During the first few centuries of the Church, bishops and priests were diligent in their care of the Eucharist.
Many of the Early Church Fathers insisted that not even a crumb should fall on the ground.
St. Hippolytus of Rome, a bishop of the 2nd century, writes these instructions in The Apostolic Tradition.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem in the 4th century reiterates this teaching in his Mystagogical Catecheses, comparing the care of the Eucharist to care of gold-dust.
There is even evidence of a special cloth being used to collect any pieces of the Eucharist that may fall from the priest distributing the sacrament.
This tradition is maintained in Orthodox churches, where a red cloth, called a maktron, is held underneath the each person's mouth while receiving communion, to catch any crumbs of the Eucharist .
Similar traditions in the Roman Rite were later adopted, such as the communion paten that was invented in the 19th century.
These practices of early Christians highlight the reality that the bread received at communion is not ordinary bread, but the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
