Church of England question

[kindkit]

Google has not answered this for me: In the Church of England, is there a required or expected period of fasting before receiving communion? And, um, if you know whether this would have been the case in 1813, that would be extremely helpful.

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Comments

[gillo]

I've never heard of one. In 1813 I think it would have been seen as a suspiciously Popish thing to do - Catholicism was still not really respectable then (unless you were a member of a very old, aristocratic Catholic family.) Jane Austen's clergymen never mention any requirement to fast; nor do Trollope's, for that matter, half a century later.

These days I would tend to assume "High Church" congregations might well go to church fasting, but probably not most of the others.

[kindkit]

Thank you!