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September 19, 2005
Ch. XXVIII. Q. 147. What is the Holy Eucharist?
THE HOLY Eucharist is the greatest of Christian Sacraments, by which the spiritual life imparted in Baptism is nourished and strengthened, our sinful bodies being made clean by the Body of Christ and our souls washed by His most precious Blood. It is also the Christian Sacrifice, in which the Church performs under earthly conditions what Christ performs in heaven, making at the same time a memorial of His Passion and glorious exaltation.1
2. The matter of this Sacrament is bread and wine, received, after its proper consecration, in accordance with our Lord's command. The bread must be made of wheat flour, but may be either leavened or unleavened. Unleavened bread was in all probability used by Christ in instituting the Sacrament. The earliest known ecclesiastical usage, however, still followed in the East, was to employ leavened bread. The West adopted the use of unleavened bread in the middle ages, and the Anglican Communion permits the use of either kind. The Church does not acknowledge the sufficiency of any other wine than the fermented juice of the grape; to which, however, a little water is fittingly added. This water must not be sufficient in quantity to vitiate the species of wine by over dilution.2
3. The form of the Holy Eucharist is the words of Institution 3 recited in a liturgical manner, as provided by the Church, over the bread and wine which are to be consecrated, in conjunction with certain manual acts by which the connection between the matter and form is signified.4 The invocation of the Holy Ghost is not a part of the form, but a distinct liturgical expression of an essential factor in the mystery (see Q. 151. 4).
4. The transaction in which the matter and form are conjoined is called the consecration. The presence of an inward part or res sacramenti is thus secured—a sacramental union being achieved between the visible elements and the invisible Body and Blood of Christ, by reason of which a "communication of idioms, communicatio idiomatum, is caused, so that the consecrated species are truly called both bread and wine and the Body and Blood of Christ. The grace which is conveyed by means of the Sacrament flows to the soul from the res sacramenti rather than, as in other Sacraments, from the rite at large. Thus the consecration has a supernatural and objective effect independently of the administration of the Sacrament or Communion, and whether a Communion follows, as it should, or not.5
5. The Minister of this Sacrament is a Priest. No Deacon or layman or sectarian minister can, achieve the consecration of the elements validly on behalf of Christ or perform the Eucharistic Sacrifice on behalf of the Church.6
1 S. Matt. XXVI. 26-29: S. Mark XIV. 22-25: S. Luke XXII. 19, 20: S. John VI. 26-63: Acts. II. 42, 46: XX. 7: I. Cor. X. 16-21: Xl. 20-34: Heb. IX. 24-X. 22. cf. also Gen. II. 9: XIV. 18-20: Exod. XVI. 14, 15: Lev. VI. 14-23: I. Kings XIX. 4-8: Psa. LXXVIII. 23-25: Mal. III. 1-4: I. 11: S. Matt. XIV. 15-21: XV. 32-38: XXII. 2-14: S. Mark VI. 35-44: VIII. 1-9: S. Luke IX. 12-17: XIV. 12-24: S. John 11. 1-10: VI. 5-13: Rev. VII. 9-17: XIX. 9: XXII. 2) Wilberforce's Doctrine of the H. Euch.: S. Thos. Sum. Th., III. 72-82: Forbes' 39 Arts., XXVIII: Dr. Fiske in N.Y. Church Club Lec. of 1892, Lec. II: Schouppe, Tract XIII: Grueber's Cat'm. of the Church of England, 83-110: Moehler's Symbolism, §§ 34, 36: Percival's Digest, 130-147: Sadler's One. Offering: Church Doc. Bible Truth, ch. IV: Dix's Sacramental System, Lec. V: Cat. of Nic. Bulgaris, 11-24, 53-55: Notes and Questions from Pusey, 129-153: Martene, De Antiq. EccIes. Ritibus, lib. I. cap. III-V: Blunt's Theol. Dic. "Eucharist."
2 S. Thos. III. 74: Schouppe, XIII. 200-210: 216-227: Nic. Bulgaris, 14, 53-55: Elmendorf's Elem. of Moral Theol., 584, 585: Martene, cap. III. art. 7.
3 I. Cor. XI. 23-25
4 S. Thos. III. 78: Percival's Digest, 130, 131: Schouppe, XIII. 211, 212, 233, 234: Nic. Bulgaris, 17, I8: Elmendorf, 585, 586: Martene, cap. IV. art. 8.
5 Wilberforce, ch. I, II.
6 S. Thos., III. 82, esp. Art, 1: Wilberforce, 8-11, 276: Elmendorf, 586: Martene, cap. III. art. 8.
Posted by Trevor at September 19, 2005 06:28 PM