The Blessed Sacrament and The Mass
St Thomas Aquinas
Translated and Edited by Fr. F. O'Neil
A first for the layman: Aquinas on the Holy Eucharist and the Mass Perfect Companion at Adoration Chapels, or in Private Prayer In this concise volume are all the sections of the Summa in which St. Thomas explains the Church’s understanding of the Holy Eucharist and the Mass. For newcomers to Aquinas, Fr. O’Neill provides clear definitions. He explained that his purpose in compiling this book was to “give the ordinary layman an opportunity of reading in as simple a form as possible one of the noblest works ever written.”
Explained:
Why the Holy Eucharist is necessary for salvation—but not in the same way that Baptism is
How each of the many names by which the Blessed Sacrament is known expresses an important aspect of its meaning and importance
Why a bad priest can consecrate the Eucharist
Preparing for the consecration: four reasons why water should be mixed with wine—and why this practice is nevertheless not essential
Three great truths that are established by Our Lord’s words: “This is my body;” “This is my blood”
Does food or drink taken before this Sacrament prevent its reception?
Three key reasons why the substance of the bread and wine do not remain after the consecration
Why it is incorrect to say that Christ’s Body is in the Blessed Sacrament as in a place
Two ways in which the Blessed Sacrament differs from all the other sacraments
Why reception of the Holy Eucharist does not cause forgiveness in one who is conscious of mortal sin
Why the Blessed Sacrament does not remit the entire punishment due to sin
How reception of the Blessed Sacrament preserves you from future sins
What St. Paul meant when he warned believers not to “eat and drink unworthily”
The circumstances in which a priest should deny the Body of Christ to a sinner who seeks it
Why it is so profitable to the soul to receive the Blessed Sacrament daily
Did Christ receive His own Body and Blood?
Why the Holy Eucharist is fittingly celebrated only in a church—and three circumstances in which the consecration of a church should be repeated
The power of the Blood of Christ: its three purposes in this Sacrament
Three ways in which the Passover lamb of the Old Testament foreshadowed the Holy Eucharist
Why the whole Christ is contained under each species of this Sacrament
Why reverence for the Body of Christ demands that no one but the priest touch the Sacrament
Why it is possible for priest-heretics, schismatics, and even those who have been excommunicated to consecrate the Blessed Sacrament
“It was a happy thought of Father O’Neill’s to condense into a small book all that St. Thomas wrote, in his great Summa, on the Blessed Sacrament and the Mass.…Wisely the author begins with a few pages devoted to definitions and a brief statement of the Catholic doctrine.”—Catholic World “Makes readily available the classical teaching of St. Thomas, which will be especially valuable for lay people who wish to deepen their theological understanding. There are useful notes on such technicalities as ‘quantity,’ ‘accidents’ and ‘substance.’”— Blackfriars “Everything that St. Thomas wrote concerning the Blessed Sacrament in his theological Summa is offered us here…this volume will be of great interest not only to students of scholasticism but to many lay readers who have hitherto found themselves shying away from St. Thomas’ writings.…The chief object of the compiler, we are told, is to give the ordinary layman an opportunity to investigate portions of one of the noblest works ever written.”—Ave Maria Magazine
Originally published in 1935, this book is a solid, easily understandable, and refreshing dose of clear thinking about what Fr. O’Neill calls the “one and only school of purity and real refinement.”
Clear, concise explanations for the non-specialist “No one,” says Fr. F. O’Neill, who compiled, edited, and translated this book, “can equal St. Thomas in clearness and simplicity.” But in the Angelic Doctor’s day, most people who read his work were already familiar with the terms and concepts he used. That isn’t the case today—so Fr. O’Neill put together this book in order to “put in a brief compass all that St. Thomas wrote in his Theological Summa on the Sacrament of Love, and to make him more easily understood by those who are reading him for the first time.”
Angelic Doctor;
Doctor Angelicus;
Doctor Communis;
Great Synthesizer;
The Dumb Ox;
The Universal Teacher
Profile Son of the Count of Aquino, born in the family castle in Lombardy near Naples. Educated by Benedictine monks at Monte Cassino, and at the University of Naples. He secretly joined the mendicant Dominican friars in 1244. His noble family kidnapped and imprisoned him for a year to keep him out of sight, and deprogram him, but he rejoined his order in 1245.
He studied in Paris from 1245-1248 under Saint Albert the Great, then accompanied Albertus to Cologne. Ordained in 1250, then returned to Paris to teach. Taught theology at University of Paris. He wrote defenses of the mendicant orders, commentaries on Aristotle and Lombard's Sentences, and some bible-related works, usually by dictating to secretaries. He won his doctorate, and taught in several Italian cities. Recalled by king and university to Paris in 1269, then recalled to Naples in 1272 where he was appointed regent of studies while working on the Summa Theologica.
On 6 December 1273 he experienced a divine revelation which so enraptured him that he abandoned the Summa, saying that it and his other writing were so much straw in the wind compared to the reality of the divine glory. He died four months later while en route to the Council of Lyons, overweight and with his health broken by overwork.
His works have been seminal to the thinking of the Church ever since. They systematized her great thoughts and teaching, and combined Greek wisdom and scholarship methods with the truth of Christianity. Pope Leo VIII commanded that his teachings be studied by all theology students. He was proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1567.
Born c.1225 at Roccasecca, Aquino, Naples, Italy
Died 7 March 1274 at Fossanuova near Terracina of apparent natural causes; relics interred at Saint-Servin, Toulouse, France; relics translated to the Church of the Jacobins, Toulouse on 22 October 1974
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