Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It seems that Christ is not sacrificed in the celebration of this sacrament. For it is written (Heb. 10:14) that "Christ by one oblation hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." But that oblation was His oblation. Therefore Christ is not sacrificed in the celebration of this sacrament.

Objection 2: Further, Christ's sacrifice was made upon the cross, whereon "He delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness," as is said in Eph. 5:2. But Christ is not crucified in the celebration of this mystery. Therefore, neither is He sacrificed.

Objection 3: Further, as Augustine says (De Trin. iv), in Christ's sacrifice the priest and the victim are one and the same. But in the celebration of this sacrament the priest and the victim are not the same. Therefore, the celebration of this sacrament is not a sacrifice of Christ.

On the contrary, Augustine says in the Liber Sentent. Prosp. (cf. Ep. xcviii): "Christ was sacrificed once in Himself, and yet He is sacrificed daily in the Sacrament."

I answer that, The celebration of this sacrament is called a sacrifice for two reasons. First, because, as Augustine says (Ad Simplician. ii), "the images of things are called by the names of the things whereof they are the images; as when we look upon a picture or a fresco, we say, 'This is Cicero and that is Sallust.'" But, as was said above (Question 79, Article 1), the celebration of this sacrament is an image representing Christ's Passion, which is His true sacrifice. Accordingly the celebration of this sacrament is called Christ's sacrifice. Hence it is that Ambrose, in commenting on Heb. 10:1, says: "In Christ was offered up a sacrifice capable of giving eternal salvation; what then do we do? Do we not offer it up every day in memory of His death?" Secondly it is called a sacrifice, in respect of the effect of His Passion: because, to wit, by this sacrament, we are made partakers of the fruit of our Lord's Passion. Hence in one of the Sunday Secrets (Ninth Sunday after Pentecost) we say: "Whenever the commemoration of this sacrifice is celebrated, the work of our redemption is enacted." Consequently, according to the first reason, it is true to say that Christ was sacrificed, even in the figures of the Old Testament: hence it is stated in the Apocalypse (13:8): "Whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world." But according to the second reason, it is proper to this sacrament for Christ to be sacrificed in its celebration.

Reply to Objection 1: As Ambrose says (commenting on Heb. 10:1), "there is but one victim," namely that which Christ offered, and which we offer, "and not many victims, because Christ was offered but once: and this latter sacrifice is the pattern of the former. For, just as what is offered everywhere is one body, and not many bodies, so also is it but one sacrifice."

Reply to Objection 2: As the celebration of this sacrament is an image representing Christ's Passion, so the altar is representative of the cross itself, upon which Christ was sacrificed in His proper species.

Reply to Objection 3: For the same reason (cf. Reply Objection 2) the priest also bears Christ's image, in Whose person and by Whose power he pronounces the words of consecration, as is evident from what was said above (Question 82, Articles 1,3). And so, in a measure, the priest and victim are one and the same.

Articulus 1

Argumentum 1

Ad primum sic proceditur. Videtur quod in celebratione huius sacramenti christus non immoletur.

Dicitur enim Hebr. X, quod christus una oblatione consummavit in sempiternum sanctificatos.

Sed illa oblatio fuit eius immolatio. Ergo christus non immolatur in celebratione huius sacramenti.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, immolatio christi facta est in cruce, in qua tradidit semetipsum oblationem et hostiam deo in odorem suavitatis, ut dicitur Ephes. V.

Sed in celebratione huius mysterii christus non crucifigitur. Ergo nec immolatur.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, sicut Augustinus dicit, IV de Trin., in immolatione christi idem est sacerdos et hostia.

Sed in celebratione huius sacramenti non est idem sacerdos et hostia. Ergo celebratio huius sacramenti non est christi immolatio.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit, in libro sententiarum prosperi, semel immolatus est in semetipso christus, et tamen quotidie immolatur in sacramento.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod duplici ratione celebratio huius sacramenti dicitur christi immolatio.

Primo quidem quia, sicut Augustinus dicit, ad simplicianum, solent imagines earum rerum nominibus appellari quarum imagines sunt, sicut cum, intuentes tabulam aut parietem pictum, dicimus, ille cicero est, ille Sallustius.

Celebratio autem huius sacramenti, sicut supra dictum est, imago est quaedam repraesentativa passionis christi, quae est vera immolatio.

Unde Ambrosius dicit, super epistolam ad Heb., in christo semel oblata est hostia ad salutem sempiternam potens. Quid ergo nos? nonne per singulos dies offerimus ad recordationem mortis eius? alio modo, quantum ad effectum passionis, quia scilicet per hoc sacramentum participes efficimur fructus dominicae passionis.

Unde et in quadam dominicali oratione secreta dicitur, quoties huius hostiae commemoratio celebratur, opus nostrae redemptionis exercetur.

Quantum igitur ad primum modum, poterat christus dici immolari etiam in figuris veteris testamenti, unde et in Apoc. XIII dicitur, quorum nomina non sunt scripta in libro vitae agni, qui occisus est ab origine mundi.

Sed quantum ad modum secundum, proprium est huic sacramento quod in eius celebratione christus immoletur.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod, sicut Ambrosius ibidem dicit, una est hostia, quam scilicet christus obtulit et nos offerimus, et non multae, quia semel oblatus est christus, hoc autem sacrificium exemplum est illius. Sicut enim quod ubique offertur unum est corpus et non multa corpora, ita et unum sacrificium.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, sicut celebratio huius sacramenti est imago repraesentativa passionis christi, ita altare est repraesentativum crucis ipsius, in qua christus in propria specie immolatus est.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod, per eandem rationem, etiam sacerdos gerit imaginem christi, in cuius persona et virtute verba pronuntiat ad consecrandum, ut ex supra dictis patet.

Et ita quodammodo idem est sacerdos et hostia.