Article II: On the Essence of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

S. Th. III, q. 73, a. 1, ad 3, and a. 2.

204. Thesis. The Eucharist contains the body and blood of the Lord not only in use, while it is received, but from the moment of consecration; whence the sacrament consists in a permanent thing, and not in a transitory reception. - Thus teach the Fourth Lateran Council, c. 1, and Florence, for the Armenians; Trent defines it, sess. 13, c. 3 and 6, and can. 4, against Protestants, namely against Luther.

It is proved: 1. From the perpetual faith and most ancient practice of the Church, which preserves the Eucharist, whether at home or in churches, adores it, and carries it to the sick and other absent persons.

2. By reason: For the essence of a sacrament it is not required that grace in fact be conferred here and now, but that the effect which it immediately signifies be had, namely, reality and sacrament (n. 46). But in the Eucharist the immediate effect is obtained before reception, as soon as the words of consecration are uttered. Therefore the sacrament of the Eucharist is had from the moment of consecration, and not only in use, while it is received. The minor is proved: the words of consecration here and now, independently of use, signify the presence of Christ; therefore while they are pronounced, Christ becomes present; otherwise His words would be false.

205. Of what things is the permanent sacrament of the Eucharist essentially composed?

Certain theologians assert that, by difference from the other sacraments, which are not permanent but transitory, in the Eucharist the becoming is one thing and the being or having-become is another: in becoming it is composed of matter and form, namely, the substance of bread and wine and the words of consecration; in having-become, in place of matter and form there are had the species and the body or blood of Christ.

Yet undeservedly. For a) if by the name becoming they understand the successive placing of the matter and pronunciation of the form, and by the name being the matter totally placed and the form totally pronounced, then also in the other sacraments becoming and being are distinguished; - but when there is question of matter and form, it is not asked from what things the sacrament is effected, or what things produce it when it is not yet, but from what things it is constituted, or what things compose it when it truly is a sacrament; but the sacrament is not except at the moment when all the words have been pronounced and the whole sign has been placed. - b) But if by the name becoming they understand the first moment in which the whole sacrament exists, it ought not to be distinguished from being, because in the first moment when the whole comes to be, the sign is composed of the same things as in the subsequent moments when the whole has already been made.

Therefore it must be said:

1. The words of consecration are an essential and intrinsically constitutive part of the sacrament, because the species without the words do not signify Christ: for we cannot know the body of Christ through those species except insofar as we know that they have been consecrated by the words; whence the words give their signification to the species, and thus they are a part composing the sacramental sign. And so it is true to say of all sacraments, with the Council of Florence, that they are perfected by things as by matter and by words as by form.¹

¹ Very well Mannens, Th. Dogm. III, on the Eucharist: "The words of consecration sensibly uttered virtually persevere and determine the species to signify and contain the body of Christ, which they do not signify and contain except insofar as they are consecrated, or insofar as they are apprehended together with the words; therefore the words concur by way of form to constitute intrinsically the sacramental sign."

2. Hence the permanent matter of the Eucharist is the species of bread and wine; the permanent form is the words of consecration insofar as they affect and determine the species in a permanent way for signifying Christ, and thus they persevere morally and in the power of signifying. For a sacrament is not a physical composite whose form must be physically preserved, but is a moral composite, for which it suffices that the form remain in power: one sign whose form, once uttered, remains as though affixed to the species and perceptible by the intellect. In the same way a passing blessing remains in blessed water.

206. Corollaries. - From the foregoing it follows:

A. That the Eucharist and the other sacraments differ: 1. For it contains something absolutely sacred, namely, Christ, but the others contain something sacred in order to something else, namely, the power of sanctifying. Whence 2. the Eucharist is perfected in the consecration of the matter, but the others in application to the man to be sanctified. Hence 3. in the Eucharist reality and sacrament is in the matter itself, and the reality of the sacrament or grace is in the recipient; in the other sacraments each is in the recipient.

B. That the appellation "sacrament of the Eucharist" can be taken in various ways: 1. properly, for the external sign alone, which is sacrament only, and then it is only the species of bread and wine and the words of consecration, which, namely, together signify the body and blood of Christ; thus it is said: the sacrament of the Eucharist contains Christ; - 2. less properly, for that which is reality and sacrament, and then it is the body and blood of Christ; in which sense it is said: the sacrament of the Eucharist is under the species, is adored, or is offered; - 3. completely, for the practical external sign together with its immediate effect without which it would not be valid, and thus it is the consecrated species insofar as they contain Christ; in this sense it is said: the sacrament of the Eucharist consists of two things, or sanctifies.

C. That those things which merely pass do not constitute the essence of the Eucharist as a permanent sacrament. Thus 1. the consecration, which is only the action confecting it; 2. the substance of bread and wine, which is not the intrinsic and proximate matter from which it is constituted, but only the extrinsic and remote matter from which the sacrament is made and about which the sacramental action is concerned; 3. the reception, which is only the necessary condition that the sacrament already perfect in itself may operate grace: for distribution need not be done by a minister with the intention of acting in the name of Christ and of doing what the Church does, but would validly be done by a child or insane person, and therefore it is not a strictly sacramental action.

207. The Eucharist is a sacrament formally one, although materially integrated from two parts. - Although the species of bread and wine are physically and materially diverse, nevertheless the Eucharist is formally and morally one in species.

It is proved: One is said not only of that which is indivisible or continuous, but also of something perfect which consists of diverse parts which come together in one thing: thus the parts of a house constitute a perfect house; in this way also a sacrament is one insofar as several things, namely matter and form, are united for signifying one thing. But it can happen that perfect signification is not had except by several matters and forms, as, for example, in Extreme Unction: then all those constitute only one sacrament. But a) the body and blood of the Lord, which precisely as separated in death are the cause of our salvation, are not distinctly and perfectly signified except through the two species separately consecrated; - likewise b) bodily refreshment does not happen through food alone but also through drink, and therefore spiritual refreshment is not sufficiently expressly and perfectly signified by food alone. Whence the species of bread and wine mutually complete each other in order to signify something one. But where there is one signification, there is a sacrament formally one.² - But if there were two, there would be eight sacraments in the Church, which is against the Lateran Council, Florence, and Trent.

² Hence it must be said with the Thomists that it is one sacrament from unity of end and signification.

Yet from what has been said it would undeservedly be concluded: 1. that each species is not a sacrament, just as each anointing perhaps is not the sacrament of the sick; for in each species there is contained reality and sacrament, namely, Christ (Council of Trent, sess. 21, c. 3 and can. 3); - 2. that the Eucharist received under one species does not confer the whole grace of the sacrament: for one species bespeaks order to the other, and is received as a part of the whole sacrifice and banquet, and thus participates in the power of signifying of the whole, indeed contains the whole Christ; whence he who receives one species receives the whole effect of the sacrament.³

³ Thus also in the Old Law the smallest eating was a participation of the whole sacrifice.

208. Observation. - Since a sacrament is a moral being, there are not as many numerically distinct sacraments as there are physically distinct species, but there are as many as there are morally separated species, i.e. those which do not bespeak order to something one, e.g. to one celebration, refreshment, or distribution. Whence if ten men receive the species, there are as many sacraments; or if they are placed on different altars; - on the contrary, the two species of bread and wine in the same Mass, or the species contained in one ciborium, are only one sacrament, and he who receives several particles at once, or even after a brief interval, receives one sacrament ordered to one refreshment in one banquet.