Hildebert of Tours was born in 1057. He became Bishop of Le Mans in 1097 and Archbishop of Tours in 1125. In 1133 or 1134 he died at Tours. Hildebert’s writings are rich in teaching about the Eucharist. One of his Sermons incidentally contains as a description of the act of consecrating the noticeable phrase, “When I utter the words of the canon and the word of the Transubstantiation”. His treatise On the Exposition of the Mass, in explaining the words of the ordinary and canon of the Mass, states that the bread and wine are made the flesh and blood of Christ at the consecration by the word of the Creator and the power of the Holy Ghost; that this flesh is that which was born of the Virgin; that, when the Sacrament “is broken and eaten, Christ is offered and eaten and yet remains whole and living”; that “the nature of the bread and the wine is turned into the spiritual (rationabilem) nature of the body and blood of Christ”; and that the ceremonial acts connected with the words of the canon in the signing of the elements with the cross are parts of the mystical representation of the passion of Christ. The poems On the Mystery of the Mass, On the New Sacrifice which Abrogates the Old, and On the Holy Eucharist contain like doctrine. The Mass is throughout regarded as a mystical representation of Christ’s passion, which is viewed as fulfilling the types of the Old Testament and particularly that of the Day of Atonement, and having its issue in the presentation by Christ in heaven of the blood which He shed on the cross. In it are commemorated His passion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; in it through His blood, which is sprinkled by Him on the Father in heaven and on men on earth, heaven and earth are joined by the ministry of angels; in it Christians are in close contact with the abiding intercession of Christ in heaven, and receive Him who remains unbroken as they partake of that flesh in which there is “nothing carnal and nothing bloody”. The same doctrine as regards the presence and gift is expounded in Hildebert’s Short Treatise on the Sacrament of the Altar, in which he says:—
“What understanding can grasp in what way the flesh of Christ comes to us daily from heaven to the altar, and from the altar into us, and yet leaves not the heaven from which it comes? For as of old the Godhead of Christ came to us from heaven, so also now His manhood comes thence to us; and as He came from heaven with His Godhead and yet did not depart thence, so also now He comes from heaven with His manhood, which nevertheless always abides there. And as the Godhead came by means of the manhood, so also the manhood comes thence by means of the Godhead. At that time God came openly by means of His manhood; and now Man comes invisibly by means of His Godhead. Then God came in a way known to the senses; now Man comes in a way which the senses cannot discern. Then God came in human fashion; and now Man comes after the method of God. Nor is it Man only in His spirit but also in His flesh; neither is it without His Godhead but with and in and by reason of His Godhead; and therefore the whole work is divinely done. For what is more divine than that the body of Christ, since it is flesh and not spirit, is nevertheless the food not of the flesh and the body but of the spirit and the mind? It is indeed the food of the inner man; and yet it is not human but divine, entering into the spirit in a spiritual and divine manner, not converting itself into spirit but feeding the spirit spiritually and divinely, entering spiritually, working spiritually, coming by a spiritual way from heaven, returning to heaven by a spiritual way. This body is among us, and it is in heaven; it is among us also in different places, on different altars, at a time not different. Nor is it divided into parts, but it is on every altar whole and complete. Nor is it in number more than one, but it is one only. Nor is it imaginary, but it is real. Nor is it only by way of Sacrament, but it is of the body itself. For it is itself in one place only after a natural manner, but it is in many places after a manner of power. It is in one place by way of nature; it is in many places by way of divine grace and power. It is in one place after a bodily manner; it is in many places after a spiritual manner. For to be at the same time in more places than one is not an attribute of body but of spirit, though not perhaps of any other spirit than divine spirit, that is, of uncreated and uncircumscribed spirit, not also of spirit that is created and therefore circumscribed.… Not only is the body of Christ wholly present after the manner of a spirit at the same time in different places, that is, on maw altars; but it also has on each separate altar a certain spiritual way of existing. For, although it is everywhere in itself an object of sense because of the properties of body, yet it is present to us on the altar not as an object of sense in the form which it takes. Wherefore also it can be said to be there both as an object of sense and not as an object of sense. As an object of sense indeed because of the real property in body of being sensibly perceived, and because the species of the Sacrament is subject to the senses; but not as an object of sense so far as concerns the manifestation of form and the perception of our sense.… When the Sacrament is divided into parts, nevertheless the body is not severed into parts, so as to be taken with division and in parts; but it is received whole and undivided under the divided parts in each part by each one who receives.… The force of human reason seems to fail more in the Sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood than in any other work of divine power. In others perhaps it can be of some avail; but what can it avail here? Is it able to grasp in what way the substance of the bread and wine is converted into the substance of the body and blood of the Lord, while nevertheless the accidents of the bread and wine are not in like manner converted but remain unchanged without the substance of bread and without the substance of wine? How are there accidents without a subject, or these accidents without the subject in which they had their origin? In these things is a way unknown to reason but not altogether unknown to faith. Reason here is ignorant of all, but faith seizes on what reason grasps not.”
Hildebert is perhaps more hindered than helped by the philosophical terminology which he is careful to use in speaking of the Eucharistic presence; and, unlike Alger of Liège, he does not seem to have effectively realised the bearing of the spiritual character of the body of our Lord after His resurrection. In spite of any such difficulties in the way of elucidating the doctrine which he held, his insistence on the spiritual method of the presence of our Lord’s body and blood is both clear and powerful.
Honorius of Autun was a priest of Autun, famous as a commentator on the liturgy and office books of the Church, who died after the beginning of the Papacy of Innocent II. in 1130. His Sacramentary or Book on the Reasons and Mystical Meaning of the Rites of the Divine Office in the Church refers to details in the prayers and ceremonies of the ordinary and canon of the Mass as forming parts of the mystical commemoration of the stages of the passion and resurrection of Christ on the same lines as those customary in the other liturgical writers of the twelfth century. There are incidental allusions to the change of the bread and wine at the consecration into the flesh and blood of Christ; our Lord’s offering in heaven, with which the Eucharistic sacrifice is regarded as being united, is described as His “supplication to the Father for us, in which He ever shows forth what kind of death He bore for the life of men”; there is a reference, like those in earlier writers, to the “threefold body of Christ”. In the work by Honorius entitled Eucharistion or Book on the Body and Blood of the Lord this idea of the “threefold body” is more fully explained. In its first sense the body of Christ is “that body which was taken from the Virgin in the Incarnation, which was offered for us on the altar of the cross, which was raised to heaven after the victory over death, and is set on the right hand of God”. In its second sense the body of Christ is “that body which by the consecration of the Holy Ghost is daily made out of the substance of bread and wine in the priestly mystery, and by the power of God is made into the body which was born of the Virgin, and, though it is eaten by all the people, is declared by the Catholic faith to remain whole”. In its third sense the body of Christ denotes the whole Church, which being Christ’s body eats His body and in eating it is made into it and becomes “one flesh with Him”. In this treatise Honorius deals at some length with the question of what is received be those who communicate unworthily. The consecration of the Sacrament, he says, is not affected if the consecrating priest is a bad man. Christ Himself is really the consecrator; and His action is not impaired by the unworthiness of the priest who is His minister. But unbelievers and wicked persons who communicate are not “partakers of Christ,” “do not abide in Christ, who is life, but are far from Him, and therefore do not take the body of Christ, but eat and drink judgment to themselves”. In “this spiritual food” “the wicked receive the outward species of the Sacrament, but the inward quickening virtue is withdrawn from them, as the manhood of Christ was crucified by the Jews, while His Godhead suffered no injury”. Some of these statements might seem to deny the reception of the body of Christ by the wicked; but, as Honorius proceeds further in his argument, he definitely accepts the more usual doctrine that the body of Christ is received be those who communicate unworthily, although they derive no benefit from it but eat and drink it to judgment; for he writes:—
“Since this bread at consecration is substantially turned into the body of Christ, a question is asked whether in the mouth of those who take it unworthily, it is changed again into a different nature. As Christ ‘being raised from the dead dieth no more,’ so His flesh made from bread will not be changed into any other nature. It will be the same thing in the mouth of the worst of men as it is in the mouth of the most holy, as He was the same in the hands of those who cruelly crucified Him as He was in the hands of those who devoutly buried Him. But, as the sun is the same in its heat and in its brightness, and yet produces different results in these two aspects, namely, burning the earth by its heat and giving light by its brightness, so the flesh of Christ remaining the same produces different results in different persons, incorporating the righteous with Himself, separating the unrighteous from His life. And, again, as the same ordinary bread strengthens men but chokes infants, so the same thing is the cause of glory to the worthy and the cause of punishment to the unworthy.”
Stephen of Autun was appointed Bishop of Autun before 1112. At some later time he resigned his bishopric and became a monk at Cluny. He died in 1139. His treatise On the Sacrament of the Altar contains the same doctrine as is usually found in this period. The earthly oblations are said to be converted by the blessing of God into that body of Christ “which hung on the cross, which was glorified in the resurrection, which was divinely honoured (deificatum) in the ascension”; the prayer offered by the Church in the Eucharist is “that the food of angels may become the food of men, that is, that the oblation of bread and wine may be transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus Christ”; the consecration takes place at the recital of the words “This is My body,” “This is My blood”; “the bread and the wine pass not into divine nature but into the human substance”; “the whole Christ is under each species and under each particle of each species”; “there are two ways of taking the body and blood of the Lord, sacramental and spiritual; good and bad share in the sacramental taking; only the good partake in the spiritual way”; “the flesh of Christ is twofold: there is that which was born of the Virgin and is taken in the Sacrament, and there is that which is eaten when there is faithful belief, without which the sacramental taking does not profit”; “to take the flesh” of Christ and “to drink” His “blood bestows no benefit unless it is received with faith and love,” and “so to eat the flesh of Christ is to take it in spirit and in truth”; the presence of Christ is spiritually discerned by faith and is of that spiritual body with which He rose from the dead.
“It is our faith and must really be believed that when the priest says the words, ‘This is My body,’ there is no longer earthly bread but that Bread which came down from heaven, the Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ. Also by the power of the words, ‘This is the cup of My blood,’ the wine is converted into His blood. Under each species and under each particle of each species Christ Jesus is and is taken whole. He who dwells in heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father is Himself really in this Sacrament, is crushed by the teeth, and remains unbroken. He is eaten and is not corrupted; He is offered, and dies not. He gives Himself to us for our Communion in such a way as He gave Himself to His disciples for them to eat, since He who made Himself capable of being touched by the disciples after the resurrection when He had become incorruptible and not susceptible to touch could give Himself to them in His immortal state when He was still mortal.… What is hidden from our senses is revealed to faith. Human reason asks and says, What is this? How is this? It understands not how, it rises not to this secret; faith alone believes and acknowledges. The senses see bread and wine in taste and colour; faith beholds under each species its Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The senses see that which is not; faith beholds that which is. What the senses see they think inanimate, and to the senses of all living it seems a bodily food; faith beholds the living Bread which came down from heaven, the Bread of angels, the living Fount of water springing up to eternal life. Faith in love believes it is He through whom it hopes to receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of pardon and re-creation and satisfaction in His glory.”
“O wonderful miracle! O marvellous and most divine Sacrament! What mind fears not? What intellect fails not? Every sense is dull; all processes of reasoning disappear. Let the searching of dialecticians be gone. It is proved and acknowledged by faith alone that the food of angels becomes the food of men. That which the priest lifts up, he lays not down. That which is lifted up and that which is laid down appear to be the same in species, in colour and taste; yet one thing appears, and another thing lies hid. It was lifted from the altar ordinary bread; it is laid down the immortal flesh of Christ. That which was natural (animalis) food has been made spiritual food. That which was the temporary refreshment of men has been made the eternal and unfailing satisfaction of the angels.”
Stephen speaks of the rite itself and the details of the prayers and ceremonial as the mystical commemoration of the acts of Christ, of His passion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and heavenly work. Christ once died, and is daily offered by the Church in the presentation of His passion. That presentation is joined with Christ’s own offering of Himself.
“He Himself sacrifices and is sacrificed, He Himself is the offering and the priest, because He is God and Man. His minister, because he is only man, only sacrifices and is priest. Christ the Mediator of God and man reconciles men to God; His minister makes the people acceptable to God. Christ intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father; His minister prays for the flock entrusted to him. Christ forgives sins; His minister binds and looses. Christ on the altar of the cross offered Himself to the Father a holy offering well pleasing to God; His minister offers the very same Christ on the Table of the altar.… So we recall His passion, resurrection, and glorious ascension.”
“Our redemption was accomplished when Christ suffered once for all on the cross. For by the passion of Christ we have been redeemed and delivered from the hand of hell. When through the pressure of our faults we daily fall, we rise again from this fall and are renewed by the continual (iterata) offering which takes place on the altar. The act of offering is repeated (immolatio iteratur); Christ does not die, but His passion is commemorated by His presence.… This oblation is not only of the priest but of the whole family, that is, the clergy and people, and not only of the congregation who are present but of the whole Church.”
“Let us not offer our heart to God in unrighteousness, but let us lay down our heart on the altar on high, that is, in the presence of the divine majesty; and, if we live soberly and devoutly and righteously, we shall find Him gracious and propitious to us. This is that which we pray in the words which follow, ‘Command that these be borne by the hands of Thy holy angel,’ not that Christ by a change of place may ever be ascending to the Father, since He stands before the Father interceding for us, but that our devotion may be borne by the hands of the holy angel, that is, by Thy Son, who is Thy right hand, through whom Thou workest all things, and the Angel of great counsel, through whom Thou dost order and appoint and create and sanctify and bless all things. He is the presence of the Father, that is, the Wisdom through whom the Father acts and orders. And therefore through Him and in Him and before Him we pray that our offerings may be borne.”
“Christ sprinkles when He sanctifies us by the pouring out of His blood. The priest sprinkles when he appeases God by this sacrifice, and the grace of pardon is bestowed. By naming the altar on high he commemorates the Holy of Holies of the Jewish law, and that Holy of Holies in which Christ once entered even by His own blood.”
There is much doubt whether a Sermon ascribed to Otto of Bamberg, the Apostle of Pomerania, who was appointed Bishop of Bamberg in 1103 and died in 1139, as having been delivered to him to his Pomeranian converts about 1125, is really by Otto, or is earlier than the latter half of the twelfth century; but a passage from it may be cited here as showing the teaching which either Otto himself or a later biographer thought suitable for the instruction of those who had recently been converted to Christianity. While giving instruction as to the reception of Communion and attendance at the Eucharist, it does not define the doctrine further than by saying that this Sacrament is “the true food of the soul, having in it eternal life”. The passage occurs in the course of a list of the seven Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Unction of the Sick, the Eucharist, Penance, Matrimony, and Orders. It is as follows:—
“The fourth Sacrament is the body and blood of the Lord. This Sacrament is necessary for those who are to live and those who are to die; whether we live or die, we must always use this food for the way (viatico). For it is the true food of the soul, having in it eternal life. Wherefore Masses must be frequently celebrated, and you ought to assemble at them with devotion, that with some frequency (saepius) you may partake of this food for the way (viatico). If you cannot, because you are carnal, partake of this most holy thing yourselves at all Masses, at least partake through tour mediator, that is, the priest, who communicates for you, by hearing Mass faithfully and reverently and devoutly. Yet you yourselves, if it cannot be more often, ought to make your confessions and communicate of the Sacrament itself at least three or four times in the year.”