‘Stand Up Like Free Men’: The modern history of standing for Communion

Standing for Communion was the most disliked liturgical change, according to one survey at the time.

The posture of Catholics receiving Communion has been a subject of discussion in recent weeks, after Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago wrote a column last month asking that people “receive Holy Communion standing.”

While kneeling is known to have been the universal Roman Catholic practice for many centuries, receiving the Eucharist while standing is curre…