De la Transsubstantiation ; de l'Adoration, et en quel sens l'Eucharistie est appelée un signe
The Mystery of Transubstantiation
The author explains that while the sensible species of bread and wine remain, faith recognizes the change of substance into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Since it was fitting, as has already been said, that the senses should perceive nothing in this mystery of faith, nothing had to be changed, so far as they were concerned, in the bread and the wine of the Eucharist. That is why, since we still perceive the same species and feel the same effects as before in this sacrament, we should not be surprised if it is sometimes given the same name, and in a certain sense. Yet faith, attentive to the word of the One who does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth, no longer recognizes any other substance here than the one designated by✦12 this same word—that is, the very body and the very blood of Jesus Christ, into which the bread and the wine are changed; this is what is called Transubstantiation.✦
The Eucharistic Sign and Adoration
The Eucharist acts as a sign that carries the reality it signifies, leading the believer to adore the present Christ.
Furthermore, the inner truth of the Eucharist doesn't prevent it from being an outward, sensible sign—but it's a sign that, rather than excluding the reality, necessarily carries it along. In fact, the words "This is my body," spoken over the elements Jesus Christ has chosen, are a sure sign to us that he is present; and even though things look the same to our senses, our soul judges them differently than it would if a higher authority hadn't intervened.3 So whereas certain appearances and a certain chain of natural impressions made in our bodies have been used to point us to the substance of bread and wine, the authority of the one in whom we believe makes these same appearances begin to point us to another substance.4 For we listen to the one who says that what we take and what we eat is his body; and such is the force of this word that it keeps us from referring these outward appearances to the substance of bread, and makes us refer them to the body of Jesus Christ present—so that, the presence of so adorable an object being certified to us by this sign, we do not hesitate to bring our adoration there.
Editorial Note on Eucharistic Adoration
A brief editorial digression regarding textual variants in editions of the Exposition concerning the necessity of adoration.
I will not linger on the point of adoration, because the most learned and most sensible of our adversaries long ago conceded to us that the presence of Jesus Christ in (1) In volume XVI, p.5 251, of D.'s edition.6 Deforis, where Lequeux, who had revised this volume, reproduced the edition of the Exposition published by him in 1761, with the Latin translation by Abbé Fleury, one reads here «supreme» instead of «superior.»7 The editor notes that almost all the editions have "superior," and he is right, as only his own reads otherwise. As for us, we haven't allowed ourselves to change a single word of a book of which Bossuet himself says he weighed every syllable. I said.8 of Versailles.)9
The Power of the Words of Institution
The efficacy of Christ's words at the Last Supper confirms the real presence of his body before the act of eating.
the Eucharist must lead those who are persuaded of it to adoration.10 Besides, once we're convinced that the all-powerful words of the Son of God accomplish everything they declare, we rightly believe they took effect at the Last Supper as soon as they were spoken; and by a necessary consequence, we acknowledge the real presence of the body before it's eaten.
Read the original Latin
Puisqu'il était convenable, ainsi qu'il a été dit, que les sens n'aperçussent rien dans ce mystère de foi, il ne fallait pas qu'il y eût rien de changé à leur égard dans le pain et dans le vin de l'Eucharistie.
C'est pourquoi, comme on aperçoit les mêmes espèces, et qu'on ressent les mêmes effets, qu'auparavant dans ce sacrement, il ne faut pas s'étonner si on lui donne quelquefois et en certain sens le même nom. Cependant la foi, attentive à la parole de Celui qui fait tout ce qu'il lui plaît dans le ciel el dans la terre, ne reconnaît plus ici d'autre substance que celle qui est désignée par. cette même parole, c'est-à-dire le propre corps et le propre sang de Jésus-Christ, auxquels le pain et le vin sont changés: c'est ce qu'on appelle Transsubstantiation.
Au reste, la vérité que contient l'Eucharistie dans ce qu'elle a d'intérieur, n'empêche pas qu'elle ne soit un signe dans ce qu'elle a d'extérieur et de sensible; mais un signe de telle nature, que bien loin d'exclure la réalité, il l'emporte nécessairement avec soi, puisqu'en effet cette parole: Ceci est mon corps, prononcée sur la matière que Jésus-Christ a choisie, nous est un signe certain qu'il est présent: et quoique les choses paraissent toujours les mêmes à nos sens, notre âme en juge autrement qu'elle ne ferait, si une autorité supérieure (1) n'était pas intervenue. Au lieu doncquede certaines espèces et une certaine suite d'impressions naturelles qui se font en nos corps, ont accoutumé de nous désigner la substance du pain et du vin; l'autorité de celui à qui nous croyons, fait que ces mêmes espèces commencent à nous désigner une autre substance. Car nous écoutons celui qui dit que ce que nous prenons, et ce que nous mangeons est son corps; et telle est la force de cette parole, qu'elle empêche que nous ne rapportions à la substance du pain ces apparences extérieures, et nous les fait rapporter au corps de Jésus-Christ présent; de sorte que la présence d'un objet si adorable nous étant certifiée par ce signe, nous n'hésitons pas à y porter nos adorations.
Je ne m'arrête pas sur le point de l'adoration, parce que les plus doctes et les plus sensés de nos adversaires nous ont accordé, il y a longtemps, que la présence de Jésus-Christ dans (1) Au tome XVI, p. 251, de l'édition de D. Déforis, où Lequeux, qui avait revu ce volume, a reproduit l'édition de Y Exposition, publiée par lui, en 1761, avec la traduction latine de l'abbé FJeury, on lit ici suprême, au lieu de supérieure. L'éditeur met en note, que PRESQUE toutes les éditions portent SUPÉRIEURE: et il dit vrai; car il n'y a que les siennes où on lise autrement. Pour nous, nous n'avons pas voulu nous permettre de changer un seul mot d'un livre, dont Bossuet dit lui-même qu'il a pesé toutes les syllabes. {JE dit. de Versailles.)
l'Eucharistie, doit porter à l'adoration ceux qui en sont persuadés.
Au reste, étant une fois convaincus que les paroles toutes puissantes du Fils de Dieu opèrent tout ce qu'elles énoncent, nous croyons avec raison qu'elles eurent leur effet dans la Cène aussitôt qu'elles furent proférées; et par une suite nécessaire, nous reconnaissons la présence réelle du corps avant la manducation.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.115.3;Ps.135.6 — But our God is in the heavens; he has done whatever he pleased. Ps.135.6 — Whatever the LORD pleased, he did—in the heavens and in the earth, in the seas and all the deeps.
- ↩Matt.26.26-Matt.26.28;Mark.14.22-Mark.14.24;Luke.22.19-Luke.22.20;1Cor.11.24-1Cor.11.25 — While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and having blessed it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." Matt.26.27 — And taking a cup, and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. Matt.26.28 — For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Mark.14.22 — And while they were eating, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, 'Take; this is my body.' Mark.14.23 — And he took a cup, and having given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Mark.14.24 — And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many." Luke.22.19 — And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' Luke.22.20 — In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." 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."
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reads «el» between «ciel» and «dans la terre»; treated as a typographical error for «et» («and»).
- 2 ↩Sentence ends mid-construction with «désignée par.»; the object of «par» continues in ExpoCath.1.13.2.s3 («cette même parole...»). Translation preserves the supplied sentence break.
- 3 ↩French signe is kept as "sign" (not "symbol"), matching Bossuet's claim that this sacramental sign does not exclude but necessarily carries the reality it signifies.
- 4 ↩Source reading "doncquede" is almost certainly a fused/corrupt form of "donc que de" in the construction "Au lieu donc que…"; translated as "So whereas…".
- 5 ↩Source sentence is truncated mid-clause after «dans» and then concatenates the start of editorial note (1) («Au tome XVI, p.»). Neighboring ExpoCath.1.13.5.s1 continues the doctrinal sentence with «l'Eucharistie…»; not completed here.
- 6 ↩Fragment continues the citation begun in s1 («Au tome XVI, p. 251, de l'édition de D.»). «D.» is completed by «Déforis» in s3.
- 7 ↩Normalized «Y Exposition» as «l'Exposition» (likely OCR error). «FJeury» rendered as Fleury. «Déforis» as Deforis. Continues the edition note from s1–s2; the whole note concerns the variant «suprême» vs «supérieure» at ExpoCath.1.13.3.s1 («autorité supérieure»).
- 8 ↩Source is a bare fragment «{JE dit.» with an opening brace; likely the start of a parenthetical citation completed in s7. Sense uncertain; rendered literally without reconstructing missing words.
- 9 ↩Closing fragment of the parenthetical begun in s6. Together the pieces read approximately «{I said. of Versailles.)»; original citation shape remains uncertain.
- 10 ↩Source begins mid-sentence (lowercase l', residual comma after Eucharistie). Neighboring previous section is heavily interrupted by editorial apparatus; rendered as an independent clause on the most plausible continuous sense: that conviction about the Eucharist rightly moves believers to adoration.
Exposition de la doctrine de l'Église catholique sur les matières de controverse companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit