That the body of Christ is really contained under the species of bread can not be shown through natural reason; and, therefore, it is necessary to assent through faith to a conception of this truth, concerning which we ought not to be in doubt since it may be well known to us that the same truth was revealed to the Apostles through the Only-begotten Son of God; a witness to which is the most holy Evangelist, Matthew, in Chapter XXVI. “Jesus took bread,” he says, “and blessing, brake it and gave it to His disciples and said: ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ ” To this truth Mark also bears testimony in Chapter XIV., saying: “While they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessing, brake it and gave it to them and said: ‘Take, this is my body.’ ” With these statements Luke agrees in Chapter XXII., saying: “When He had taken bread, He gave thanks and brake it and gave it to them, saying: ‘This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me.’ ” In John, Chapter VI.; John, the Evangelist, also records the words of the Saviour as He points out both the reality and the benefit of that sacrament: “The bread, which I shall give to you for the life of the world, is my flesh”; and there follows: “Except ye will have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and will have drunk his blood, ye will not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, hath eternal life.” The Apostle Paul similarly says in I. Corinthians XI.: “The Lord Jesus,” he says, “in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks brake it and said: ‘Take and eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ ” Likewise, in I. Corinthians X., he says: “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Lord?” These are the authors of the canonical scriptures, who alike affirm that the body of Christ was truly and really given to the Apostle under the species of bread and that it was also enjoined upon the same Apostles by the Saviour that they should offer the body of Christ under the species of bread in memory of the passion of the Lord.
With the previously quoted writers of the canonical Scriptures also agree the eminent Doctors, the Holy Fathers, the most illustrious expositors of the divine scriptures, and also those recognized as authorities by the Roman Church; some of whose passages preserved in the canonical law must be publicly set forth.
Whence, the blessed Augustine says as quoted in I., Question I., ‘Intra ecclesiam.’ “Within the Catholic Church,” he says, “in the mystery of the body and the blood of the Lord, nothing greater is conferred by a good priest and nothing less by a bad priest.”
Likewise, the blessed Cyprian, the bishop, as quoted in the De Consecratione, Distinction II., ‘Scriptura.’ He says: “As often as we offer the cup in commemoration of the Lord and His Passion, we do that which it is well known that the Lord did.”
Likewise, Ambrose as quoted in the De Consecratione, Distinction II., ‘Ante benedictionem.’ “Before the blessing,” he says, “a different species is indicated, after the blessing the body is designated. Christ is likewise in that sacrament.”
Likewise, Hieronymus as quoted in the De Consecratione, Distinction II., ‘Nec Moyses.’ “Moses,” he says, “did not give to you the true bread from heaven, but the Lord Jesus, feast and guest, the one eating and the one who is eaten.”
Likewise, the blessed Gregory as quoted in I., Question I., ‘Multi.’ “We,” he says, “desecrate the bread, that is, the body of Christ when we approach the altar unworthily.”
From these and numerous other passages, it is clearly shown that the body of Christ is really contained under the species of bread; and because that was clear to all the faithful from the commencement of the Christian faith; therefore, as regards the confirmation of this, I do not wish to delay longer.
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