bread that is blessed every Sunday at the parish mass and then given to the faithful.

The practice in the early centuries of Christianity was that anyone present at the celebration of the holy mysteries could take part in the communion of consecrated bread , but the Church, having found disadvantages in this practice due to the poor disposition in which some Christians might be found, decided to restrict the sacramental communion to those who had been duly prepared for it. However, to preserve the memory of the older communion, which had been extended to all, ordinary bread was still distributed and consecrated, like today.

Moreover, once the taste for luxury and magnificence, so costly for so many people, had made its way into the practice of religion, the custom of giving various sorts of cake, instead of bread, was introduced in large towns, and was added to other burdensome and onerous costs. This involves poorer families in heavy expenses that could be better used for real needs. We would not be believed if we showed by an exact calculation what the nation spends every year on consecrated bread alone.

It is known that there are over forty thousand parishes in the country where consecrated bread is distributed, sometimes even at two masses a day, without counting the masses held at religious houses, brotherhoods, and at different trade corporations. I have seen twenty-two loaves of bread supplied for the celebration of new master craftsmen at a corporation in Paris. We are surprised to see so much poverty among us, but when I see our extravagance and the amount of money lavished unwisely, I am surprised there is not more.

Whatever the case may be, I think that, all things considered, we can reckon the expenditure on consecrated bread , including all the preparation and additional expenses, at about forty sous on each occasion it is given. If it costs a little less in the countryside, then it costs a lot more in the towns, and many people will consider my estimation too low; yet forty thousand loaves of bread costing 40 sous each, makes 80,000 livres ; a sum, when multiplied by fifty-two Sundays, produces a total of over 4 million livres a year.

Who prevents the public’s being saved all this money? We have already said elsewhere that this bread carries no more benediction than the water used to bless it, and we could consequently limit ourselves to water, which costs nothing, and eliminate the expense on bread, which represents a real loss.

On a similar subject, let us speak about church lighting. There is hardly any call to abolish it altogether, since we are still too childish, too slavish towards custom and prejudice to feel that there are more useful and religious practices than burning candles in a church. Nonetheless, any enlightened individual will agree that we could save ourselves three-quarters of the lighting that is wasted today, and which is only strictly speaking a pious decoration. This being so, there are more than forty thousand parish churches in the kingdom; we can estimate at a similar number the collegiate churches, convents, religious houses, etc, which makes eighty thousand churches in all. I reckon the saving in lighting that could be made in each at approximately 50 livres a year; this sum, although insignificant, when multiplied by 80,000 churches gives us 4 million livres a year. So together with the four million livres mentioned above, we have an annual loss of eight million livres for the kingdom; and due to such unimportant objects and minor expenses that perhaps we never think about, we have a total of 8,000,000 livres .

And how many other costly, pointless and superfluous ornaments there are, such as bell-ringing, processions, altars of repose, etc. Populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longè est à me (The people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me); Matthew XV 8.

Religion is not about decorating temples to please our eyes or ears; it is about revering the creator sincerely and making us conform to the precepts of Jesus Christ. Let us love God with a preferential love, and fear to displease him by violating his commandments; let us love our neighbours like ourselves, and consequently be always attentive to do them good, or at least always careful not to do them evil; and last, let us be fully conscious of the duty of our condition. This is precisely the religion prescribed to us by God, and this is precisely what men do not practice. But they try to compensate for these shortcomings in another way, by spending their money on decorating altars, for example, and on the pomp of ceremonies. Money is lavished on ornaments, lighting, singing and bells; all of this represents the real soul of men’s religion, and most of them know nothing else. This is crass and deceptive piety, with little in common with the spirit of Christianity, which is inspired only by beneficence and fraternal charity!

What more important good deeds could be done, so much more worthy of the imitators of Jesus Christ! How many unhappy, crippled, handicapped and helpless people there are without consolation! How many humiliated poor men and women without fortune and without work! How many needy households overburdened with children! And how many unfortunate people of all kinds, whose relief should be the chief object of Christian commiseration! These are the objects to which we should devote the money we lavish elsewhere so fruitlessly and unnecessarily.