First Communion Mass 2024: 178 photos from Holy Rosary R.C. Church [Video]

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Many children completed the sacrament of Holy Communion at Holy Rosary R.C. Church in South Beach on Saturday morning.

Girls donned traditional white dresses with lace veils while the boys were decked out in all white. Parents and other family members looked on as the second-graders walked down the aisle, their hands pressed together with fingers pointed upward to heaven.

Later during the mass, they proceeded to the altar to receive the round, thin Eucharistic wafer in the palm of their hand from the priest. Roman Catholics believe the Eucharistic wafer is consecrated on the altar by the priest into the body of Christ.

The Eucharistic ceremony is derived from the Last Supper, when Jesus offered bread and wine to his disciples.

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