Oblata

Oblata (Lat. for offered), the name of the host before consecration. The oblatoe, not consecrated, though blessed on the altar, were given by the priest, before food in the refectory, to those monks who had not received the sacrament. Oblatae were made in a kind of mold of a small pattern. Females, called sanctimoniales, had assigned to them the office of making these oblatoe, but always without leaven. They were occasionally placed on the bosoms of the dead. The host, before consecration, was cut in the form of a cross by a knife specially set apart for that purpose, and the vessels in which it was preserved were made in the form of small towers. According to the Mozarabic Liturgy, it was to be mystically divided into nine parts, called 'Gloria, etc. Information on these particulars may be obtained from Du Cange, s. v, Gloria, Lancea, Oblata, Panis, Turris.