Chapter XXIII: The Blessing of Ciaran's Food (la, Lc)

I cannot find any authority for the ritual indicated by this curious story, in which the blessing of a second person is necessary before food can be consumed. There is a Jewish formula described by Lightfoot,[17] in which, when several take their meals together, one says _Let us bless_, and the rest answer _Amen_. But it is not clear why a response should have been required by a person eating alone.