The Unbloody Sacrifice of the Altar

13. The Truth and the Reality of the Eucharistic Sacrifice—Proved from the Writings of the New Testament

That which in the Old Dispensation was prophetically promised by word and figure, has found its wonderful fulfilment and completion in the New Law of Grace, through Jesus Christ who, after suffering death and when leaving the world, bequeathed to His Holy Church as a precious inheritance a clean food-offering and a heavenly sacrificial food. Our Lord “terminated the period of His earthly pilgrimage by a wonderful order” (sui moras incolatus miro clausit ordine). Before offering Himself on the Cross in bloody sacrifice, to redeem us from all iniquity and to present to Himself a people acceptable and zealous in the performance of good works (Tit. 2, 14), He had already offered Himself to His Heavenly Father as an unbloody sacrifice under the appearances of bread and wine; as Father of the world to come (Isa. 9, 6), He instituted at the same time the celebration of this unbloody sacrifice for all future ages. The Church says on this subject: “Although Christ, our Lord and God, willed to offer Himself once unto death upon the altar of the Cross, thereon to accomplish an eternal redemption, and because His priesthood was not to cease with His death, He, furthermore, in order to leave to His Church a visible sacrifice, such as human nature requires and demands, did at the Last Supper proclaim Himself the eternally instituted priest, according to the order of Melchisedech, and did offer to God the Father His body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine. . . . To the Apostles, whom He at the same time constituted Priests of the New Dispensation, as well as to their successors in the priesthood, He gave the command to offer this Sacrifice, by the words: ‘Do this in commemoration of Me,’ as the Catholic Church has at all times held and taught.”²¹21Trid. sess. 22, cap. 1. It is manifestly evident from the words which Christ our Lord employed in celebrating and instituting the Eucharist, that on the night of the Last Supper He did by the consecration of bread and wine perform a true and real sacrificial act, and ordained that it be repeated until the consummation of time.

1. The Last Supper was not merely a communion celebration, but also a sacrificial celebration; for “after partaking of the figurative lamb,” our Lord, by His creative omnipotent word, changed the earthly elements of bread and wine into His holy Body and divine Blood, that is, He placed His Body and His Blood in the sacramental state of sacrifice, offered Himself thus to His Father and then gave His Body and His Blood offered in sacrifice to His disciples as food and drink.

a) St. Luke gives the words of consecration thus: “This is the chalice, the new testament in My blood, which (chalice) shall be shed for you;” St. Matthew: “For this is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many, unto the remission of sins.”²²22Hic est calix novum testamentum in sanguine meo, qui pro vobis fundetur (τὸ ποτήριον. . . . τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον). Luc. 22, 20. — Hic est enim sanguis meus novi testamenti, qui pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum (τὸ αἷμα. . . . τὸ ἐκχυνόμενον). Matth. 26, 28. The original Greek text here designates that also at the consecration of the bread the Eucharistic Sacrifice is directly offered and the Sacrifice of the Cross only indirectly, while reversely the Vulgate has the Sacrifice of the Cross directly and the Eucharistic Sacrifice only indirectly expressed. The original text and the Vulgate both express the same thing, but in a different manner. On this subject compare Franzelin De ss. Eucharist. Sacrific., thes. 11. Vicariously to shed blood for the atonement of the sins of others,—is an expression frequently employed in Holy Writ to designate sacrifice. Hence the words of the institution convey this idea: This is the chalice which is offered for you; this is My blood which is offered for many, in order to blot out sins. Our Lord, therefore, declares that He presents His sacrificial Blood to His disciples as drink, and that His Blood is offered in sacrifice. The words of our Lord are (according to the original Greek text) so constituted that they directly and expressly designate the offering of His Blood by a mystical or mysterious shedding in the chalice, and not that of a true and real shedding of His blood on the Cross. — So in order to show that here the sacramental offering of the blood of Christ is meant, reference is made, and very justly, to the use of the verb in the present tense by the Evangelists: “which is shed” (ἐκχυνόμενον = qui effunditur); and there is no reason for departing here from the meaning of the present tense. Now that we must adhere to this meaning is clearly and incontestably proved by the expression employed by St. Luke. According to it, it is not said that the blood is shed, but that the chalice is poured out (τὸ ποτήριον. . . . τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον = calix, qui pro vobis effunditur). This figurative mode of speech does not state merely that the contents of the chalice, that is, that the Blood of Christ contained in the chalice, will be somehow or somewhere shed, for example, on the Cross, but, on the contrary, that Christ’s Blood will be shed precisely inasmuch as it is present and contained in the chalice—in other words, that it is shed in the p. 87sacramental state under the appearance of wine.²³23Verum quidem est quod continens ponitur pro contento; quia tamen effusio hic tribuitur calici et non sanguini, nisi quatenus calice continetur, necesse est intellegere effusionem, quae tunc fiebat, quando sanguis calice contentus effundebatur, quod erat in coena (Sylvius, In 3, q. 83, a. 1). — Our Lord Himself declares unequivocally, that He had shed and poured out His Eucharistic Blood mystically in the chalice, namely, that He had truly offered it to God the Father; consequently, the act of consecration at the Last Supper was a true sacrificial act.

But the blood only cannot be shed, that is, sacrificed, without the body being, at the same time, also sacrificed; body and blood constitute together but one sacrificial gift. The above proof, that Christ at the first celebration of the Eucharist sacrificed His blood, likewise goes to establish the conclusion and the supposition that He also at the same time and in the same manner offered His body, a fact which can be specially proved from the formula of the consecration of the bread.

According to St. Luke our Lord consecrated the bread with the words: “This is My body which is given for you;” St. Paul in the Greek text has the formula: “This is My body which shall be delivered for you.”²⁴24Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis datur (διδόμενον). Luc. 22, 19. Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis tradetur (κλώμενον). 1 Cor. 11, 24. Hence Christ does not say that His body shall be given, or broken, to the disciples, but He declares that His body shall be delivered for (ὑπέρ, pro) His disciples and “for many unto the remission of sins,” as is to be supplied in this place from the formula of the consecration of the wine. Now, the vicarious immolation of the body of Christ for the atonement of sin is indisputably a true sacrifice. The words of our Lord: “This is My body which is given and delivered, or broken, for you,” have, therefore, this meaning: This is My body which is sacrificed for you. — The giving or the breaking of the body of Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist is characterized and designated in the present time, not merely as about to take place in the future on the Cross; consequently, there can here be literally meant and understood only the unbloody Sacrifice of the body of Christ in the Eucharist, and not the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross. — This is proved, in the first place, by the use of the present tense: the “body which is given and broken for you” (διδόμενον = quod datur; κλώμενον = quod frangitur); for so long as there is no reason to compel us, we dare not depart from the meaning of the present tense in the text. In this instance nothing either requires or justifies us in applying or transferring the present form of the verb to the future Sacrifice of the Cross. On the contrary, there are reasons which preclude such an application. — For, from the circumstance that the shedding of the blood is to be understood in the present time, it necessarily follows that the Sacrifice of the body must be considered also as taking place in the present time. — And the expression of St. Paul, “the body broken for you” (corpus pro vobis fractum) is of such a nature that it unequivocally p. 89designates the Sacrifice of the Eucharist.²⁵25Cfr. Maldonat., Comment. in Matth. c. 26, v. 26. — Estius, Comment. in cap. 11, Epist. 1, ad Cor. v. 24. — Cornely, S. J. l. c. The word broken (frangere) can in this place be applied only to the body of Christ, inasmuch as, under the appearance of bread, it is presented and eaten as a food; for only the Eucharistic Body is broken or distributed. The literal meaning of the Apostle is, therefore: This is My body which as food under the appearance of bread is broken for you. — Now, these words necessarily have the same meaning as those of St. Luke: “This is My body which is given for you,” that is, sacrificed; hence they must in like manner express the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ. The full meaning of the words of St. Paul is accordingly: This is My body which is sacrificed for you in the sacramental state, in which it is given as food.²⁶26Oportet intelligere verba illa de vero corpore, sed sub specie panis, ut sensus sit: Hoc est corpus meum, quod nunc pro vobis in specie panis frangitur, i. e. datur et immolatur Deo (Bellarmin., De Missa, l. 1, c. 12). Thus Christ gave His body, primarily, to His Heavenly Father as a sacrifice for His disciples, and He then distributed to them His Body sacrificed for them to be eaten as food. By this He accomplished a former prediction: “The bread (of heaven) that I will give (vobis) is My flesh for the life of the world” (pro mundi vita—Joann. 6, 52).

Hence it is clearly expressed in Holy Scripture that the first celebration of the Eucharist, which our Lord arranged for the eve of His passion, in the presence of His Apostles, was a true Sacrifice and a sacrificial repast. — The Sacrifice was accomplished in the words: “This is My body; this is My blood;” for by these words, Christ’s body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine were placed in the sacramental state of sacrifice, that is, they were sacrificed to adore and appease the Divine Majesty. — The declaration that this action and change was a true Sacrifice, a real sacrificial act, is contained in the additional words: “which shall be given or broken for you;—which shall be shed for you and for many.” They designate and testify to this, namely, the sacrifice of the Eucharistic Body taking place at that moment, and likewise the shedding of the Eucharistic Blood then taking place in the chalice; they designate, therefore, the Body and Blood of Christ under the sacramental appearances as a truly and really sacrificed Body and as a truly and really sacrificed Blood.

b) Christ not only before His death offered Himself in an unbloody manner, but He, moreover, instituted a perpetual unbloody Sacrifice. This is easily proved. In the following words: “Do this for a commemoration of Me” (Hoc facite in meam commemorationem—Luke 22, 19), the Lord commanded His Apostles and their successors in the priestly dignity (1 Cor. 11, 24–27) to do the same (hoc) as He had done, until His return at the end of time, that is, continually to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which He had p. 90just offered in their presence.²⁷27Qui (Jesus Christus) formam sacrificii perennis instituens, hostiam se tibi (Deus) primum obtulit, et primus docuit offerri (Liturg. Gallic.). By this command, as a natural consequence, He also imparted to them the power of consecration, or of offering sacrifice, that is, He made them priests of the New Law. “Thus our Lord instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and willed to transmit the power to offer it to priests only, to whom it appertains to partake of it and to distribute it to the rest.”

2. Certain circumstances under which the Eucharist was celebrated and instituted by the Lord, serve to develop still further its sacrificial character, and to confirm the proofs already drawn from the words of the institution.

a) Our Saviour named His blood, contained and shed in the chalice, the blood of the New Testament (Matt. 26, 28). The word testament has here a twofold meaning; namely, covenant and legacy. — Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, which is established on better promises (Heb. 8, 6), and that covenant is the new covenant of grace.

This covenant was formed mainly at the Last Supper and at the same time sealed with Christ’s Eucharistic Blood in the chalice; it then obtained by the shedding of the Blood of Christ its valid and complete confirmation.²⁸28Sine dubio in ultima coena praecipue condidit (Christus) testamentum quod suo etiam sanguine tunc incruente immolato sancivit; postea vero in sacrificio cruento omnino stabilivit ac confirmavit (Suarez, In III. S. Thom., disp. 37, sect. 4, n. 15). Thus Christ’s Blood was equally as well in the chalice as on the Cross the Blood of the Covenant, that is, the Blood in which the new Covenant of Grace was established. Therefore, the Blood of Christ must not only not have first been sacrificed on the Cross, but previously offered in the chalice as sacrificial blood. This is required by the contrast here evidently made between the establishment of the old and the new covenants; for the words of our Saviour: “This is My blood, the blood of the new covenant,” contain a distinct allusion to the words: “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you” (Exod. 24, 8), the words spoken by Moses after the establishment of the covenant of the Old Law, when he sprinkled the people with blood. At the foot of Mount Sinai, God formed a solemn covenant with the chosen people Israel. The Lord gave His laws and promises; the people promised obedience to the instructions and regulations contained in the book of the covenant, and then they were sprinkled with “the blood of the covenant.” This blood of the Old Law was sacrificial blood; for it was consecrated by the offering of holocausts. — The covenant into which God, through Moses, entered with the Israelites, was only a figure of the new and better covenant which God, through Jesus Christ, formed with mankind. But in order to be the counterpart and completion of the old covenant, the new covenant had likewise to be established by a sacrifice and to be sealed with sacrificial blood. Hence it follows that the Eucharistic Blood, which flowed in the chalice for the sealing of the new covenant, was the sacrificial Blood of Jesus Christ shed for the glory of God. This celebration of the Eucharist established by our Lord became, consequently, a true and real sacrifice. — The better covenant, whose author and surety (Heb. 7, 22) Jesus Christ became, is not merely an alliance between God and the regenerated, but, moreover, a legacy.²⁹29Cf. Hebr. 9, 16. 17. — Testamentum is the translation of the Greek διαθήκη = arrangement, disposal, disposition, which may be unilateral disposal of inheritance, or may be effected by mutual agreement (covenant). Therefore Heb. 9, 16, διαθέμενος = testator, a testator. — St. Gaudentius (Sermon 2) calls the Eucharistic Sacrifice “the hereditary gift of the New Testament (haereditarium munus novi testamenti), which Christ on the night that He was given over to be crucified, left as a pledge of His presence.” That which Christ bequeathed to us at the Last Supper is nothing else than His sacrificial Body and sacrificial Blood, the Eucharistic Sacrifice together with all the goods and graces of redemption included therein.

b) The paschal lamb of the Old Dispensation was the most expressive and universal figure of the Eucharist.³⁰30Quamquam multis figuris fuisset Eucharistia sacramentum praefiguratum, praecipua tamen ejus figura fuit agnus paschalis, cum secundum omnia ipsum repraesentaverit (S. Thom. 3, q. 73, a. 6). Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is the true paschal lamb, He is our paschal lamb, having taken the place of the ancient. Therefore, the priest during Mass, immediately before his Communion, says the Agnus Dei, and before he administers the heavenly Eucharistic Food to the faithful, he says to them in a loud voice: “Behold the Lamb of God!” Ecce Agnus Dei! The ancient paschal lamb unquestionably had the character of sacrifice; the celebration of the Pasch was a sacrificial celebration. Accordingly the Eucharist must also be a true sacrifice; otherwise it would not perfectly correspond to the figurative paschal lamb nor would it fulfil in every respect this excellent type. But the Eucharist is in the most perfect respect the new Paschal Lamb and Easter Banquet of the New Dispensation,—therefore, it is also the true Paschal Lamb that is immolated upon the altar in an unbloody manner, and partaken of as an eternal remembrance of our deliverance from the bondage of sin, and as a perpetual thanksgiving for the wonderful work of redemption. The shadow of the Jewish Pasch disappeared before the brightness of the Eucharistic celebration. In hac mensa novi Regis—Novum Pascha novae legis—Phase vetus terminat. “In this Banquet of the new King, the new Paschal Lamb of the New Law puts an end to the ancient pasch.” To signify this, our Lord joined directly with the (typical) Paschal celebration of the Old Dispensation the institution of the Eucharist as the Paschal Sacrifice and Banquet of the New Law. First, “He gave to His disciples the lamb and unleavened bread, according to the ordinance of the Law, which had been given to the forefathers.” Then He offered Himself as the spotless and p. 92blameless sacrificial Lamb in sacrifice to God; and, lastly, He fed His Apostles with His sacrificial flesh, and gave them to drink of His sacrificial Blood. The sacrificial banquet was necessarily preceded by a sacrificial action; for the lamb must be slain before it can be eaten.

3. The doctrine and practice of the Apostles prove that they henceforth celebrated the Eucharist as the Sacrifice of the Christian religion.

a) It is of the Christian altar, upon which the Sacrifice of the Eucharist is offered to God and from which this heavenly sacrificial food is given to the faithful for actual participation, that the following words, which St. Paul addressed to the Hebrews, are often understood: “We have an altar, whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle,”³¹31Habemus altare (θυσιαστήριον), de quo edere (φαγεῖν) non habent potestatem (ἐξουσίαν), qui tabernaculo deserviunt (Hebr. 13, 10). — Cf. in contrast Stentrup, Soteriologia th. 87. that is, the Jews; for in order to have the right and privilege to participate by means of Holy Communion in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, they had to cease “to serve the tabernacle,” that is, to renounce the Mosaic religion and enter into the Church of the Crucified.

b) The same Apostle “distinctly alludes to the Eucharistic Banquet (non obscure innuit), when he says that they who are defiled by partaking of the table of devils, must not partake of the table of the Lord, for by table he each time means the altar.”³²32Trident. sess. 22, cap. 1. — In the aforesaid passage (1 Cor. 10, 20–21) the heathen sacrificial table and banquet are contrasted with the Eucharistic table and banquet, to show the Christians that it is by no means allowed them “to partake of the table of the Lord and the table of devils; to drink of the chalice of the Lord and the chalice of devils.” The contrast between the Eucharistic table and the sacrificial banquets of the heathens is only then completely established, when the Eucharist is considered as a sacrifice of food and as a sacrificial banquet.

c) Finally, when it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, that the clergy (prophets and doctors) of the Church of Antioch “were ministering to the Lord,”³³33Ministrantibus (λειτουργούντων) illis Domino (Act. 13, 2). The word λειτουργεῖν in the Old and New Testaments is frequently used for the celebration of public worship, principally to mean that of Holy Sacrifice; hence the Greeks usually call the Eucharistic Sacrifice and its celebration λειτουργία. the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass is thereby unmistakably meant; sacrifice being the most worthy service (oblatio servitutis) that may and must be rendered to God alone. Therefore, it is evident that the Eucharistic celebration, which is frequently called in Holy Scripture the breaking of bread (fractio panis),³⁴34Acts. 2, 42; 20, 7, 11. 1 Cor. 10, 16. was in the Apostolic times and Church always regarded and performed as a true sacrificial celebration.

4. What a marvellous love the Sacred Heart of Jesus has manifested in the institution of the unbloody Sacrifice of the Eucharist!³⁵35Omnis sacerdos causas institutionis sacramenti altaris, videlicet cur Christus in coena novissima hoc supervenerandissimum instituerit sacramentum, sapienter atque multoties contempletur. Cujus utique institutionis prima causa est recordatio totius ardentissimae ac plenissimae dilectionis Christi ad nos. De qua dilectione ipsemet dixit: Majorem hac caritatem nemo habet, quam ut animam suam ponat pro amicis suis. Haec quippe est summa dilectio, dum quis non sua dona dumtaxat, sed seipsum quoque donat dilecto. Rursus, cum amoris proprietas sit, amantem unire amato, per hoc quod Christus in sacramento se ipsum nobis substantialiter unit, patet ipsius ad nos mutua dilectio ac summa. Toties ergo flammescit spiritus noster ad Deum, totiesque inflammatur ac penetratur, quoties celebramus, quoties sacramentum hoc consecramus ac sumimus, quoties caritatem Christi ad nos recordamur, quoties tantae dilectionis pignus prae oculis habemus, manibus contrectamus, ore suscipimus. Ideo namque Salvator, instituto hoc sacramento, dixit ac jussit sanctis apostolis et in eorum persona sacerdotibus universis: Hoc quotiescumque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis. Quae utique verba sunt mirabiliter affectuosa ac dulcia piaeque mentis inflammativa (Dion. Carthus. De vita Curatorum, art. 15). How could this divinely human, inconceivable, indescribable love have more touchingly manifested itself? Before the Sacred Heart immersed in the bloody ocean of the bitter pangs of death and broken asunder in death, it burst forth once more in divine radiating flames of love at the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and Sacrament, just like the gorgeous glow of the setting sun in the horizon. — A short time before His painful and ignominious death, “on the night,” says the Gospel, “in which Jesus was betrayed,” He bequeathed to us all that is most precious and most adorable in the mystery of the altar.³⁶36Sunt et aliae causae (institutionis Eucharistiae), ut scilicet Christus homo indesinenter et maxime Deum Patrem, imo totam superbeatissimam Trinitatem veneretur tanti sacrificii jugi oblatione, in qua bonitas, caritas, misericordia Dei ad homines, beneficia et promissa ipsius commemorantur, laus, gratiarum actio et reverentia omnium fonti bonorum devotissime exhibentur, humanoque generi multipliciter, imo ineffabiliter subvenitur et ipsa Ecclesia mirabilissime ditatur, ornatur, munitur (Dion. Carthus. 4, dist. 8, quaest. 3). The hour had arrived for Him to depart out of this world, in order that His holy humanity might also take possession of that glory and splendor which He had shared with the Father before the creation of the world. Since He, the Good Shepherd, loved His own who were in the world, He loved them with an eternal love unto the end. Yes, He loved His own to the end, that is, not merely to the end of His life, but to the end of time; for He will remain upon the Altar for the sake of His own as long as they are pilgrims in this world—wayfarers in this strange land—far from their heavenly country, whither He has preceded them, to prepare mansions for them in the House of His Father. He desires to be and remain with the children of salvation in the mystery of the Eucharist, abiding there for their sakes as a perpetual Victim and as the daily bread of the soul, until the Sacramental Banquet on earth finds its fulfilment in the kingdom of God p. 94(Luke 22, 15–16), that is, until the time shall come when they will eat and drink at the banquet of heavenly joy and felicity at that table, where the Lord will gird Himself and going about will minister unto them (Luke 22, 29; 12, 37). — He loved His own to the end, that is, to the uttermost bounds, so that He could not love them with greater or more intimate love.³⁷37Cum dilexisset suos (τοὺς ἰδίους), qui erant in mundo, in finem (εἰς τέλος) dilexit eos (Joan. 13, 1). Jesus had constantly shown His love to His disciples, whom He left behind in this world, but at His departure out of this world He loved them εἰς τέλος, until the end and the consummation, as much as a God-man could love—giving them the last and greatest proof of His love (τελειοτάτην ἐπεδείξατο τὴν ἀγάπησιν). S. Cyr. i. h. l. He had nothing more precious at His command than this best of gifts—the Mystery of His Body and Blood, nothing better than His own self with His divinity and humanity, with all the riches and treasures of the redemption. Mount Calvary did not suffice for the ardor of His love, it did not come soon enough for Him. Before His Blood flowed forth in clear streams from a thousand wounds, He would shed it and have it flow mystically in the chalice; before His Body would be consumed as a fragrant victim on the Cross in the fire of torments, He wished to give and break it for us already at the Last Supper under the appearance of bread. This unbloody Sacrifice of His Body and Blood, according to the directions of His last will, according to the testament of His Heart inflamed with love, is to be perpetuated to the consummation of the world!

14. The Proof from Tradition That the Eucharist Is a True and Real Sacrifice

To render our demonstration complete, we will now prove the existence of the Eucharistic Sacrifice from the other source of faith,—namely, divine tradition. As “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3, 15) the Catholic Church has always and everywhere believed and taught that the Holy Mass is a true Sacrifice—the sole and perpetual Sacrifice of the New Law. As the faithful guardian and dispenser of all the means and treasures of the grace p. 95of Jesus Christ, she has also at all times preserved and administered the Eucharistic Sacrifice as her greatest treasure. — In the very earliest ages of the Church there are to be found very many most clear and most irrefragable testimonies in favor of the universal and constant belief of all Christendom in the sacrificial character of the Eucharist, as well as of its uninterrupted celebration as a sacrifice in the bosom of the Catholic Church. As the most sublime and wonderful mystery of faith, the daily Sacrifice of the Mass was concealed with the most anxious care from the eyes and ears of unbelievers and of the uninitiated, so that the Fathers frequently speak of it in an obscure and merely suggestive manner; but notwithstanding this ancient prevalent discipline, there are to be found in their writings and in the various liturgies so many beautiful expressions relative to the Eucharist, that we may without difficulty gather therefrom all the principal teachings of the Church with reference to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

1. When the Fathers speak of the celebration of the Eucharist, they often use the expressions sacrifice (sacrificium, oblatio, hostia, victima) and to offer (sacrificare, immolare, offerre), priest (sacerdos) and altar (altare, ara); they, therefore, acknowledge in the Eucharistic celebration a sacrificing priest, a sacrificial gift, a sacrificial action and a place of sacrifice. But it unquestionably follows from these words, that they are not to be taken in a wide sense, but in their strict and literal meaning.—

a) They designate the celebration of the Eucharist often as a sacrifice of atonement (θυσία τοῦ ἱλασμοῦ, sacrificium propitiationis), as a complete and true sacrifice (sacrificium plenum et verum), as the most sublime and the most true sacrifice (summum et verissimum sacrificium), and as a tremendous sacrifice (φρικτὴ θυσία, sacrificium horrendum, tremendum, terribile).

b) The Eucharistic Sacrifice, which can be celebrated only by a duly ordained priest, they expressly distinguish from the improperly so called, that is, from the interior and spiritual sacrifice, which each of the faithful may and should offer.

c) They distinguish the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, which is accomplished by the spiritual sword of the words of consecration, from participation by Holy Communion in the completed Sacrifice, as well as from the prayers and ceremonies with which the sacrificial action is accompanied and celebrated.

d) Very often they teach that the perpetual Sacrifice of the New Covenant has replaced the figurative sacrifices of the Old Law. They discover in the Sacrifice of the Altar the fulfilment of the figurative sacrifice of Melchisedech; they behold in the Eucharist the clean oblation predicted by Malachias.

e) When they consider more closely the relation of the Sacrifice of the Mass to that of the Cross, they say that upon the Altar, as upon the Cross, there is one and the same sacrificing Priest, one and the same Sacrificial Victim, but a different mode or action of p. 96offering; for in the unbloody Sacrifice of the Altar the Lamb of God is mystically and sacramentally immolated, in order always to keep alive the remembrance of the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross.

f) They teach that the Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered not only for the living, but also for the dead, and that it procures for all atonement and forgiveness of sins.

g) From those who assist at this Sacrifice, they require the utmost devotion and the most profound reverence; from the celebrating priest, virginity and angelic purity of heart.

For these and similar proofs, we have “a cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12, 1), but we shall here confine ourselves to a few passages from the Fathers.