Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It seems that Christ's body is movably in this sacrament, because the Philosopher says (Topic. ii) that "when we are moved, the things within us are moved": and this is true even of the soul's spiritual substance. "But Christ is in this sacrament," as shown above (Question 74, Article 1). Therefore He is moved when it is moved.

Objection 2: Further, the truth ought to correspond with the figure. But, according to the commandment (Ex. 12:10), concerning the Paschal Lamb, a figure of this sacrament, "there remained nothing until the morning." Neither, therefore, if this sacrament be reserved until morning, will Christ's body be there; and so it is not immovably in this sacrament.

Objection 3: Further, if Christ's body were to remain under this sacrament even until the morrow, for the same reason it will remain there during all coming time; for it cannot be said that it ceases to be there when the species pass, because the existence of Christ's body is not dependent on those species. Yet Christ does not remain in this sacrament for all coming time. It seems, then, that straightway on the morrow, or after a short time, He ceases to be under this sacrament. And so it seems that Christ is in this sacrament movably.

On the contrary, it is impossible for the same thing to be in motion and at rest, else contradictories would be verified of the same subject. But Christ's body is at rest in heaven. Therefore it is not movably in this sacrament.

I answer that, When any thing is one, as to subject, and manifold in being, there is nothing to hinder it from being moved in one respect, and yet to remain at rest in another just as it is one thing for a body to be white, and another thing, to be large; hence it can be moved as to its whiteness, and yet continue unmoved as to its magnitude. But in Christ, being in Himself and being under the sacrament are not the same thing, because when we say that He is under this sacrament, we express a kind of relationship to this sacrament. According to this being, then, Christ is not moved locally of Himself, but only accidentally, because Christ is not in this sacrament as in a place, as stated above (Article 5). But what is not in a place, is not moved of itself locally, but only according to the motion of the subject in which it is.

In the same way neither is it moved of itself according to the being which it has in this sacrament, by any other change whatever, as for instance, that it ceases to be under this sacrament: because whatever possesses unfailing existence of itself, cannot be the principle of failing; but when something else fails, then it ceases to be in it; just as God, Whose existence is unfailing and immortal, ceases to be in some corruptible creature because such corruptible creature ceases to exist. And in this way, since Christ has unfailing and incorruptible being, He ceases to be under this sacrament, not because He ceases to be, nor yet by local movement of His own, as is clear from what has been said, but only by the fact that the sacramental species cease to exist.

Hence it is clear that Christ, strictly speaking is immovably in this sacrament.

Reply to Objection 1: This argument deals with accidental movement, whereby things within us are moved together with us. But with things which can of themselves be in a place, like bodies, it is otherwise than with things which cannot of themselves be in a place, such as forms and spiritual substances. And to this mode can be reduced what we say of Christ, being moved accidentally, according to the existence which He has in this sacrament, in which He is not present as in a place.

Reply to Objection 2: It was this argument which seems to have convinced those who held that Christ's body does not remain under this sacrament if it be reserved until the morrow. It is against these that Cyril says (Ep. lxxxiii): "Some are so foolish as to say that the mystical blessing departs from the sacrament, if any of its fragments remain until the next day: for Christ's consecrated body is not changed, and the power of the blessing, and the life-giving grace is perpetually in it." Thus are all other consecrations irremovable so long as the consecrated things endure; on which account they are not repeated. And although the truth corresponds with the figure, still the figure cannot equal it.

Reply to Objection 3: The body of Christ remains in this sacrament not only until the morrow, but also in the future, so long as the sacramental species remain: and when they cease, Christ's body ceases to be under them, not because it depends on them, but because the relationship of Christ's body to those species is taken away, in the same way as God ceases to be the Lord of a creature which ceases to exist.

Articulus 6

Argumentum 1

Ad sextum sic proceditur. Videtur quod corpus christi sit mobiliter in hoc sacramento.

Dicit enim philosophus, in II topic., quod, moventibus nobis, moventur ea quae in nobis sunt.

Quod quidem verum est etiam de spirituali substantia animae.

Sed christus est in hoc sacramento, ut supra habitum est.

Ergo movetur ad motum ipsius.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, veritas debet respondere figurae. Sed de agno paschali, qui erat figura huius sacramenti, non remanebat quidquam usque mane, sicut praecipitur Exod. XII.

Ergo neque etiam, si hoc sacramentum reservetur in crastinum, erit ibi corpus christi.

Et ita non est immobiliter in hoc sacramento.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, si corpus christi remaneat sub hoc sacramento etiam in crastino, pari ratione remanebit et per totum sequens tempus, non enim potest dici quod desinat ibi esse cessantibus speciebus, quia esse corporis christi non dependet a speciebus illis. Non autem remanet sub hoc sacramento christus per totum tempus futurum. Videtur ergo quod statim in crastino, vel post modicum tempus, desinat esse sub hoc sacramento.

Et ita videtur quod christus mobiliter sit in hoc sacramento.

Sed Contra

Sed contra, impossibile est idem esse motum et quietum, quia sic contradictoria verificarentur de eodem. Sed corpus christi in caelo quietum residet. Non ergo est mobiliter in hoc sacramento.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, cum aliquid est unum subiecto et multiplex secundum esse, nihil prohibet secundum aliquid moveri et secundum aliud immobile permanere, sicut corpori aliud est esse album, et aliud est esse magnum, unde potest moveri secundum albedinem, et permanere immobile secundum magnitudinem. Christo autem non est idem esse secundum se, et esse sub sacramento, quia per hoc ipsum quod dicimus ipsum esse sub sacramento, significatur quaedam habitudo eius ad hoc sacramentum. Secundum igitur hoc esse non movetur christus per se secundum locum, sed solum per accidens. Quia christus non est in hoc sacramento sicut in loco, sicut praedictum est, quod autem non est in loco, non movetur per se in loco, sed solum ad motum eius in quo est.

Similiter autem neque per se movetur, secundum esse quod habet in hoc sacramento, quacumque alia mutatione, puta quantum ad hoc quod desinat esse sub hoc sacramento. Quia illud quod de se habet esse indeficiens, non potest esse deficiendi principium, sed, alio deficiente, hoc desinit esse in eo; sicut deus, cuius esse est indeficiens et immortale, desinit esse in aliqua creatura corruptibili per hoc quod creatura corruptibilis desinit esse. Et hoc modo, cum christus habeat esse indeficiens et incorruptibile, non desinit esse sub sacramento neque per hoc quod ipsum desinat esse, neque etiam per motum localem sui, ut ex dictis patet, sed solum per hoc quod species huius sacramenti desinunt esse. Unde patet quod christus, per se loquendo, immobiliter est in hoc sacramento.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod ratio illa procedit de motu per accidens, quo ad motum nostri moventur ea quae in nobis sunt.

Aliter tamen ea quae per se possunt esse in loco, sicut corpora, et aliter ea quae per se non possunt esse in loco, sicut formae et spirituales substantiae. Ad quem modum potest reduci quod dicimus christum moveri per accidens secundum esse quod habet in hoc sacramento, in quo non est sicut in loco.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod hac ratione moti videntur fuisse quidam ponentes quod corpus christi non remanet sub hoc sacramento si in crastinum reservetur.

Contra quos Cyrillus dicit, insaniunt quidam dicentes mysticam benedictionem a sanctificatione cessare si quae reliquiae remanserint eius in diem subsequentem. Non enim mutabitur sacrosanctum corpus christi, sed virtus benedictionis et vivificativa gratia iugis in eo est.

Sicut et omnes aliae consecrationes immobiliter manent, permanentibus rebus consecratis, propter quod non iterantur.

Veritas autem licet figurae respondeat, tamen figura non potest eam adaequare.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod corpus christi remanet in hoc sacramento non solum in crastinum, sed etiam in futurum, quousque species sacramentales manent. Quibus cessantibus, desinit esse corpus christi sub eis, non quia ab eis dependeat, sed quia tollitur habitudo corporis christi ad illas species. Per quem modum deus desinit esse dominus creaturae desinentis.