Question Two: On the Matter of the Sacrifice or the Thing Offered

S. Th. III, q. 83, a. 1; q. 82, a. 4; q. 79, a. 7.

313. Thesis. The victim is the Son of God according to the human nature proper to Him alone, and indeed 1. the body and blood of Christ, 2. insofar as they are sensible through the species of bread and wine. - It is certain from the perpetual preaching of the Church and from the Council of Trent, sess. 22, c. 1 and 2.

The first part is proved: The victim is Christ Himself, or rather the body and blood of Christ.

1. From the words of Christ instituting and declaring that in this sacrament there is His body, which is broken or handed over, and His blood, which is poured out, or that there is a true victim, unto the remission of sins.

2. From tradition, which is established from the manner of speaking of the Fathers, the Liturgy, and the Council of Trent.

The Fathers and the Council teach this, both implicitly by saying that the sacrifice of the Mass and of the cross is one and the same, and explicitly by asserting that in the Mass Christ Himself is offered, or His body and blood; which the Liturgies also do.

3. By reason: a) The same victim is in the Mass and on the cross, on which Christ offered His body and His blood; b) it is congruous to the perfection of the Church that it offer to God that which is greater and more excellent in it: for sacrifice has customarily been made from the better goods; but the better and more perfect thing in the Church is the body and blood of the Lord.

The second part is proved: It is Christ under the species of bread and wine; for:

1. Christ instituted that sacrifice under the species of bread and wine.

2. Christ is priest according to the order of Melchisedech, who offered bread and wine; which would not be true unless He offered Himself under the species of bread and wine.

3. No action of ours touches Christ existing in His proper species.

4. The thing offered ought to be sensible; but the body and blood of Christ are not sensible except through the species of bread and wine.

Nevertheless the species are not part of the thing offered, as some say, but are a necessary condition so that it may be rendered sensible; they are indeed part of the sacrament, but not of the sacrifice, whence the Council of Trent says that the body and blood are offered under (not with) the species.

314. Corollary. - Christ alone is the victim in this sacrifice; whence the bread and wine which are converted into Christ are not sacrificed. For:

1. According to the Council of Trent, one and the same victim, only the manner of offering being diverse, is offered in the Mass and on the cross, on which nothing was offered besides Christ.

2. There is no reason why Christ, besides the excellent oblation of His body and blood, would have willed that minimal things such as bread and wine be offered.

3. It is not congruous to the perfection of the New Law that the same things be offered which in the Old Law were offered in figure of the new sacrifice.

Nor does it stand in the way that bread and wine are destroyed; for a) they are not destroyed sensibly; b) not everything which is destroyed is the victim of a sacrifice: for positive institution as a sign of worship is required.

Therefore bread and wine are nothing except the term from which, and the matter from which, the victim becomes present under the species.