EUCHARIST
590
EUCHARIST
this heavenly food is supplied in the next world to
children who had just departed this life, and that
Christ could have given Himself in Holy Communion
to the holy souls in Limbo, in order to " render them
apt for the vision of God ". This evidently impossible
view, together with other propositions of Rosmini,
was condemned by Leo XIII ( 14 Dec., 1887). In the
fourth century the Synod of Hippo (393) forbade the
practice of giving Holy Conmiunion to the dead as a
gross abuse, and assigned as a reason, that "corpses
were no longer capable of eating". Later synods, as
those of Auxerre (578) and the TruUan (092), took
very energetic measures to put a stop to a custom so
difficult to eradicate. The third requisite, finally, is
baptism, without which no other sacrament can be
validly received ; for in its very concept baptism is the
"spiritual door" to the means of grace contained in
the Church. A Jew or Mohammedan might, indeed,
materially receive the Sacred Host, but there could be
no question in this case of a sacramental reception,
even though by a perfect act of contrition or of the
pure love of God he had put himself in the state of
sanctifying grace. Hence in the Early Church the
catechimiens were strictly excluded from the Eucha-
rist. (Cf. Schanz, Die Lehre von den hi. Sakramenten
der Kirche, Freiburg, 1S93, sect. 35.)
The literature on the subject of the Eucharist is very exten- sive; hence only the most important works are cited here. The special literature on the subject has been indicated in con- nexion with the various subdivisions of this article. Concern- ing the Eucharistic Sacrifice, see Mass. Conspicuous among the Schoolmen are: Albert the Great, Z>e 55. Corpore Domini sermones. ed. Jacob (Ratisbon, 1893); St. Thomas .■Vqcinas, Summa theoL, III, QQ. Ixxiii sqq., and Opuscul. xxxvii, ed. De Maria, vol. III. pp. 460 sqq. (Citta di Castello, 1886). See also the commentators on St. Thomas, e. g. Bilhiart, Summa S. Thomir (ed. Lequette). VI, 382 sqq. The following are valuable even at the present day: Bellarmine. Controversite de sacra- menio Eucharistite, ed. FiiVRE (Paris, 1873), VI; De Lugo, De venerabili Eucharistia: Sacramento, ed. Fournials (Paris, 1892), III and IV; Duperron, Traite du sacrement de V Eucharisiie (Paris. 1620). Among later writers, see Rock. The Church of Out Fathers: Wiseman, Lectures on the Real Presence (London, 1842); Bridgett, The Holy Eucharist in Great Britain (London. 1881 ; new illustrated edition with valuable notes by Thurston, London. 1908); Hedley, The Holy Eucharist, in The West- minster Library (London. 1907); Hirst. On the Origin of the Exposition of the Bl. Sacrament in The Month (1890), pp. 68. 86-96; Duchesne. Origines du CuUe chretien, tr. McClure. Christian Worship (see fourth ed. of French original, Paris. 190S); Salmon, The Ancient Jrvih Church (Dublin. 1897), con- tains good liililiography; Moran, Essays on the Origin, Doc- trines and Discipline of the Early Irish Church (Dublin, 1864); Warren, The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Oxford, 1881); JouRDAiN, La s. Eucharistic. Somme de Theologie el Pre- dication eucharistiques (4 vols., Paris, 1897); Cappellazzi, L'Eucaristia come sacramento e come sacriftcio (Turin, 1898). Latin monographs: Rosset, De F ',^ h,: ■ : : >.i mn ' Z,. iRatis- bon, 1886); Franzelin, Dess. £■»./- , , • N„rri-
ficio (Rome, 1887); Einig, De sx r < ■ , . , . Irier,
1888); Gasparri. Tract, canonicu, .:. / ,.',, ', _• vols.,
Paris, 1897): Lahousse, Tract. Dorpnalirr^mimths dc ss Eu- charistia mysterio (Bruges, 1899). To these may be added the numerous textbooks of dogma, as: Billot. Dc Ecclesiie sacra- mentis (Rome. 1893), I; IIeinrich-Gutberlet, Dogmatische Theologie (Mainz, 1901), IX; Gihr, Die hi. Sakramcnte der kathol. Kirche (Freiburg. 1902), I; Scheeben-.'Vtzbergeh, Handbuch der kathol. Dogmalik (Freiburg, 1901). IV; Pohle, Lehrbuch der Dogmatik (Paderborn. 190S). III. Much material may be had from the following: Cabrol and Leclercq, Momt- menta EccleMce liturgica; Smith, Dictionary of Christian An- tiquities; Vacant and Mangenot, Dictionnaire de theologie catholique (Paris. 1903 — ); Sciimid in Kirchcnlex., s. v. Altars-
J. Pohle.
Eucharist, Early SvMnoi.s of the. — .\mong the symlicilscmiiloycd by the Christians of the first ages in decor:. ting their tombs, those which relate to the EuclKirisl hold a place of the first importance. The monuments of greatest conscijucnce on which these symbols are depicted exist. princip:illy, in the subter- ranean cemeteries of early Christian Rome, better known as the Roman catacombs (see Cat.\combs, Roman; CKMETEnv, Earhj Roman Christian Ceme- terie.<s). Their discovery and reopening in the latter half of the nineteenth century have thrown great light on more or less obscure allusions in early Christian literature. In this way Catholic theology now pos-
sesses supplementary information of appreciable value
bearing on the belief in, and the manner of celebrat-
ing, the Eucharist in the sub-Apostolic age. Accord-
ing to Wilpert, an expert scholar in this field of Chris-
tian archa>ology, the symbolic representations of the
catacombs which refer to the Eucharist form three
groups, inspired by three of Christ's miracles, namely
the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and
fishes, the banquet of the seven Disciples by the Sea of
Galilee after the Resurrection, and the miracle of
Cana. It is to the first two of these miracles, prob-
ably, that we owe the famous fish symbol, which
briefly summed up the chief articles of the Christian
belief (see Flsh, Symbolism of the). The earliest
and always the favourite symbol of the Eucharist in
the monuments was that inspired by the miracle of the
multiplication of the loaves and fishes; the banquet of
the seven Disciples appears only in one (second-cen-
tury) catacomb scene; the miracle of Cana in two, one
of which is of the early third, the other of the fourth,
century.
I. The MIR.4.CLE of the Multiplication. — On two occasions Christ fed with loaves and fishes, miracu- lously multiplied, a large concourse of people who had followed Him into the ilesert. On the first of these occasions, recorded by all four Evangelists, five loaves and two fishes supplied the needs of five thou- sand people, while on the second occasion, mentioned only by St. Matthew (xv, 32 sq.), seven loaves and a " few " fishes more than sufficed for four thousand per- sons. In accordance with the practice of depicting only those features which were necessary to convey the meaning of a symbol, the Christian arti.sts of the catacombs represented the miraculous multiplication as a banquet, in which the guests are seen partaking of a repast of loaves and fishes. In frescoes of this cate- gory, the source of the artist's inspiration is clearly indicated by the baskets of fragments on the right and left of the banquet scene. "The number of baskets represented is not always historical, this being re- garded as a matter of indii^erence so far as the symbol was concerned; six Eucharistic frescoes show each seven baskets, but in three others the number is two, eight, and twelve, respectively. The number of guests in all symbolical repasts of the Eucharist is in- variably seven, a peculiarity which Wilpert regards as due to the early Christian fondness for the symbol- ism of numbers. According to St. Augustine (Tract. cxxiii, in Joan.), the number seven represented the totality of the Christian world. The most ancient representations of the Eucharist in the catacombs is the fresco known as the " Fractio Panis ", an orna- ment of the Capella Greca, in the cemetery of St. Pris- cilla. Wilpert attributes this, with other paintings of that chapel, to the early part of the second century, and his opinion is generally accepted. The scene represents seven persons at table, reclining on a semi- circular divan, and is depicted on the wall above the apse of this little underground chapel, consequently in close proximity to the place where once stood the altar. One of the banqueters is a woman. The place of honour, to the right (in cornii dcttro), is occupied by the "president of the Brethren" (described about 150-155 by Justin Martyr in his account of the Chris- tian worship), i. e. the bishop, or a priest deputed in his place for the occa.sion (Apol., I, Ixvi). The "president" (wpoeffTus), a venerable, bearded person- age is depicted performing the function described in the Acts of the Apostles (ii, 42, 46; xx, 7) as "break- ing bread " ; hence the name " Fractio Panis " (ii xXdo-is ToC ipTov), appropriately given to the fresco by its discoverer. It is to be noted that these words are frequently used in the earliest non-inspired Christian literature as a synonym for the Eucharist (for the texts see Wilpert, Fractio Panis, Freiburg, 1S95). The moment represented, therefore, is that immedi- ately before the Communion, when the celebrant, then
