'Wrapped around the body of Christ in the Eucharist': covering the remaining consecrated elements in the Prayer Book Holy Communion

When all have communicated, the minister shall return to the Lord's table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth. This Rubric, taken from the Scottish Liturgy, was likewise added in 1661; the ceremony which it prescribes, was probably observed before. 

When John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), turns to the rubric following the administration of the holy Sacrament, we yet again see a significant example of how a rich eucharistic piety is found in the pre-1833 Church of England. Shepherd - again - turns to patristic sources to explore the meaning of a provision of the Prayer Book rite:

This cloth, by the Latin ecclesiastical writers is called the corporal, because it was wrapped round the body of Christ in the Eucharist. It was in use in the time of Isidore Peleusiota, who wrote A.D. 412, and says, "the fine linen cloth, which is stretched over the holy gifts, represents the good office of Joseph of Arimathea." Durandus, in his Rationale, delivers the same opinion: "The corporal represents the fine linen cloth in which the body of Christ was wound up in the sepulchre." The corporal was likewise called palla, or pall, because it vailed the sacramental elements. The institution of the corporal or pall is ascribed to Eusebius, who was Bishop of Rome about the year 300. But it was probably in use before, for he ordered that " it should be made, not of silk, or purple, or died cloth, but of fine white linen, like that in which our Lord was buried." In the colour, manufacture, and use of the corporal, the old liturgical writers have discovered many mystical significations.

It is striking how Shepherd has no awkwardness or embarrassment in invoking these patristic "mystical significations" and is entirely content to apply them to this Prayer Book rubric. He does so, as we have previously seen, while holding the traditionally Reformed understanding of 18th century Church of England divines regarding the presence of the Lord in the Sacrament. Shepherd quite clearly sees no contradiction whatsoever between the two. In fact, the patristic interpretations of the corporal point to the truth that "the Body and Blood of Christ ... are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper". 

What is more, the "mystical" interpretation of the corporal placed over the remaining consecrated elements - that it evokes the linen cloth in which Joseph of Arimathea placed the body of the Crucified - is a reminder that the Holy Communion was ordained, in the words of the Catechism, "For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby". Similarly, the Prayer of Consecration proclaiming that the Sacrament is "a perpetual memory of that his precious death ... in remembrance of his death and passion". In other words, to see in the corporal placed over the remaining consecrated elements a representation of the actions of Joseph of Arimathea at the Lord's Burial, is a reminder that the Holy Communion is, in the words of Article XXVIII, the "Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death".

Once again, Shepherd is demonstrating the vitality and richness of eucharistic piety in the pre-1833 Church of England, drawing on patristic theologies and practices to illustrate the meaning of the Prayer Book Holy Communion. Whatever the reasons given for the Movement of 1833, it was not necessary as a means of renewing the eucharistic theology and piety of Anglicanism, nor to encourage a greater awareness of patristic teaching and spirituality.