Caput XXXII
The Majesty of the Mystery
Paschasius, drawing on the Fathers, commends reverence for the Eucharist so compellingly that even the learned will feel how little they truly know of this mystery.
These things, and many others besides, Paschasius wrote from the sayings of the Fathers, to commend reverence for the holy mystery and to display its majesty. If anyone, even with only a smattering of learning, should read these things, I believe he will learn so much that he'll think he has known very little about this mystery up to now.
Lament for Contempt of the Sacrament
Odo laments that the most sacred mystery is now treated with contempt, as though the Father no longer demands honor for His Son, and sees in this desecration the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy of abomination in the temple.
But in this time — and it is deeply to be lamented — we treat that most sacred mystery with such contempt, as if there were no Father who demands and judges the honor of his own Son Jesus. So completely has truth been cast down that we now see, just as it says in Daniel, the abomination happening in the temple of God.
Judgment on Unworthy Ministers
To commend reverence for the mystery, Odo recounts how a drunken priest was struck with epilepsy at Communion, how the sacred host rejected an unworthy deacon, and how blessed Eulogius discerned hidden sins in monks approaching the altar.
Furthermore, to commend the reverence due this same mystery, let us set forth certain examples, if you're willing. Saint Gregory of Tours relates in his Books of Miracles that there was a priest who, on a Sunday solemnity, had been granted permission to celebrate Mass in his own person. As soon as he reached the hour of Communion, he was immediately seized by epilepsy, fell down foaming, and spewed the sacred particle from his mouth — because that very night, as many testified, he had been drunk.1 He also tells of a certain disreputable deacon: while carrying the casket with the Body of the Lord, it slipped from his hands, traveled through the air, and returned to the altar. Saint Jerome, in the Lives of the Fathers, tells of blessed Eulogius: when he saw certain monks wanting to approach Communion, he held them back, saying, 'You had a desire for fornication this night.' Another indeed said, 'It makes no difference whether a righteous person or a sinner approaches the Sacrament.' And yet another had a doubt in his heart, saying, 'What can Communion do to sanctify me?'2
Purification Before Communion
Eulogius withheld each unworthy monk from Communion until penitence and tears had purified them.
He would therefore bar each of them from receiving the Sacrament of Communion until they had been purified somewhat through penitence and tears.
Visions of Worthiness and Unworthiness
Saint Macarius saw Ethiopians with coals in the hands of unworthy communicants while the Host returned to the altar, and Saint Piamon saw an angel recording the names of the worthy at the sacrifice.
The same author also relates that Saint Macarius, at the time when the brothers had come forward to receive the Eucharist, saw in the hands of certain ones Ethiopians going before them, placing coals; but the Body of the Lord, which the priest appeared to give, returned to the altar. To others, however, an angel of the Lord, together with the hand of the priest, gave the sacred portion, while the aforementioned Ethiopians fled.3 Likewise, the same author testifies that Saint Piamon, at a certain time when he was offering sacrifice, saw an angel of God standing beside the altar, writing in a book he held the names of certain monks who were approaching, while omitting certain others.
Restoration Through Penitence
The elder discovered mortal sin in each monk the angel had passed over, and after long shared weeping and exhortation to penitence, he saw them at last enrolled among the worthy.
When the elder had observed this, he questioned each one separately and found in each a mortal sin. Having exhorted them to penitence, he wept with them for a long time, until at last he could see them enrolled with the rest.
Read the original Latin
Haec, et alia multo plura Paschasius ex dictis Patrum ad reverentiam sancti mysterii commendandam, atque majestat emejus demonstrandam, conscripsit. Quae si quis licet sciolus legerit, tanta credo discet, ut de hoc mysterio parum se eatenus cognovisse putet. Verum isto tempore quod nimis dolendum est, ita sacrosanctum istud mysterium in contemptu illudimus, tanquam non sit Pater qui honorem Filii sui Jesu quaerat et judicet. Ita veritas prostrata est, ut sicut in Daniele dicitur, abominationem in templo Dei fieri videamus. Caeterum pro ejusdem mysterii reverentia commendanda quaedam, si placet, exempla proferamus. Dicit sanctus Gregorius Turonensis in libris Miraculorum de quodam presbytero, cui in Dominica solemnitate propter suam personam concessum fuerat ut missam celebraret, qui statim ut ad communicandi horam pervenit, mox epilepsia comprehensus corruit spumans sacramque particulam ab ore projiciens, qui ipsa nocte, sicut plerique testati sunt, ebrius fuerat. Item ipse de quodam infami diacono, quia dum capsam cum corpore Domini deferret, de manibus elapsa est, et per aerem super altare reversa. Sanctus vero Hieronymus in vitas Patrum de beato Eulogio dicit, quoniam cum videret quosdam ex monachis volentes accedere ad communionem retinuit eos, dicens: Tu habuisti hac nocte fornicationis desiderium; tu vero dixisti, Nihil interest sive justus sive peccator ad sacramentum accedat, et alius dubitationem habuit in corde dicens: Quid enim me sanctificare communio potest?
Hos ergo singulos removebat a communione sacramenti, donec paululum per poenitentiam et lacrymas purificarentur. Item idem refert de sancto Machario, quod eo tempore cum fratres ad suscipiendam eucharistiam accessissent, viderit in quorumdam manibus praevenientes Aethiopes carbones deponere, corpus autem Domini quod sacerdos dare videbatur redire ad altare: aliis vero angelum Domini cum manu sacerdotis sacram particulam dare fugientibus praedictis Aethiopibus. Item ipse de sancto Piamone perhibet, quia quodam tempore cum sacrificaret vidit angelum Dei stantem juxta altare, et quorumdam monachorum qui accedebant nomina scribentem in libro quem tenebat, et quorumdam non scribentem. Quos cum senior notasset, unumquemque seorsum disquisivit, et invenit in singulis mortale peccatum. Quos ad poenitentiam exhortatos tandiu cum eis flevit, donec aliquando videret eos cum caeteris ascribi.
Notes
- 1 ↩sacram particulam — 'the sacred particle' refers to the consecrated Eucharistic host; rendered with sacramental specificity.
- 2 ↩Nihil interest sive justus sive peccator ad sacramentum accedat — the speaker's claim that moral state is irrelevant to receiving the Sacrament is presented as a position Eulogius corrects; the translation preserves the speaker's voice without endorsing it.
- 3 ↩The vision of Ethiopians (traditionally symbolic of sin-darkened souls) placing coals in the hands of communicants, contrasted with an angel administering the sacred portion, is a complex mystical image. The coals may suggest unworthiness or purifying fire; the text leaves the precise symbolism open.
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