Priest in dispute with woman over communion bites her during Mass, Florida police say

The most sacred point of a Catholic Mass took a violent turn at a Florida church, when one attendee grabbed a plate of communion wafers and the priest bit her to get it back, according to investigators.

It happened Sunday, May 19, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Cloud, about a 25-mile drive south from Orlando, the St. Cloud Police Department reports.

Investigators say the tussle erupted when the 66-year-old priest saying Mass refused to give the woman communion, telling her “she did not do the prior steps necessary” to participate in the sacrament.

“She informed the priest she did in fact do the steps necessary and is now accepted by God, thus, granting her the ability to participate,” an affidavit reports.

That’s when the priest “became upset and tried to ram the ‘cookie’ in her mouth,” she told police.

“In response ... she attempted to grab another communion bread which (the priest) was holding. However, (he) grabbed her and bit her arm,” the affidavit says.

The woman refused medical attention for the bite, but said she wanted to pursue charges, police said.

Investigators also spoke to the priest, who said the woman had been told at an earlier Mass on Sunday that she had not fulfilled all the requirements for receiving communion and could not participate, officials said.

When she returned for a later service, the priest says she “attacked” him and “grabbed” a tray of communion wafers from his hands, the affidavit says.

“It is considered sacrilege, as the Catholic faith considered the communion bread the body of Christ, and he was trying to protect it,” the priest told police. “The only way he thought to extract her from (the tray) woman was to bite her arm.”

Witnesses corroborated the priest’s statements, officials said.

An affidavit of prosecution summary with the details was submitted to the State Attorney’s Office, which will decide if the priest should be prosecuted for simple battery, officials said.

This story was originally published May 23, 2024 at 8:26 AM with the headline "Priest in dispute with woman over communion bites her during Mass, Florida police say."