Bonaventure On The Eucharist

Commentary on the Sentences,
Book IV, distinctions 8-13

Bonaventure On The Eucharist is a translation of the six questions from St. Bonaventure’s commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sentences that deal with the Eucharist. This translation makes this material available in English for the first time and includes the Latin text of the Quaracchi edition on the facing page. In addition, there is an introduction that places Bonaventure’s thought in context and explores the theological and philosophical content of these questions. This introduction is the most extensive scholarly discussion of Bonaventure’s Eucharistic theology extant. Scholarly footnotes and three indices round out this volume.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Historical Context

A Brief Sketch of Bonaventure’s Life

The State of the Doctrine of the Eucharist

Date of Composition and Situation within Bonaventure’s Work

Bonaventure and Aquinas

The Theology of the Commentary

Distinction VIII

Distinction IX

Distinction X

Distinction XI

Distinction XII

Distinction XIII

Bonaventure’s Division of the Text

Notes on the Latin Text

Notes on the Translation

Style

The Translation of Scripture

Endnotes

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Distinction VIII

Part 1: The Antecedents of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Article 1: The Prefiguring of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Question 1: Was It Fitting That the Sacrament of the Eucharist Be Prefigured?

Question 2: The Number and Sufficiency of the Four Figures

Question 3: The Preeminence of the Figures

Article 2: The Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Question 1: Was It Fitting That the Eucharist Be Instituted from the Beginning?

Question 2: Was It Fitting That the Eucharist Be Instituted Before the Passion?

Question 3: Did the Lord Confect the Sacrament of the Eucharist Before He Spoke the Words?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV

Part 2: The Parts of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Namely Word and Element

Article 1: The Form of the Word in the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Question 1: The Form of the Word Spoken over the Bread

Question 2: The Form of the Word Spoken over the Wine

Article 2: The Signification of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Question 1: What Is Reality and What Is Sacrament in the Eucharist

Question 2: The Unity of the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II


Distinction IX

Article 1: General Considerations about Eating the Eucharist

Question 1: Two Ways of Eating the Eucharist

Question 2: What It Means to Eat Spiritually

Question 3: What It Means to Eat Sacramentally

Question 4: Did Christ Eat in Both Ways?

Article 2: Considerations about the Wicked When They Eat the Eucharist

Question 1: Do the Wicked Truly Consume the Body of Christ?

Question 2: Is the Sinner Who Is Knowingly in Sin and Eats the Body of Christ Condemned?

Question 3: Does the Sinner Who Consumes the Body of Christ Always Sin Mortally?

Question 4: Does He Who Gives the Body of Christ to One Whom He Knows to Be a Sinner Sin Damnably?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV

Doubt V

Doubt VI

Distinction X

Part 1: The Sophistical Arguments of the Heretics Who Deny that the Body of Christ Is on the Altar Are Defeated

Article 1: The Truth and Manner of the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar

Question 1: Is Christ Truly in the Sacrament of the Altar?

Question 2: Is the Body of Christ on the Altar According to its Natural Quantity, or Is It Abstracted from Quantity?

Question 3: Is the Body of Christ Definitively Contained by the Kinds?

Question 4: Is the Body of Christ Dimensively or Circumscriptively Contained by the Kinds?

Question 5: Is the Body of Christ in Each part of the Host?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV

Doubt V

Part 2: The Truth of the Faith, That the Body of Christ Is Truly on the Altar, Is Confirmed

Article 1: The Eucharist and the Power of Transubstantiation

Question 1: Is the Power to Convert the Bread into the Body of Christ Equal to, or Greater than, the Power to Create Something New?

Question 2: Is Transubstantiation More Noble than the Power of Conceiving Christ?

Question 3: Is the Power to Transubstantiate Given to the Spoken Words, or Is It the Power of the Uncreated Word Alone?

Question 4: Is the Power of the Words Able to Convert Any Amount of the Element?

Article 2: The Eucharist and the Power of the Intellect

Question 1: Is the Presence of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament above the Pilgrim Intellect?

Question 2: Is the Presence of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament above the Intellect of the Blessed?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Distinction XI

Part 1: The Eucharist and Confection

Article 1: Transubstantiation

Question 1: Is There True Conversion of the Bread into the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist?

Question 2: Is the Whole Bread Converted into the Body of Christ, or Does Some Part Besides the Accidents Remain?

Question 3: Is that Conversion Annihilation?

Question 4: Is the Bread Converted into the Whole Christ?

Question 5: Is That Conversion Sudden or Successive?

Question 6: What Words Fittingly Express That Conversion?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV

Part 2: The Matter in Which It Is Fitting That the Confection of the Eucharist Be Done

Article 1: The Kinds in Which the Church Currently Confects

Question 1: Is It Fitting That the Eucharist Be Confected in the Kinds of Bread and Wine?

Question 2: Do Both of Those Kinds Belong to the Fullness of the Sacrament?

Question 3: Does Water Belong to the Fullness of the Sacrament of the Eucharist?

Question 4: Is the Sacrament of the Eucharist Able To Be Confected in Any Bread and Wine?

Article 2: How Christ Confected

Question 1: Did Christ Confect in Leavened or Unleavened Bread?

Question 2: What Sort of Body Did Christ Give to the Disciples at the Last Supper?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV

Doubt V

Doubt VI

Doubt VII

Doubt VIII


Distinction XII

Part 1: The Accidents and the Breaking of the Kinds

Article 1: The Existence of the Accidents Without a Subject

Question 1: Are the Accidents Able to Exist Without a Subject?

Question 2: Is it Fitting that Kinds Exist Without a Subject in the Eucharist?

Question 3: Is It True that the Accidents Are There Without a Subject?

Article 2: The Action and Transmutation of the Accidents

Question 1: Are Those Kinds Able to Be Converted into Nourishment?

Question 2: Do the Accidents Have the Power to Convert Other Things Into the Sacrament?

Question 3: Do Those Accidents Operate Naturally or Miraculously?

Article 3: The Breaking of the Kinds

Question 1: Is the True Body of Christ Broken in the Eucharist?

Question 2: Does True Breaking Happen in the Kinds?

Question 3: What Do the Parts of the Broken Host Signify?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV

Doubt V

Part 2: The Frequency of the Eucharist

Article 1: The Efficacy of This Sacrament

Question 1: Is This Sacrament Efficacious in Any Righteous Person?

Question 2: Is This Sacrament Efficacious in a Sinner?

Question 3: What Is the Efficacy of This Sacrament?

Article 2: The Frequency of The Sacrament

Question 1: Are We Required to Approach the Sacrament of the Eucharist?

Question 2: Is It Better for the Person Who Is Free to Approach to Approach Frequently or Rarely?

Question 3: Should a Person Abstain from the Eucharist Because of Bodily Uncleanness?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV


Distinction XIII

Article 1: The Power of the One Who Confects

Question 1: Is Every Priest Able to Confect?

Question 2: Are Only Priests Able to Confect?

Question 3: Does the Power of Consecrating Lie More with the Priest or with the Word?

Question 4: Is a Mass Said by a Good Priest Better Than a Mass Said by a Wicked Priest?

Article 2: The One Taking the Eucharist

Question 1: Does the Body of Christ Pass Through the Stomach of a Mouse?

Question 2: Does the Body of Christ Descend into the Stomach of a Human?

Doubts concerning the Master’s Text

Doubt I

Doubt II

Doubt III

Doubt IV