Talk:Stadtkirche Wittenberg

First bread and wine distribution to the congregation?
It is claimed that "the building also saw...the first ever distribution of the bread and wine to the congregation", but this is at best very misleading. The average reader would probably take this to mean that this was the first time that the elements of communion were given to laypeople, in which case this is factually incorrect - the Eucharist has been distributed to the congregation, at least at times, throughout the entire history of the Church, both West and East. One could easily see this in any work mentioning Communion prior to 1521 (like, for instance, the Summa Theologiae, The Imitation of Christ, or any of the plethora of sources listed in Eucharist in the Catholic Church). I suppose from a theological perspective Catholics might consider the statement correct, as they might question the validity of the Reformer's mass (and hence might see the elements of communion given at that time to be just bread and wine, and not the Body and Blood of Christ), but even this isn't necessarily agreed upon.

I would just remove this statement, but I haven't really made any serious edits to Wikipedia so I'm leery of doing that.

Flashesarenight (talk) 06:33, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

The wording in the article isn’t the best. It is correct when properly understood. Luther gave the laity both elements of Communion. The tradition had developed that only the priest received the blood, while everyone else received only the body. Luther insisted on communion under both kinds. See Augsburg Confession Article XXII. There had been others since the 13th century who communed the people under both kinds, but their movements didn’t have the impact of the Lutheran Reformation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Flesher1990 (talk • contribs) 23:27, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

First mass in German?
The claim is made that "the building also saw the first celebration of the mass in German rather than Latin". This may be incorrect, based on Deutsche Singmesse, which mentions the use of Old High German for at least parts of the Mass in the 13th century.

Flashesarenight (talk) 06:40, 28 February 2021 (UTC)