One of the most beautiful and powerful mysteries of our Catholic Faith is the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Long a source of fervent devotion for millions of followers of Christ, this crucial aspect of our Faith has come under attack in recent years.
Yet doubts about this eucharistic doctrine are hardly new. Over 900 years ago, a young priest named Berengarius became one of the first clerics in Church history to deny this important Church teaching explicitly, scornfully rejecting the belief of the common people that Jesus is really and physically present in the eucharistic species under the appearances of bread and wine, calling it "the opinion of the mob." Rather, he asserted that the Eucharist is simply a symbol of Christ's presence among us. The only change that occurs after the eucharistic prayer is in the mind of the believer, Berengarius claimed, thus effectively denying what we know today as the doctrine of transubstantiation. With ideas like these, Berengarianism could also appear to lay the foundations of the Lutheran notion of consubstantiation, where the Body and Blood of Christ exist "alongside" the bread and wine on the altar.
Berengarianism never really "caught on" with the laity, despite intense lobbying efforts by the few educated priests and others who considered themselves supporters of this heresiarch. In due time, Pope St. Leo IX summoned Berengarius to appear before him at a synod in Vercelli in September of 1050 to explain his teachings. Berengarius arrogantly responded by claiming the Pope was an ignorant heretic. Prevented from attending the Vercelli synod by his king, Henry I of France, Berengarius was nevertheless formally condemned at this meeting. Cardinal Hildebrand, the future Pope St. Gregory VII, played an important role as the Pope's representative at some of the several councils that followed which echoed the verdict against Berengarius: Paris in 1051, Sens in 1054, Rome in 1059, and again at Rome in 1079. It was at this last council that Berengarius reportedly repented of his heresy, although the sincerity of this conversion has been questioned.
The formula of faith he signed was an impressive one and could serve as a model for a modern oath of fidelity to the Church's Magisterium: "I, Berengarius, believe interiorly and profess publicly that the bread and wine, which are placed on the altar, through the mystery of the sacred prayer and the words of our Redeemer, are substantially changed into the true, proper and life-giving flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. After the consecration, it is the true body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin, and which hung on the cross as an offering for the salvation of the world, and which sits at the right hand of the Father. And it is the true blood of Christ which was poured forth from His side. And Christ is present not merely by virtue of the sign and the power of the sacrament but in His proper nature and true substance as is set down in this summary and as I read it and you understand it. This I believe, and I will not teach anymore against this faith. So, help me God and this holy Gospel of God!"
As Providence would have it, Berengarianism actually presented the occasion for the Church to develop her understanding of the Eucharist more fully, thus aiding the Church for centuries to come. Finally, at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, the Church formally defined that "by divine power bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood."
The strong efforts on the part of the pastors of the Church in stopping the spread of this heresy were only temporarily successful. Unfortunately, Berengarius' ideas have crept back into the Church through a variety of mediums, including poor catechetical textbooks, inadequate homilies and liturgical aberrations. One may safely assume that many of those circulating Berengarianism have probably never heard of Berengarius. Many catechists may even be unaware that they are teaching his errors. Even so, unintentional, "material," heresy committed out of ignorance is nevertheless at least as destructive as the more open, persistent strain of false teaching known as "formal" heresy. Whatever their motives or culpability, though, the present-day Berengarianists must be stopped. What follows is a brief list of suggestions that faithful Catholics may wish to consider in their attempts to recover the authentic teaching and practice of the believing Church.
First, we must examine catechetical textbooks, making sure that all of them, in the appropriate method for the grade level to which they are directed, stress the multiplicity of elements in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a meal, yes, but it is first and foremost a re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary. This Most Blessed Sacrament also should be explained as an expression of God's New Covenant with His people, as our communion with God and with our brothers and sisters in the family of God, as the best means of thanksgiving at our disposal, and as a memorial of Christ's undying love for us. Language that seeks to cloud the very clear teaching of the Church in this area should be challenged. Many textbooks currently refer to the Blessed Sacrament solely as a "symbol" or "sign" of Christ to His followers, and Holy Communion as reception of "bread and wine." Parents, pastors and catechists can check to see if phrases like "Real Presence," "Body and Blood of Christ,” “transubstantiation" or even "Holy Communion" are adequately mentioned and sufficiently defined in the text and in the manuals provided for parent and teacher use.
Second, we must do our homework in order to make sure our own understanding of the sacrament is complete. Two of the most important documents on this issue are by Pope Paul VI, who in 1965 penned the magnificent (as well as very readable) encyclical letter on the Eucharist, Mysterium Fidei, and in 1968 published the "Credo of the People of God," both of which deal at length with the beauty and truth of this essential doctrine of our Catholic Faith. After reviewing a textbook for its teaching on these matters, it is always wise to consult a trustworthy priest to make sure one's own analysis is balanced and accurate. As we joyfully await the English edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which explicitly affirms the clear and consistent teaching of the Church, we may still turn to such authoritative summaries of Catholic belief as this excerpt from Paul VI's "Credo": "We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, ... is in true reality the sacrifice of Calvary, rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His Body and His Blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ enthroned Gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our sense as before, is a true, real and substantial presence. Christ cannot be thus present in this sacrament except by the change into His Body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into His Blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Church transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord with Catholic Faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine."
Third, we must try to do all we can to revive eucharistic devotions like Forty Hours, Benediction, Corpus Christi processions and so on. Such public displays of faith are a witness to Catholic and non-Catholic alike of the incredible reality in our midst and can only serve to heighten a greater awareness of the Blessed Sacrament and respect for it.
Fourth, every member of the faithful should pray and offer sacrifices for the numerous outrages committed against the Blessed Sacrament. We must perpetually thank our loving Lord who deigned to become so vulnerable to insult and ingratitude, coming to us under the appearances of bread and wine when He knew the kind of poor treatment He would receive from us, His undeserving yet infinitely blessed people.
By: Michael J. Mazza
Published in the May/June '94 issue of The Catholic Answer
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