De Utraque Specie
A Summary of Our Teaching
The confession's teaching aligns with Scripture and the Catholic Church, and the real dispute concerns certain abuses in worship that have been corrected for conscience's sake.
This is pretty much the sum of what we teach, and it can be seen that there is nothing in it that disagrees with the Scriptures, or with the Catholic Church, or with the Roman Church insofar as it is known from the writers — and since that is so, those people judge harshly who demand that our people be regarded as heretics. But the disagreement is about certain abuses that have crept into the churches without proper authority; and even if there were some difference in these matters, it was still appropriate for bishops to show this kind of leniency, so that on account of the confession we have just reviewed, they would tolerate our people — because the Canons themselves are not so harsh as to demand that the same rites be observed everywhere, nor have the rites of all churches ever been alike. Although among us the ancient rites are for the most part carefully preserved. For it is a false slander that all ceremonies and all ancient practices are being abolished in our churches. But the public outcry was that certain abuses had clung to popular rites. These, because they could not be justified with a clear conscience, have been corrected in some respects.
Christ's Command for Both Kinds
Both kinds of the Sacrament are given to the laity because Christ clearly commanded all to drink from the cup, as Scripture and early Church practice testify.
Both kinds of the Sacrament are given to the laity in the Lord's Supper, because this practice has the command of the Lord in Matthew 26. 26. Drink from it, all of you.✦ Where Christ clearly commanded that all should drink from the cup, and so that no one could claim this applies only to priests, Paul writes to the Corinthians.✦ He cites an example in which it is clear that the whole Church used both kinds.
Ancient Witnesses to the Cup
The practice of giving both kinds persisted long in the Church, with patristic witnesses like Cyprian and Jerome testifying that the blood of Christ was distributed to the people.
And this practice persisted in the Church for a long time, and it is not clear when or by whose authority it was changed, though Cardinal Cusanus records when it was approved. Cyprian testifies in several places that the blood was given to the people. Jerome testifies to the same, saying that priests of the Eucharist minister and distribute the blood of Christ to the people.
Custom Against God's Command
Pope Gelasius and the Canons command that the Sacrament not be divided, and a custom introduced against God's command is not to be approved.
Indeed, Pope Gelasius commands that the Sacrament not be divided, Dist. 2. Consecration, chapter We have found. Only that custom is not so old, something else has. But it is established that a custom introduced against the commands of God is not to be approved, as the Canons testify, Dist. 8. chapter.
Against Coercion of Conscience
Since the restriction of the cup was received against Scripture and the ancient Canons, no one should be forced to act against their conscience regarding the Sacrament.
With truth, and what follows.1 This custom was adopted not only against Scripture, but also against the ancient Canons and the example of the Church. So if anyone has preferred to receive both kinds of the Sacrament, they should not be forced to act otherwise at the expense of their conscience.
The Sacrament as Christ Instituted It
Because dividing the Sacrament does not fit with Christ's institution, the customary procession is now ordinarily omitted.
And because dividing the Sacrament is not consistent with Christ's own institution, the procession that has customarily been held up to now is ordinarily omitted among us.
Read the original Latin
Haec fere summa est doctrinae apud nos, in qua cerni potest, nihil inesse, quod discrepet a scripturis, vel ab Ecclesia Catholica, vel ab Ecclesia Romana, quatenus ex scriptoribus nota est, quod cum ita sit, inclementer iudicant isti, qui nostros pro haereticis haberi postulant. Sed dissensio est de quibusdam abusibus, qui sine certa autoritate in Ecclesias irrepserunt, in quibus etiam, si qua esset dissimilitudo, tamen decebat haec lenitas Episcopos, ut propter confessionem, quam modo recensuimus, tolerarent nostros, quia ne Canones quidem tam duri sunt, ut eosdem ritus ubique esse postulent, neque similes unquam omnium Ecclesiarum ritus fuerunt. Quanquam apud nos magna ex parte veteres ritus diligenter servantur. Falsa enim calumnia est, quod omnes ceremoniae, omnia vetera instituta in Ecclesiis nostris aboleantur. Verum publica querela fuit abusus quosdam in vulgaribus ritibus haerere. Hi, quia non poterant bona conscientia probari, aliqua ex parte correcti sunt.
Laicis datur utraque species Sacramenti in Coena Domini, quia hic mos habet mandatum Domini Matth. 26. Bibite ex hoc omnes. Ubi manifeste praecepit Christus de poculo ut omnes bibant, et ne quis possit cavillari, quod hoc ad Sacerdotes tantum pertineat, Paulus ad Corinth. exemplum recitat, in quo apparet totam Ecclesiam utraque specie usam esse. Et diu mansit hic mos in Ecclesia, nec constat quando aut quo autore mutatus sit, tametsi Cardinalis Cusanus recitet, quando sit approbatus. Cyprianus aliquot locis testatur populo sanguinem datum esse. Idem testatur Hieronymus, qui ait, Sacerdotes Eucharistiae ministrant, et sanguinem Christi populis dividunt.
Imo Gelasius Papa mandat ne dividatur Sacramentum, Dist. 2. de Consecratione, cap. Comperimus. Tantum consuetudo non ita vetus aliud habet. Constat autem quod consuetudo contra mandata Dei introducta, non sit probanda, ut testantur Canones, Dist. 8. cap.
Veritate, cum sequentibus. Haec vero consuetudo non solum contra scripturam, sed etiam contra veteres Canones et exemplum Ecclesiae recepta est. Quare si qui maluerunt utraque specie Sacramenti uti, non fuerunt cogendi, ut aliter facerent cum offensione conscientiae.
Et quia divisio sacramenti non convenit cum institutione Christi, solet apud nos omitti processio, quae hactenus fieri solita est.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.26.27 — And taking a cup, and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you.
- ↩1Cor.11.23-1Cor.11.29 — For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 1Cor.11.24 — and having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.25 — In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 1Cor.11.26 — For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1Cor.11.27 — So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1Cor.11.28 — But let a person examine himself, and in this way let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 1Cor.11.29 — For the one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Notes
- 1 ↩Fragmentary canon law reference (Veritate, cum sequentibus). Rendered literally; the exact syntactic role depends on the surrounding context lost to excerpting.
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