Frequent Communion is the Roman Catholic practice of receiving the Eucharist frequently, as opposed to the usual medieval practice of receiving it once or a few times a year, by going to mass on Sundays.[1]
Although it is argued that in the early church the norm was communion of all Christians present at Mass,[2] before the Twentieth Century communion among the Catholic laity tended to be quite infrequent, sometimes only once a year. This was partly informed by the Jansenist fear that frequent communion would erode the faith.[3]
In the early Twentieth Century this began to change. Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Mirae caritatis in 1902 argued for frequent communion as a source of renewal of faith with his successor Pius X arguing in his motu proprio Sacra Tridentina[4] that the laity should receive communion as frequently as possible. In his encyclical Quam singulari Pius also relaxed restrictions on reception of Communion for the sick[5] and children.[6]
Regarding weekly versus daily communion, St. Francis de Sales encouraged weekly communion, but he neither encouraged nor discouraged daily communion.[7]