The Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, Chapter 11 · Section 12
SECT. XII. The testimonies of the practise of the Church from 1100. to 1200.
Anno 1101.
IVo in his collections out of the writings of the ancient for the present vse of the Church, in his seuenth Chapter, relateth a sentence out of Saint Ambrose to our purpose: The Blood qBeneficij diuini sanguis testis, cuius typum nos Calicem mysticum ad tuitionē corporis & animae percipimus. Illis aqua de petra fluxit, tibi sanguis ex Christo, illos ad horam satiauit, te sanguis diluit in …num.is a witnesse of a diuine benefit in a figure, whereof we receiue the mysticall Cup for the preseruation of our body and soule. To them (to wit, the Iewes) water flowed out of the Rocke, to thee blood out of Christ, the water quenched their thirst for on howre, the blood of Christ washeth thee for euer. And in his 31. chapter, he reciteth a decree of Pope Syluerius: *Sacramenta Corporis & sanguinis Christi sumenda sunt in singulis diebus dominicis quadragesimae.EueryEvery Lords day in the Lent all, besides Excommunicate persons, or such as doe publike penance, ought to receiue the Sacraments of the body and blood of Christ.
Anno 1105.
Zacharias Crysopolitanus applieth the sprinkling of the dore posts with the blood of the Lambe in Exodus, to the Sacrament of Christs blood: he saith, rLib 4. cap. 156 Sanguine Christi corpus & animam linimus: quia sanguis agni super vtrumque postem domus liberauit Haebreos.We sprinkle our body and soule, with the blood of Christ, because the blood of the Lambe sprinkled vponupon both the posts of the house, freed the Hebrewes. And againe, The reall and Sacramentall eating of Christ are ioyned, when receiuing in the bread, that which hung vponupon the tree, and sAccipientes in Calice, quod manauit è latere.receiuing in the Cup, that which flowed from his side, our soules attaine vntounto the eating of the bread of life.
Anno 1110.
tLib. pri. dist. 3. In specie & sapore panis & vini manducamus, & bibimus ipsam substantiam corporis, & sanguinis.Odo Cameracensis in expounding the holy Canon, affirmeth, that vnderunder the shape and taste of bread and wine, we eate and drinke the very substance of Christs body and blood.
Anno 1120.
Rupertus enforcing the necessity of receiuing the sacrament, concludes vponupon our Sauiours words in Saint Iohn, that eueryevery man ought to communicate in both kinds, for the repast of his soule, as well as his body; lest any man uIn Ioh. cap. 6. Nequis existimet se absque corporis & sanguinis eius cibo potuque visibili, vitam vtramque corpo. & animae sola fide recup… rasse, & isto sacramento non egere; hoc ipsum repetiuit, proculdubio, contestans, quòd non verè credat, quisquis manducare & bibere contemnit. Nam quantumuis fidelis, & Catholicae professionis homo sis, si manducare & bibere recuses de hoc cibo, potuque visibili, eo ipso quòd tibi hunc necessarium non esse praesumis, à so…taie membrorum Christi, quod est ecclesia, te praecidis: neque rectè credis in eum, cuius in hoc cibo, potúque ab ipso tam diligenter commendato, d…ogas authorita….should thinke, saith he, that he hath recouered by faith alone the life of his body and soule, without the visible meat and drink of the body & blood of Christ, and consequently needs not the sacrament; Christ repeates the same thing againe touching the eating his flesh, and drinking his blood; thereby vndoubtedly testifying, that he doth not truly beleeue, whosoeuer dispiseth to eate and to drink. For although thou bee a faithfull man, and professe thy selfe to be a Catholick, if thou refuse to eat and to drinke of this visible meat and drinke; euen by this, that thou presumest, that this meat and drinke is not necessary to thee, thou cuttest thy selfe off from the societie of the members of Christ, which is the Church. But I inferre, that all lay Papists, that hauehave bin instructed by the Fathers of the Councels of Constance and Trent, presume, that it is not necessary for them to receiue the visible drinke, whereof Rupertus speaketh; Therefore by Rupertus his conclusion, they cut themselues off from the Church. And though they are men of a Catholike profession, which he speakes of, yet they are not true beleeuers. In the same Booke and Chapter; We, saith he, that is the Church, are that earth, which openeth his mouth, and faithfully drinketh the blood of Christ. And in his third booke de operibus Spiritus Sancti et 20. cap. he saith, in specie panis et vini sanctus Sanctorum est, et in omnibus electis, qui ad fide eius veniunt, idem efficit, quod in illa specie, qua perpendit in cruce, id est, remisssionem peccatorum: that is, the Holy of holies is in forme of bread and wine, and to all the elect, who come to the faith of him, he worketh remission of sinnes, as he did in that shape, in which he hung vponupon the Crosse.
Anno 1130.
*Serm. 3. in ramis palma. De sacramento corpo. & sanguinis. Nemo est, qui nesciat hanc quoque tantam & tam singularem alimoniam eâ primum die exhibitam, &c.Bern. in his 3. Serm. one Palme Sunday, maketh the sacrament of Christs body and blood the Christians foode and alimonie. Touching the sacrament of Christs body and blood, saith hee, there is no man who knoweth not, that this so singular a foode was on that day first exhibited, on that day commended, and commanded to bee frequently receiued.
Anno 1135.
Algerus doth not barely affirme, that the sacrament Lib. 2. de sacra. cap. 5. & 8.was instituted at first, and ought to be administred in both kinds: but he confirmeth it strongly by the testimonie of Saint Austine. And Pope Gelatius, first in his fifth Chapter he positiuely deliuereth the necessitie of communicating in both kinds, in these words; yQuia cibo & potuita vinimus, vt alterutro carere nequeamus, vtrumque in suo sacramento esse voluit, &c.Because we so liue by meate and drink, that we can want neither of them, Christ would hauehave them both in his sacrament, least if either should be wanting, by that imperfect taking of life, and not entire, an imperfect life might seeme to be signified. In his 8. chap. more at large he vnfoldeth the mysterie, that lyeth in the communicating in both kinds. There is nothing found in the creature, saith he, whereby more fitly and neerly life may be represented, then by blood, which is the seate of the soule; in which that it may be signified, that our bodies and soules ought to be vnited and made conformable to Christs body ySimul corpus & sanguis sumitur à fidelibus, vt sumpto toto Christo, totꝰ homo in anima & corpore viuificetur.and soule, the body and blood of Christ are both taken together of the faithfull, that by taking whole Christs body and, soule, the whole man in body and soule might be quickned: in as much as the flesh of Christ, as I hauehave said, is beleeued not to bee without blood and dead, but liuing and quickning: whence it is that Saint Agustine saith, that neither the flesh with out the blood, nor the blood without the flesh is rightly taken. Also Gelatius writeth to Maioricus, and Iohn, Bishops, in this manner: We vnderstand, that some taking a portion of Christs body, abstaine from the Cup of his sacred blood, to whom our commandement is, that either they partake the sacrament intirely, and receiue both, or be kept from both.
Anno 1136.
Hugo de zTom. 5. cap. 6. Ideo duabus speciebus sumitur, vt significetur huius sacramenti duplex effectus: valet eni… ad tuitione… corporis & animae.Sancto Victore yeeldeth a like reason of the full and intire communicating in both kinds; Therefore, saith hee, the sacrament is taken in both kinds, that thereby a double effect might bee signified. For it hath force, as Saint Ambrose saith, to preserue both body and soule. In the same termes hath Halensis. Sum. Theol. par. 3. num. 29. art. 4.
Anno 1140.
Peter Lumbard Mag. sentent. propoundeth this question: aLib. 4. dist. 11. Quare sub duplici specie sumitur, &c? vt ostenderetur totam humanam naturam assumpsisse, vt totam redimeret.Why is the sacrament receiued vnderunder a double forme, or kind, sith whole Christ is in either kind? He answereth, That thereby it might be signified, that Christ tooke the whole nature of man, that he might redeeme the whole.
Anno. 1150.
Petrus Cluniacensis Epist. lib. 1. Though hee Epist. lib. 1.fight against the truth one way, and woundeth the Albigenses; yet he fighteth for it another way, and giueth a deeper wound to the Trent Fathers, and all that content themselues with an halfe communion. That men might not onelyonly learne by words, saith he, but hauehave a sensible feeling by deeds, that they cannot liue vnlesse they bee ioyned and vnited to Christ, after the manner of carnall food and life, they receiue the body of Christ, and drinke the blood of Christ. And a little after, to signifie that for this cause he would bAccipiunt corpus Christi, et bibunt sanguinem Christi, vt propter hoc, carnem suam ad manducandam, sanguinem suam ad bibendum omnibus se dare velle signaret. Lib. 27. cap. 28.giuegive his flesh to all, to eat it, and his blood to all, to drinke it, he draweth a similitude from Manna, that fell in the wildernesse. In this yeere of our Lord also Vincentius relates of one Tundanus, a profane person in his former life, that being suddenly strucken from heauen, hee called for the body of our Lord, which when hee had taken, and drunke the wine, he began to praise God in these words; O Lord, thy merciemercy is greater then mine iniquitie. In this same Age Antoninus writes in his Chronicles, that cNorthmanni man… dominico corpore, & sanguine communicauerunt.the Normans the morning before they fought with the Danes, receiued the Communion of Christs body and blood.
Anno 1170.
dDe consecr. dist. 2.Gratian rehearseth many ancient Canons and Constitutions for communicating in both kinds, which because they hauehave been handled before, I here let passe.
The Papists answer.
The onelyonly answer, which I find to our allegations out of the Fathers in this Age, is Cardinall Lib. 4. de sacr. Euch. cap. 26.Bellarmines, who indeuoureth to put a glosse vponupon Saint Bernards words on this wise: VnderUnder the forme of bread, the entire nourishment, or compleat foode of Christs body and blood is contained. Wherefore our Lord, saith he, commanded that foode to bee often taken, but he commandeth not, that it should bee taken in both kinds.
Refutation.
S. Ierome saith, it is the part of a bad Physition, omnibus oculi morbis vno collyrio mederi: to applie but one eye-salue to all manner of diseases of the eyes. Yet such a Physition is Bellarmine; he hath but one salue for all diseases, and that hath no vertue it in at all in effect. To the saluing of all the testimonies of the ancient Fathers opposed against him, hee applieth onelyonly this medicamentum foreign of concomitancie. whatsoeuer the Fathers speake of receiuing the body and blood, and the entire food of our soules, he would make vsus beleeue, they intend nothing against their halfe Communion. For, as he accounteth, the blood is neuer seuered from the body, and the blood is vnderunder the forme of bread. Hee therefore, who taketh the bread, taketh the body & blood of Christ: and consequently communicateth intirely. But besides, that this proposition of his, hath beene heretofore refuted, I adde first in generall, that, albeit we should admit, that in the iudgement of the Fathers in this Age, the blood of Christ were with the body, and with the forme of bread: yet there is no Cup, nor Wine in the bread, no drinking in eating, no powring out of the wine, or blood into the mouthes of the faithfull. Of which the writers of this Age speake so expresly, that those of our aduersaries, who hauehave not rubbed hard their foreheads, neuer so much as offer to make answer to these testimonies, but hauehave held it the wisest course, neuer to take notice of them. Secondly, for Saint Bernard in particular, his words hauehave relation to the Institution of Christ, saying, The entire foode of the body and blood of Christ was that day first exhibited: nay, at our Lords last supper there was wine, as well as bread. And this Vasquez the Iesuite ingeniously confesseth, howsoeuer it cut the throat of his fellow Iesuites answer. eBernardus apertè loqui videtur de altera parte alimoniae, quae sub specie vini per modum potionis sumitur.Bernard, saith he, speakes plainely of the other part of nourishment, which is taken by way of drinke vnderunder the forme of wine. What then? Doth Vasquez freely giuegive vsus Saint Bernard? Not so! but deuiseth another euasion, to wit that communicating in both kinds, for the entire repast of the soule is commanded to the whole Church, not to eueryevery particular beleeuer: Defumo in flammas. Vasq. to auoide the smoke, that put out Bellarmine his eyes, falls into the fire. For that which is inioyned the whole Church, is necessarily inioined eueryevery saithfull. The words of our Sauior, Drinke ye all, &c. are euidently a command to each particular. For so the Apostles vnderstood him, and dranke eueryevery one of them of that Cup, and not any one, or more, in the name and behalfe of all the rest. Doubtlesse, as eueryevery man must liue by himselfe, so he must also in his owne person and by himselfe, receiue the entire food of life, the body and blood of Christ.