Transubstantiation: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Article Images

Line 2:

[[File:Transubstantiation Eucharistic Adoration at St Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno NV USA.jpg|thumb|Transubstantiation – the [[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist|real presence]] of [[Jesus]] in the [[Eucharistic Adoration]] at [[Saint Thomas Aquinas Cathedral]] in [[Reno, Nevada|Reno]], [[Nevada]]]]

'''Transubstantiation''' ([[Latin language|Latin]]: ''transubstantiatio''; [[Greek language|Greek]]: μετουσίωσις ''[[metousiosis]]'') is, according to the teaching of the [[~~Scientology|~~Catholic Church]], "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the [[Body of Christ]] and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the [[Blood of Christ]]".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html |website=vatican.va}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Eucharist: What is the Eucharist? |url=https://www.usccb.org/eucharist ~~|url-status=live~~ |access-date=March 17, 2023 |website=www.usccb.org}}</ref> This change is brought about in the [[Eucharist|eucharistic prayer]] through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Liturgy of the Eucharist: Eucharistic Prayer |url=https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist ~~|url-status=live~~ |access-date=March 17, 2023 |website=www.usccb.org}}</ref> However, "the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the 'eucharistic species', remain unaltered".<ref name=":1" /> In this teaching, the notions of "substance" and "transubstantiation" are not linked with any particular theory of [[metaphysics]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McNamara~~, Legionary of Christ~~ |first=~~Father~~ Edward |title=Liturgy Q & A: On Transubstantiation |url=https://zenit.org/2016/04/19/liturgy-q-a-on-transubstantiation/ ~~|url-status=live~~ |access-date=March 17, 2023 |website=www.zenit.org|date=19 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 19, 2016 |title=Liturgy Q & A: On Transubstantiation |url=https://zenit.org/articles/liturgy-q-a-on-transubstantiation/ ~~|url-status=live~~ |website=Zenit}}</ref>

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, in the Eucharistic offering, bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fay |first=William |date=2001 |title=The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers |url=http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/the-real-presence-of-jesus-christ-in-the-sacrament-of-the-eucharist-basic-questions-and-answers.cfm |access-date=13 December 2015 |website=United States Conference of Catholic Bishops |quote=the Catholic Church professes that, in the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost and the instrumentality of the priest.}}</ref><ref>Wilfried Apfalter, "Science, Law, and Transubstantiation", ''Theology and Science'' 22:1 (2024) 172-183.</ref> The affirmation of this doctrine on the [[real presence of Christ in the Eucharist]] was expressed, using the word "transubstantiate", by the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]] in 1215.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran4.asp |website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lateran Council | Roman Catholicism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lateran-Council-Roman-Catholicism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> It was later challenged by various 14th-century reformers, [[John Wycliffe]] in particular.<ref name="OEOR">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Transubstantiation |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195064933.001.0001/acref-9780195064933-e-1414 |access-date=2017-05-30 |date=2005 |editor-last=Hillebrand |editor-first=Hans J. |isbn=978-0-19-506493-3}}</ref>

The manner in which the change occurs, the Roman Catholic Church teaches, is a mystery: "The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ."<ref name=":0" /> In [[Lutheranism]], the terminology used regarding the real presence is the doctrine of the [[sacramental union]], while in [[Anglicanism]], the precise terminology to be used to refer to the nature of the Eucharist has a contentious interpretation: "bread and cup" or "Body and Blood"; "set before" or "offer"; "objective change" or "new significance".<ref name="Voigt1917">{{cite book |last1=Voigt |first1=A. G. |title=Biblical Dogmatics |date=1917 |publisher=Press of Lutheran Board of Publication |page=215 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradshaw |first=Paul F. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/957998003 |title=The Eucharistic liturgies : their evolution and interpretation |date=2012 |others=Maxwell E. Johnson |isbn=978-0-8146-6266-3 |location=Collegeville, Minn. |oclc=957998003 |quote=The Catholic Mass expects God to work a transformation, a change of the elements of bread and wine into the very presence of Christ. The Anglican prayers do not demand this objective change in the elements: they ask merely that the bread and wine should now take on new significance for us, as symbols of His Body and Blood. In fact, the Anglican formulae will bear interpretation either way. This is a deliberate policy, and part of the genius of Anglicanism, its ability to accommodate contradictory doctrines under the same outward form of words.}}</ref>

In the [[Greek Orthodox Church]], the doctrine has been discussed under the term of ''[[metousiosis]]'', coined as a direct loan-translation of ''transubstantiatio'' in the 17th century. In [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] in general, the [[Sacred mysteries#Eastern Orthodoxy|Sacred Mystery]] (Sacrament) of the Eucharist is more commonly discussed using alternative terms such as "trans-elementation" ({{Lang|el|μεταστοιχείωσις}}, ''metastoicheiosis''), "re-ordination" ({{Lang|el|μεταρρύθμισις}}, ''metarrhythmisis''), or simply "change" ({{Lang|el|μεταβολή}}, ''metabole'').

Line 12:

==History==

=== Summary ===

From the earliest centuries, the Church spoke of the elements used in celebrating the Eucharist as being changed into the body and blood of Christ. Terms used to speak of the alteration included "trans-elementation.".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: NPNF2-05. Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises, Etc. – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205/npnf205.xi.ii.xxxix.html |access-date=2021-11-11 |website=ccel.org}}</ref> The bread and wine were said to be "made",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: Catechetical Lecture 23 (Cyril of Jerusalem) |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310123.htm |access-date=2021-11-11 |website=newadvent.org}}</ref> "changed into",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: NPNF2-09. Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf209/npnf209.iii.iv.iv.xiii.html |access-date=2021-11-11 |website=ccel.org}}</ref> the body and blood of Christ. Similarly, [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] said: "Not all bread, but only that which receives the blessing of Christ ''{{em|becomes''}} the body of Christ."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/fathersofthechur009512mbp/page/n247/mode/2up?q=becomes |title=Sermon 234|year=1959|publisher=Fathers Of The Church}}</ref>

The term "transubstantiation" was used at least by the 11th century to speak of the change and was in widespread use by the 12th century. The [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]] used it in 1215. When later theologians adopted [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian metaphysics]] in Western Europe, they explained the change that was already part of Catholic teaching in terms of [[Aristotelian theology|Aristotelian]] substance and accidents. The sixteenth-century [[Reformation]] gave this as a reason for rejecting the Catholic teaching. The [[Council of Trent]] did not impose the Aristotelian [[Substance theory|theory of substance]] and accidents or the term "transubstantiation" in its Aristotelian meaning, but stated that the term is a fitting and proper term for the change that takes place by consecration of the bread and wine. The term, which for that Council had no essential dependence on [[scholasticism|scholastic ideas]], is used in the Catholic Church to affirm the fact of Christ's presence and the mysterious and radical change which takes place, but not to explain ''{{em|how''}} the change takes place,<ref name=ARCIC/> since this occurs "in a way surpassing understanding".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – The sacrament of the Eucharist, 1333. |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |access-date=2020-01-05 |website=vatican.va |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204020023/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm |archive-date=2020-02-04 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The term is mentioned in both the 1992 and 1997 editions of the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' and is given prominence in the later (2005) ''[[Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church]]''.

===Patristic period===

Line 32:

[[Ambrose]] of Milan (died 397) wrote:

{{Quote|Perhaps you will say, "I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?" ...Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed. ...For that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements? ...Why do you seek the order of nature in the Body of Christ, seeing that the Lord Jesus Himself was born of a Virgin, not according to nature? It is the true Flesh of Christ which was crucified and buried, this is then truly the Sacrament of His Body. The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: "This Is My Body." Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body ''is signified''. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks.<ref name="suffer2">{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: On the Mysteries (St. Ambrose) |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3405.htm |website=newadvent.org}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Other fourth-century Christian writers say that in the Eucharist there occurs a "change",<ref>Cyril of Jerusalem, ''Cat. Myst.,'', 5, 7 (Patrologia Graeca 33:1113): {{lang|grc|μεταβολή}}</ref> "transelementation",<ref>Gregory of Nyssa, ''Oratio catechetica magna'', 37 (PG 45:93): {{lang|grc|μεταστοιχειώσας}}</ref> "transformation",<ref>John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the betrayal of Judas, 6 (PG 49:380): {{lang|grc|μεταρρύθμησις}}</ref> "transposing",<ref>Cyril of Alexandria, On Luke, 22, 19 (PG 72:911): {{lang|grc|μετίτησις}}</ref> "alteration"<ref>John Damascene, On the orthodox faith, book 4, chapter 13 (PG 49:380): {{lang|grc|μεταποίησις}}</ref> of the bread into the body of Christ.

[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] declares that the bread consecrated in the Eucharist actually "becomes" (in Latin, ''{{em|fit''}}) the Body of Christ: "The faithful know what I'm talking about; they know Christ in the breaking of bread. It isn't every loaf of bread, you see, but the one receiving Christ's blessing, that becomes the body of Christ."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=A2GyOPOqp-4C ''Sermons (230-272B) on the Liturgical Seasons'' (New City Press 1994), p. 37]; original text in [https://books.google.com/books?id=_P5Win6wF0wC Migne, ''Patrologia latina'', vol. 38, col. 1116]</ref>

[[Clement of Alexandria]], who uses the word "symbol" concerning the Eucharist, is quoted as an exception,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Willis|first=Wendell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88zcDQAAQBAJ&dq=symbolic+eucharist+clement+of+alexandria&pg=PA49|title=Eucharist and Ecclesiology: Essays in Honor of Dr. Everett Ferguson|date=2017-01-06|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-4982-8292-5|language=en}}</ref> although this interpretation is disputed on the basis of [[Alexandrian school|Alexandrian]] overlaps of symbology and literalism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05573a.htm|website=New Advent|title=The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist|last=Pohle|first=J.|year=1909}}</ref>

Line 43:

[[File:Codex Bruchsal 1 28r.jpg|thumb|The [[Last Supper]] (upper image) and preparatory washing of feet (lower image) in a 1220 manuscript in the [[Baden State Library]], [[Karlsruhe]], Germany]]

[[Paschasius Radbertus]] (785–865) was a Carolingian theologian, and the abbot of [[Corbie Abbey|Corbie]], whose most well-known and influential work is an exposition on the nature of the Eucharist written around 831, entitled ''De Corpore et Sanguine Domini''. In it, Paschasius agrees with [[Ambrose]] in affirming that the Eucharist contains the true, historical body of Jesus Christ. According to Paschasius, God is truth itself, and therefore, his words and actions must be true. Christ's proclamation at the [[Last Supper]] that the bread and wine were his body and blood must be taken literally, since God is truth.<ref>Chazelle, pg. 9</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} He thus believes that the change of the substances of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ offered in the Eucharist really occurs. Only if the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ can a Christian know it is salvific.<ref>Chazelle, pg. 10</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

In the 11th century, [[Berengar of Tours]] stirred up opposition when he denied that any material change in the elements was needed to explain the fact of the Real Presence. His position was never diametrically opposed to that of his critics, and he was probably never excommunicated, but the controversies that he aroused (see [[Stercoranism]]) forced people to clarify the doctrine of the Eucharist.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}}), article ''Berengar of Tours''</ref>

Line 51:

The [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]] in 1215 spoke of the bread and wine as "transubstantiated" into the body and blood of Christ: "His body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine, the bread and wine having been transubstantiated, by God's power, into his body and blood".<ref>{{Catholic|prescript=|wstitle=Fourth Lateran Council (1215)}}.

[http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum12-2.htm#Confession of Faith ''Fourth Lateran Council: 1215''], 1. Confession of Faith, retrieved 2010-03-13.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran4.asp|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu}}</ref> Catholic scholars and clergy have noted numerous reports of [[Eucharistic miracle]]s contemporary with the council, and at least one such report was discussed at the council.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Councils of Faith: Lateran IV (1215)| year = 2013| url=https://www.english.op.org/godzdogz/councils-of-faith-lateran-iv-1215/ | last=Javis|first=Matthew|website = Dominican Friars}}</ref><ref>Ryan, S. and Shanahan, A. (2018) How to communicate Lateran IV in 13th century Ireland: lessons from the Liber Examplorum (c. 1275). Religions 9(3): 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9030075</ref> It was not until later in the 13th century that [[Aristotelian metaphysics]] was accepted and a philosophical elaboration in line with that metaphysics was developed, which found classic formulation in the teaching of [[Thomas Aquinas]]<ref name="ODCC">Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-19-280290-3}}), article ''Transubstantiation''</ref> and in the theories of later Catholic theologians in the medieval period ([[Robert Grosseteste]],<ref>{{cite ~~book~~journal|first1=Leonard E.|last1=Boyle|author-link=Leonard Boyle|url=https://academic.oup.com/jts/article-abstract/XXX/2/512/1649099?redirectedFrom=fulltext|title=Robert Grosseteste and the Transubstantiation|journal=[[The Journal of Theological Studies]]|volume=XXX|issue=2|date=October 1, 1979|page=512|doi=10.1093/jts/XXX.2.512|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> [[Giles of Rome]], [[Duns Scotus]] and [[William of Ockham]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Marylin |title=Some later medieval theories of the Eucharist: Thomas Aquinas, Gilles of Rome, Duns Scotus, and William Ockham |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199658169}}</ref><ref>Stephen E. Lahey, "[http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=~~classicsfacpub Stephen E. Lahey, "Review~~classicsfacpubReview of Adams, ''Some later medieval theories ...'']" in ''The Journal of Ecclesiastical History'', vol. 63, issue 1 (January 2012)]</ref>

===Reformation===

Line 57:

[[File:De-captivitate-Babylonica.jpg|thumb|Title page of [[Martin Luther]]'s ''[[On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church|De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae]]'']]

In the ~~[[Protestant~~ Reformation]], the doctrine of transubstantiation became a matter of much controversy. Martin Luther held that "It is not the doctrine of transubstantiation which is to be believed, but simply that Christ really is present at the Eucharist".<ref>McGrath, op.cit., p197.</ref> In his ''[[On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church]]'' (published on 6 October 1520) Luther wrote:

{{Quote|Therefore, it is an absurd and unheard-of juggling with words, to understand "bread" to mean "the form, or accidents of bread", and "wine" to mean "the form, or accidents of wine". Why do they not also understand all other things to mean their forms, or accidents? Even if this might be done with all other things, it would yet not be right thus to emasculate the words of God and arbitrarily to empty them of their meaning.

Line 76:

====Council of Trent====

In 1551, the [[Council of Trent]] declared that the doctrine of transubstantiation is a [[dogma#Catholicism and Eastern Christianity|dogma]] of faith<ref>{{cite web| url = https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct13.html| title = The Council of Trent, Thirteenth Session, canon 1: "If any one denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema."}}</ref> and stated that "by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."<ref name=CT13/>

In its 13th session ending 11 October 1551, the Council defined transubstantiation as "that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood – the [[species (Christianity)|species]] only of the bread and wine remaining – which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation".<ref name="CT13">{{Cite web |~~editor~~editor1-~~last~~first=J. |editor1-last=Waterworth |others=Scanned by Hanover College students in 1995 |title=The Council of Trent – The Thirteenth Session |url=https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct13.html |publisher=Dolman |location=London |edition=1848}}</ref> This council officially approved use of the term "transubstantiation" to express the Catholic Church's teaching on the subject of the conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, with the aim of safeguarding Christ's presence as a literal truth, while emphasizing the fact that there is no change in the empirical appearances of the bread and wine.<ref name="britannica">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Transubstantiation |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=21 September 2023 |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/603196/transubstantiation}}</ref> It did not however impose the Aristotelian theory of substance and accidents: it spoke only of the species (the appearances), not the philosophical term "accidents", and the word "substance" was in ecclesiastical use for many centuries before Aristotelian philosophy was adopted in the West,<ref name="Sophia">{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Charles |date=April 1, 1964 |title=The theology of transubstantiation |journal=Sophia |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=12–24 |doi=10.1007/BF02785911 |s2cid=170618935}}</ref> as shown for instance by its use in the [[Nicene Creed]] which speaks of Christ having the same "{{Lang|el|οὐσία}}" (Greek) or "{{Lang|la|substantia}}" (Latin) as the [[God the Father|Father]].

=== Since the Second Vatican Council ===

Line 96:

The Church's teaching is given in the ''[[Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' in question and answer form:

{{Quote|283. What is the meaning of ''transubstantiation''?

''Transubstantiation'' means the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of his Blood. This change is brought about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit. However, the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the ~~“eucharistic~~"eucharistic ~~species”~~species", remain unaltered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#The+Seven+Sacraments+of+the+Church |website=vatican.va}}</ref>}}

The Anglican–Roman Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission stated in 1971 in their common declaration on Eucharistic doctrine: "The word transubstantiation is commonly used in the Roman Catholic Church to indicate that God acting in the eucharist effects a change in the inner reality of the elements."<ref name="ARCIC">{{Cite web |year=1971 |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/105215/ARCIC_I_Agreed_Statement_on_Eucharistic_Doctrine.pdf |~~title~~publisher=Anglican – Roman Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission, ''|title=Agreed Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine 1971''}}</ref>

==== Opinions of some individuals (not necessarily typical) ====

In 2017 Irish Augustinian Gabriel Daly said that the Council of Trent approved use of the term "transubstantiation" as suitable and proper, but did not make it obligatory, and he suggested that its continued use is partly to blame for lack of progress towards sharing of the Eucharist between [[Protestantism|Protestants]] and Catholics.<ref>{{Cite web ~~|last=- |first=The Tablet-w~~ |title=Catholics should 'stop talking' of transubstantiation |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7581/catholics-should-stop-talking-of-transubstantiation |access-date=2019-12-31 |website=The Tablet |language=en}}</ref>

[[Traditionalist Catholicism|Traditionalist Catholic]] Paolo Pasqualucci said that the absence of the term in the [[Second Vatican Council]]'s constitution on the liturgy ''[[Sacrosanctum Concilium]]'' means that it presents the [[Catholic Mass]] "in the manner of the Protestants". To this [[Dave Armstrong (Catholic apologist)|Dave Armstrong]] replied that "the ''{{em|word''}} may not be present; but the ''{{em|concept''}} is".<ref>{{Cite web ~~|last=Catholicism |first=Biblical Evidence for~~ |date=2019-07-22 |title=Vs. Pasqualucci Re Vatican II #11: SC & Sacrifice of the Mass |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2019/07/vs-pasqualucci-re-vatican-ii-11-sc-sacrifice-of-the-mass.html |access-date=2019-12-31 |website=Biblical Evidence for Catholicism |language=en}}</ref> For instance, the document ''[[Gaudium et spes|]]''~~Gaudium et Spes'']]~~ refers to the "sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man are gloriously changed into His Body and Blood, providing a meal of brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet" (Chapter 3).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vatican II and the Eucharist |url=http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/vat/a4.html |access-date=2020-01-03 |website=therealpresence.org}}</ref>

[[Thomas J. Reese]] commented that "using Aristotelian concepts to explain Catholic mysteries in the 21st century is a fool's errand", while Timothy O'Malley remarked that "it is possible to teach the doctrine of transubstantiation without using the words 'substance' and 'accidents'. If the word 'substance' scares people off, you can say, 'what it really is', and that is what substance is. What it really is, what it absolutely is at its heart is Christ's body and blood".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Real Presence: What do Catholics believe and how can the Churchrespond? {{!}} Southern Cross Online Edition |url=https://www.archbalt.org/the-real-presence-what-do-catholics-believe-and-how-church-can-respond/ |access-date=2020-01-02 |website=southerncross.diosav.org|date=25 August 2019 }}</ref>

==== General belief and doctrine knowledge among Catholics ====

Line 112:

Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, the percentage of belief in the Real Presence was 86% for pre-Vatican II Catholics, 74% for Vatican II Catholics, 75% for post-Vatican II Catholics, and 85% for Millennials.<ref>[https://cara.georgetown.edu/masseucharist.pdf CARA Catholic Poll: "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among U.S. Catholics", p. 55]: "Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, Millennial Generation Catholics are just as likely as Pre-Vatican II Catholics to agree that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist (85 percent compared to 86 percent). Vatican II and Post-Vatican II Generation Catholics are about 10 percentage points less likely to believe that Christ is really present in the Eucharist (74 and 75 percent, respectively)." Indicated also in the diagram on the same page.</ref>

A 2019 Pew Research Report found that 69% of United States Catholics believed that in the Eucharist the bread and wine "are ''{{em|symbols''}} of the body and blood of Jesus Christ", and only 31% believed that, "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus". Of the latter group, most (28% of all US Catholics) said they knew that this is what the Church teaches, while the remaining 3% said they did not know it. Of the 69% who said the bread and wine are ''{{em|symbols''}}, almost two-thirds (43% of all Catholics) said that what they believed is the Church's teaching, 22% said that they believed it in spite of knowing that the Church teaches that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. Among United States Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week, the most observant group, 63% accepted that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ; the other 37% saw the bread and wine as ''{{em|symbols''}}, most of them (23%) not knowing that the Church, so the survey stated, teaches that the elements actually become the body and blood of Christ, while the remaining 14% rejected what was given as the Church's teaching.<ref name="Pew Report">{{Cite web ~~|last3=Inquiries |first3=DC 20036USA202-419-4300 {{!}} Main202-857-8562 {{!}} Fax202-419-4372 {{!}} Media~~ |date=August 5, 2019 |title=Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ. |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/05/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics/ |access-date=2020-01-01 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> The Pew Report presented "the understanding that the bread and wine used in Communion are ''{{em|symbols''}} of the body and blood of Jesus Christ" as contradicting belief that, ~~“during~~"during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of ~~Jesus”~~Jesus".<ref name="Pew Report" /> The Catholic Church itself speaks of the bread and wine used in Communion ''{{em|both''}} as "signs" ''{{em|and''}} as "becoming" Christ's body and blood: "[...] the signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3Z.HTM |access-date=2020-09-18 |website=vatican.va}}</ref>

In a comment on the Pew Research Report, Greg Erlandson drew attention to the difference between the formulation in the CARA survey, in which the choice was between "Jesus Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist" and "the bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present", and the Pew Research choice between "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus" and "the bread wine are ''{{em|symbols''}} of the body and blood of Jesus Christ". He quotes an observation by Mark Gray that the word "actually" makes it sound like "something that could be analyzed under a microscope or empirically observed", while what the Church teaches is that the "substance" of the bread and wine are changed at consecration, but the "accidents" or appearances of bread and wine remain. Erlandson commented further: "Catholics may not be able to articulately define the 'Real Presence', and the {{Sic|phrase}} 'transubstantiation' may be obscure to them, but in their reverence and demeanor, they demonstrate their belief that this is not just a symbol".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Do we really believe in the Real Presence? |url=https://www.thebostonpilot.com/Opinion/article.asp?ID=185694 |access-date=2020-01-01 |website=The Boston Pilot}}</ref>

==Theology==

Line 122:

===Catholic Church===

[[File:Disputa del Sacramento (Rafael).jpg|thumb|300px|The ''[[Disputation of the Holy Sacrament]]'' ([[Raphael]] 1509–1510) depicts theologians debating Transubstantiation, including four [[Doctors of the Church]], with [[Pope Gregory I]] and [[Jerome]] seated to the left of the altar and [[Augustine]] and [[Ambrose]] to the right, [[Pope Julius II]], [[Pope Sixtus IV]], [[Savonarola]] and [[Dante Alighieri]].<ref>Adams, ''Italian Renaissance Art'', p. 345f.</ref>]]

While the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation in relation to the Eucharist can be viewed in terms of the Aristotelian distinction between [[substance theory|substance and accident]], Catholic theologians generally hold that, "in referring to the Eucharist, the Church does not use the terms substance and accident in their philosophical contexts but in the common and ordinary sense in which they were first used many centuries ago. The dogma of transubstantiation does not embrace any philosophical theory in particular."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur571.htm|~~title~~first1=Edward |last1=McNamara, "|title=On Transubstantiation" ~~in ''~~|agency=[[ZENIT~~'',~~]] |via=[[EWTN]] |date=19 April 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319234146/http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur571.htm |archivedate=19 March 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This ambiguity iswas recognized also by a then-[[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] theologian ~~such as~~ [[Jaroslav Pelikan]],{{efn|Pelikan later converted to [[Eastern Orthodoxy]].}} who, while himself interpreting the terms as Aristotelian, states that "the application of the term 'substance' to the discussion of the Eucharistic presence antedates the rediscovery of Aristotle. [...] Even 'transubstantiation' was used during the twelfth century in a nontechnical sense. Such evidence lends credence to the argument that the doctrine of transubstantiation, as codified by the decrees of the [[Fourth Lateran Council|Fourth Lateran]] and [[Tridentine Council|Tridentine councils]], did not canonize Aristotelian philosophy as indispensable to Christian doctrine. But whether it did so or not in principle, it has certainly done so in effect".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pelikan |first=Jaroslav |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fbZOR6USiwC&q=Pelikan+Aristotelian&pg=PA44 |title=The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Volume 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600) |date=1971 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226653716 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The view that the distinction is independent of any philosophical theory has been expressed as follows: "The distinction between substance and accidents is real, not just imaginary. In the case of the person, the distinction between the person and his or her accidental features is after all real. Therefore, even though the notion of substance and accidents originated from [[Aristotelian philosophy]], the distinction between substance and accidents is also independent of philosophical and scientific development."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-2CRzlijgwC&pg=PA92 Paul Haffner, ''The Sacramental Mystery'' (Gracewing Publishing 1999] {{ISBN|978-0852444764}}), p. 92</ref> "Substance" here means what something is in itself: take some concrete object – e.g. your own hat. The shape is not the object itself, nor is its color, size, softness to the touch, nor anything else about it perceptible to the senses. The object itself (the "substance") ''has'' the shape, the color, the size, the softness and the other appearances, but is distinct from them. While the appearances are perceptible to the senses, the substance is not.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1934 |title=Catholic Evidence Training Outlines – Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4cU9AAAAIAAJ&q=hat}}</ref>

Line 146:

The Catholic Church asserts that the consecrated bread and wine are not merely "symbols" of the body and blood of Christ: they ''are'' the body and blood of Christ.<ref name="USCCB">{{Cite web |title=The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers |url=http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/the-real-presence-of-jesus-christ-in-the-sacrament-of-the-eucharist-basic-questions-and-answers.cfm |website=usccb.org}}</ref> It also declares that, although the bread and wine completely cease to be bread and wine (having become the body and blood of Christ), the appearances (the "species" or look) remain unchanged, and the properties of the appearances also remain (one can be drunk with the appearance of wine despite it only being an appearance). They are still the appearances of bread and wine, not of Christ, and do not inhere in the substance of Christ. They can be felt and tasted as before, and are subject to change and can be destroyed. If the appearance of bread is lost by turning to dust or the appearance of wine is lost by turning to vinegar, Christ is no longer present.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tour of the Summa {{!}} Precis of the Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas {{!}} Msgr P Glenn |url=http://www.catholictheology.info/summa-theologica/summa-part3.php?q=518 |access-date=2019-09-25 |website=catholictheology.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Summa Theologiae: The accidents which remain in this sacrament (Tertia Pars, Q. 77) |url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4077.htm |access-date=2019-09-25 |website=newadvent.org}}</ref>

The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the [[Last Supper]]: "This is my body which will be given up for you. ... This is the cup of my blood ..."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P44.HTM |access-date=2019-09-25 |website=vatican.va}}</ref> When the signs cease to exist, so does the sacrament.<ref>"[I]f the change be so great that the substance of the bread or wine would have been corrupted, then Christ's body and blood do not remain under this sacrament; and this either on the part of the qualities, as when the color, savor, and other qualities of the bread and wine are so altered as to be incompatible with the nature of bread or of wine; or else on the part of the quantity, as, for instance, if the bread be reduced to fine particles, or the wine divided into such tiny drops that the species of bread or wine no longer remain" ([http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4077.htm#article4 Thomas Aquinas, ''Summa Theologica'', III, q. 77, art. 4]).</ref>

According to Catholic teaching, the whole of Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, is really, truly and substantially in the sacrament, under each of the appearances of bread and wine, but he is not in the sacrament as in a place and is not moved when the sacrament is moved. He is perceptible neither by the sense nor by the imagination, but only by the [[nous|intellectual eye]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Summa Theologica: TREATISE ON THE SACRAMENTS (QQ[60]-90): Question. 76 – OF THE WAY IN WHICH CHRIST IS IN THIS SACRAMENT (EIGHT ARTICLES) |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/sum528.htm |access-date=2019-09-25 |website=sacred-texts.com}}</ref>

Line 179:

===Protestantism===

====Anglicanism====

Transubstantiation is generally rejected in Anglicanism.

The Anglican Church has compared the consumption of the Eucharist to an act of [[cannibalism]], according to modern scholars who stressed the "parallel between Christian communion and cannibal feasts" and "used the analogy to ridicule the Catholic doctrine of the transubstantiation of the Eucharist bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ".<ref> {{cite web |url=https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/63790773/Coudert.Cannibalism_pdf20200630-5516-12lxmd7-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1657914915&Signature=C-wwzUjVT3AkYPzicKG1DsSpzRRBVInLZz7-zd43QYsq2iGuiPrLjy7T2-BhKXppgtHj3sMd4xXA3HNOnYMSpPdit0qJlVSXI2gvEKEdZwjwueq-prpeNyyLFF8dk-oFEipyWpJTspS905dDWiBp27oIqVLigKubMISSPV15d35m1bYfCK87tP6gZNSupQM0JWA95Yi7~3Kaq-W3E3j1LP1~CwCRR0J7L-~8otpqS1GQHTUyxl4TbN~pD33dUak8RwIKFCxkeWX703Vqly2ONLIUESqHcRMZEduCuzvqbbt-u0Q-LILe4SrnMtgpDd3Ga46VjHFtVojqizprZ16mIw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |title =The Ultimate Crime: Cannibalism in Early Modern Minds and!Imaginations}} </ref>

{{quote|

[[Elizabeth I~~]], as part of the [[Elizabethan Religious Settlement]],~~ gave royal assent to the [[39 Articles]] ~~of Religion, which sought to distinguish Anglican from Roman Church doctrine~~. The Articles declared that "Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions." The Elizabethan Settlement accepted the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament, but refused to define it, preferring to leave it a mystery. Indeed, for many years it was illegal in Britain to hold public office whilst believing in transubstantiation, as under the [[Test Act 1673|Test Act of 1673]]. Archbishop [[John Tillotson]] decried the "real barbarousness of this Sacrament and Rite of our Religion", considering it a great [[impiety]] to believe that people who attend Holy Communion "verily eat and drink the natural flesh and blood of Christ. And what can any man do more unworthily towards a Friend? How can he possibly use him more barbarously, than to feast upon his living flesh and blood?" (''Discourse against Transubstantiation'', London 1684, 35). In the Church of England today, clergy are required to assent that the 39 Articles have borne witness to the Christian faith.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Common Worship |url=http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/books/mv/preface.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808210713/http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/books/mv/preface.html |archive-date=2008-08-08 |access-date=2008-10-17 |website=cofe.anglican.org}}</ref>

}}

The Eucharistic teaching labeled "[[receptionism]]", defined by [[Claude Beaufort Moss]] as "the theory that we receive the Body and Blood of Christ when we receive the bread and wine, but they are not identified with the bread and wine which are not changed",<ref>Claude B. Moss, ''The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology'' (London: SPCK 1943), p. 366, cited in [https://books.google.com/books?id=YjY2q6aLaMEC&dq=%22defines+receptionism+as+the+theory%22&pg=PA181 Brian Douglas, ''A Companion to Anglican Eucharistic Theology'' (Brill 2012), vol. 2, p. 181]</ref> was commonly held by 16th and 17th-century Anglican theologians. It was characteristic of 17th century thought to "insist on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but to profess [[agnosticism]] concerning the manner of the presence". It remained "the dominant theological position in the Church of England until the [[Oxford Movement]] in the early nineteenth century, with varying degrees of emphasis". Importantly, it is "a doctrine of the real presence" but one which "relates the presence primarily to the worthy receiver rather than to the elements of bread and wine".<ref>Crockett, William R. (1988). "Holy Communion". In Sykes, Stephen; Booty, John. ''The Study of Anglicanism''. Philadelphia: SPCK/Fortress Press. p. 275. {{ISBN|978-0800620875}}</ref>

Line 204 ⟶ 205:

====Methodism====

[[Methodists]] believe in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine (or grape juice) while, like ~~Anglicans,~~ Presbyterians and Lutherans, rejecting transubstantiation. According to the [[United Methodist Church]], "Jesus Christ, who 'is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being',<ref>{{bibleverse||Hebrews|1:3}}</ref> is truly present in [[Holy Communion]]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=This Holy Mystery: Part Two |url=http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/parttwo.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707030906/http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/parttwo.html |archive-date=July 7, 2009 |access-date=30 May 2013 |publisher=The United Methodist Church GBOD}}</ref>

While upholding the view that [[prima scriptura|scripture is the primary source of Church practice]], Methodists also [[Wesleyan quadrilateral|look to church tradition]] and base their beliefs on the early Church teachings on the Eucharist, that Christ has a real presence in the Lord's Supper. The ''Catechism for the use of the people called Methodists'' thus states that, "[in Holy Communion] Jesus Christ is present with his worshipping people and gives himself to them as their Lord and Saviour".<ref name="Methcat">{{Cite book |title=A Catechism for the use of people called Methodists |date=2000 |publisher=Methodist Publishing House |isbn=978-1858521824 |location=Peterborough, England |pages=26}}</ref>

~~===Others===~~

The act of consumption of perceived flesh and blood by Catholics has been compared to the rituals of [[cannibal]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] by modern scholars of religion, both in significance and in objects of the ritual.<ref> {{cite document | title=This is My Body: Communion and Cannibalism in Colonial New England and New France |first = Carla |last= Cevasco |quote="Scholars of religion in the Atlantic world have pointed to similarities between various Indian groups’ ritual cannibalism and Protestant and Catholic communion"}}</ref>

==See also==

Line 225 ⟶ 223:

==References==

'''Footnotes'''

'''Notes'''

'''Bibliography'''

* Wilfried Apfalter, [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14746700.2023.2293620 "Science, Law, and Transubstantiation."], ''Theology and Science'' 22:1 (2024) 172-183.

* Burckhardt Neunheuser, "Transsubstantiation." ''Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche'', vol. 10, cols. 311–314.

* Miri Rubin, ''Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture'' (1991), pp. 369–419.

* Otto Semmelroth, ''Eucharistische Wandlung: Transsubstantation, Transfinalisation, Transsignifikation'' (Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 1967).

* Richard J. Utz and Christine Batz, "Transubstantiation in Medieval and Early Modern Culture and Literature: An Introductory Bibliography of Critical Studies,", in: ''Translation, Transformation, and Transubstantiation'', ed. Carol Poster and Richard Utz (Evanston: IL: Northwestern University Press, 1998), pp. 223–256."

==External links==