S. Cyprian teaches that H. E. repro duces the Passion of JESUS CHRIST. Tertullian (ob. circa 245) speaks in many places of the Eucharistic Sacrifice as offered not only for the living and in honour of the martyrs, but for the souls of the faithful departed.* † So far the writers quoted have treated of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist only incidentally. In the writings of S. Cyprian we find the first distinct treatise on this subject. It takes the form of a letter (Epist. lxiii.) in which S. Cyprian shows that in consecrating the Holy Eucharist the mixed chalice only should be used, and that the Eucharist reproduces in its fulness the Passion of JESUS CHRIST, and that in its form it ought to represent the Last Supper, at which it was instituted.§ The priest who celebrates fulfils the functions of JESUS CHRIST the Sovereign Priest.|| The wine of the Sacrithe Sovereign fice is the Blood of our LORD shed during His Passion.¶ The water mingled with wine, as well as the grains which compose the bread, represent the people, whose sins our LORD bore upon the Cross, and who are united with Him at the altar. ** The priest in it fulfils the functions of Priest. *Tertullian, Ad Scapulam, c. 2, Apol., c. 30. † Dr. Vacant (p. 15), in referring to Tertullian, makes the following statement, which the author has been unable to verify : "Mais il voit surtout dans la célébration des saints mystères, une prière dont JÉSUS-CHRIST est le souverain pontife. Il rattache donc ces mystères venerables a l'intercession glorieuse de JÉSUS-CHRIST ressuscité pour nous." He gives as his authority Tertullian, Adv. Judæos, c. 14. This chapter, however, contains no reference whatever to the Eucharist. One finds the same statement in Thomassinus (De Incarn. Verbi, 1. x., c. xii., 5, tom. iv., p. 339), with precisely the same reference (Tert., Adv. Judæos, c. 14). Dr. Vacant has therefore probably simply followed Thomassinus. In Appendix C we give the passage of Tertullian in full. ¶ Ibid., n. 11. S. Cyp., Epist. lxiii., n. 17. ? Ibid., n. 14. The fruits of the Sacrifice, S. Cyprian teaches, are the bestowal of all virtues, even the grace of martyrdom; the remission of sins, † and the inheritance of heaven. These fruits, he tells us, can be applied to those who are absent, and to the faithful departed, § whom the priest names, and for whom he prays at the altar. In a word, S. Cyprian clearly recognizes in the Eucharist a proper priesthood possessing a proper It is a proper S. sacrifice, in which the Passion of JESUS CHRIST is represented, the Body and Blood of CHRIST being the re-presented. matter of the Sacrifice. The Western Fathers after S. Cyprian, while showing the influence of his teaching, dwell upon the Eucharist in its relation to the mysteries of the Incarnation and of grace. S. Ambrose (ob. 397) lays stress upon the fact that in the Eucharist our LORD offers Himself in His Humanity for the remission of our sins.¶ In it there is the same Priest, the same Victim, and consequently the same Sacrifice as on the Cross.** S. Augustine's (ob. 430) idea of the Eucharist has affinities with that of S. Irenæus. The Sacrifice has for its end our union with GOD. This is for our good alone, for this union is our true end and ought to be our supreme happiness.†† Such a union must depend largely upon the interior dispositions of the offerer. * S. Cyp., Epistola Synodica, n. 3. † Idem., De Lapsis, n. 16. Idem., Epist. lx., n. 4. Idem., Epist. lxvi., n. 2. || Idem., Epist. 1x., n. 4. ¶ S. Ambr., De Officiis, 1. i., c. lxviii., n. 238. ** Idem., In Psalm., xxxiii., n. 26. tt S. Aug., De Civ. Dei, 1. x., c. 5, 6. in which the Passion is S. Ambrose says that in it the S. is the same as that of the Cross. s. Augustine regards it as uniting us to GOD and depending for right dispositions in the its effects upon offerer. He defines S. While sacrifice properly so called is "the visible sacrament, that is, the sacred sign, of an invisible sacrifice," in order that it may be a true sacrifice there must be joined with it the invisible sacrifice of the will in acts. of penitence, humility, and love. Every man who lives for GOD is himself a sacrifice. Moreover, the Church herself is a sacrifice, in which JESUS CHRIST is the great High Priest, and of which the Sacrament of the Altar is the outward sign.* The one absolute Sacrifice was offered by our LORD Himself, Who" took upon Him the form of a servant" that He might offer Himself to His FATHER. And by this Sacrifice our LORD unites man to GOD in the closest fellowship.† Our LORD's Sacrifice, which was typified by the sacrirenewed daily fices of the Old Testament, is renewed daily in the Eucharist upon our altars, so that the Church, which is His Mystical Body, unites herself to the Sacrifice of her Head. and shows that our LORD'S S. is in the H. E. S. Leo the the E. S. the ac of all mys S. Leo the Great (ob. 461) sees in the offering of our LORD'S Body and Blood in the Eucharist, the Sacrifice complishment of the Lamb of GOD, Which taketh away the sin of the world, the accomplishment of all mysteries. For him the Eucharist is that Sacrifice which supersedes all the various carnal sacrifices and offerings, both of the heathen world and of the Jewish Church, and which unites all nations in one great Kingdom.§ teries. The Eastern We must now turn from the West to the East and notice briefly the treatment of the Eucharist by those Greek Fathers of the fourth century whose voluminous works contribute so greatly to the theological treasures * S. Aug., De Civ. Dei., 1. x., c. 6. † S. Aug., De Trinitate, 1. iv., c. xiv. S. Aug., De Civ. Dei, 1. x., c. vi., ct. xx. § S. Leo, Serm., lix., c. vii. of the Church. We shall not need here to do more than draw attention to the general features of their teaching, since in the next chapter we shall have to bring forward and carefully examine many passages from their writings. We may observe : H. E. with the 1. That they connect the Eucharist most closely with 1. connect the the Passion, one of them, in speaking of the "triduum" of the Passion, even insisting that the Institution of the Eucharist must be counted in this period, since the Sacrifice of the Eucharist was so entirely one with the Sacrifice of the Cross that it practically contained it, and was therefore an essential part of the Passion.* Besides this, they recognize the Eucharist as the Sacrifice in which the Passion is continually reproduced. † 2. They see in the Eucharist an extension of the 2. and IncarIncarnation.‡ 3. They associate the Priesthood of our LORD with that of Melchisedec, especially pointing out that He is now, through His priests in the Church, offering in the Eucharist that Sacrifice which was typified by Melchisedec's offering of bread and wine.§ * S. Greg. Nyss., In Christ. Resurrect., Oratio i.; Migne, P. G., tom. 46, col. 611; S. Cyril Alex., Homil. Div., x., In Mysticam Cœnam; Migne, P. G., tom. 77, col. 1018. † S. Chrys., In Heb., Hom. vii.; Migne, P. G., tom. 63, col. 130; ibid., col. 131. S. Chrys., In Joan., Hom. xlvi., n. 2, 3; Migne, P. G., tom. 59, col. 260; ibid., n. 3, col. 261; S. Cyril Alex., in Joan, iii. 6; Migne, P. G., tom. 73, col. 519; ibid., tom. 74, col. 528, 529; Isid. Pelus., Epist., 1. iii., 195; Migne, P. G., tom. 78, col. 879; Thomassin., De Incarn, tom. iv. ; 1. x., c. 21. § Euseb. Cæs., Dem. Evangel., v. 3; Migne, P. G., tom. 22, col. 367; S. Chrys., In Genes., Hom. xxxv., n. 5; Migue, P. G., tom. 53, col. 328; ibid., Hom. xxxvi., n. 3, col. 336; S. Cyril Alex., In Genes., 1. ii., n. 10; Migne, P. G., tom. 69, col. 107. nation; 3. and point out that church our LORD is now through the exercising His Priesthood. In this period both East and West dwell tion between CHRIST'S We may bring our notice of this first period to an end by saying that the Fathers, both Eastern and upon the rela- Western, dwell upon the relation between the Mystical Body of CHRIST and His Body in the Eucharist, and Mystical Body recognize also a relation between the Eucharist and our LORD's great Intercession in heaven. But of any Sacrifice now being offered in heaven they not only have no knowledge, but expressly state, either that our LORD offered His Sacrifice once for all, and is now set down at the Right Hand of GOD,* or that He is now have no know- exercising His sacerdotal functions only through the priesthood of His Church in offering the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.† and His Body in the H. E., and between the H. E. and His Intercession in heaven; but ledge of any S. now being offered in heaven. II. The Middle with S. Greg ory and ends II. THE MIDDLE PERIOD. This period, which begins with the accession of S. Period begins Gregory the Great to the papacy and ends with the early days of S. Thomas Aquinas, extends from the close of the sixth to the middle of the thirteenth century. As the point of view from which the Sacrifice. of the Mass was regarded in the early ages of the Church was clearly synthetic, so we may consider its treatment during the period we are now to survey as distinctly practical. There was no change of view in regard to the nature of the Sacrifice or of its relation to and its charac- the Sacrifice of the Cross, but its sacrificial character ter sought in was sought in the effects which it produced; and, above its effects. all, in the dispositions which were required in the offerer that he might appropriate the fruits of the Sacrifice. No attempt was yet made to determine in * S. Chrys., In Heb., Hom. xiii., 8. †Theodoret, In Psalm., cix., 4; Migne, P. G., tom. 80, col. |