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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Communio Peregrina
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In the early Church the term communio denoted not only a participation of the Eucharist, but also a right of partaking of the bounty of the Church. When travelers or strangers came to any church without bringing letters testimonial, by which they might be ascertained to be members of some Christian church, they were liable to the suspicion that they were under the censure of the Church to which they had belonged. Until they could thus clear themselves from imputation, they were not admitted to the Lord's table, but were allowed to derive their means of temporal maintenance from the Church fund. In this way delinquent clergymen were sometimes treated in their own churches, and this was called communio peregrina. They were not permitted to officiate or to be present at the celebration of the Lord's Supper until they had given satisfaction to the Church. — Farrar, Eccl. Dict. s.v.; Bingham, Orig. Eccl. 17:3,1.