Paten for Celebrating the Lord’s Supper, 1536 (Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchengemeinde Sankt Anna, Augsburg)

The paten for celebrating the Lord’s Supper is part of the original equipment with vasa sacra, which the Augsburg council had ordered to be made for the city boroughs before the Reformation was introduced. The paten of Saint Anna, designed by Christoph Epfenhauser in around 1536, is the oldest one preserved of its kind in Augsburg. Another paten of the four Augsburg sets commissioned from Epfenhauser is now located in the monastery of the Holy Cross.

The wide form of the paten, which Epfenhauser had especially developed, remained binding until the seventeenth century. It follows the Upper German communion tradition, in which the Lord’s Supper was celebrated with bread cubes instead of wafers. In keeping with the new theological understanding, the form of the paten and a biblical citation placed prominently in its lower half emphasise the communal character of the Lord’s Supper.

For Luther, the communal remembrance of God by the brethren formed the basis on which Christ becomes spiritually present. The communal “meal” is therefore a central element of the Protestant faith.

When the paten was created, Saint Anna had already been closed since it was not needed as a parish church. The service was held in the church of Saint Maurice which meanwhile had become Protestant until Saint Anna was reopened in 1548.

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