The Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, Chapter 11 · Section 14
SECT. XIIII. The testimonies of the practise of the Church from 1300. to 1400.
IN this Age, when this sacrilegious error like a Gangreene, had spred ouer a great part of the Latine Churches, God stirred vp many learned Chirons and Machaeons, knowne by the nick-names of Walldenses, Lollards, & Wickliffests, to applie a soueraigne remedie vntounto it. And they, Deo secundante, wrought great cures vponupon this Cancer in England, France, and Bohemia. In other parts of Europe, the people were so intoxicated with the golden Cup of the whore of Babylon, that they willingly suffered the Priests to keepe away from them the Lords Cup. Yet in this Centurie, if wee adde to the sounder Diuines, or Doctors, in the Latine Church, the iudgement and practise of the whole Greeke Church, the entire Communion wil carry it away from the halfe, by more then halfe the voyces of Christendome.
Anno 1301.
The custome of communicating in both kinds was not abolished in the beginning of this age, but was retained in certaine places, especially in Monasteries, vntill the yeere of our Lord 1300. and more. Thus writeth tCas. consul. art. 22. In vtraque specie communio in quibusdam locis, presertim in monasterijs retenta est, idque ad annum ampliùs millessimum tricentessimum.Cassander.
Anno 1320.
uPet. in 4. sent. dist. 11. quaest. 1. In multis ecclesijs consuetudo suit, quòd communicauerunt fidelibus sub vtraque specie, &c. sacramenti effectus est persecta animae refectio; ergo, materia representās debet esse per pe…ctam corporis refectionem, quae non est nisi per cibum, & potum.Petrus de Palude saith, that in his time the custome was in many Churches, that the faithfull communicated in both kinds, and hee backeth this his testimonie with a solid reason. There ought, saith he, to be a double matter in this sacrament, to wit, meat and drink: because the effect of this Sacrament ought to be represented perfectly by the matter thereof, in a manner agreeable to the things naturall. For sacraments effect that which they signifie: but the effect of this sacrament is a perfect refection, or repast of the soule: therfore the matter representing, it ought to bee a perfect refection of the body, which is not but by meate and drinke. This argument of Peter of the F…n hath so farre sunke our aduersaries, that to this day they cannot by all their sophistry get out of the boggs.
Anno 1341.
Clemens 6. in his Bull to the King of England; granteth him the vse of the Cup, ad gratiae augmentum, to the increase of grace.
Anno 1360.
*Lib. contra errores Armeniorum. c. 8. Vtrumque sumere certo tempore, aut velle sumere, & esse paratum ad hoc, quantum in eius potestate est, necessarium est ad vitam spiritualem habendam.Richard Archbishop of Armach thus wardeth off a blow of the Armenians, when the Armenian heretique obiected against him: vnlesse you eat the flesh of the sonne of man, and drink his blood, you hauehave no life in yon; Hee answereth, that this speech of our Sauiour, if it bee taken as spoken of sacramentall drinking, ought to be vnderstood with this qualification, to wit; That it is necessarie to obtaine spirituall life, that a man receiue both at sometime, or bee willing to receiue, and be ready so farre as it is in his power.
Anno 1372.
Besides these written testimonies, wee hauehave engrauen, I meane the inscriptions of Chalices, or Communion Cups, called Ministerales because they serued for the people; xAphoris. Euchar. lib. 6. Ad plebeiam illud, & publicam communionem, haud dubiè, factam.Vadianus writeth of a cup in the Abbie of Sangall, that weighed 70. markes in siluer: without doubt, saith he, for the vse of the people at the publique C…mmunion. yAscitis quibusdam argumentis, qu… auribus probè purgatis non satis probè ti…iunt. In Notis ad Pelichdorfiu….Gretser censureth the writings of Pelichdorfius against the poore men of Lyons in this manner: This author, saith he, doth refute in the first part of this work the poore men of Lyons, but with some such arguments as ring not well in the purified eares (of Catholiques. I am sure this argument drawne from great siluer chalices, some of them with pipes for the Laiety to sucke out the consecrated wine, ring not well in the purified eares of Romane Catholiques. For not onelyonly, Rhenanus z In Tertul. de corona militis. Nequicquam pretium …asorum possideant, pr…ter calicem argenteum, & fistulam, qua Laici Dominicum excipiant sanguinem.out of Conradus Pellicanus relateth a constitution amongst the Carthusians, whereby they are forbid to hauehave any pretious vessels, or plate, besides a siluer chalice, and a pipe, wherewith the Laietie may suck the blood of our Lord: but also Caietan maketh mention of them, and their vse to this purpose: and Cassander very much taxeth Eccius, for that he writeth, that he neuer read of the Laieties Communion in both kinds in the Roman Church, saue only in the story of S. Laurence his life; *Si non meminerit calicum ministerialiū in Ecclesijs vrbis Romanae, quorum in libro Pontificali subinde fit mentio. &c. In plerisque locis calicibus, qui ministeriales vocaba…ur, argenti… fistulae inserebantur.It is strange, saith he, that a man of so excellent a memorie, as Eccius, should forget the ministeriall Chalices, whereof there is euer and anon mention made in the Romane Pontificall; which were so called, because the blood of Christ was out of thē ministred to the people; In most places for feare of shedding the blood of Christ, in deliuering it to the people, there were siluer pipes put into the Chalices, that in the peoples drinking, or rather sucking the blood of Christ, not so much as a droppe might be spilt. These Chalices were not onelyonly in vse in this Age, but a 1000. yeeres before, in Saint Cyprians time: if we may beleeue Cardinall Caietan; who ingeniously confesseth, that they were so called from their vse in the Church, which was to serue the people. Thus In t…t. partem s…mmae.he commenteth vponupon Thomas: This custome, saith hee, continued not onelyonly in the time of that Martyr, whom Cyprian thought fit to bee forearmed with the Lords Cup, but also in the time of the peace of the Church. For we reade not onelyonly of basons, but also of ministeriall aQuare ministeriales dict… sunt, nisiquia non ad offerendum, sed ministrandum populo Christi sanguinem deseruiebant?Chalices made for this vse. a For why were they called ministeriall, but because they serued not to offer the blood of Christ, but to minister it to the people?
Anno 1390.
The custome was in France to administer the whole Supper not in the middle of the b Guliel. Bellaius Langius de Francisco 1. Gall. Rege. & Sleid. hist. lib. 9. Franc. 1. dixit, patrum … diu tributam fuisse per Galliam quibu…bet integra… c…nam, non quidem in medio te…pli, sed in sa…llis.Church, but in Chappels. This, saith Francis the first, I heard of old men, who affirmed; that this had been the manner in France for 120. yeeres before.