We learn the following of Pope St. Soter (†174), from Fr. Thomas Meyrick, in his book “Lives of the Early Popes”: “St. Soter wrote a decretal letter to the bishops of Italy, requiring a priest who celebrated Mass to be fasting, to have two persons at least present at celebration, and that those present, unless they were under some impediment, should communicate ; that religious women should not be allowed to minister in putting incense into the thurible, or touching the pall or corporal.*” [Fr. Meyrick's footnote: “*In the Breviary, the Communion of all present at Mass is said to have been decreed by St. Soter with regard to the Mass in ‘Cænâ Domini,’”...] (pg. 46, pub. 1878)