The Pastor's Communion in Scania in the Seventeenth Century. New information from a collection of Latin letters

Abstract

The pastor’s communion was, for various reasons, a problematic question in Denmark and Sweden in the seventeenth century. Information about how, when and where the Swedish and Danish clergymen actually received communion is scarce. A hitherto neglected collection of Latin letters written by clergymen from the northwestern part of Scania shed some light on the problem. The letters give evidence that these vicars did not practice self-communion or give communion to their families, but asked a fellow clergyman in the neighbourhood to come to their aid. The communion always took place on weekdays and almost always in the morning.