Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 142 (1/2)

Whether the Sacramental Species Can Nourish?

Objection 1: It seems that the sacramental species cannot nourish, because, as Ambrose says (De Sacram. v), ”it is not this bread that enters into our body, but the bread of everlasting life, which supports the substance of our soul.” But whatever nourishes enters into the body. Therefore this bread does not nourish: and the same reason holds good of the wine.

Obj. 2: Further, as is said in De Gener. ii, ”We are nourished by the very things of which we are made.” But the sacramental species are accidents, whereas man is not made of accidents, because accident is not a part of substance. Therefore it seems that the sacramental species cannot nourish.

Obj. 3: Further, the Philosopher says (De Anima ii) that ”food nourishes according as it is a substance, but it gives increase by reason of its quant.i.ty.” But the sacramental species are not a substance. Consequently they cannot nourish.

_On the contrary,_ The Apostle speaking of this sacrament says (1 Cor. 11:21): ”One, indeed, is hungry, and another is drunk”: upon which the gloss observes that ”he alludes to those who after the celebration of the sacred mystery, and after the consecration of the bread and wine, claimed their oblations, and not sharing them with others, took the whole, so as even to become intoxicated thereby.”

But this could not happen if the sacramental species did not nourish.

Therefore the sacramental species do nourish.

_I answer that,_ This question presents no difficulty, now that we have solved the preceding question. Because, as stated in _De Anima_ ii, food nourishes by being converted into the substance of the individual nourished. Now it has been stated (A. 5) that the sacramental species can be converted into a substance generated from them. And they can be converted into the human body for the same reason as they can into ashes or worms. Consequently, it is evident that they nourish.

But the senses witness to the untruth of what some maintain; viz.

that the species do not nourish as though they were changed into the human body, but merely refresh and hearten by acting upon the senses (as a man is heartened by the odor of meat, and intoxicated by the fumes of wine). Because such refreshment does not suffice long for a man, whose body needs repair owing to constant waste: and yet a man could be supported for long if he were to take hosts and consecrated wine in great quant.i.ty.

In like manner the statement advanced by others cannot stand, who hold that the sacramental species nourish owing to the remaining substantial form of the bread and wine: both because the form does not remain, as stated above (Q. 75, A. 6): and because to nourish is the act not of a form but rather of matter, which takes the form of the one nourished, while the form of the nourishment pa.s.ses away: hence it is said in _De Anima_ ii that nourishment is at first unlike, but at the end is like.

Reply Obj. 1: After the consecration bread can be said to be in this sacrament in two ways. First, as to the species, which retain the name of the previous substance, as Gregory says in an Easter Homily (Lanfranc, De Corp. et Sang. Dom. xx). Secondly, Christ's very body can be called bread, since it is the mystical bread ”coming down from heaven.” Consequently, Ambrose uses the word ”bread” in this second meaning, when he says that ”this bread does not pa.s.s into the body,”

because, to wit, Christ's body is not changed into man's body, but nourishes his soul. But he is not speaking of bread taken in the first acceptation.

Reply Obj. 2: Although the sacramental species are not those things out of which the human body is made, yet they are changed into those things stated above.

Reply Obj. 3: Although the sacramental species are not a substance, still they have the virtue of a substance, as stated above.

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SEVENTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 77, Art. 7]

Whether the Sacramental Species Are Broken in This Sacrament?

Objection 1: It seems that the sacramental species are not broken in this sacrament, because the Philosopher says in Meteor. iv that bodies are breakable owing to a certain disposition of the pores; a thing which cannot be attributed to the sacramental species.

Therefore the sacramental species cannot be broken.

Obj. 2: Further, breaking is followed by sound. But the sacramental species emit no sound: because the Philosopher says (De Anima ii), that what emits sound is a hard body, having a smooth surface.

Therefore the sacramental species are not broken.

Obj. 3: Further, breaking and mastication are seemingly of the same object. But it is Christ's true body that is eaten, according to John 6:57: ”He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood.” Therefore it is Christ's body that is broken and masticated: and hence it is said in the confession of Berengarius: ”I agree with the Holy Catholic Church, and with heart and lips I profess, that the bread and wine which are placed on the altar, are the true body and blood of Christ after consecration, and are truly handled and broken by the priest's hands, broken and crushed by the teeth of believers.” Consequently, the breaking ought not to be ascribed to the sacramental species.

_On the contrary,_ Breaking arises from the division of that which has quant.i.ty. But nothing having quant.i.ty except the sacramental species is broken here, because neither Christ's body is broken, as being incorruptible, nor is the substance of the bread, because it no longer remains. Therefore the sacramental species are broken.

_I answer that,_ Many opinions prevailed of old on this matter. Some held that in this sacrament there was no breaking at all in reality, but merely in the eyes of the beholders. But this contention cannot stand, because in this sacrament of truth the sense is not deceived with regard to its proper object of judgment, and one of these objects is breaking, whereby from one thing arise many: and these are common sensibles, as is stated in _De Anima_ ii.

Others accordingly have said that there was indeed a genuine breaking, but without any subject. But this again contradicts our senses; because a quant.i.tative body is seen in this sacrament, which formerly was one, and is now divided into many, and this must be the subject of the breaking.

But it cannot be said that Christ's true body is broken. First of all, because it is incorruptible and impa.s.sible: secondly, because it is entire under every part, as was shown above (Q. 76, A. 3), which is contrary to the nature of a thing broken.

It remains, then, that the breaking is in the dimensive quant.i.ty of the bread, as in a subject, just as the other accidents. And as the sacramental species are the sacrament of Christ's true body, so is the breaking of these species the sacrament of our Lord's Pa.s.sion, which was in Christ's true body.

Reply Obj. 1: As rarity and density remain under the sacramental species, as stated above (A. 2, ad 3), so likewise porousness remains, and in consequence breakableness.