Section B: On the Eucharistic Sacrifice

S. Th. II-II, q. 85 and q. 86, a. 1; I-II, q. 102, a. 2, 3, 4; III, q. 22, a. 2; q. 47, a. 1; q. 48, a. 3; q. 49.

301. The notion of sacrament is one thing, the notion of sacrifice another. - Although in the Eucharist the same thing is contained and offered, nevertheless the notion of sacrament and of sacrifice differs in many ways:

1. The sacrament consists in a permanent thing, even under one species; the sacrifice in a transitory action: the oblation and immolation of Christ under both species.

2. The sacrament per se and primarily is ordered to our sanctification, of which it is the efficient cause; the sacrifice is ordered to rendering worship to God, which can be an impetratory cause of benefits to be obtained from God.¹

¹ Hence St. Thomas, q. 79, a. 7: "Insofar as in it is represented the passion of Christ, by which Christ offered Himself as a victim to God... it has the notion of sacrifice; but insofar as in it invisible grace is handed on under a visible species, it has the notion of sacrament."

3. The sacrament, for those receiving, is a cause of merit; the sacrifice has efficacy not only of meriting, but also of satisfying.

4. The sacrament ex opere operato profits only the one receiving; the sacrifice profits the celebrant and others.

302. Sacrifice according to the name. - Sacrifice is so called from making sacred, and therefore signifies an act by which man makes something sacred; whence

1. in the broadest sense it signifies an act or work of any virtue whatsoever done in honor of God, and commanded by the virtue of religion, for example works of mercy or obedience (Heb. XIII, 15-16; Ps. L, 19);

2. in the stricter sense it is every act elicited by the virtue of religion, that is, one which has no other goodness except because it is done in honor of God; in this sense an internal sacrifice (Ps. XLIX, 14; I Pet. II, 5, 9), by which the soul offers itself to God, is more a sacrifice than an external one: for exterior worship is nothing except the expression of the interior;

3. in the strictest and proper sense it is the chief act of external and public worship, distinct from all others, most solemn and most excellent, because it more perfectly attests the supreme dominion of God and the full dependence of all things upon Him; whence it is making sacred by excellence (Os. VI, 6; I Reg. XVI, 2-5).

Consequently, by extension and improperly, sacrifice also designates the term of the sacrificial action, namely the thing sacrificed or the victim, insofar as by sacrifice it has been offered to God and made sacred; or the sacred thing itself as made.

303. The real definition of sacrifice. - Sacrifice strictly so called is defined: An external oblation of a sensible and permanent thing, through some change or destruction of it, made by a priest to God, for testifying His supreme dominion and our subjection. In this definition there is indicated:

1. The genus to which sacrifice belongs: oblation, by which something is offered to God to be deputed to divine worship; and indeed an external oblation, because it belongs to external and public worship: thus it differs from devotion and from merely internal sacrifice.

2. The matter: of a sensible and permanent thing; sensible, indeed, because sacrifice is a sensible sign, since it is made for signifying the internal oblation of the mind by which man offers and subjects himself to God as supreme lord; also permanent, namely that which is apt both for signifying the abiding dominion of God over man and over the whole creation, and for representing man himself who hands himself over to God.

Through this oblation differs from adoration, because the latter presents to God a transitory action, for example genuflection, while the former presents a permanent thing, which in sacrifice is offered as vicarious for our sensible and permanent substance; whence it is understood why in sacrifices especially those animals and other things were used which serve man and his sustenance.

3. The form: through some change or destruction, by which, namely, for signifying the supreme dominion of God over all things, the thing is withdrawn from every use of men, and totally and forever passes into the dominion of God, and thus is wholly consecrated to God and made sacred.

It is not required a) that the change always be had through real or physical destruction, but an equivalent can suffice, namely one which, as to the exterior form or according to the estimation of men, is equivalent in the order of signifying to a real change: thus a thing which is rendered unfit for natural uses, as poured-out wine, or is put on the way of destruction, and whatever bears the appearance of destruction so that it is apt for expressing the signification proper to sacrifice; - b) nor is it necessarily required that the destruction of human life in honor of God be signified: even the oblation of another thing, which is wholly consecrated to God, is apt for signifying the supreme dominion of God and our total subjection; indeed the signification of the immolation of human life could per se seem less congruous. Nevertheless, sin being supposed, by which man is worthy of death, for placating God offended and expiating sin, it happened that in propitiatory sacrifice a victim vicarious of human life was destroyed in place of man, in order to signify the expiation of sin. As St. Thomas notes, I-II, q. 102, a. 3, ad 3: "by the killing of animals is signified the destruction of sins, and that men were worthy of killing for their sins, as if those animals were killed in their place to signify the expiation of sins."

By destruction or change sacrifice is distinguished from all other oblations: in a simple oblation the thing, while it is offered, remains whole, although afterward it can be consumed; in sacrifice the oblation itself is made formally through change or destruction; whence St. Thomas, II-II, q. 86, a. 1: "the name of oblation is common to all things which are presented for the worship of God, so that if something is presented for the worship of God as for something sacred that must be made from it by being consumed, it is both an oblation and a sacrifice; but if it is presented so that it remains whole, to be deputed to divine worship or expended for the use of ministers, it will be an oblation, not a sacrifice." Likewise, a little before, q. 85, a. 3, ad 3: "Sacrifices are properly said when something is done about things offered to God, as when animals were killed and burned (a bloody sacrifice), when bread is broken and eaten and blessed (an unbloody sacrifice). And the name itself sounds this, for sacrifice is so called from the fact that man makes something sacred. But oblation is directly said when something is offered to God, even if nothing is done about it, as coins or loaves are said to be offered on the altar, about which nothing is done. Whence every sacrifice is an oblation, but not conversely."

4. The efficient cause, namely the minister: by a priest. To express the public sense of religion in the name of society, a public person is required, i.e., one who enjoys public authority, or is legitimately deputed by it to act for all or in the name of all.

Thus before cities and kingdoms were established, when there were only families and tribes, the father of the family or the firstborn was indicated, as it were naturally, for offering sacrifice; afterward kings also sometimes did this, as Melchisedech did; but for the most part distinct ministers were designated for this: for it is fitting that in society there be ministers separated from the people, permanently instituted for this, who are called priests in the strict sense; once these have been instituted, such an act of sacrifice would be invalidly attempted by others. But since Christ was constituted the head of all men, He was naturally the priest of the whole of humanity. But if God reserves to Himself the ordering of the whole worship, as was done in the supernatural order, no one else can institute a sacrifice or priesthood (Heb. V, 14).

5. The end of sacrifice, both the end to whom: made to God, for sacrifice is an act of the virtue of religion; and the end which: for testifying His supreme dominion and our subjection.

From the fact that a thing is destroyed or changed in honor of God, and is withdrawn from every human use and wholly handed over and consecrated to God, there is signified the full dominion of God over all things and the dependence of all upon Him, especially His dominion over the being and life of man, for whom all things were created.

304. Observations. - 1. Sacrifice is in the genus of oblation, and yet oblation is not its whole essence: for every sacrifice is an oblation, but not every oblation is a sacrifice. This is a special oblation, which at the same time is an external sign, for "it is done for signifying something: but it signifies the interior spiritual sacrifice by which the soul offers itself to God" (II-II, q. 85, a. 2). Whence it is an external action by which the whole thing is consecrated to God and made sacred, for signifying outwardly the total consecration of our mind to God. Oblation has itself after the manner of a genus, sign after the manner of a specific difference.

2. Hence the change of the victim, by which it is consecrated to God, is not a mere prerequisite condition for the sacrificial oblation, but is its constitutive element, insofar as the sacrificial oblation is made through the sacred change itself, and this is a certain real oblation and pragmatic donation.

3. Wherefore the change of the victim must not be called a quasi-material element in sacrifice, but the formal element itself by which precisely it is constituted and formally differs from all other acts of religion.

To forestall equivocation, an entirely twofold formal element must be distinguished in it: one by which it is formally constituted in the notion of an act of religion, and this is the internal intention of honoring God or internal sacrifice, without which external worship would be nothing except simulation; another by which it is formally constituted precisely as an external sacrifice and is not a mere oblation, or adoration, or prayer, or another act of religion, and this is the external sign by which the thing, by some change or destruction, is said to be wholly dedicated to God.

4. Nevertheless destruction or change considered merely materially is not sacred, but only if it is considered formally insofar as it is informed by a spiritual signification. Hence when the killing of the victim preceded the sacrifice - as sometimes happened - and was not done by the priest, who offered to God the victim previously killed, there was indeed a twofold material and physical action, but only one formally in the order of signification, from which it came about that the slaughter, as commanded or ratified by the priest, was already sacred, and the oblation was not a mere oblation but truly sacrificial.

5. Since sacrifice has no other goodness except by reason of its signification, because it is a sign of the interior affection by which man submits himself wholly to God, hence it is not a natural sign which signifies that from its nature, but a conventional one, whence it requires positive institution; nevertheless it is not merely arbitrary, but symbolic, because of itself it has an aptitude for representing our total subjection to God.

6. Hence thurification, the lighting of candles, etc., are not sacrifice, both because they are also done by those who are not priests, and because they were not instituted for acknowledgment of the supreme dominion of God, but for increasing solemnity, for stirring up faith and devotion, etc. (C. Trid., sess. 22, c. 5).

7. Sacrificial oblation is rather often called immolation. This word in the proper sense signifies bloody slaughter, in which sense it is taken by St. Thomas, III, q. 83, a. 1; yet by the Fathers and Scholastics, such as Peter Lombard and Albert the Great, it is also used concerning unbloody sacrifices, and then it signifies every properly sacrificial action, or the change constitutive of sacrifice, in which sense the Council of Trent itself speaks, sess. 22, c. 1 and 2.

305. Diverse species of sacrifice. - Every sacrifice essentially and primarily is latreutic, because it is done in honor of God for testifying that God is the first principle, from whom man totally depends and by whom he is whatever he is. From this it follows that he has from God Himself whatever he has, and expects whatever he will receive; and that, if he turns himself away from God by sin, he is worthy of the penalty of death; for acknowledging these things sacrifices also can be offered. Hence by reason of the end, sacrifice is divided into latreutic (homage-offering), which is especially offered for the worship of God; and eucharistic (thank-offering), for benefits received; and impetratory (petition-offering), for benefits to be received; and propitiatory (atonement-offering), which is also especially done for placating an offended God and repairing sin.

In the Old Law, by reason of form and end, there were distinguished: the holocaust (burnt-offering), which was entirely burned in honor of God and therefore was a latreutic and most perfect sacrifice; - the victim for sin (sin-offering) or for transgression, which was more especially offered for the sins of the people, in which another part yielded to the priest, who therefore was said to eat the sins of the people; - and the peace-offering (peace-offering), which was more especially offered for benefits received or to be received, in which a third part yielded for the use of those offering (Lev. VI-VII).

By reason of the manner in which they are offered, some are bloody sacrifices, which were made with the killing of a victim, for example by the pouring out of blood, burning, and in the Old Law they were principal; others unbloody, in the Old Law accessory, since they were offered rather together with a bloody sacrifice or in place of a bloody one, which are done without the death of a victim, for example by the breaking or burning of a solid thing, the pouring out of a liquid (Lev. I-II), sending into the desert, etc.

306. To all sacrifices there succeeded, as more eminent, the one sacrifice of the New Law: the immolation of Christ which He consummated in the passion and death of the cross² (Matt. XXVI, 53; John XVIII, 6). In this sacrifice:

² That the oblation of the cross is a true and properly so-called sacrifice is established from the doctrine of the Apostle, Eph. V, 2; Heb. VII, 26-27; IX, 25, 28; X, 10, 14, 18, from universal and constant faith, and from the Council of Trent, sess. 22, c. 1.

1. The victim is the Son of God made flesh, that He might be substituted for men (Heb. II, 11, 17; I Tim. II, 5, 6; Rom. V; Eph. V, 2), and by the hypostatic union itself sanctified and consecrated as a victim forever.

2. The form is not so much the material killing as the voluntary laying down of His soul and the disposal of His own life, made in honor of God, and externally manifested in the free permission of death; so that Christ's human nature, "when it was offered to God in the passion, was sanctified in a new way, namely, as a victim then actually presented" (III, q. 22, a. 2, ad 3).

3. The minister: it is not the killers themselves, but Christ, who voluntarily admitted death, while He could have impeded it (John X, 17, 18).

4. The value, namely the honor of God, the merit, and the satisfaction, is infinite.

And so the sacrifice of Christ differs greatly from the ancient sacrifices:

1. in dignity, by which it stands infinitely apart from them: a) on the part of the one offering, who is the Son of God made man, and b) on the part of the thing offered, which is His body and blood;

2. in end, because it is offered at once to a fourfold end;

3. in efficacy: it is not only of value ex opere offerentium from the offering men, but by intrinsic dignity it is always acceptable to God, whom it infallibly honors; whence ex opere operato it not only removes legal uncleanness, but, as much as is of itself, also infallibly obtains grace;

4. in perfection and stability, because it does not prefigure, announce, and prepare for anything else, but itself is prefigured by all the others, which therefore, when it came, had to cease (C. Trid., sess. 22, c. 1).

In the old law there were many victims, transitory and of merely relative value; the victim of the New Law is one, perpetual, and of absolute value, as being of infinite dignity and always pleasing and acceptable to God.

Never, therefore, will there be a new sacrifice, meritorious or propitiatory, because Christ satisfied for the sins of all and merited for all the graces of salvation.

307. The sacrifice of the New Law, bloodily consummated on the cross, is to be perpetually offered in the sacrament of the Eucharist, both for acknowledging the dominion of God, and for applying the merits and satisfactions of the cross. - This is the Catholic doctrine which the Council of Trent proposes thus, sess. 22, c. 1 and 2:

Jesus Christ, "our God and Lord, although He was once to offer Himself on the altar of the cross to God the Father, death intervening, that He might there accomplish eternal redemption; yet, because His priesthood was not to be extinguished by death, at the last supper, on the night on which He was betrayed, that He might leave to His beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice, as the nature of men requires, by which that bloody sacrifice once to be accomplished on the cross would be represented, and its memory would remain even to the end of the world, and its saving power would be applied for the remission of those sins which are daily committed by us; declaring Himself constituted forever a priest according to the order of Melchisedech, He offered to God the Father His body and blood under the species of bread and wine, and under the symbols of the same things He handed them to the Apostles, whom He was then constituting priests of the New Testament, that they might receive them; and to them and to their successors in the priesthood He commanded that they offer them by these words: Do this in commemoration of Me, as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught. For, after the old Passover had been celebrated, which the multitude of the children of Israel immolated in memory of the departure from Egypt, He instituted the new Passover, Himself to be immolated by the Church through priests under visible signs, in memory of His passage from this world to the Father, when by the pouring out of His blood He redeemed us and snatched us from the power of darkness and transferred us into His kingdom.

"...And since in this divine sacrifice which is performed in the Mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated unbloodily, who once offered Himself bloodily on the altar of the cross, the holy Synod teaches that this sacrifice is truly propitiatory, and that through it this is brought about: that if, with a true heart and right faith, with fear and reverence, contrite and penitent, we approach God, we may obtain mercy and find grace in timely aid. For the Lord, appeased by the oblation of this sacrifice, granting grace and the gift of penance, remits crimes and sins, even great ones. For the victim is one and the same, the same one now offering by the ministry of priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, only the manner of offering being diverse. And the fruits of that bloody oblation, I say, are received most abundantly through this one: so far is it from derogating from that in any way."

308. The Eucharistic sacrifice, or sacrifice of the altar, is defined: The unbloody sacrifice of the New Law, - in which the body and blood of Christ under the species of bread and wine, - by a mystical immolation, - through the legitimate ministry of Christ, are offered to God, - for acknowledging His supreme dominion and for applying to us the merits of the sacrifice of the cross. - In this definition all the elements of sacrifice are successively indicated: matter, form, minister, and end.

That the definition is real will be proved throughout the whole course of the treatise.³

³ On the Eucharistic sacrifice cf. St. Thomas, III, q. 82-83 with the commentaries of Cajetan, John of St. Thomas, Billuart, and the other works already reviewed for the sacrament of the Eucharist (p. 162, n. 1); further these special works: Pasqualigo, De Sacrificio N. Legis; Benedict XIV, De SS. Missae Sacrificio; Thalhofer, Das Opfer des A. und N. Bundes; Lambrecht, De SS. Missae Sacrificio; Schwane, Die Eucharistische Opferhandlung; Renz, Die Geschichte des Messopfers-Begriff; Gihr, Das H. Messopfer, dogm. u. ascet. erklärt; Brouwer, Het H. Misoffer, of liturg. verklaring; Dom Vandeur, La Ste Messe; Guilleaume, Le S. Sacrifice de la Messe; Simons, Le sacrifice parfait et universel de la loi nouvelle; Lamiroy, De essentia s. Missae sacrificii; de la Taille, Mysterium Fidei; Bittremieux, De nota destructionis in sacrificio Missae; Lepin, L'Idée du Sacrifice de la Messe d'après les théologiens.

The unbloody sacrifice of the altar is customarily called Mass. The word probably is derived from the verb mitto, so that it is the same as missio; but this sacrifice is called by this name from the dismissal of certain persons, who either were prohibited from being present at the sacrifice (Mass of the catechumens), or had been present at it (Mass of the faithful). It is also called sacred, because the thing offered is most sacred, or rather because it is the sacred action by excellence; in Greek it is called μυσταγωγία, i.e., initiation, the performance of a mystery; λατρεία, i.e., the worship of service; ἱερουργία, i.e., sacrifice, victim; θυσία, i.e., immolation; especially λειτουργία, i.e., the office of public worship.

309. Division of the matter to be treated. - The matter is divided into two parts: the first treats of the sacrifice of the Mass itself; the other of the precepts pertaining to the sacrifice.

In the first part, concerning the Eucharistic sacrifice itself, there is discussed:

1. the existence of the sacrifice;

2. the matter of the sacrifice;

3. the form of the sacrifice: a) concerning the action by which it is offered, b) concerning the mode in which it is offered;

4. the minister of the sacrifice: a) concerning the principal minister, b) concerning the secondary minister of the celebration, c) concerning the minister of distribution;

5. the end and effects of the sacrifice: a) concerning the various effects, b) concerning the mode in which they are produced, c) concerning those to whom the effects come, d) concerning those for whom the sacrifice can be offered, e) concerning the value and quantity of the effects.

In the second part there is treated of the precepts pertaining to the sacrifice, namely:

1. concerning the obligation of celebrating the sacrifice: a) from the priesthood, b) from office, c) from benefice, d) from stipend, e) from the precept of obedience or from vow;

2. concerning the requisites for administration.

There is added an appendix on ceremonies, rites, and other precepts pertaining to the celebration of the Eucharist and to its dispensation.