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Dist. 9, Art. 1, Q. 2

Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 9

Textus Latinus
p. 203

Quaestio II. Quid sit manducare spiritualiter.

Secundo quaeritur, quid sit manducare spiritualiter, sive pro quanto dicatur quis manducare spiritualiter. Et quod credere sit spiritualiter manducare, videtur:

1. Auctoritate Domini, Ioannis sexto1: Nisi manducaveritis carnem filii hominis, non habebitis vitam in vobis; et Ioannis undecimo: Qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet: si igitur vita spiritualis non est sine manducatione spirituali, et vivere est in nobis per fidem: ergo vel credere est manducare, vel non sine manducatione.

2. Item, hoc videtur expressius auctoritate Augustini, quam etiam Magister ponit in littera2: «Crede, et manducasti»; sed constat, quod hoc non intelligit sacramentaliter: ergo spiritualiter, et sic etc.

3. Item, quandocumque aliquis interius lavatur, dicitur spiritualiter baptizari: ergo a simili, quandocumque aliquis spiritualiter masticat et reficitur, spiritualiter manducat: sed hoc est per actum fidei devotae, ubi est discussio et spiritualis refectio3: ergo etc.

Contra: 1. Si credere est spiritualiter manducare; cum multi peccatores et credant et aliquam devotionem habeant, videtur, quod secundum hoc spiritualiter manducent; hoc autem est contra Augustinum4, qui dicit, quod nullus spiritualiter manducat, nisi qui est membrum Christi et manet in Christo.

2. Item, si actus fidei etiam cum caritate5 sufficit ad spiritualem manducationem, ergo omne quod credimus et diligimus, manducamus: ergo cum multa alia credamus quam hoc Sacramentum vel rem huius Sacramenti; videtur, quod manducatio spiritualis sit omnium articulorum — quod nemo sanae mentis concederet — et quod manducatio non sit huic Sacramento et rei propria.

3. Item, manducatio spiritualis est dicta ad similitudinem materialis; sed qui comedit materialiter incorporat sibi cibum, qui autem credit et diligit Christum incorporatur Christo: ergo potius manducatur, quam manducet: ergo videtur, quod manducatio spiritualis, qua quis manducat, in actu fidei et caritatis non consistat.

Conclusio. Ad spiritualem manducationem requiritur recogitatio fidei quasi masticatio, et affectio caritatis quasi incorporatio.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod manducatio primo et proprie in corporalibus invenitur et ab his ad spiritualia est translata; et ideo, si velimus accipere rectam manducationem spiritualem, necesse habemus ad propriam acceptionem vocabuli nos transferre. Notandum igitur, quod licet multiplex actus sit in manducatione corporali annexus et consequens, iste tamen duplex est, qui est de integritate, masticatio scilicet et incorporatio, ut patet aspicienti. — Si ergo ratio manducationis congrue transfertur ad spiritualia, oportet haec duo reperire, et secundum ea, in quibus haec duo consistunt, manducatio spiritualis attenditur. Spiritualis masticatio est recogitatio cibi, scilicet carnis Christi pro nobis expositae in pretium ad redimendum et in cibum ad reficiendum6. Incorporatio vero attenditur, dum recogitans caritatis amore ei quod cogitatur, iungitur et sic incorporatur, et dum incorporatur, reficitur et magis assimilatur.

Ad hoc ergo, quod quis spiritualiter manducet, requiritur recogitatio fidei et affectio caritatis. In primo est masticatio, in secundo incorporatio; et ex his duobus integratur spiritualis manducatio. — Concedo ergo, quod non sufficit qualiscumque fides, sed necessario fides operans per dilectionem7. Et de hac currunt tres rationes ad primam partem.

1. Ad illud ergo quod primo obiicitur in opposito de fide informi, dicendum, quod verum est, quod illa non sufficit.

2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod secundum hoc omnes articulos manducamus; dicendum, quod p. 204 proprie loquendo, non quaecumque discussio et recogitatio fidei dicitur masticatio, sed illa quae est cibi; et ideo non quilibet actus credendi manducare nos facit, nisi ille sit, qui est ipsius carnis Christi pro nobis ad redimendum expositae, ubi fuit eius decoctio, et ad reficiendum, ubi vera consistit refectio8.

3. Ad illud quod obiicitur de assimilatione, dicendum, quod non est omnimoda similitudo, est tamen similitudo sufficiens ad translationem: quia, sicut hic corporaliter est masticatio et incorporatio, ita in manducatione spirituali. Sed in hoc est dissimilitudo: quia in corporali manducans convertit in se cibum, quia dignior et nobilior est cibo; in spirituali est e contrario, quia cibus est nobis dignior et perfectior et completior: ideo potius in ipsum mutamur et incorporamur, quam e converso9. — Ratio igitur non valet, quia non est omnino simile; et in translatione non oportet omnimodam attendi similitudinem, sed sufficit reperire aliqualem10.

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English Translation

Question II. What it is to eat spiritually.

Secondly it is asked what it is to eat spiritually, or in what respect someone is said to eat spiritually. And that to believe is to eat spiritually seems so:

1. By the authority of the Lord, in John six1: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you will not have life in you; and in John eleven: He who believes in me, even though he be dead, shall live: if therefore spiritual life is not without spiritual eating, and to live is in us through faith: then either to believe is to eat, or it is not without eating.

2. Likewise, this seems more expressly by the authority of Augustine, which the Master also sets down in the text2: «Believe, and you have eaten»; but it is established that he does not understand this sacramentally: therefore spiritually, and so on.

3. Likewise, whenever someone is inwardly washed, he is said to be baptized spiritually: therefore by a similar reasoning, whenever someone spiritually chews and is refreshed, he eats spiritually: but this is through an act of devout faith, where there is examination and spiritual refreshment3: therefore etc.

On the contrary: 1. If to believe is to eat spiritually; since many sinners both believe and have some devotion, it seems that according to this they would eat spiritually; but this is against Augustine4, who says that no one eats spiritually except him who is a member of Christ and abides in Christ.

2. Likewise, if an act of faith even with charity5 suffices for spiritual eating, then everything we believe and love, we eat: therefore, since we believe many other things than this Sacrament or the reality of this Sacrament; it seems that spiritual eating would be of all the articles — which no one of sound mind would grant — and that eating would not be proper to this Sacrament and its reality.

3. Likewise, spiritual eating is so called by likeness to material eating; but he who eats materially incorporates the food into himself, whereas he who believes and loves Christ is incorporated into Christ: therefore he is rather eaten than eats: therefore it seems that the spiritual eating by which one eats does not consist in an act of faith and charity.

Conclusion. For spiritual eating there is required the reconsideration of faith as a kind of chewing, and the affection of charity as a kind of incorporation.

I respond: It must be said that eating is found first and properly in corporeal things and is transferred from these to spiritual things; and therefore, if we wish to grasp spiritual eating rightly, we must transfer ourselves to the proper acceptation of the word. It must be noted therefore that, although many an act is joined and consequent in corporeal eating, yet this twofold act belongs to its integrity, namely chewing and incorporation, as is plain to one who looks. — If therefore the account of eating is fittingly transferred to spiritual things, these two must be found, and spiritual eating is understood according to those things in which these two consist. Spiritual chewing is the reconsideration of the food, namely of the flesh of Christ set forth for us as a price for redeeming and as food for refreshing6. Incorporation, however, is understood when the one reconsidering, by the love of charity, is joined to that which is thought of and so is incorporated, and while he is incorporated, he is refreshed and made more like.

For this, then, that someone may eat spiritually, there is required the reconsideration of faith and the affection of charity. In the first is chewing, in the second incorporation; and from these two spiritual eating is made complete. — I grant therefore that no kind of faith whatever suffices, but necessarily faith working through love7. And concerning this three reasonings run as to the first part.

1. To that, then, which is first objected on the opposite side concerning unformed faith, it must be said that it is true that it does not suffice.

2. To that which is objected, that according to this we eat all the articles; it must be said that, p. 204 properly speaking, not every examination and reconsideration of faith is called chewing, but that which is of the food; and therefore not every act of believing makes us eat, unless it be that which is of the very flesh of Christ set forth for us for redeeming, where his decocting was, and for refreshing, where true refreshment consists8.

3. To that which is objected concerning assimilation, it must be said that there is not a complete likeness, yet there is a likeness sufficient for the transference: because, just as here corporeally there is chewing and incorporation, so in spiritual eating. But in this there is a dissimilarity: because in corporeal eating the eater converts the food into himself, since he is worthier and nobler than the food; in spiritual eating it is the contrary, because the food is worthier and more perfect and more complete than we are: therefore we are rather changed and incorporated into it, than the reverse9. — The reasoning therefore is not valid, because it is not entirely alike; and in a transference it is not necessary that a complete likeness be regarded, but it suffices to find some [likeness]10.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 1
    Vers. 54, ubi Vulgata post hominis addit et biberitis eius sanguinem. — Seq. textus est Ioan. 11, 25.
    Verse 54, where the Vulgate after of man adds and drink his blood. — The following text is John 11, 25.
  2. 2
    Hic c. 1.
    Here, c. 1.
  3. 3
    Guliel. Antissiodor., S. p. IV. tr. 5. c. 3: Masticatio spiritualis, quae est diiudicatio corporis Christi, de qua loquitur Apostolus [I. Cor. 11, 29.], redarguens eum qui indigne accipit... diiudicare enim debemus, quale corpus sit Christi, quam nobile, quam vivificativum... Secundum est delectatio [refectio], qua delectamur in Christo... Diiudicatio autem illi proprie est per fidem, similiter et delectatio; dicit enim Augustinus, quod in cognitione est tota delectatio etc.
    William of Auxerre, Summa, pt. IV, tr. 5, c. 3: Spiritual chewing, which is the discerning of the body of Christ, of which the Apostle speaks [1 Cor. 11, 29], reproving him who receives unworthily... for we ought to discern of what sort the body of Christ is, how noble, how life-giving... The second is the delight [refreshment] by which we are delighted in Christ... But the discerning belongs to him properly through faith, and likewise the delight; for Augustine says that in knowledge is the whole delight, etc.
  4. 4
    Cfr. August., Serm. 131. (alias 2. de Verbis Apostoli), c. 1. n. 1, quod etiam allegatur C. Qui manducant (58.), de Consecrat. d. 2. — De incorporatione cfr. August., in Ioan. Evang. tr. 25. n. 12. et 18, tr. 26. n. 13. et tr. 27. n. 6.
    Cf. Augustine, Sermon 131 (otherwise 2, On the Words of the Apostle), c. 1, n. 1, which is also cited at the canon Qui manducant (58), de Consecratione, d. 2. — On incorporation cf. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, tr. 25, nn. 12 and 18, tr. 26, n. 13, and tr. 27, n. 6.
  5. 5
    Non pauci codd. et ed. I perperam charactere.
    Not a few codices and the first edition wrongly read charactere [by a character/mark].
  6. 6
    Respicitur Gal. 5, 6: Nam in Christo Iesu neque circumcisio aliquid valet... sed fides, quae per caritatem operatur. — Post sed necessario [cod. U sed motus] cod. O supplet requiritur.
    Reference is made to Gal. 5, 6: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything... but faith, which works through charity. — After but necessarily [cod. U: but a motion] cod. O supplies is required.
  7. 7
    Vide supra pag. 201, nota 4.
    See above, p. 201, note 4.
  8. 8
    In opusculo, cui titulus Vitis mystica (inter opera Bernardi), c. 43. n. 148. legitur: Ecce, ipso [Iesu] teste, panis vivus, qui de caelo descendit [Ioan. 6, 33. seqq.], decoctus duplici igne caritatis et passionis, odorem suum longe lateque dispergit. Quis hunc non sequatur?... Sed praeterire non possumus, quod transituri mare panem bis coctum necessarium habent. Quicumque ergo se in hoc mari magno huius saeculi esse cognoverit... si securus vult esse, habeat hunc panem coctum fortissimum, Iesum in nave crucis suae, quem comedat, quem adoret, quo reficiatur etc. Cfr. Meditatio in passion. et resurrect. Domini (inter opera Bernardi), c. 12. n. 31. — Post expositae Vat. addit ex Alex. Hal., S. p. IV. q. 11. m. 1. a. 3, in cruce et post ad reficiendum subiungit in altari.
    In the little work entitled The Mystical Vine (among the works of Bernard), c. 43, n. 148, one reads: Behold, on his [Jesus'] own testimony, the living bread which came down from heaven [John 6, 33 ff.], decocted by the twofold fire of charity and passion, spreads its fragrance far and wide. Who would not follow this one?... But we cannot pass over the fact that those about to cross the sea have need of bread twice baked. Whoever therefore knows himself to be in this great sea of this world... if he wishes to be secure, let him have this most strongly baked bread, Jesus in the ship of his cross, whom he may eat, whom he may adore, by whom he may be refreshed, etc. Cf. Meditation on the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord (among the works of Bernard), c. 12, n. 31. — After set forth the Vatican edition adds, from Alexander of Hales, Summa, pt. IV, q. 11, m. 1, a. 3, on the cross, and after for refreshing subjoins on the altar.
  9. 9
    Cfr. supra pag. 187, nota 6.
    Cf. above, p. 187, note 6.
  10. 10
    Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.
    See the scholion to the preceding question.
Cited by

5 places in the Opera Omnia citethis question. Derived from Quaracchi’s own apparatus, never tagged by hand.

Whether the Angel in assumed bodies exercises the operations of the vegetative power
Book II: On the Creation of Things · Distinction 8
IV. Sent. d. 9. a. 1. q. 2.
Whether each of these species belongs to the integrity of the sacrament
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 11
supra d. 9. a. 1. q. 2.
Whether this sacrament has efficacy in every just man
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 12 · 2×
supra d. 9. a. 1. q. 2.
Whether the body of Christ passes into the belly of a mouse
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 13 · 2×
d. 9. a. 1. q. 2.
On the integrity of the eucharist
Breviloquium · Pars VI: De medicina sacramentali
IV. Sent. d. 9. a. 1. q. 2.

2 further references address the article or printed page this question belongs to, rather than the question itself.

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