XIII

The Fourth Lateran Council was held in 1215 during the papacy of Innocent III. Its first chapter, headed “On the Catholic Faith,” contained the following statement about the Eucharist:—

“There is one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is in a state of salvation (salvatur). In this Church Jesus Christ Himself is both priest and sacrifice; and His body and blood are really contained in the Sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine, the bread being transubstantiated into the body and the wine into the blood by the power of God, so that, to effect the mystery of unity, we ourselves receive of that which is His what He Himself received of that which a ours. And, moreover, no one can consecrate this Sacrament except a priest who has been duly ordained according to the keys of the Church, which Jesus Christ Himself gave to the Apostles and their successors.”

It may be observed that in this statement, while it is said that Christ’s “body and blood are really contained in the Sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine” and while the word “transubstantiated” is used, there is no explicit definition as to the change of substance or as to the retention of the accidents. In this respect the declaration of the council is more guarded than the writings of some of the theologians of the time, a feature probably due to the care exercised in a document the acceptance of which might be required as a matter of faith. Further, it did not contain any statement as to the nature of the presence and could be accepted either by any who might hold a carnal view or by those who followed the theologians of the twelfth century in their emphasis on the spiritual character of the body of Christ present in the Sacrament.